Average usage electricity per month?

penrhyn

OP does in fact have panel heaters see post 8.

Richie-from-the-Boro

penrhyn wrote: »

OP does in fact have panel heaters see post 8.

Yeh .. .. just spotted that penrhyn, and some kind of ' piggy back ' metering.

dougens

star2007 wrote: »

Sounds like you have got plug in portable electric heaters, rather than storage heaters. The latter are huge, fitted to the wall, and contain bricks which draw and store energy during the Economy 7 overnight cheap period. Heating an openplan flat on portable heaters will be hideously expensive I'm afraid. One 2kwh heater will eat about 25p per hour, and you'll need them on for a while to start to take the chill out of the air. Hopefully this won't be an issue for you now with the warmer weather. Come the winter though, I really recommend thermal undies, slipper socks and snuggly fleeces!
And take shallower baths, or get a handheld shower attachment for your taps, you'll still be as clean and daisy-fresh as before!

Otherwise if it still seems excessive, it would be an idea to raise the matter iwth your LL & electric company... it might be your meter is calibrated wrongly.

Best of luck

Thanks.
Coming from Scotland I think I'll have to brave the cold!
My plan may be to stock up on logs for the winter and only use the heaters (which are definitely not storage heaters - thanks for the description!) for a very small time in the morning to take the chill off.

Does anyone have experience with oil radiator heaters (running from electricity) or calor gas heaters?
I've read these will be cheaper (after the initial purchase price) than the electric heaters, which I would definitely not use @25p per hour!
Is that a flat rate 25p / hour no matter what heat setting it's on? If so I'm shortchanging myself with low thermostat position!!

Thanks again for everybody's input.

dougens

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

Yeh .. .. just spotted that penrhyn, and some kind of ' piggy back ' metering.

I'm going to check out the meter situation asap.
Regarding the heaters, I think I'll have to find some cheaper alternative.Somehow.

HappyMJ

dougens wrote: »

Thanks.
Coming from Scotland I think I'll have to brave the cold!
My plan may be to stock up on logs for the winter and only use the heaters (which are definitely not storage heaters - thanks for the description!) for a very small time in the morning to take the chill off.

Does anyone have experience with oil radiator heaters (running from electricity) or calor gas heaters?
I've read these will be cheaper (after the initial purchase price) than the electric heaters, which I would definitely not use @25p per hour!
Is that a flat rate 25p / hour no matter what heat setting it's on? If so I'm shortchanging myself with low thermostat position!!

Thanks again for everybody's input.

Whilst they are heating and assuming they are rated at 2kw then it will be your unit rate times two. They usually don't run for the whole hour though they'll heat up then shut off. Then on and off for a while till you turn them off. In my house on a cold day they usually run half the time in a small room costing only 1 unit per hour.

Wood logs are by far the cheapest source of heat assuming you have a cheap supply of it.

dougens

HappyMJ wrote: »

Whilst they are heating and assuming they are rated at 2kw then it will be your unit rate times two. They usually don't run for the whole hour though they'll heat up then shut off. Then on and off for a while till you turn them off. In my house on a cold day they usually run half the time in a small room costing only 1 unit per hour.

Wood logs are by far the cheapest source of heat assuming you have a cheap supply of it.

Ok thanks.
So buying a 1kw oil filled radiator to heat up the house on a timer in the morning and in the evening before I get home would cost 12p per hour. Less than if the heaters (of which I've three!) are 2kw. I've read that oil filler radiators heat up spaces more efficiently so maybe this is the way to go until I can get the fire heating up the house.

star2007

@ Dougens, the running costs of the heater will be relative to the setting it is on, so if it's on 50%, it'll use 1 unit per hour (assuming it's a 2kwh heater).

I've heard halogen heaters are quite effective, and they are about 800 - 1000 w, so that might be worth looking into.

Another thing I thought of would be to get an Owl meter, which tells you how much lecky you're using; it gives a live reading on the display, and with the newer model you can download the data to your pc to tell you the cumulative amount. It's really cool when you first get it to go around switching stuff off, watching the display, then boiling the kettle to see how much the display is showing... little things & all that It is really educational just to see how much each appliance affects the reading, and to get it down to just the background level, ie, just the fridge and broadband router! You need to fix a plastic collar thing around the main cable just as it enters the meter, so check it's suitable for your set up. They're about £30, but will save you heaps in the long run through energy awareness.

penrhyn

All electric heaters are 100% efficient, an oil filled radiator will cost the same to run as one of your panel heaters, assuming it has the same rating.
The advise re Owl is good, although you could read your meter regularly.
Get a room thermometer and adjust the settings on you heaters to give a comfortable temperature say 19- 20c.

HappyMJ

dougens wrote: »

Ok thanks.
So buying a 1kw oil filled radiator to heat up the house on a timer in the morning and in the evening before I get home would cost 12p per hour. Less than if the heaters (of which I've three!) are 2kw. I've read that oil filler radiators heat up spaces more efficiently so maybe this is the way to go until I can get the fire heating up the house.

One oil filled radiator will not heat the entire house. You'll probably need more heat. 1kw of heat per hour works for me as I am only heating one small room not an entire house in winter. I'd need one heater per room to be warm throughout. I've got a fan heater in the bathroom whenever I'm in there but turn the others off so there is usually only 1 on at any 1 time. Lounge room is heated by other means. Kitchen heated only when I'm in it and bedroom only while I'm in it. Oil filled rad's are slow to heat. My convector heater is fast and can heat a room in about 10-15 minutes from 8-10 degrees. (they have an anti-frost setting).

dougens

penrhyn wrote: »

All electric heaters are 100% efficient, an oil filled radiator will cost the same to run as one of your panel heaters, assuming it has the same rating.
The advise re Owl is good, although you could read your meter regularly.
Get a room thermometer and adjust the settings on you heaters to give a comfortable temperature say 19- 20c.

Thanks.
I understand the cost would be the same if the oil heater has the same rating but I read and have heard from friends that they are more efficient at actually heating the air? Hence they don't need to be on as much. Sounds silly but if it works I'm game!
I'll look into the owl device definitely.

star2007 wrote: »

@ Dougens, the running costs of the heater will be relative to the setting it is on, so if it's on 50%, it'll use 1 unit per hour (assuming it's a 2kwh heater).

I've heard halogen heaters are quite effective, and they are about 800 - 1000 w, so that might be worth looking into.

Another thing I thought of would be to get an Owl meter, which tells you how much lecky you're using; it gives a live reading on the display, and with the newer model you can download the data to your pc to tell you the cumulative amount. It's really cool when you first get it to go around switching stuff off, watching the display, then boiling the kettle to see how much the display is showing... little things & all that It is really educational just to see how much each appliance affects the reading, and to get it down to just the background level, ie, just the fridge and broadband router! You need to fix a plastic collar thing around the main cable just as it enters the meter, so check it's suitable for your set up. They're about £30, but will save you heaps in the long run through energy awareness.

Thanks, researching halogen heaters now.

HappyMJ wrote: »

One oil filled radiator will not heat the entire house. You'll probably need more heat. 1kw of heat per hour works for me as I am only heating one small room not an entire house in winter. I'd need one heater per room to be warm throughout. I've got a fan heater in the bathroom whenever I'm in there but turn the others off so there is usually only 1 on at any 1 time. Lounge room is heated by other means. Kitchen heated only when I'm in it and bedroom only while I'm in it. Oil filled rad's are slow to heat. My convector heater is fast and can heat a room in about 10-15 minutes from 8-10 degrees. (they have an anti-frost setting).

Thanks.
Although my house is very small. Hence the annoyance at expensice heating in April!