advice to avoid another cold winter

macman

treeze wrote: »

I admit I did not know it was possible to change to a single rate tarriff-I'm new to living alone.I guess I don't put my water on late at night as I'm probably asleep:Dand surely it wouldn't be as hot when I want a bath the following evening? As I say I only have it on for about 3 hrs a week anyway its mainly weekends when I'm homemore that I need warmth-I can understand storage heaters are cheaper but surely as they're on for 7 hours a night regardless of whether I suddenly find next day I am out 10 hrs and dont need them if I have a radiator on daytime for 2 or 3 hours it works out cheaper at about 20p an hour? I haven't had my quarterly bill yet it's due soon but my Nov one was about £110.

You may or may not require a meter change to come off E7-your supplier can tell you. If not, it's about £60 for a meter change.
A properly lagged hot water tank will certainly keep hot all day, and any slight heat loss warms the house anyway-it's not 'lost'.
You have a very unrealistic idea of what it costs to heat, light and power a home-the average dual fuel bill is now over £1250. £110 (all electric) for a winter quarter is tiny. Even if you had the heating on all year, that would be only £440pa.
Since E7 cheap rate is a third of the cost of standard rate, it would cost the same to run them for 7 hours, as your panel heaters for 2hrs 20m, assuming the same rating. But the storage heaters have a much greater output, so it's not a valid comparison.

macman

Same point again-you cannot heat a property properly in winter for £8 a week!

penrhyn

I have a small 3 bed, mid terrace, never heat it to more that 19c just got the winter quarter gas bill £170 for around 4000Kwh.
That amount of electricity would cost around £590.
Thats over a period of 16 weeks, so £10 / week for gas , or around £36 / a week for the equivalent electricity.

treeze

I should think about halfthe flats here are owned by Freebridge Council-perhaps the tenents get benefits to help with bills?-I can't be sure and a good number owned and rented out.I think a few owned have fitted secondary glazing as so much heat is lost that way. I don't qualify for any benefits I don't think-I work just a few too many hours and work hard as I want to pay for myself.I bought the cheapest flat I could find! I expect I am unrealistic but that comes from worrying about the future and finances I guess. I manage to food shop on an average of £20 a week.:eek:My tank is just a tank in the bathroom cupboard,it has no lagging or timer or anything. Wish the storage heater in the living room was slimmer-its about 25 years old and I've got my couch in front of it or I couldn't get all my furniture in.

penrhyn

Get yourself a cylinder jacket, cheap as chips.

http://www.wickes.co.uk/british-standard-cylinder-jacket-42x18in/invt/210203/

macman

I think you need to spend more on both food and heating...£2.85 a day on food is not conducive to good health!

treeze

Just to update-rang my supplier about changing to a single tarriff and she worked out roughly speaking my bill is £360 for the year and would be about 340,so only a saving of about 20 a year and then they'd charge me to come change the meter so really not worth the hassle. Will look into insulating of some kind next year and a jacket for the boiler:)

macman

What percentage split is that calculation based on?
Why wait until next year-it's still winter for a while yet? Fitting a proper tank jacket costs a tenner and takes 10 minutes. It loses heat all year round otherwise. Loft insulation, half a day if required.
You could have it all done by the weekend.

penrhyn

Don't understand why OP does not get the knobs on the storage heater fixed.
Cylinder jacket should be done Now! Carpe Diem.

luvchocolate

plenty of good advise on here on this subject.
I have storage heaters, out at work all day lovely warm flat to come home to, plenty hot water £45 a month direct debit.

I really think we should have a sticky on storage heaters many of us are confused by myths.
the experts on here put me right!! many thanks