Electric only property

PRINCESSX87

Morning all.

I’m looking for some advice on the best way I can save money on my electric. We have prepayment meters on a electric only property. With EDF. Currently we’re putting on at least £20 weekly. This is to also cover a debt at the rate of £3.10 weekly.

We never use the electric heaters. And our boiler heats up at night. (Sorry not sure of its proper name)

Our house is a one bedroom property.
All appliances are new. The only thing I can think of that’s using a awful amount of electric is the boiler of an evening.

We’re told that we’re paying minimal for electric and not to change, However, Something is telling me that we can make savings else where. BTW, I’m a complete newbies with this, So haven’t got a faintest whether I have given you the right information for the question.

Many thanks in advance.

penrhyn

Presumably you mean your immersion heater which heats the water in your Hot water tank. It will have a thermostat so make sure you are not overheating the water, not more than 60 degrees.

The tank needs to be insulated to retain heat. Even if it has sprayed on insulation its a good idea to lag it with an extra cover.

Are you on an economy 7 tarrif?


PS Most Immersion heaters are 3Kw, so if you are heating the tank for say 4 hours a day that would be up to 12 Kwh@ 20p/Kwh say £2.40 a day.

sniggings

how long are you heating the water for? an hour would probably be enough for your hot water needs.

You need to get to grips with the tariff you are on, what is the day rate what is the night rate, can you find cheaper by switching, Uswitch is about the best site to use to check.

Remember you will have the debt coming off and a daily standing charge, which will be about 26p a day so another 1.82 a week, £4.92 a week before you even use any electric.

Then you need to start checking how many units a day you are using, check your meter every 24 hours, you will start to see what the big electric uses are, if you have your cooker on for 3 hours one day and not the other you will see how much that has saved you. Then you can choose what to cut back on.

Sounds like you are either leaving the hot water on far too long, or you are using showers, the cooker or some other big appliance a fair bit as your usage is not that high but for £20 a week you should be able to have the heating on, maybe you will need to up it to £25 in these colder months, especially as you are paying the debt off.

knightstyle

When we were in a similar situation we only switched the immersion on for one night in three. So we would shower on day 1, just wash on days 2 and 3. We used the kettle to heat water when we needed it if the hot tap ran cold.

PasturesNew

knightstyle wrote: »

When we were in a similar situation we only switched the immersion on for one night in three. So we would shower on day 1, just wash on days 2 and 3. We used the kettle to heat water when we needed it if the hot tap ran cold.

I'd do this.

If you know you'll be washing up using a boiled kettle of water (or 2), it sharpens the mind a bit about how you stack the dishes, how you cook, what you cook and what you use.

e.g. just one simple thing is that I only use one mug - ONE mug .... no grabbing a clean one. Use one and rinse it out in cold water.

sniggings

knightstyle wrote: »

When we were in a similar situation we only switched the immersion on for one night in three. So we would shower on day 1, just wash on days 2 and 3. We used the kettle to heat water when we needed it if the hot tap ran cold.

heating a tank of hot water is not that expensive, I can heat mine in one hour, it stays hot all day, costs about 40p-50p if that, think it was 30p last time I checked.

PRINCESSX87

Thanks for the advice so far.

We have never touched the immersion it was set up to heat up during the night hours. I’ve heard it in the past starting around 1am.

Should we adjust this some how?
We’re good at keeping on top of most things, Therefore, We do normally reuse the same tea / coffee cups ect.

Thanks, Will also look at uswitch.

JC_Derby

im not an expert, but I don't think you will be allowed to switch if you have an outstanding debt.

Dunroamin

How often do you run the washing machine and do you have a tumble drier?

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

JC_Derby wrote: »

im not an expert, but I don't think you will be allowed to switch if you have an outstanding debt.

People with Prepayment meters can switch if the debt is under £500. Those with credit meters can have their switch blocked if they owe as little as £0.01.

Richie-from-the-Boro

our boiler heats up at night

#2 penrhyn's question, if you are on an E7 tariff with cheap overnight electricity for room heating and water heating, answer penrhyn's question. The overnight full tank of water would cost about half the price per kW. The E7 radiators also cost about half the price per kW, not using them would seem cheaper, but you must be using some form of alternative electric heating at twice the price per kW.

Should we adjust this some how

It, the space and water heating, is out of your control, other than manually switching it off and on you can not adjust.

an hour would probably be enough for your hot water needs

#3 sniggings, an E7 cylinder would in one hour only heat a small 20% of the water for washing up quantities only, the E7 cylinder is very different from a non-E7 cylinder, any unused hot water is well insulated and will stay hot in the cylinder for 24 hours and not use much electricity to bring it back to 60°C the next night. The first full tank full of hot water is cheap on E7, the subsequent other 364 nights of the year full cylinder full of hot water is even cheaper. An E7 property would almost never have a 'direct fed' shower but would instead be fitted with an electric shower.