Cutting Energy Costs - Advice Needed Please

coochy123

Hiya,

I'm new here so not sure if I'm posting in the right forum, apologies if I'm not :-/

We moved into a flat last year and the winter was horrendous. We only have storage heaters in here and they only just take the edge off of the cold weather.

Last winter we were spending around £40+ every week on electricity. We have a key meter which we cannot switch over to a monthly payment. At one point we actually spent £110 in the space of seven days and we ended up switching the heaters off at one point because it just got so expensive. As we got into the spring then summer we obviously turned off our heaters and were amazed because we now spend £40 per month on electricity and not £40+ per week.

Obviously, we now realise that the heaters are just far too expensive to run so are looking into other ways to keep warm this winter.

We have been looking into buying some halogen heaters and wonder if these are a bit cheaper to run? They are pretty cheap to buy I'm just worried we won't save any money in the long run. Also, electric blankets? Does anyone know how much these cost on the electricity?

If you have any advice or know of anything else we can do to stay warm instead of switching on those bleedin' storage heaters - I/we would be very grateful!

Thanks to you all in advance for your help!

Wywth

coochy123 wrote: »

Hiya,

I'm new here so not sure if I'm posting in the right forum, apologies if I'm not :-/

We moved into a flat last year and the winter was horrendous. We only have storage heaters in here and they only just take the edge off of the cold weather.

Last winter we were spending around £40+ every week on electricity. We have a key meter which we cannot switch over to a monthly payment. At one point we actually spent £110 in the space of seven days and we ended up switching the heaters off at one point because it just got so expensive. As we got into the spring then summer we obviously turned off our heaters and were amazed because we now spend £40 per month on electricity and not £40+ per week.

Obviously, we now realise that the heaters are just far too expensive to run so are looking into other ways to keep warm this winter.

We have been looking into buying some halogen heaters and wonder if these are a bit cheaper to run? They are pretty cheap to buy I'm just worried we won't save any money in the long run. Also, electric blankets? Does anyone know how much these cost on the electricity?

If you have any advice or know of anything else we can do to stay warm instead of switching on those bleedin' storage heaters - I/we would be very grateful!

Thanks to you all in advance for your help!

How big is your flat? More importantly, how many storage heaters do you have???

Storage heaters are designed to use low rate electricity usually on an E7 tariff. Typically, this may cost less than 7p/kWh on a PPM.

To spend £110 is equivilent to about 1570kWh at this low rate.

With only 49 hours of low rate period within a week, that equates to over 30 kWh per hour!!! :eek:
(or about 10 x 3kW heaters on for the full 7 hours every night , which normally they are not as once they attain full capacity they thermostatically cut out)

A typical 2 bedroomed flat will usually have 2 or maybe 3 storage heaters fitted.

good_advice

Insulation is the key to low costs. If it is rented invest in some big thick curtains.

sophlowe45

I have a 100 per cent wool blanket I put over my duvet, no matter how cold it is I don't get cold while sleeping, I get hot unless it is really cold and use a synthetic blanket. So much better than electric blankets, keep clothes next to the bed though if you go to the toilet at night, its so cold out of bed.

warm clothes really help me, I end up being really warm outside as I end up wearing clothes that are too warm, such as on Sunday and Monday but everyone else seemed to be cold.

on old style moneymaking there is a thread called preparing for winter and they recommend lining your curtains, creative ideas such as using fleeces and you can attach them with safety pins, clothes pegs and probably other methods too. Read that thread.

great question about the halogen heaters as I am wondering too what is the best electric heater I can buy.

I don't know what time of flooring you have, hopefully you have carpets, I have laminate flooring, always had carpet before and hate it, the floor is so cold its really ridiculous. If you do have laminate flooring, get rugs or warm slippers with hiking socks, you will be too warm. I do dislike wearing slippers at home though.

have stupid storage heaters too! What happened to normal boilers? The heater can only just take the edge off the cold, the ceilings are so high the heaater can hardly do anything.

I had double glazed windows previously, the estate agent had said triple glazed? And the flat was warm in winter, now I have single glazed windows with lots of mould formation around the window even though they are drafty. Do you have single glazed windows?
warm clothes and insulate as much as you can.

EPL

Did you check to see if there was any debt on the PPM from the previous tennants when you moved in ? Did you inform the supplier you are the new account holder and give them a meter reading the day you moved in ?

The reason I ask that is because as you say, you are spending far too much. Something isn't right and debt on the meter's is usually one of the most common reason with new tennent's in properties.

coochy123

The flat isn't too big, it's a three bed with high ceilings. The bathroom only has a blow heater which is only used when either of us is in the bath and never for more than 30 minutes at a time. The bedroom and living room storage heaters are the only ones we switch on, we can't afford to have the one in the spare room on and the kitchen doesn't have one.

I spoke to the electricity company during the week which we spent over 100 and they said that we were on the right tarriff and that they couldn't advise any more. They didn't mention anything about there being debt from a previous tenant so I guess that there hasn't been although I haven't confirmed this. We also had an electrician in to repair one of the heaters and he said that they were working fine economy wise.

We never switch them off in the winter, being storage heaters, we didn't think that there was a need to, so maybe that is an issue?!

We do have carpets in every room apart from the kitchen and the bathroom although they are very thin.

I will definitely take a look at the old moneysaving threads and see what I can find, the lining the curtains with fleece blankets seems like a very good idea!

We do have double glazed windows and we also switched from EDF to British Gas to supply the electricity although this wasn't done in time to see if it affected the cost as it didn't change until we had switched off the heaters!

Thank you all for your ideas!

good_advice

I have been doing some research on portable heaters.
I came to the answer if I plug in my 3kw electric convector fire and have in on high it will cost me 27p per hour on my tariff rate.

I do not think it matters what type of plug in fire you have it is the kw per hour you will be paying.

BargainGalore

Another way to save heating and money is wear plenty of clothing rather than one thick jumper. I tend to wear a t-shirt, shirt and a thermal jumper. Clothing traps air which acts as a insulator. I dont have any heating on today just wearing above and fairly warm even on a cold day 12c outside

Pincher

You seem to be saying you have two storage heaters on overnight.

Assuming they are 3.4kW each

3.4 x 2 x 7 hours = 47.6kWh per night.

47.6 x 7p (Economy 7) = £3.33kWh per night

£3.33 x 30 = £100 per month.

Summer usage of £40 per month suggests £140 per month winter usage, or £35 per week.

You are switching the heating element in the storage heaters on during the day to top up, I expect.

coochy123

Pincher wrote: »

You seem to be saying you have two storage heaters on overnight.

Assuming they are 3.4kW each

3.4 x 2 x 7 hours = 47.6kWh per night.

47.6 x 7p (Economy 7) = £3.33kWh per night

£3.33 x 30 = £100 per month.

Summer usage of £40 per month suggests £140 per month winter usage, or £35 per week.

You are switching the heating element in the storage heaters on during the day to top up, I expect.

We don't use the heaters at all in the summer - they are switched off at the mains. During the winter, the heaters are switched on all of the time, heating up over night to release the heat during the day with a booster in the early evenings. We don't touch the heating controls of the heaters. It is most definitely £40 - £110 per week during the winter

Thank you all again for your advice etc. It's been really helpful! I have bought some fleecy blankets ready for the winter and some hot water bottles and we already have clothes which we could layer so we'll be trying all of these tips this winter

I'm creeping around on various threads in order to get more money saving tips, the advice on here is invaluable!

Thank you!

macman

No electric heaters are 'cheaper to run' than any others. For the same rated output, they all cost the same, as they are all the same efficiency `(100%).
Storage heaters are much cheaper per kWh as they run on cheap rate E7, the problem is that the heat may not be in the evening when you need it most.
Some people claim that halogen gives a more 'directed' heat; if this is true you might 'feel' warmer with them for the same output as another sort. Forget the smoke and mirrors, look at the rating on the appliance and calculate the hourly running cost.
Electric blankets cost next to nothing to run.