High electric cost in 1 bed flat

lstar337

rogerblack wrote: »

I find it dissapointing that this sort of technology is not available under the green deal. It could slash carbon outputs.

Pretty sure ASHP's are.

They were suggested to us along with some others (solar water heating, solar pv, and log burners), as low carbon extras that we could get to gain credits from the government.

sniggings

lstar337 wrote: »

Where is the OP?

I can't see anywhere near enough information in this thread for anybody to give any sound advice.

Come on OP, help us to help you.

We need real informationabout the property, and some daily reads of the meter, some info on lifestyle, and some feedback on what you are willing to try.

Then we can move forward.

I was being to wonder myself.

[Deleted User]

sacsquacco wrote: »

In my experience of visiting hundreds of thousands of homes , when someone is exceeding the average usage by such an amount its because one of the couple needs heating on constantly because of some disability or other and lowering the usage is nt an option. If this is the case then the next best option is to somehow or other make it an imperative to get off the expensive prepay tariff and on to the cheapest possible supplier. He certainly is nt at the moment when I can see a 20% reduction in getting his tariff changed

If the OP is running his heating as you describe it would be pretty obtuse to start a thread asking why the bill is so high.

sniggings wrote: »

you are making a lot of assumptions, he says a one bedroom, so to you that is small? it could well be but it could also have high ceilings, be a massive open plan penthouse with all glass walls etc etc, basically a one bed tells you very little, apart from the fact it has one bedroom.

My point is, he either has a very large flat, or he is using a lot of power on other stuff he has failed to tell us about, as clearly he is using quite a bit on something he is yet to mention, or his heater is on 24/7.

Hard to say whether it's a lot until we know more about his usage.

I can not afford to use heating atm but my gas usage is still £10 a week, what with the standing charge and pilot light being nearly £4 a week alone, the rest is for cooking and hot water.

My electric is on the bare minimum as well, another £10 a week, again standing charge of nearly £2, £8 on the rest, again no heating, so sorry but I do not agree with these figures we keep hearing of the average bill being £1400 or what ever it is, mine is £1000 for very little use at all.

This is why I say the OP's bill is not overly big, as he does use heating so a bill of £1485 is not so bad, and again we still do not know what else he uses, he could have a room full of reptiles, with heating lights or a sea water fish tank etc

How many penthouse flats do you know with a prepayment meter and an occupant who is worried about paying the leccy bill?

My total bill is only £1064 (13500kWh gas, 2750kWh elec) for a largely uninsulated three bed semi, and my experience tallies reasonably well with the Ofgem stats I've linked to twice on this thread already.

You're trying to tell me that £1000 pa is reasonable, but on this thread you said that you're using 9kWh/day, which would be £478 pa on my tariff.

If you're paying £1000 for a one bed flat with no heating then there's something badly wrong, unless you're just being obtuse and not telling us that you've got a sea water fish tank or something.

sniggings

jack_pott wrote: »

If the OP is running his heating as you describe it would be pretty obtuse to start a thread asking why the bill is so high.



How many penthouse flats do you know with a prepayment meter and an occupant who is worried about paying the leccy bill?

My total bill is only £1064 (13500kWh gas, 2750kWh elec) for a largely uninsulated three bed semi, and my experience tallies reasonably well with the Ofgem stats I've linked to twice on this thread already.

You're trying to tell me that £1000 pa is reasonable, but on this thread you said that you're using 9kWh/day, which would be £478 pa on my tariff.

If you're paying £1000 for a one bed flat with no heating then there's something badly wrong, unless you're just being obtuse and not telling us that you've got a sea water fish tank or something.

my point is on the size of the flat, no one knows until the OP gives more details, same with usage, to claim a bill is high based on the details we have is jumping the gun slightly.

As for my usage, I have given loads of details, not sure what heating etc I can run on £10 a week? as said before, take off the standing changes, gas pilot light cost (around £2 a week, you are not left with anything for heating, £6 for gas and £8 for electric a week.

I will be grateful if you want to run a few figures to show how I can run any reasonable gas boiler for a week on £6! oh and cooking costs to come off there too.

£8 for the electric a week after SC again I would be grateful if you can run some figures to show me, after cooking, washing machine, TV etc is paid for, how what's left can run a heater for a week.

The difference between my £1000 bill and the average is around £400, considering gas is mainly used for heating only in the winter months, £400 will go a long way it 3 months, £1000 and £1400 might not sound that far apart but they are when you realise your usage is condensed into maybe 3-4 months.

Where do I say I live in a one bed flat? again assumptions, I have a 2 bed flat, not that it makes that much difference as the heating is turn off in the 2nd bedroom, so if the heating were on it wouldn't matter.


oh no fish tank, would love one though.

rogerblack

lstar337 wrote: »

Pretty sure ASHP's are.

They were suggested to us along with some others (solar water heating, solar pv, and log burners), as low carbon extras that we could get to gain credits from the government.

The grants are only available if you have them professionally installed by a MCS registered fitter, and then only if the house is already insulated, as I understand it.

The first requirement increases the price a _lot_ - and the second makes it impossible. (For me)

lstar337

rogerblack wrote: »

The grants are only available if you have them professionally installed by a MCS registered fitter, and then only if the house is already insulated, as I understand it.

The first requirement increases the price a _lot_ - and the second makes it impossible. (For me)

Yes sorry, I misunderstood. You certainly would have to have it fitted by a GD provider.

[Deleted User]

sniggings wrote: »

I will be grateful if you want to run a few figures......

I can't really fathom what your budget is, £1000pa? £10pw?, £8pw?, £6pw???? What are you using and what are you aiming for?

Anyway, you say you're using "No heating, cooker on for an hour, TV for 4 hours, fridge, pc, 1 light 17w and freesat", so based on that I reckon you should be able to run those on about 1000kWh pa. (I've listed my appliances, and they average a total of 2750kWh pa.) Lets be generous and allow you 1200kWh pa.

I'm using 13500kWh of gas pa for my 3 bed semi, so lets take 75% of that for your 2 bed flat: 10125kWh.

I haven't noticed you say where you are, but for my Essex postcode that consumption will cost you £698pa by quarterly bill from First Utility, and £633 from Spark by monthly DD, according to UK Power.

(Regarding flat size, I know we don't have as much info as we'd like, so the question is whether you make sensible assumptions or silly ones. People who live in really big flats are usually rich enough not to have to worry about paying the fuel bills.)

sniggings

jack_pott wrote: »

I can't really fathom what your budget is, £1000pa? £10pw?, £8pw?, £6pw???? What are you using and what are you aiming for?

Anyway, you say you're using "No heating, cooker on for an hour, TV for 4 hours, fridge, pc, 1 light 17w and freesat", so based on that I reckon you should be able to run those on about 1000kWh pa. (I've listed my appliances, and they average a total of 2750kWh pa.) Lets be generous and allow you 1200kWh pa.

I'm using 13500kWh of gas pa for my 3 bed semi, so lets take 75% of that for your 2 bed flat: 10125kWh.

I haven't noticed you say where you are, but for my Essex postcode that consumption will cost you £698pa by quarterly bill from First Utility, and £633 from Spark by monthly DD, according to UK Power.

(Regarding flat size, I know we don't have as much info as we'd like, so the question is whether you make sensible assumptions or silly ones. People who live in really big flats are usually rich enough not to have to worry about paying the fuel bills.)

I think I have made it quite clear what my figures are, so for you to say you are confused is daft..

Poor people can also live in big flats/houses, they are not all bedsits, the poor are also more likely to have old boilers and badly insulated homes.

Again my point is, until we know more details from the OP to claim their usage is high is not taking into account his what s/he uses.
You claim it's high, so therefore the OP must be using it on something? lets have the details, if s/he comes back and says their flat is massive, they have to have a dehumidifier on for 8 hours a day, have a new baby so the washing machine and dryer is on 24/7 we could then say for the usage they are doing, their bill is reasonable.

If the OP listens to you and others they will go away (think they already have) and think they have a gas leak or something, better for them to understand where their money is going, as from the OP they seem to only think that a 1200w and halogen bulb are the only thinks that can rack up the bill.

[Deleted User]

sniggings wrote: »

I think I have made it quite clear what my figures are, so for you to say you are confused is daft..

Poor people can also live in big flats/houses, they are not all bedsits, the poor are also more likely to have old boilers and badly insulated homes.

Again my point is, until we know more details from the OP to claim their usage is high is not taking into account his what s/he uses.
You claim it's high, so therefore the OP must be using it on something? lets have the details, if s/he comes back and says their flat is massive, they have to have a dehumidifier on for 8 hours a day, have a new baby so the washing machine and dryer is on 24/7 we could then say for the usage they are doing, their bill is reasonable.

If the OP listens to you and others they will go away (think they already have) and think they have a gas leak or something, better for them to understand where their money is going, as from the OP they seem to only think that a 1200w and halogen bulb are the only thinks that can rack up the bill.

The OP is using 10165kWh pa, which is in the TOP quartile, and over half as much again as the median. You can argue until you're black in the face, but the fact remains that for whatever reason his consumption is HIGH!!!!

Factors like dehumidifiers etc etc may explain where his electricity is all going, but they don't prove that his consumption isn't high. Gas leaks don't explain anything in an all electric flat.

The OP says his flat is "very small", and wants to know if 10165kWh pa is "normal". Er, no it isn't. If we take the mode as normal, then that will be lower than the median , which itself is only 6600kWh pa, and even that figure is for all homes not just small ones.

As for your own figures, they're as clear as mud:

"not sure what heating etc I can run on £10 a week? as said before, take off the standing changes, gas pilot light cost (around £2 a week, you are not left with anything for heating, £6 for gas and £8 for electric a week."

Where's the £6 gas going if it's not heat? My water's half that. My two pilot lights each cost about 58p/week. £8 after S/C will buy you around 3500kWh pa, which must be nearly three times what it takes to run the few appliances you have listed. Is the £10 your target for the whole bill or just heating?

If I can run a bigger house with more appliances on the same amount as you're spending you must be going wrong somewhere, so I don't know what makes you think you're in a position to offer energy saving advice to others on the forum.

Trebor16

I moved from a 1 bedroom flat nearly 8 years ago to a 3 bedroom detached house. I just worked out my annual energy comsumption and it came to 3208 kw of electricity and 10281kw of gas. The annual cost was £980 for a house shared by my wife and I. The OP's usage seems very very high, based on what I use now and what I used to consume in my old flat.