Help with a pensioners electric usage..

pigboy306

Thanks to all who read this and put their minds to helping me out..

My granny is 90 she is on limited means. She lives on her own in a three bed semi built in the late 80s. The heating is economy seven storage heaters.
Granny lives on her own, she doesnt have computers or sky or any equipment left on standby. She uses electric to cook. She only has a fridge/freezer on all the time.
I went in today and all the storage heaters are off. She plugs in a portable electric heater for a boost of warmth.

I looked at her last electric bill , she is with EDF at the mo.

The bill runs from 15/2/13 until 8/8/13 both reads are accurate.
On the day rate she used 2160 kWh on the night 4007 kWh, now this leads to a bill of £512.
I checked today and she has used a further 417kWh on the day and 545kWh on the night tariff.

I checked the timer next to the hot water cylinder and that is ticking around and appears to be working. She tells me she occasionally uses the boost. The hot water cylinder is huge far bigger than she needs but i believe a plumber lessened the amount of water it holds to cut the heating.

As it stands her electric bill was £84 a month mine is about half that but i have a family of four tons more gadgets and no economy 7. Ok i dont use electric to heat the house or water but it seems excessive use for a single pensioner.

The meter is a new digital type any thoughts please?

sheffield_lad

Hi there it sounds about right to me. Electricity is far more expensive to heat the home with compared with gas especially if she is using the portable electric heater over the storage heaters. Storage heaters are more expensive than gas but far cheaper (around 2/3rds), than the portable heater.

PS, don't forget it was a very cold spring with snow on the ground in March


GL

chanz4

Have to agree seems fine, quite good infact for all electric take into account she is home all day

houseimprover

during the winter would she not be better having the storage heater in the main room on economy 7 than using this fan heater.

To heat my room over night its 7 hours at 6p at 2.55kw an hour is £1.07 a day if I charge the storage heater to the maximum (which I don't, I normally only put input on 4 out of 6) and output is normally on 3 when I am in amd 1 when I am not.

Compared to a my electric heater which I use during peak time this is a 2kw heater at 16p per KW per hour I would get at best 3 hours worth of heat for the same cost with no variables.

houseimprover

I would say her cost of £82 a month is good to be fair, I pay £62 a month and goto work 50 hours a week.

Nada666

If she is turning off her storage heaters how is she still managing to use 50% at night?

You are really only spending £42 to heat and power your home? I doubt that - you are not including heating. £84 is not that high.

It is important she maintains heat in one or two rooms and reasonable ambiance elsewhere so as to not stop from moving. You should concentrate on making sure you encourage her to continue to heat her home and not worry about spending a modest amount on power. Persuade her to use the storage heating rather than the fire.

You should also ensure she is on the cheapest tariff - have you checked comparison sites? There are occasionally good deals for electricity only customers.

Also make sure she is claiming any means tested benefits - if she doesn't qualify then make she is spending her impediment on her comfort rather than saving it for an inheritance.

pigboy306

Thanks for the quick replies. I pay £42 for my home but not for heating.
Thanks for the reply on the storage heaters. I'll encourage her to use those than the numerous portable heaters she has around the place.

I think if we say turn on the heaters in the living room but keep the ones off in the spare rooms.

matelodave

It would be worth checking out her loft insulation and making sure she's got cavity wall insulation as well. At her age she could have both of these done for free and it does make a difference to keeping the heat in. It's probably not cost effective to have double glazing fitted if she hasn't got it already.

Using the storage heaters would be a much better bet than using a fan or convector heater all day especially if she only heats the rooms that she uses and keeps the others closed off and the heaters on a frost protection setting so the rooms don't get stone cold. Check that her hot water is only being heated during the night period so she gets the benefit of cheaper electricity, you could also turn the temperature down a bit - most people have their hot water far too hot. If possible she could run the washing machine overnight - a lot of them have a start delay timer if you could teach her how to use it.

I sorted my mum out with a couple of remote controlled switches so she could turn stuff on & off without having to get up or crawl round the back of things.

Ken68

You need to check that your Gran is getting the WFA £300 and possibly also the Warm Home Discount £120. Age UK or CAB should be able to help

PollySouthend

if she's getting the winter fuel allowance and warm discount, then that's about £7.50 a month or 25p a day.

Ken68

IF Gran is eligible she will get £300 plus at least £120 off an estimated £1024 fuel costs......£604 a year average £1.65 a day.
Plus free insulation etc.