Economy 7 Storage Heaters, need advice!

Richie-from-the-Boro

jomz wrote: »

They are all storage heaters, my readings over the last week are saying that we were using approx 15 units a day and 50 - 60 units a night.

We had thought that the cost would be around £150 a month so being told it's almost £200 a month more than that was a complete shock.

- 7 storage heaters is OTT for a 3 bed house
- 15 / 50 is a more than excellent ratio of day / night rate
- what exactly is your tariff name and who supplies you
- if your child is in receipt of DLA there are privileged tariffs available
- are you double glazed with wall & loft insulation ?
- do you have any chimneys, any anywhere ?
- is your layout 'open plan'
- you get an absolute full tank of stored boiling hot water every day at cheap rate, do you ?
- does the water cylinder have two sets of wiring, one to the top and one to the bottom ?
- is the water cylinder insulation 'lagged' with a hard substance ?

In short the heat is going in in shedloads - where is is leaking out or are you on the wrong tariff or are you using a night store system badly .. .. or a combination of all three ?

How are you using your night store heaters ?, the more you store at cheap rate the less 'other' forms of heating at the expensive day rate you will need to use. Your account should be a minimum of :

- an e-account
- pay by direct debit
- you supply meter readings in monthly
- the cheapest heavy user E7 tariff is usually Scottish Power
- with a 52 week payment plan agreed - CAC÷12 adjusted & averaged over a year

How are you using your night store heaters ? where are you setting these two little knobs ? What size [kW] storage heater is in your living area ? What size [kW] storage heater is in the bairns bedroom ?

NOTE the BOLD its all about stored cheap ~v~ non stored day rate.

Be_Happy

andyrpsmith wrote: »

Quick calculation:

Say each one is 3.5KWH and having a full charge

3.5KWh x 5 x 7 (econ 7 = on 7 hours) x 6p x 31 (days) = £227

if unit price is 8p = £303

Maybe a quick calculation, but means nothing.

Storage heaters have thermostats like any other heater and cut out when fully charged. They do not run continuously for the full 7 hours.

chris1973

They do not run continuously for the full 7 hours.

My 3.4kw and 2.55kw units ran for 6 hours 40-ish minutes and 6 hours 3 minutes respectively on their full input settings, (measured with a clamp meter and industrial energy recorder borrowed from work), so its close, of course it also depends on how much residual heat was still in the bricks from the previous charge. My measurement was done from 'cold'

Before moving over to Kero heaters, I was paying around £90 - £100 a month, for 3 storage heaters on E7. During the Summer with the heaters off, I was only putting about £30 - £35 a month in. So about a £60 a month difference based on three heaters.

For 7 storage heaters I imagine it could get quite expensive at this time of year, bearing in mind E7 has also jumped from the 4.5p / kw/h it was a few years ago, to over 6p / kw/h today and daytime peak rates can be as much as 20p per kw/h.

Feebiedog

We have a 9 year old 3 bed detached house with 3 storage heaters downstairs on economy 7, on each night at about 50% input and output, and 3 panel hot air heaters upstairs, although only one is ever used for 3 hours in the morning and 4 in the evening on a timer. Hot water is also heated at night on economy 7. Our standing order averages out about £80-90 per month over the year and the house is as warm as toast and ample hot water for 3 showers daily plus other use. I put this down to excellent insulation, (water tank, walls and loft) double glazing, thermal insulated roman blinds at all windows and lined curtains behind doors. That may seem OTT to some, but we believe in 'belt and braces' method when it comes to keeping the heat in, and take every affordable route open to us.
As yours is a council house, you should already have good insulation but it's worth checking with them about the depth of loft insulation and whether the walls are cavity insulated. Both should be available free to you.
If your windows are single glazed, then making some insulated roman blinds (cost approx £20-30 for a 3 x 4 window) or buying the ikea black out roller blinds (about £12 each) will help enormously behind some thermal lined curtains (but don't cover the heaters if they're under the window). Also, thermal lined curtains at doors really help too. I go round the house late afternoon pulling all blinds and curtains to stop the cold coming in, or heat escaping. I know you will see all this as extra expense, but it's really worth it in the long run. And you'd be surprised how many curtains/blinds you could pick up on freecycle if you put a 'wanted' ad on it. People are very kind.

andyrpsmith

Be_Happy wrote: »

Maybe a quick calculation, but means nothing.

Storage heaters have thermostats like any other heater and cut out when fully charged. They do not run continuously for the full 7 hours.

Unfortunately Be Happy missed the point!

The quick calculation was to see the ball park cost of 5 storage heaters to compare with the quoted bill of £334

boysim34

we have storage heaters ( all electric ) so far this year we have used with 5 storage heaters and water

rate 1 267 units @ 15.35p = £40.98

rate 2 933 units @ 06.54p = £61.01

standing charge 18 @ 0.30 = £5.40

total £107.39 divide by 18 ( average ) £5.99

since friday that has shot up to over £7.00 per day

Richie-from-the-Boro

boysim34 wrote: »

we have storage heaters ( all electric ) so far this year we have used with 5 storage heaters and water

rate 1 267 units @ 15.35p = £40.98

rate 2 933 units @ 06.54p = £61.01

standing charge 18 @ 0.30 = £5.40

total £107.39 divide by 18 ( average ) £5.99

since Friday that has shot up to over £7.00 per day

5 storage heaters & hot water in a 2 bed flat is a lot of storage heaters and stored heat, even with 2 people in all day. Given the rising costs that's excessive, assuming 5 rooms each with permanent heat. That would still work out close to the current average E7 annual 'payment plan' of £75+ per month.