wet electric system-help!

vicky-dickson

hi i live in a 2 bedroom council house and used to have a coal fire, which got taken out and replaced with a wet electric heating system about 4 years ago. i was told that it would be more cost effective. Which it clearly hasnt been. for the first three years of it being in i spent close to 6000 pounds. i hadnt been informed that i should have been on a better tarrif-economy 10- so i switched companies and for the last year i have been on economy 10 which gives u 10 off peak rate hours. which now i have my hot water and heating set up to come on at these times. And yet i seem to have still a huge bill off around 1800 pounds for the last year. PLease someone help, tell me what im doing wrong. Or is this the average bill for the size of house i have. I really am at my wits end, i cried when i saw my bill this moring which was -for last 98 days £841. Thanks.

grahamc2003

Somethings clearly wrong. My home heating bill for the last three months has been zero, since I haven't had any heating on - is heating necessary for you aqt this time of the year?

Obvious things - turn your thermostat down, you should be able to manage at 19C, what is your set at?

Also, ime, the rare economy 10 rate is simply a rip off. What rates per kwh are you charged at, and at what times? Is your heating on only in the 'cheap' periods? Any electric heating at peak rates will be very expensive - do you ever turn a fan or other heater on (those may be peak rate all the time, depending on your wiring).

2 grand a year for a 2 bed is way ott. You can reasonable expect to pay half that, (depending on several factors, like wall insulation, tank insulation, lifesytle, tariff, 30 minute showers etc) even aftre the latest rises, although any wet electric heating will always be expensive compared to others (so it may be £1kpa is a little low to aim at afterall).

Post your unit rates and the times they apply to. If you go to a comparison site, you would easily see if other tariffs on offer are cheaper. I'm not sure whether moving from e10 to e7 for example is straightforward, you'd have to discuss that with your potential new supplier.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

The problem with Economy 10 is that although you get cheap electricity for 10 hours, you pay a premium on the price of your electricity for the other 14 hours.

You don't say where you live(lots of E10 systems are in Scotland) or which company - although few companies offer an E10 tariff.

In an all electric house where you, effectively, only get 3 hours heating at cheaper rates(without storage heaters there should not be much heating done in the 7 nightime hours) you can run up very high bills.

I suggest you examine closely how much electricity in a year you used at the different E10 rates and compare this with what it would have cost on a normal 24/7 tariff - as this could be a cheaper option.

There is obviously no way you could have used £841 for the last 98 days.(i.e. summer with no/little heating). It is probable that your last bill was based on an estimated meter reading and this is a 'catch-up' bill.

HappyMJ

vicky-dickson wrote: »

hi i live in a 2 bedroom council house and used to have a coal fire, which got taken out and replaced with a wet electric heating system about 4 years ago. i was told that it would be more cost effective. Which it clearly hasnt been. for the first three years of it being in i spent close to 6000 pounds. i hadnt been informed that i should have been on a better tarrif-economy 10- so i switched companies and for the last year i have been on economy 10 which gives u 10 off peak rate hours. which now i have my hot water and heating set up to come on at these times. And yet i seem to have still a huge bill off around 1800 pounds for the last year. PLease someone help, tell me what im doing wrong. Or is this the average bill for the size of house i have. I really am at my wits end, i cried when i saw my bill this moring which was -for last 98 days £841. Thanks.

£841 for 98 days....At an average of the peak and off peak rates at about 10p that would be 85kWh per day. That is impossible. How about detailing what exactly is on the bill. Units consumed, standing charges, unit rates, balance carried forward, any payments made, VAT and amount now due.

vicky-dickson

Hi first off all thank you for the replys.
Ok so i got told cheap rates(7.33p per unit) is between 4.30-8 in morning, 1.30-4 in afternoon, 8.30-12 at night.Termo is set at 20 degree. (so i will turn this down.) So i have my hot water set from 4.30to 5.30 in morning and 1.30-2.30 in the afternoon. I did have my heating set 5.30 to 8, 2.30-4 and in the winter 9-10 at night. I havent had my heating on auto for the last few months, as it has been warm enough. there obviously had days when i maybe went and had it on for an hour or so. high rates is 13p per unit. so all electricity use is from the other electric goods, ie tv, lights, washing mach etc. I live in midlothian, outside edinburgh. Im with scottish Hydro atm, as i have been told they are the only company which will support my heating system, which is also frustrating.They advised that the average local rate was 65 pounds a month, so i paid 75 per month from last aug, but now upped that to 100 per month since march. Im beginning to think its just tough luck, last bill that came in was 1020 to owe. It nearly winter again, im gonna be in so much debt with the company, and worried how much they are going to expect me to pay per month. I have looked for help with my local counciller, and with my council. I been told that electric is expensive and to deal with it basically.

Owain_Moneysaver

Do you rent your council house? Has it had loft and cavity wall insulation? Is it by any chance a precast concrete house which are appallingly badly insulated?

gas4you

What power is your electric boiler?

I assume the minimum would be a 6Kw unit, possibly 9Kw.

So that gives you either 78p/hr or 117p/hr. I wont take long to build up massive bills at those rates.

vicky-dickson

Hey, loft was insulated 2 years ago, masses of fibre up there. And just had my wall insulated a few months ago. Boiler is powered by electric.