Electric Wet Central Heating - bills!

racymutt

For the last week or so I have only been using my heating on the off-peak times expect for an hour or so on a saturday and sunday morning. I work full time so the off-peak times are actually at OK times for me, in between the afternoon and evening times at weekends when it can get quite cold i find things to do to keep myself warm (cleaning, a bit of exercise and general pottering about), to stop me putting it on, occasionally I will put my little electric fire on for half an hour. I only heat my water and do washing during the off-peak periods too, so I think i am doing all I can to keep costs down. The only thing I can tell you about my boiler is that it is a Heatrae Sadia Electromax.

Richie-from-the-Boro

E10 - wet

- just set up a DD for CAC and CAC is ± £100pm every month of the year
- get a paperless e-account, pay DD, submit monthly meter reads
- your energy provider will change the DD up or down according to your consumption at review

matelodave

It doesn't have a thermal store at all, it heats the central heating water when required just like a gas boiler - it looks as though its rated at 9kw.

The only way to make sure you keep your costs down is to make sure that you mainly use the heating during the off-peak periods and keep your hot water tank temperature down to 50 degrees or so and make sure it is only heated at off peak times (we only heat our hot water to 45 degrees).

Check that the timers & thermostats are properly synchronised to the off peak times otherwise you'll find it will cost a lot and use the boost setting very sparingly. It could cost up to £1.80 an hour to run on peak rate electricity (9kw at 20p/unit))

racymutt

The electrcian atatched a timer to the water heater but i simply cannot understand the instructions so I just go to the unit and switch the water on myself when needed. I don't mind having to do this. Also I have no idea how to adjust the thermostat on the boiler, the timer I have for my heating only controls the heating. There is a flow temperature dial on the front of the boiler but I think that controls the heat of the water through the radiators.

Cardew

As said earlier, you are paying 6p+ to 9p/kWh for off-peak and peak-rate from 16+ to 20+p/kWh plus a £69 pa standing charge.

You need to monitor, for a couple of weeks, just how much you use on Off-peak and how much on peak rate. It is then fairly simple arithmetic to calculate how much that consumption cost, and then how much both totals would cost at the cheapest 'normal' 24/7 tariff(probably between 11p and 12p/kWh)

Without any storage heating facility, you will be in bed for a good proportion of the 10 hours and at work for the afternoon boost?? So I cannot see that E10 is a viable proposition for a property without heat storage facilities.

racymutt

Morning Cardew, I understand it may not seem like the best option, but if I have the heating on during the afternoon the house is warm when I get in from work, then if it gets cold I can put it back on at the next off-peak time at 8pm, seems to be working out ok for me. Otherwise i'd be putting it on as sono I come in form work and it would probably be on for longer. And my shower (I don't have a bath) is heated by the main water supply, it's not electric, so I can heat the water at the off-peak time in the evenings. When I do get my bill i will work out based on my usage if a standard tariff would work out any better.

Thanks for your advice on this, you are clearly very knowledgeable on these things!

matelodave

It's probably not a good idea to wait until your bill comes in before you work out what you've used or how much it's cost - by then you've already used it and you might get a big one.
Keep track of your consumption, send a meter reading to your supplier once a month (put it in your diary to do on the 1st of every month) and hopefully you wont get any estimated bills and no nasty surprises. Make sure any estimated bills are corrected.

racymutt

I have been entering my meter readings online each week. I actually called my supplier last night to find out how much I have been using based on these reading and it come out at about £130.00, this is since I moved in in the first week of October, although i only had the E10 meter installed on 24th Oct, but I was assured the figure was form me moving and and not since I have that mater put in. She also told me that as I was making good use out of the off-peak times that I would not be better off on a standard tarrif.

Having said that my off-peak ready was 000416 and my peak reading was 000416, I guess I need to flip this round! I only heat my water on the off-peak times and apart from about 2 hours a week only use my heating on these times, I also only use my washing machine during the off-peak times. Obviously my other appliances and lights are more often used on the off-peak time, would this make a standard tariff more economical even though I suspect it is my heating system that costs the most?

racymutt

oops, I meant my peak rate reading was 000579!

Cardew

racymutt wrote: »

I have been entering my meter readings online each week. I actually called my supplier last night to find out how much I have been using based on these reading and it come out at about £130.00, this is since I moved in in the first week of October, although i only had the E10 meter installed on 24th Oct, but I was assured the figure was form me moving and and not since I have that mater put in. She also told me that as I was making good use out of the off-peak times that I would not be better off on a standard tarrif.

Having said that my off-peak ready was 000416 and my peak reading was 000579, I guess I need to flip this round! I only heat my water on the off-peak times and apart from about 2 hours a week only use my heating on these times, I also only use my washing machine during the off-peak times. Obviously my other appliances and lights are more often used on the off-peak time, would this make a standard tariff more economical even though I suspect it is my heating system that costs the most?

What kWh rates are you paying(E10 and peak) and your area.?