Storage Heater costs

Attercop

I'm looking for some advice. A flat which I am interested in within Stirling has electric storage heaters.

Having heard that these are usually more expensive than central heating I enquired if the agency knew the costs, they have told me the previous tenant paid £100 a month to cover their bills.

To me that seems very high, although I appreciate that the amount includes all electricity used.The flat is on the first floor and is a one bedroom property, kitchen lounge bedroom, bathroom and the hallway.

Is it too much or have I become too used-to splitting bills with flatmates? Is £100 a month actually the norm?

Any advice or thoughts would be great...

HappyMJ

Attercop wrote: »

I'm looking for some advice. A flat which I am interested in within Stirling has electric storage heaters.

Having heard that these are usually more expensive than central heating I enquired if the agency knew the costs, they have told me the previous tenant paid £100 a month to cover their bills.

To me that seems very high, although I appreciate that the amount includes all electricity used.The flat is on the first floor and is a one bedroom property, kitchen lounge bedroom, bathroom and the hallway.

Is it too much or have I become too used-to splitting bills with flatmates? Is £100 a month actually the norm?

Any advice or thoughts would be great...

£100 a month is quite normal. When comparing to someone with gas you need to take the gas bill and at least double it and add it to the electric bill.

i.e 3,300kWh of electric would cost about £400 a year, 16,500kWh of gas would cost about £600. Add the 2 together and you already have £1,000 then add another £600 to the electric makes it £1,600 per year then divide by 12 so about £130 per month. As you have a 1 bedroom flat £100 sounds quite reasonable. You should be able to cut it down further to a about £60 a month by managing the storage heating well (by keeping the heating low) and using electric wisely by not using peak rate top up heating.

Wee_Pilsbury

Hi there

£100 a month in my opinion is far higher than you probably would pay. I'm in a one bedroom flat in Glasgow but mine is on the top floor. I have one large storage heater in the living room and 2 other wall heaters (not storage) in the hall and bedroom. I have an oil free portable radiator if temperatures really dip (as they did 2010/2011:eek:).

My total electricity spend for 2011, which included the aforementioned :eek: weather at the beginning of that year, amounted to £566 and some odd pence.

Generally, in spring and autumn I use the oil free radiator if necessary when I'm in at night. In summer I don't have heating on and my monthly spend is between £20 and £25. From October until the end of March I use my storage heater and when it's on, I leave the living room door open to let the heat get into the hall, bathroom and bedroom. This results in a very cosy one bedroomed flat. I've only ever used the oil free heater during the exceptionally low temperatures I've mentioned already.

It will very much depend on the size of your one-bedroomed flat but I don't think £100 per month is the most likely spend.

l_mac

Hi, i'm in a 2 bedroom upstairs property so it may not be the best comparison but my bills have been averaged out at £134 per month with storage heating. I've asked lots of people about this and have had varying reports about what it is the average and what isn't but i believe that this is leaning towards expensive. One thing to bear in mind is that you cannot switch with storage heating as Scottish Power are the only company that provide a meter and tariff for this kind of heating. I discovered this recently after many many phone calls to SP asking why i was "locked into" my tariff. A member of staff with a bit more knowledge explained that they are the only company to offer these.
You may be ok with a one bedroom property but in mine i often have to put an electric heater on the living room when it gets particularly cold in the winter, i know others who have to do this too.

jrawle

£100 sounds way to high. I have a one bedroom flat, and my annual electricity bill is just under £500 per year. Admittedly, I don't exactly have the place roasting hot throughout the winter. I wear jumpers and two pairs of socks. I only ever use one storage heater in the lounge and one in the bedroom, I don't use any other heating. The kitchen is heated when I cook, and the bathroom from heating escaping from the hot water cylinder (which is the most inefficient aspect of my energy usage in my opinion, but would cost a lot to change the way the water is heated).

I know Scotland is probably a little colder than south east England, but still £100 per month seems excessive.

kondormid

HappyMJ wrote: »

£100 a month is quite normal. When comparing to someone with gas you need to take the gas bill and at least double it and add it to the electric bill.

i.e 3,300kWh of electric would cost about £400 a year, 16,500kWh of gas would cost about £600. Add the 2 together and you already have £1,000 then add another £600 to the electric makes it £1,600 per year .

I am interested where this equation came from and how old it is. My parents live in a 3 bedroom house and are all electric, I live in a two bedroom flat and I am dual fuel. There was a time when we had simular out goings on fuel but just lately their bills are way cheaper than mine. We both go for the cheapest tariffs each year or so, as soon as we are allowed without penalties. They are in at home all day everyday and their total bills are about £85 a month on fuel, and if anything their house is too hot in the winter for my liking. Your calculations seem to suggest that their total fuel bills would be around the £50 to £60 a month mark if they had gas and electric. I find that hard to believe.

update, just checked their online bills, they pay £88 a month and are currently £73 in credit! They were paying £69 until the late autumn when the price increases kicked them hard.

HappyMJ

kondormid wrote: »

I am interested where this equation came from and how old it is. My parents live in a 3 bedroom house and are all electric, I live in a two bedroom flat and I am dual fuel. There was a time when we had simular out goings on fuel but just lately their bills are way cheaper than mine. We both go for the cheapest tariffs each year or so, as soon as we are allowed without penalties. They are in at home all day everyday and their total bills are about £85 a month on fuel, and if anything their house is too hot in the winter for my liking. Your calculations seem to suggest that their total fuel bills would be around the £50 to £60 a month mark if they had gas and electric. I find that hard to believe.

update, just checked their online bills, they pay £88 a month and are currently £73 in credit! They were paying £69 until the late autumn when the price increases kicked them hard.

It's just an average. Some people use less and some people use more. It depends on what they use exactly. £1000 per year for electric and gas is around about average for a good tariff. If you take an average tariff it's probably closer to £1200. If they had gas and electric it's highly likely the duel fuel bill will be lower.....again it depends on how much they use the storage heating and how much other electrical equipment they have running at the peak day rate. If they are paying £88 a month for a well heated electric only 3 bedroom house they are doing very well. Do you know what their annual kWh usage was?