Electricity Usage

Jessicarabbit1982

Hi All,

I'm trying to work out why on earth my electric bill is so high. We have for the last 12 months been paying £50 per month but have just had a letter from SSE saying they are going to start taking £191 a month instead! (We pay £50 a month for gas also but seem to be in credit).

I am trying to be really frugal with the electricity at the moment but am starting to wonder if this could all be down to underfloor heating? Does this tend to consume a massive amount of electricity or is it unlikely to be causing too much of a problem? We only have it in the conservatory but we use this room as a playroom for the kids at the moment so it is on a timer. I'm thinking if it could be this using a massive amount then we can stop using this room and move the toys to the dining room instead.

Cannot afford to be paying £191 a month for electric so need to make some changes!

Thanks!

sniggings

From less than £20 a week to £45 a week I would say is a big jump.

You would get better help if you know what your usage is, how many units you use a week/month and also say what company you are with.

If you have a debt with them, this will raise the amount, as some make you pay the debt over a short period, BG I think it's 6 months, so you would be paying for your usage plus your debt, so it can get very expensive.

Sounds to me they have estimated your winter usage and have based your payments on that, as said if you say who you are with and what tariff someone will be able to tell you what's going on.

penrhyn

If you are using electric underfloor heating you are not being frugal.
http://www.thermogroupuk.com/electric-underfloor-heating-running-costs

Cardew

Any electrical heating that is not at off-peak rates on an Economy 7 tariff is very expensive, and that includes under-floor heating. Also a conservatory normally has very poor insulation so will lose a lot of heat.

The £191 a month is presumably to pay off a big debit balance by the Spring.

If you own the house, it would be worth getting the CH extended and a radiator put in conservatory.

sniggings

Cardew wrote: »

Any electrical heating that is not at off-peak rates on an Economy 7 tariff is very expensive, and that includes under-floor heating. Also a conservatory normally has very poor insulation so will lose a lot of heat.

The £191 a month is presumably to pay off a big debit balance by the Spring.

If you own the house, it would be worth getting the CH extended and a radiator put in conservatory.

those figures hardly explain a £191 a month bill though, OP said a conservatory which I guess is not 25m squared,, even if you take the highest figure from your link, it's still less than a fiver to run the underfloor heating for a week.

Cardew

Wasn't my link.

However the highest figure from that link is £3.60 a day - £25 a week(£110 a month)

Obviously we don't know the size of room, standard of insulation and time the OP has it switched on.

Also assuming he has run up a big debit balance, 'The Computer' algorithm assumes that he will carry using that amount all winter, and as it will get colder adds in that to the calculation, and of course to pay off the debit balance - A triple whammy!

Of course there may be other reasons for high consumption, but electrical under-floor heating is bound to be a big factor.

sniggings

Cardew wrote: »

Wasn't my link.

However the highest figure from that link is £3.60 a day - £25 a week(£110 a month)

Obviously we don't know the size of room, standard of insulation and time the OP has it switched on.

Also assuming he has run up a big debit balance, 'The Computer' algorithm assumes that he will carry using that amount all winter, and as it will get colder adds in that to the calculation, and of course to pay off the debit balance - A triple whammy!

Of course there may be other reasons for high consumption, but electrical under-floor heating is bound to be a big factor.

those figures are per day, so £0.45p for a 25m squared (how do you do the little 2?) so that's only £3.15 a week.

Jessicarabbit1982

I think I need to look at it in more detail. I have to admit to being a bit lazy with it all to be honest.

We moved in, gave meter readings and just paid their suggested amount by dd. never really bothered to look at bills so got a shock when this letter came through. There must be a big debt outstanding for this jump to happen. However we have only lived here for just over 12 months so I'm not sure still how we are using all this electric.

Sorry for being really daft but what would tend to be the worst thing for usage? I just guessed at the underfloor heating as we've never had this in any other house before but also have never had bills this high.

Thanks.

sniggings

heating, water, washing machine, showers are more expensive than you think, dryer, dish washer, plasma, depends what you have really, dehumidifiers are expensive to run.

Maybe list all your electric stuff.

dogshome

With a12 month history, your Elect account covers 1 and a bit winters, all of which required extensive use of that expensive underfloor conservatory heating - If the family life style can stand the change, turn off that underfloor heating.

Your new £191 D/D has been set to recover the accumulated debt, probably over 12 months - Turning off the underfloor heat will help, but your supplier doesn't know that until they are issueing lower bills, so if the £191 is straining the family budget contact SSE and negotate a lower debt re-payment figure over a longer term

matelodave

Start reading and recording your meter and you'll soon get an idea of what is using the leccy. Try turning the u'f off for a few days and see how much your consumption drops.

There's a better than even chance that the conservatory floor isn't insulated so you are probably losing as much heat downwards as you are in heating the space above it. It might be nice and cosy underfoot but it's a very expensive way to heat a conservatory, especially this time of the year.