Expensive bill for an electric boiler.

nwrighty

I moved into a one bedroom flat all electric in August, and have just received my first bill with N Power which they have said is £912.00!!!!

They are saying the reason that it is so high is due to me having an electric boiler.

I have the heating on timer as I work all week so obviously the heating and water are off for most of the day. I have it on for an hour and half in the morning and approx 4hrs in the evening with it being winter months.

Does anyone know anything about Electric boilers ? Does this seem high ?

N Power are saying an average gas house uses on average 15kwz a day but I am using 58Kwz !!! Even though I am not there.

Any advice would be appreciated as at present I am scared to use heating!

HappyMJ

5.5 hours of heating using 43kWh of heating is quite normal @ 8kW each hour. You could use convector heaters instead which each run at 2 or 3kW each but you would only have 1 room warm at a time.....but it would cut your usage in half.

Wywth

Surely you were not using your boiler for 5.5 hours a day in the middle of August when we had temperatures over 30 degrees? :huh:

Take regular meter readings and keep an eye on your usage via iMeasure

http://www.imeasure.org.uk/

sheffield_lad

nwrighty wrote: »

I moved into a one bedroom flat all electric in August, and have just received my first bill with N Power which they have said is £912.00!!!!

They are saying the reason that it is so high is due to me having an electric boiler.

I have the heating on timer as I work all week so obviously the heating and water are off for most of the day. I have it on for an hour and half in the morning and approx 4hrs in the evening with it being winter months.

Does anyone know anything about Electric boilers ? Does this seem high ?

N Power are saying an average gas house uses on average 15kwz a day but I am using 58Kwz !!! Even though I am not there.

Any advice would be appreciated as at present I am scared to use heating!

Yes it will more than likely be an Aztec 8-11kw so 43-50 units over that time. The best thing to do is get on the cheapest tariff you can find or if you don't like switching ask npower to put you on there cheapest tariff which will be dd online.

GL

macman

This system of heating is always very expensive, since electricity on standard rate is about 3 times the cost of gas per kWh.
Landlords of course favour it because of the low maintenance costs, and no need for annual safety certification.

nwrighty

Thanks for the Advice. I have switched to a lower tariff with an alternative company as N power said I was on the lowest with them.
I just wanted to know if it sounded correct before I pay my huge bill:(

I have got some heaters now and will try and cope with these for the time being. Hopefully the weather will start to get a little warmer.

Thank you again for taking time out to reply.

macman

But electric heaters will cost you exactly the same to run per kWh output...

Wywth

macman wrote: »

...Landlords of course favour it because of the low maintenance costs, and no need for annual safety certification.

Whilst it is true that there is no mandatory requirement for a safety certificate if its not gas, I think the maintenance costs are probably on a par with a gas based system.

Afterall the wet side is essentially the same, and most faults with a gas boiler are usually electrically based. I don't know the reliability of a electrical boiler, but I know I've had to replace numerous electrical immersion heaters in my time.

I don't think any LL would opt to put an electrical wet sytem onto any rental property (with the exception of possibly the top of the range and gas not being available)

Cheapest to install and maintain is electrical night storage heating.

A wet based system is more controllable, but even then I think a LL would go for a gas based system (if available) if they wanted to go to the expense of installing a wet based haeting system. The £50 annual CP12 charge could easily be recovered in the improved letting potential of a property offering gas based central heating. (less than £5 per month)

Ecodave

Did you get an EPC prior to agreeing to take the tenancy? If so, what sort of rating did the flat get?

nwrighty

No I wasn't shown an EPC, I am a little annoyed with the rental company as when I viewed the property I asked about the Electric Bills as previously rented a flat with electric wall heaters so was aware they were expensive and didn't want them again.
I was told because it is an electric Boiler and radiators it would be about the same as an apartment with Gas/electric to run.
Naively I took his word for it but turned out cost more then the wall heaters in my previous flat.

I have just been using halogen heater but it is not ideal and the flat isn't double glazed so it is so cold but will just have to cope until the contract is up.

HappyMJ

nwrighty wrote: »

No I wasn't shown an EPC, I am a little annoyed with the rental company as when I viewed the property I asked about the Electric Bills as previously rented a flat with electric wall heaters so was aware they were expensive and didn't want them again.
I was told because it is an electric Boiler and radiators it would be about the same as an apartment with Gas/electric to run.
Naively I took his word for it but turned out cost more then the wall heaters in my previous flat.

I have just been using halogen heater but it is not ideal and the flat isn't double glazed so it is so cold but will just have to cope until the contract is up.

I'd keep it for the summer if it's a nice flat and move before next winter. Next time look for gas central heating or storage heating, double glazing and well insulated.