Electricity costing a fortune!!!

lstar337

HappyMJ wrote: »

You are the OP...the Original Poster...lol..you'll get used to all these acronyms soon.

You ave 6 storage heaters...right..that's too many. You DO NOT need them in the bedrooms so turn them all off. The bedrooms are unoccupied during the day and in the evening it's cheaper to use a convector heater for half an hour to take the chill off than have a small amount of remaining heat from the storage heater. You can leave the convector heater or an oil filled heater on low all night. It'll be cheap to run as it'll mostly use the E7 hours.

The immersion heater should only be timed to run during the 7 hours at night usually sometime between midnight and 7am. Your area may be slightly different check your meter...the supplier may not even know your hours as all areas are different.

With your storage heaters do you have them set correctly. The output should be set to the minimum setting all the time. Then when you are in the room you turn them up and more heat will be released..wen you leave the room you turn the output right down.

Do you use any convector, oil filled, halogen or bar heaters around the house? They can be expensive but used for up to an hour a day it's cheaper than a whole night of storage heating when you may not be able to use the heat.

Any storage heaters in the hall? Turn them off..not needed...close the door to the lounge and keep the heat in. If you have thick curtains keep them closed as much as possible. Remember to air the house out every now and again.

Lots of good advice above.

I would like to add to it though.

In the bedroom - We found after an experiment, that all that was needed was an electric blanket on the bed. Ours is 50W per side (so costs virtually nothing to run at cheap rate), and it is soo toasty in winter time.

As above, the water heater only needs to be on during cheap rate. Not during the day. Check the insulation on your tank though, and boost it with an old quilt if you have one. (Do Not cover the Immersion inlet though, that could be a fire risk.

Trap as much heat in as possible, concentrating on the windows. Long, thick curtains are great! and we also found that cheap roller blinds from Argos keep the air off of the window panes. They were £8 each for us, and have saved us loads!

You really need to check ASAP if you are on Economy7/10, if you are not, your are paying way over the top for electric.

HappyMJ

bimbo82 wrote: »

Oh thanks!!!!! LOL!

Right the problem is that the house is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cold! We are doing all we can to improve it and make it warmer. We found out last year that the extension part of the loft had not a shred of insulation in it, so my husband made a loft hatch and we filled it with that! We had an internal door as a back door which has now been replaced. But I still think it is going to be cold as I don't think it has any cavity wall insulation! The hallway does need the heater as the front porch is poorly built and there is like a gale forced wind that comes through there in winter and at times it was colder in our hallway than outside. Our dining room and bedroom both have wooden floorboards which are really gappy and let cold air up which is why we have them. It is just so hard.

Yes we do have them on the correct settings one of our electrician friends showed us how to use them. Obviously we have had all the heaters turned off since the weather got warmer in June time which is why our bill is reasonable this month.

Sorry I seem to have just thrown negative comments in to all your fantastic advice, I didn't mean to x

No problem at all...my advice..move. It's a money pit. If the landlord can't be bothered insulating the place properly then you will always be spending a fortune heating it. I wouldn't worry if the hall is colder than outside. You are only passing through the hall for a few seconds so just put up with it.

Although cavity wall insulation doesn't save much... It'll make little difference. Maybe £10 per month less.

lstar337

bimbo82 wrote: »

But I still think it is going to be cold as I don't think it has any cavity wall insulation!

Loads of houses don't. Our flat doesn't even have a cavity!
I doubt it makes much difference tbh.

bimbo82 wrote: »

The hallway does need the heater as the front porch is poorly built and there is like a gale forced wind that comes through there in winter and at times it was colder in our hallway than outside.

Well that is a major issue. Why don't you stop the gale force draught, rather than try to heat it? I expect that heater is running flat out for the whole 7 hours because the thermostat is reading all that cold air!

bimbo82 wrote: »

Our dining room and bedroom both have wooden floorboards which are really gappy and let cold air up which is why we have them. It is just so hard.

Silicon sealant. Just squidge it in and let it dry.

Sounds like there are some easy improvements you can make.

victor2

If your electricity meter gives two or more readings (or you have more than one meter), and both change, then you almost certainly have Economy 7, or some variation of it. Check on your bills, it should say what you have. With 6 storage heaters, you should be on Economy 7 and they should be set to charge up overnight on the cheaper rate electricity, but release the heat when it is needed during the day/evening.

You should be able to see on one or more of your bills what your annual usage has been in kWh split by something like day and night usage.
Depending on how your house is wired, you may find that all electricity used in the "cheaper" Economy 7 seven hours is at a lower rate than other "daytime" use. These hours are typically midnight to 07:00, but can vary and also depend on how it is controlled. You should set your immersion heater timer to be on during the economy 7 hours. A well insulated tank will retain that heat for daytime use.