Storage heaters and hot water please help

sassysessy1

Can anyone help.

Having moved into a farmhouse cottage in rural Scotland 4 months ago. We have no mains gas and have only electricity so our heating and water are all electric. We have just received our first quarterly bill which came in at just short of £800 for the last 3 & 1/2 month. We don't understand where we are gig wrong. we only have the 2 storage heaters on as we know they're expensive. I do not understand our hot water. we cannot find or access our water heater. we literally have a control panel that says timed or off and has a 2Hr dial timer for boost. Should this be on at all times and will just heat the talk overnight. we have been doing this and usually have enough water to last until tea time and then its Luke warm water or boiling the kettle from then on. we have a 6 month old baby and are bow sitting freezing cold and wrapped up in blankets because we cannot afford £240 budget plan offered by our supplier. Please any help would be really appreciated.

tberry6686

first thing to check is if you are on an e7 tarriff or equivalent (E10 etc).
Storage heaters are not that expensive to run if used properly and on the correct tarriff. The heaters should be set for the required input overnight and the other dial (cant remember it's name) set to 0 or 1 overnight and only opened up a bit when you need the extra output during the day.
Check how much insulation you have in the house as this can make a big difference to your heating requirements.
The hot water boost should only be used if you really need to and the water heating should be on timed so it comes on with the storage heaters at off peak times only.

If your storage heaters have a built in convector heater then make sure it is off unless you really need it as this will run on the peak rate electricity and will be expensive.

Your water heater will be built into the hot water tank.

knightstyle

Good post tberry6686 I would add double check your storage heaters do not have the boost flap open all the time, turn them down and use them for background heating. Check the water heater is on the time switch and only comes on when you have cheap electricity, your supplier will give you the times. Do not use the water heater boost, shower in the morning and heat water with a kettle if you run out of hot water.
We had one of the storage heater switches changed for one with a little indicator light so we knew when we had cheap electric and would put the washing machine on when it was on.
Remember that anything that heats air or water uses a lot of electricity.

sassysessy1

Thanks for everyone's replies. We are really struggling with this. We are finding the storage heaters are the problem. The hot water is set to timer and we believe this is just heating the tank overnight. I only have 2 of 6storage heaters switched on and according to our meter reading we are using an average of 45 units a night. Scottish power have estimated that this will equate to a monthly direct debt of around £240. We are freezing but are gonna have to turn the heaters off. We simply cadnnot afford. to pay this uch and this does not include the bill already accrued of £800 fprnthe last quarter. I have a 6month old daughter and do not know how we are going to manage the cold

Nada666

sassysessy1 wrote: »

I only have 2 of 6storage heaters switched on and according to our meter reading we are using an average of 45 units a night. Scottish power have estimated that this will equate to a monthly direct debt of around £240.

Not true. 45 night units would cost about £100 per month. And that is only for a month with heating. Adding on non-heating usage and averaging over a year the consumption is nowhere need £240.

You have to strip out the cost of the debt from the cost of ongoing usage. 45 and more units overnight is a reasonable and affordable usage. There is no need to not use the heating.

Stevefromdonny

Are you on an ECONOMY 7 tarrif? Sorry for caps, but this is dead important. ECO7 units cost about 3-5p, normal is about 15-20p.

It might be worth getting an electrician in to check that your system is functioning as it should be, and that your heaters are wired onto the right circuits, on the right side of the eco7.

AndyPK

Is there a timer for the heaters?

Post some pictures of your meter etc and fuse box and surrounding bits

Nick_C

You said you moved in 4 months ago. Are you sure the meters were read correctly when you moved in?

We are all electric. 2 bed flat, 3 storage heaters, we pay £117 per month. I often put the immersion heater on in the day if I want a bath. I try to use the washing machine during the E7 hours. I occasionally use a fan heater if its really cold. Mind you, I'm on the south coast, and I'm sure its much colder where you are.

Have you bought the property? Can you afford to install oil fired central heating? It would probably pay for itself in the long term.

Stevefromdonny

There are several ways in install storage heaters, and there have been cases where they can "charge" during the day (their thermostat will allow them to charge as long as there is power to them and they are not fully "charged" so it is really important they are on some kind of timed supply that co-incides with your cheap rate tariff. This is usually done by having a seperate fuse board for the heaters and immersion that is powered up by your supplier via a time switch next to your meter - this time switch also switches the meter to cheap rate units.)

An electrician will be able to tell you if your heaters are set up right, and depending on the area this might cost you £100 or so for an hour or two's inspection. If in doubt, upload some decent photos of your meter(s), teleswitch/timer, showing all the thick cables near the meter and teleswitch, your fuse boards, and any controls on and near the heaters and immersion themselves. I might be able to help you with this, I'm pretty clued up on this kind of thing.

By the way, Scottish power recently "estimated" my DD at £107, but I worked it out at £81 (based on figures THEY supplied!). I phoned them and they changed it to £81 without arguement.

By the way you can upload photos here using your facebook id: www.photobucket.com (other photo upload sites are available)

Just to add, 45 units a night is the equivalent of two 3kw heaters running for around 7 hours plus a bit (fridge/standby use). So I'm guessing this is what you have on at the moment. As someone said, given the heaters are the biggest consumer in the house, your direct debit shouldn't be so high.

Lets say you had all 6 heaters on, average 2.5kw, charging for 7 hours a night (as per the usual spec), and the immersion (3kw), which will probably only run for 2 hours a night. This comes to 111kwh per night. This will cost you £5.55 per night (at 5p/kwh). This is £166.50 for a month (in the depth of winter of course- assumes the highest useage possible). Then add on usual electronic appliances and washing etc, at about £20 a month. Fag packet calcs (6 months of heat, 6 months without) tell me your annual should be about £1240 = £100 a month. You will probably add onto that with evening heating (when the storage heat has all gone).

Something tells me your heaters are running when they shouldn't.

Be_Happy

Stevefromdonny wrote: »

Lets say you had all 6 heaters on, average 2.5kw, charging for 7 hours a night (as per the usual spec), and the immersion (3kw), which will probably only run for 2 hours a night. This comes to 111kwh per night. This will cost you £5.55 per night (at 5p/kwh). This is £166.50 for a month (in the depth of winter of course- assumes the highest useage possible). Then add on usual electronic appliances and washing etc, at about £20 a month. Fag packet calcs (6 months of heat, 6 months without) tell me your annual should be about £1240 = £100 a month. You will probably add onto that with evening heating (when the storage heat has all gone).

I really must come in here before you completely panic the OP. Storage heaters do not use power the whole time they are on overnight. They have a thermostat.


In my case I have 6 storage heaters - total kw = 15.35. I also have immersion heater, dishwasher, occasional washing machine, etc on overnight and my January nightly average use was 48 kw, so nothing like your calculation for the OP. I've always kept a spreadsheet to check usage and overnight average has never gone above 60 kw.

lstar337

Be_Happy wrote: »

I really must come in here before you completely panic the OP. Storage heaters do not use power the whole time they are on overnight. They have a thermostat.


In my case I have 6 storage heaters - total kw = 15.35. I also have immersion heater, dishwasher, occasional washing machine, etc on overnight and my January nightly average use was 48 kw, so nothing like your calculation for the OP. I've always kept a spreadsheet to check usage and overnight average has never gone above 60 kw.

Very true Be Happy, I'm averaging about 28kWh/night this month, and that is with:

1x 3.4kW Storage heater (input level 6)
2x 2.5kW Storage heaters (input levels 6 & 4)
1x 1.7kW Storage heater (input level 5)
1x 90L hot water tank with 3kW element (set about 58c)
1x 600W Dehumidifier (continuous mode)
1x Tumble drier (occasionally)

+ Various electrical junk.

So unless you live in a leaky tin shack, the heaters will not be taking a 7 hour charge.