30KWH daily usage!

madmatthewd

Hi,
I am new to the forum's, so please be gentle!

Myself and my partner recently moved into a 2 bed 8 year old flat. We use one bedroom for sleeping, the other as an office.

We are both out the house from 8-4 every day, and tend to shower once per day each.

The house is elec only, so the hot water and heating is only electricity.

We have a economy 7 tarrif, and use only ONE storage heater. We don't use any other heating in the flat. The hot water tank is also powered over night..

We don't power anything like a fish tank either.

Does 30KWH a day seem high to other people too?
I was expecting somewhere between 10-20..

Any views would be much appreicated!

Cheers,
Matt

good_advice

Mathew - how can you be new to the forums if you joined in August 2011 and we are November 2012 now?

If you use one bedroom for storage and one for an office, do you both sleep on the sofa?

30Kwh is high! per day. Mine is 11Kwh, then I have gas too.
I would think more the 20 kwh mark. only a guess.

Flats tend to be drafty and leak heat as no insulation.
Storage heater is an old heating system and this will be costly.

Have you checked you are paying for the correct meter in your flats?

madmatthewd

ahaha, Well,when I said "new to forums" I meant I have only posted twice before, and am not an frequent user!

My mistake on the storage/office arrangement.. Have changed this now!

I am confident we paying the corrent meter, but your views on storage heating seem similar to mine.. I guess if the storage heater consumes 4ish KWH and is on for 6 hours over night, it would explain alot!

Cardew

30kWh in an all electric flat at this time of year is very good IMO.

You obviously want to get as much of that consumption during the night, so use appliances overnight where possible(the noise of a washing machine might disturb other flats)

dogshome

Hmmm - 30Kwh a day in an all electric flat, but only 1 Storage heater in use
Would help if you were to post how many were on Day rate and how many on Night rate

The 1st thing to check is the boost function on the Immersion heater - If this is left on 24/7 it will not only burn power, but burn it at your high priced Day Rate.

If you are in block of flats that have all the meters contained in a Service Room, it's worth checking that the meter you think is yours, actually is.
Check the meter No.on your bill against that on the meter, and do further check by turning off everything in the flat and then look at the meter to see if it's stopped, then by useing mobile phones have someone in the flat put on an electric kettle - The meter should show the consumtion and start & stop as the kettle is switched on and off

macman

If your usage on E7 cheap rate is less than around 33% (given only one NSH and an immersion heater) then E7 may not be the cheaper option. A comp site check will reveal all in seconds once you work out your percentage split and enter it. 30kWh per day is not at all high if most of that is on the night rate for heating/hot water. It will plummet in the spring when the heating goes off, so 30kWh will not be an all-year average.

madmatthewd

Thanks. The Storage heater that is in use, uses the night rate to charge. I am unsure about the immersion boost function, but will look at this when I get home.

With regards to the meter, each Flat has the meter directly outside the flat door, meaning I am certain the meter in question is correct for my flat.

From a quick browse online, I can see that storage heaters hugely range in consumption. I guess if mine is a 4/5kwh heater, then the 4/5 hour charging period would easily rack up a good propotion of my 30kwh per day!

dogshome

Believe it or not - Even with the meter fixed to the wall outside your front door, it's still worth checking that the Meter No.on the bill matches that on the meter.

madmatthewd

Thank you. I will check that tonight

Cardew

I don't think many storage heaters are bigger than 3.4kW.

I take it you are aware that on an Economy 7 tariff you pay a higher price for daytime electricty?

The disparity between E7 tariffs with the different suppliers is quite marked, so you want to check you are on the best tariff. At the moment it appears the Scottish Power and OVO have the best E7 tariffs.

Richie-from-the-Boro

30kWh x 3.4 = 8.82 hours of charge on the biggest available night store heater if its turned full whack is impossible unless the 'damper' is left open. As you in fact get 7 hours not 8 we can assume an accurate guesstimate would be that you have :

- 7 x 3.4 = 23.8kWh hours going to your cheap night store heat and water
- and 6.2 going to your more expensive core day rate use.

- assuming [7 hrs] at 06p night rate then 23.8kWh is ± £1.42 per night
- assuming [17 hrs] at 20p core day rate then 6.2kWh is ± £1.24 per day

Your ratio between night & day use is excellent in your favour. 30kWh in an all electric is not unusually high. The rest is really down to the fact that your using the same amount of money not kWh .. .. in the day as you do in the night. That's down to lifestyle as in insulation / double glazing / immersion / washing machine & dryer / tariff etc

£3 a day - not bad - check your tariff & lifestyle. Check your supplier tariff against OVO & SP [Cardew]