All electric house with storage heaters

cymruseren

Ok, first time posting anything on a forum and I figured I'd start a new thread as didn't know where to look.

My partner and I are moving Oxfordshire way, we've found a house we like and are going ahead with renting it. It has storage heaters and is electric only.

However, I'm starting to get concerned with what bills will be like after reading some forums and peoples experiences especially as rent is so steep. So I was wondering if anyone could give me an idea of a rough monthly electricity cost in summer/winter (it's a 3 bedroom cottage with just the 2 of us).

Also having never used storage heaters in my life they and the E7 thing sound pretty complicated. We're an average couple and during the week will be out from 8am-7pm roughly but obviously like to chill out and watch tv in the evenings. I don't know if E7 is going to suit us as we do like our gadgets and technology and I don't know if weekends class as off peak or not. At the moment I don't even know if the house supports E7 as apparently that's a special meter??

We'll have 2 spare rooms and so obviously will try and turn any heaters off/down to a minimum in those and the lounge has an open fire so I imagine we won't need too much heating in there once the fire is going. I always install energy saving bulbs and much to the annoyance of my partner switch everything off rather than leave it on standby. Can anyone think of anything else we can do to reduce our useage?
Thinking of getting one of those useage monitors so we can keep an eye on what we're actually using.

Any help or advice is much appreciated as I'm really starting to worry we're going to have to cope with high bills as well as rent.

Terrylw1

An E7 meters connects to a peak and seperate off peak circuit in your fuse box, so you can check that.

rogerblack

cymruseren wrote: »

Ok, first time posting anything on a forum and I figured I'd start a new thread as didn't know where to look.

My partner and I are moving Oxfordshire way, we've found a house we like and are going ahead with renting it. It has storage heaters and is electric only.

This is unfortunately, almost an unanswerable question.

Depending on the insulation of the house, the bills could range from 2000/year to 400/year easily.

Was there an energy performance certificate?

Be_Happy

rogerblack wrote: »

This is unfortunately, almost an unanswerable question.

Depending on the insulation of the house, the bills could range from 2000/year to 400/year easily.

Was there an energy performance certificate?

What on earth are you basing this high cost on?

I've been using storage heaters for many years. Previous ones were replaced a few years ago with more modern Dimplex automatic ones. We have 2 public, 3 bedroom semi with 6 storage heaters, one panel heater and one coal effect fan fire, overnight water heating (with occasional 1 hour boost during the day) and the other usual household electrics, including tumble drier.

Usage is well controlled with anything possible being done overnight eg washing machine, dishwasher, charging.

House is 1970s with good insulation and retains overnight heat well.

Just had annual electricity review - cost last year was £1050 and new DD has been set at £90 per month. Consumption is fairly similar to previous years.

You can't possibly give estimate of costs without knowing more about the house, number and type of heaters, and how well usage is controlled.

grahamc2003

Be_Happy wrote: »

What on earth are you basing this high cost on?

I've been using storage heaters for many years. Previous ones were replaced a few years ago with more modern Dimplex automatic ones. We have 2 public, 3 bedroom semi with 6 storage heaters, one panel heater and one coal effect fan fire, overnight water heating (with occasional 1 hour boost during the day) and the other usual household electrics, including tumble drier.

Usage is well controlled with anything possible being done overnight eg washing machine, dishwasher, charging.

House is 1970s with good insulation and retains overnight heat well.

Just had annual electricity review - cost last year was £1050 and new DD has been set at £90 per month. Consumption is fairly similar to previous years.

You can't possibly give estimate of costs without knowing more about the house, number and type of heaters, and how well usage is controlled.

But your usage is within the range Roger quoted in his admittedly odd way, of £2000 to £400. I would think that range catches almost all e7 users in 'normal' 2, 3 or 4 bed properties.

To answer the op - (modern) storage heaters are fine if your place is insulated and you don't like it hot all the time. If you're happy at 19C, then you won't often need any suplemental heating. If you like it 23C in every room, then I'd learn to like it cooler! If you're renting, then gas is preferable. If you own, the savings in gas servicing costs and hassle make e7 a viable option. e7 won't bust your budget if you are sensible about energy usage imv, and know how to operate the input and output controls.

Ectophile

cymruseren wrote: »

Also having never used storage heaters in my life they and the E7 thing sound pretty complicated. We're an average couple and during the week will be out from 8am-7pm roughly but obviously like to chill out and watch tv in the evenings. I don't know if E7 is going to suit us as we do like our gadgets and technology and I don't know if weekends class as off peak or not. At the moment I don't even know if the house supports E7 as apparently that's a special meter??

Economy 7 means that you get seven hours of cheap electricity every night. The remaining 17 hours will be at a higher rate than normal. Exactly which seven hours are cheaper is up to the supplier.

E7 uses a special meter with two sets of dials, so a quick peek at the meter will tell you.

Terrylw1

Ectophile wrote: »

Economy 7 means that you get seven hours of cheap electricity every night. The remaining 17 hours will be at a higher rate than normal. Exactly which seven hours are cheaper is up to the supplier.

E7 uses a special meter with two sets of dials, so a quick peek at the meter will tell you.

The peak & off peak hours are agreed by an industry body creating them. The supplier can't change them other than to one that already exists, if supported by the meter and if the settings are set to the correct category of meter i.e. radio teleswitch or time switch. Otherwise, they have to create new data into the industry.

macman

I don't understand why you ask if the meter supports E7, as you say that the property already has storage heaters installed. No-one sane would install storage heaters and then run them off a non-E7 tariff!
E7 hours are overnight, and no, the weekends aren't all on cheap rate-the same off peak hours apply.
Your lifestyle isn't well suited to E7 if you are out all day, as by the time you come in the storage heaters will have been off charge for around 12 hours, and at times you may need to supplement them with expensive peak rate heating.
Forget your 'gadgets'. It's space heating and hot water that account for most of your usage, then white goods (tumble driers in particular).