How to save for my Granny!

pigboy306

Hi my 89 year old Granny has been living in her home for 20 plus years. Its double glazed and has a lots of roof insulation.
She is with EDF who to be fair are listening to her but the Direct Debit has gone up to £90 a month, which they have reduced to £66.
She is on Economy 7 heating which is costing her. She has the original Economy 7 heaters in the property. Now technology being what it is there are bound to be better heaters out there but how much better are they going to be?

macman

Newer E7 heaters may offer more control, but they won't really be more economic-all electric heating is very expensive compared to the alternatives.
Is she on the cheapest E7 tariff available though?
NB: reducing the DD doesn't reduce your bills if the same amount of energy is being used-it just builds up future debt. What is the actual kWh usage on each register?

Cardew

All electrical heating is 100% efficient, so unfortunately technology won't make new storage heaters produce any more heat, for the same running cost, as her present heaters.

The main advantage of later model storage heaters is that they claim not to 'leak' heat as much as the older heaters. This is an advantage to people who are out all day at work, as new heaters will have retained more heat; however I suspect that doesn't apply to your 89 year old granny!

Whatever you do, don't believe the hype from some firms who imply that their heaters somehow produce more heat than other lesser models! They don't, and can't; the laws of physics apply!

pigboy306

macman wrote: »

Newer E7 heaters may offer more control, but they won't really be more economic-all electric heating is very expensive compared to the alternatives.
Is she on the cheapest E7 tariff available though?
NB: reducing the DD doesn't reduce your bills if the same amount of energy is being used-it just builds up future debt. What is the actual kWh usage on each register?

Running up the bills is what i am worried of. I have looked on various price comparison sites and all seem to be about the same given her usage of electric.
From 31 Jan 12 - 09 Aug 12
Day usage 1668 @ 14.59p
night usage 3761 @5.28p
She lives on her own has a three bed semi ... watches TV most of the day etc!
Oh the supplied is EDF Energy

Richie-from-the-Boro

- depending on your AP's income or if she is entitled to a 'fuel poor' low-income help or energy tariff
- and actually ask EDF the specific question .. .. say .. .. am I on the cheapest tariff for my needs

The costs have rocketed these last few years, changing the storage for different storage as others have said is not effective and will save nothing. The fact of the matter is your AP even in this weather will be sitting in front of a fire now as I type this, people of a certain age do they just lke to be very very warm. The kWh split figures you posted are indicative of a pensioner at home and immobile all day and the night, it tends to be the case that housebound pensioners and the housebound unemployed are closer to 50/50%.

One saving to be had during the heaviest use would be to put in one extra small storage heater into the living room so that she has sufficient stored cheap night stuff to not switch on the supplementary electric fire so often. That is the only thing you can control, the amount of kWh of expensive day price extra wintertime electricity she uses by storing more of the cheap stuff and the frequency she switches on an extra fire in the summer evenings.

NOTE: All summer use looks bad to a non E7 user because usually the monthly payment is averaged over 12 months - meaning she is paying what appears to be a lot during the summer and what appears to be a little during the winter.

That also one reason to take care on reducing the DD to an unrealistically 5/12ths low figure in the summer """ £90 a month, which they have reduced to £66"""

Cardew

pigboy306 wrote: »

Running up the bills is what i am worried of. I have looked on various price comparison sites and all seem to be about the same given her usage of electric.
From 31 Jan 12 - 09 Aug 12
Day usage 1668 @ 14.59p
night usage 3761 @5.28p
She lives on her own has a three bed semi ... watches TV most of the day etc!
Oh the supplied is EDF Energy

Using approx 70% of 5,400kWh at cheap rate in just over 6 months is pretty good.

Does she pay a daily standing charge?

If you are prepared to run an internet account for her there are some better tariffs available - Scottish Power in particular.

macman

Get her insulation sorted out if necessary-she should be able to get loft and cavity wall insulation for free via EDF. This is a no-brainer if not already up to standard.