Economy 7 and storage Heaters

AL042

Hi,

I hope you can help please. I am with EDF energy on Economy 7 Tarrif. My husband and I live in a 2 bedroom all electric flat. I recently received a bill from EDF which is abit high so i'm looking at ways to reduce this.

the bill from 31st December 2011 to 3rd May was for £549.02, consisting of 3578kw for day usage and 1478kw for night usage. I used to have 3 storage heaters in the bedrooms and lounge but this was removed about 2 years ago by the landlord as they stopped working. They were replaced with electric panel heaters. I still have a storage heater and a heated towel rail in the bathroom which are never used so i just turned them off from the hard wired socket in the second bedroom.

Is turning them off in the second room enough or is it still heating in the night unless I do something in the meter cupboard?

I have an immersion heater but the hot water is only for washing dishes as I have an electric shower. i have recently bought a timer so that we can heat it in the middle of the night. is half an hour enough? i turned it off for two days, (i'm not sure if it is advisable or not) but we did not run out of hot water. Does this mean I can set the timer to 30 minutes every other day?

We have a washing machine with a timer, so all laundry will now be done during the cheaper rate, other gadgets in the house are coffee maker, breadmaker, 50 inch tv, fridge freezer, chest freezer, microwave, george foreman grill, playstation, laptop, wii and sky box. Everything apart from fridge freezer and chest freezer are turned off at mains when not in use,

Is there anything else I can do to reduce my usage even further?

Finally I have heard that the time on the meter might be wrong sometimes, is there anyway i can check that the clock is correct? The meter is digital with no time but there is a red light that flashes all the time.

I apologise for the rambling in this post. i will appreciate any help.

regards

penrhyn

You are using most of your electricity during the day, with an economy 7 tariff you pay a premium rate for your daytime units. I'd suggest looking at a single rate tariff.

As an example Ebico (West Midlands ) rates are.

Economy 7 Day Rate 17.78p/kwh, Night Rate 6.2p/kwh

Single Rate 14.5p/kwh.

AL042

Thanks for your reply. I asked EDF to switch me but they said that since i'm using around 28% at night that they recommend I stay on it. The employee did say that my average Kw per day is very high but i'm not sure how to reduce that further.

jalexa

AL042 wrote: »

I asked EDF to switch me but they said that since i'm using around 28% at night that they recommend I stay on it. The employee did say that my average Kw per day is very high but i'm not sure how to reduce that further.

I disagree with the Edf employee. You have used about 30kWhrs/day during 4 winter months. In itself that is not "excessive", though whether or not it is good value depends on how satisfied you are with the panel heating (and the landlord's removal of the storage heaters).

macman

Put your annual kWh figures into any comp site, one with E7 at the nearest available figure to 28%, and one at single rate. 2 minutes work will reveal if EDF are correct or not.
However, if EDF are calculating that 28% on the last bill only, which appears to be the case, then their maths is completely invalid, as that is your expensive winter quarter bill, and your night rate consumption (for heating) will be at it's peak. The heating will be mostly off for the next 6m, so your night rate usage will be much lower (basically just the immersion heater).
So you need to rework the percentage based on your annual kWh usage and split, not just your last quarter. I think you will then find that your night rate usage is well below the level at which E7 is economic-you should have switched to a single rate tariff 2 years ago. 28% is pretty marginal for E7 already, but your actual rate is probably less than 15%, which makes it completely unsuited. But of course you can just do the comp site calculation once again with the correct percentage.
Forget about your George Foreman grill etc, what burns power is heating and hot water.
Your landlord has of course saved some money by fitting panel heaters rather than storage heaters-but at your expense.

AL042

jalexa wrote: »

I disagree with the Edf employee. You have used about 30kWhrs/day during 4 winter months. In itself that is not "excessive", though whether or not it is good value depends on how satisfied you are with the panel heating (and the landlord's removal of the storage heaters).

I am very satisfied with the panel heaters as the flat is now warm. I was panicking as the EDF employee actually said that the average is 17kwh and as you can see I'm way over that. forgive me for a stupid question but is there any chance that I'm being charged for the storage heater in the bathroom if I just turn it off from the hard wire socket but not from the meter mains?

macman

If it's off at the socket, it's off! You'll know if it not as it will release heat.
You may well be warmer with the panel heaters, but you are paying a premium rate for all your heating, which appeared to be the original issue you raised.

AL042

macman wrote: »

Put your annual kWh figures into any comp site, one with E7 at the nearest available figure to 28%, and one at single rate. 2 minutes work will reveal if EDF are correct or not.

thanks Macman, i have just put the figures into gocompare my annual kwh for the last year is 13002 based on 9176 at day rate and 3826 at night rate. the cost is £1399.77. If I use a single rate, then the cost should have been £1236 a saving of £163.00!!!

I will ask edf to switch me asap. Thanks again.

macman

So 28% is correct (I make it 29%). That makes EDF's advice even more incomprehensible, given that a single rate tariff will be 12% cheaper. You may need a single rate meter installing, check with EDF.
I would pursue some sort of credit based on the clearly incorrect advice given that E7 was still your cheapest option.

fishybusiness

The employee did say that my average Kw per day is very high

I disagree with EDF, we use 30kWh per day in the summer, no heating on except E7 immersion.

That being your winter usage I think it pretty good

AL042

fishybusiness wrote: »

I disagree with EDF, we use 30kWh per day in the summer, no heating on except E7 immersion.

That being your winter usage I think it pretty good

Phew, I was thinking there was no way i could reduce it to the 'recommended' 17 kwh per day !!