Mum's Electric Bills are Massive

Richie-from-the-Boro

misscousinitt wrote: »

Hi All

I hope that someone on here can help and I hope I have posted on the right forum.

My Mum and Dad have always suffered from massive electricity bills for as long as I can remember.

Dad never wanted to do anything about it and paid between £800 and £1400 per quarter!!!!!

Dad passed away a couple of months ago and now I am on a mission to get the bills down.

Mum has just received a bill this morning for £284 for the last 31 days! (The meter had been read).

A bit of background:

The house is large (5 bedrooms). It has 30 year old storage heaters, they use halogen heaters for warmth - not all the time now granted (dad used to have his on 12 hours a day - but he was ill and felt the cold even in the summer). The water is on a emmersion system. They are on economy 7, standard tariff with N Power. My brother lives with my Mum as up till now he was Dad's full time carer.

Now, I have done a comparison and N power have the best deal to fix with at the moment - but I was wondering whether it might be best for them to come off economy 7 being that most of the electric is used during the day now.

Mum switched the storage heaters off when dad passed away and they haven't been on since - but one morning she felt one of the heaters and it was warm - maybe there is a fault?

She wants to change the heaters, but won't have gas! My boss has a suggestion of some very efficient electric heaters from Germany which I am looking into.

Can anyone tell me if I am heading in the right direction? Can anyone tell me if Warm Front Grants are means tested?

Mum will be in fuel poverty if she isn't careful.

Cheers in advance for any help anyone can give me.

MCI

- the storage heaters would cost on average 30-50% cheaper per kW less than the price of the halogen heater at 5-6p per kW
- the storage heaters would cost on average 30-50% per kW less than the price of the German heater at 5-6p per kW
- a halogen heater will cost 2-3 times the price of a storage heater
- a German heater will cost 2-3 times the price of a storage heater
- night rate is about at 5-6p per kW
- the Halogen / German 13a day rate
- area code dependant your mum will be paying 20+p for the first kW and 10p+ for the next if she's on a quarterly bill

£284 for these last 31 days is astronomic but unsurprising especially for a 5 bedder, old AP's get cold and stay cold and a badly insulated house would be uber expensive even with the most up~to~day gas central heating. Her current circumstance heating water with on-peak immersion again under insulated will merely add to her costs.

Get your mum registered with her leccy & water company as a vulnerable customer. If your mum spends more than 10% of her after-tax income on fuel to maintain a satisfactory heating regime, usually 21 degrees Celsius for the main living area, and 18 degrees Celsius for other occupied rooms she is classed as in fuel poverty and can access many schemes that will offer help. All the big6 suppliers have such schemes.

Read this > thread < where someone recently went through the same thought process, what you read were her well considered decision process & outcomes.

NOTE : You need to give the group some ideas about her current tariff - what it it, what it [Name it] costs per kW. What brand and model type these German [Name it] heaters are. I suspect your mum needs to spend any spare on insulation, not new heating of any kind especially infra-red which will cost thousands to install, more thousands to de-wire and get rid of the old and merely add to her running existing costs

Blackpool_Saver

Would she consider moving? or if not could she take some equity out and install a modern gas system?

misscousinitt

Thank you everyone for your comments.

I am sorry I have been AWOL.

Couple of things:

1. The storage heaters are currently off altogether.
2. Have spoken to mum about getting new windows and other insulating ideas to make the house warmer.
3. We are then going to discuss heating.

Not know what to do about the heating makes it difficult to change her deal and fix at a lower deal - I say this as I think that she should come off economy 7 as the the E7 componant of the last bill was just £12!!!

I don't think she will entertain the thought of moving this soon after Dad passing away.

Will look into some more options with the heating.

In the meantime, weather is warm and there is NO extra heating on - lets see what the meter readings are on 21st July then I can work out what the bill will be.

Thanks everyone again. Will update soon.

MCI

Richie-from-the-Boro

misscousinitt wrote: »

Thank you everyone for your comments.

I am sorry I have been AWOL.

Couple of things:

1. The storage heaters are currently off altogether.
2. Have spoken to mum about getting new windows and other insulating ideas to make the house warmer.
3. We are then going to discuss heating.

Not know what to do about the heating makes it difficult to change her deal and fix at a lower deal - I say this as I think that she should come off economy 7 as the the E7 componant of the last bill was just £12!!!

I don't think she will entertain the thought of moving this soon after Dad passing away.

Will look into some more options with the heating.

In the meantime, weather is warm and there is NO extra heating on - lets see what the meter readings are on 21st July then I can work out what the bill will be.

Thanks everyone again. Will update soon.

MCI

- now is the time to do it !
- if your mum is in receipt of DWP's 'guarantee' pension credit she can reduce her bills by hundreds per year
- if your mum is in receipt of DWP's 'guarantee' pension credit she can have a free gas central heating system installed
- get your mum on a much cheaper monthly e-account with DD and on the best tariff for her