First House (Renting) Electricity Help

DalBag

Hello everyone, apologies for being the 1000th person to probably ask these questions, but I've confused myself so much by trying to find the answers myself and just need a few experienced people to hopefully help me out!

Firstly a bit of background info for you.

I've recently started my first proper job after uni which meant moving to a new town and renting my own place (with my girlfriend). We seem to have found our perfect little house to rent at relatively short notice. It's a one bedroom end of terrace property, and we managed to get it at the same rent as the flats in the area.

The house has only electricity and no gas so I'm hoping I can understand fully how it all works, since this will be our main utility bill. We are on Economy 7 and have easy access to our meter which is good. The supplier is EDF.

Now, onto where the confusion began, I apologise if this doesn't make sense but I'll try to explain it as clearly as I can! I noted down the meter reading from the day that I moved in, and sent this to the estate agent as they requested. This reading was 7th Jan 2014 1) 21367, 2) 14486. I then received a welcome letter from EDF asking to give them a call to sort out which tariff I would be on. I did this and and sorted out to go on the blue price promise and also gave them my meter readings just to make sure they got them.

I was given an estimate for the average 1 bed household of £212 every 3 months, but said to the woman that I'd be putting in a meter reading every month.

Anyway, I took a meter reading after I was paid on 25th Jan - 1) 21841 and 2) 14746. When I tried to enter this online the figures were the wrong way round. The rate 1 reading from my meter was in the '2' box on their site, and vice versa. I entered my readings how they were online and once my bill came I'd been charged the wrong way round, so I phoned them up and explained what had happened.

The woman seemed about as confused as me and asked me to check which rate I was currently on by looking at the meter, and the rate 1 was flashing which confirmed that it was the day rate and the wrong way round on the bill. So they've re-billed me with this the other way round and I've paid the difference.

This was the beginning of the confusion as I'm now not sure whether this is correct after all. I seem to be using an awful lot more rate 1 (day) electricity than rate 2. However neither me or my girlfriend are home until the evening and we have minimal electrical things in the house. We have 3 storage heaters (which should only use the rate 2 electricity), a TV, 2 laptops, oven, fridge-freezer, kettle, alarm clock and electric shower.

Here are all of the readings that I have taken so far:
7th Jan - 1)21367, 2)14486
25th Jan - 1)21841 2)14746
2nd March - 1)22837 2)15138
22nd March - 1)23213 2)15288
23rd March - 1)23241 2)15303

As you can see the rate 1 (day) is a lot higher than the night. And over the period of 24 hours we seem to have used 28kwH rate 1 and 15kwH rate 2. Overall that's 1874kwH on rate 1 and 817 on rate 2.

Now I would have thought that the main culprit of electricity usage are the storage heaters, so would have thought that this would make the rate 2 electricity usage higher than it has been? And as nothing apart from the fridgefreezer and an alarm clock is on during the day, then TV and laptops/phone chargers and the oven in the evening, I'm really confused as to how there is so much rate 1 usage.

I personally think either the storage heaters are constantly using power, or the meter readings were originally the correct way round, and now I've changed them the wrong way? As it's strange that they were the wrong way round to start with after presumably being entered initially by EDF?

Also our boiler/water tank has a nice big '7 Save it' and two electric wires going into it, so assume this is also designed to work with off peak night tariff like the storage heaters too.

Very sorry for the long winded post! I'm just convinced I'm paying far too much for our electricity. Any suggestions or further questions are extremely welcome. Thanks in advance!

GolfFoxtrot

Economy 7 meters will have 2 readings as you already know, one will be a low cost for 7 hours per day and it's often used for those who have storage heaters.

Our storage heaters and water heater are wired into a desperate circuit which only becomes active for those 7 low rate hours. If it's a new build maybe you could check your consumer unit (fuse box) as we have two clearly indicating which is on the low rate circuit.

Looking at your readings over a period of one day 22nd / 23rd March, you seem to be using much more electricity that I'd expect for someone in your situation. We use around 4 KWH during the day and around 20-30 KWH on the night rate.

1) Have you checked the clock on your meter is correct?
2) Have you taken readings during the day over a 3 or 4 hour period to check which reading is increasing?
3) Some storage heaters have a switch to make them opperate during the day on the peak rate - have you also checked this? Ours is labelled boost

Gratis

Welcome to the MSE forum and congratulations on finding a nice first home of your own. I wish you (both) much happiness in it.

Others here can advise you more specifically in regard to the intricacies of Saver tariffs and living with them. The whole thing is a minefield and it all revolves around the times of day and night at which you will be in the house and able to utilise the electricity supplied.

My own suggestion to you is that you should consider carefully whether Saver is actually right for you to continue with and whether you should consider switching to a conventional tariff instead.

That's something you should discuss with your landlord as it involves a meter change.

Good luck with sorting it out!

[Deleted User]

Hi,

DalBag wrote: »

The woman seemed about as confused as me and asked me to check which rate I was currently on by looking at the meter, and the rate 1 was flashing which confirmed that it was the day rate and the wrong way round on the bill. So they've re-billed me with this the other way round and I've paid the difference.

says here that rate 1 is night rate,

Electronic meter

Your electronic meter always displays the charging rate currently in use – Rate 2 during the day and Rate 1 or Economy 7 at night. Please write down the rate showing and submit it with your reading.

Whatever way readings are, you seem to use a lot during the day, considering both out.

Is the water heater on a timer and set to come on during cheap rate?

Richie-from-the-Boro

Why, with night store space & water heating appliances and tariff would someone wish to switch to a non-night store tariff and be left with :

- no water heating
- no room heating
- costly rewiring and consumer replacement
- and all this in a rented property which would be illegal

We know that the O/P is with EDF on the '2014 blue price promise' tariff which depending where in the country they live is :

- 17.92p day rate
- 6.26p night rate
- 18.90p daily standing charge

We know nothing of the general insulation in the dwelling or of their ability to properly use night store heating particularly the need to keep the damper completely closed, nor do we know if their night store heating has a 13a daytime top-up at day rate facility controlled by thermostat. An estimated £212 every 3 months is ludicrously low for the winter-time and should be closer to £330 every 3 [winter] months. I would have expected the water cylinder to have 2 pairs of thick wires going to 2 separate thermostats / elements and a dedicated water controller. Taking your own reading immediately and changing tariff immediately and submitting relentless monthly meter readings are good things to do.

GolfFoxtrot

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

s a 13a daytime top-up at day rate facility controlled by thermostat. An estimated £212 every 3 months is ludicrously low for the winter-time and should be closer to £330 every 3 [winter] months

I don't think you can say that without more info, I only spend between £15-20 a week on electricity in a 2 bed flat during the winter months with electric only for heating and hot water.

wakeupalarm

DalBag, go take a meter reading now. Then take a shower, do some ironing or run the washing machine and go read the meter again. The reading that has gone up is the daytime rate (unless your doing it during the night of course in which case its the nightime rate).

DalBag

GolfFoxtrot wrote: »

Our storage heaters and water heater are wired into a desperate circuit which only becomes active for those 7 low rate hours. If it's a new build maybe you could check your consumer unit (fuse box) as we have two clearly indicating which is on the low rate circuit.

Looking at your readings over a period of one day 22nd / 23rd March, you seem to be using much more electricity that I'd expect for someone in your situation. We use around 4 KWH during the day and around 20-30 KWH on the night rate.

1) Have you checked the clock on your meter is correct?
2) Have you taken readings during the day over a 3 or 4 hour period to check which reading is increasing?
3) Some storage heaters have a switch to make them opperate during the day on the peak rate - have you also checked this? Ours is labelled boost

Thanks for the suggestions, I hadn't though of checking the fuse box. There are 3 separate boxes next to each other. One with all the main lights, cooker, plug sockets, immersion heater and surprisingly the bedroom heater! Now I was convinced that this was a storage heater, but looking at it it doesn't have the same input/output dials as the two downstairs. I've had this off at the plug since yesterday so I'll see if that makes a difference. The other fuse box has the two downstairs heaters and immersion heater - which I assume is the rate 2 circuit, although there isn't anything on the boxes to show which one is on unfortunately. The third smaller box is underneath and says electric shower on it.

One of the downstairs storage heaters has an 'input' dial a 'room temp boost' dial (both on the top) and a little dial with 1-7 on the front which seems like a thermostat. You can hear the heater click on when turning this front one higher. The other heater only has an 'input' and 'room temp boost' dial on the top.

The number 1 on the dial is currently flashing and has increased since I've been home, so pretty sure that is the day reading. I'll have a look at the weekend to see when the rate 2 kicks in.

Just some other strange observations that I've made around the house. The main storage heater downstairs has 2 plugs going into it, whereas the other two only have one? Also the boiler/water heater cylinder has two plugs going into it. I assume this means that it is always on? One plug for each of the rates? Is it worth switching this off when we aren't going to be using hot water? As we both only use the shower in the mornings anyway and this is a separate electric one. We then wouldn't need hot water until the evening when we do the washing up.

DalBag

[Deleted User] wrote:

Your electronic meter always displays the charging rate currently in use – Rate 2 during the day and Rate 1 or Economy 7 at night. Please write down the rate showing and submit it with your reading.

Whatever way readings are, you seem to use a lot during the day, considering both out.

Is the water heater on a timer and set to come on during cheap rate?

Also, it looks as though turning the bedroom heater off may have made a difference. My readings today (about 5 or 6 hours later than I did yesterday, so well over 24 hours) are 1) 23255 and 2) 15319. So only used 14kw in the day and 16kw over last night. So finally I've managed to use more night rate than day!

Also it's worth noting that the other 24 hour reading I took over 22nd and 23rd of March was over a weekend, so we were both home all day pretty much.

I'm convinced that the water heater is on all day, even though it says 7 on the front of it. As looking at the fuse box it has a fuse in both of the boxes.

DalBag

Sorry to keep posting but another thing I've noticed with our main downstairs storage heater (with the three dials) there is a light on the front which is currently on as I type, so surely there is some power going to it now from one of the plugs? Doesn't seem right if it's on the rate 2 circuit. But it is labelled on the smaller fuse box with the other storage heater.

kerri_gt

I recall when we were in a elec only flat that our hot water tank had two switches, one for Econ 7 and one for on demand, the LED on the on demand would come on when switched on so check that isn't running constantly.

Our storage heaters also had two switches at the wall, one was for Econ 7 and the other was a boost / on demand that powered the heater immediately. Again, the led on the switch showed if it was on. Should be simple to test, turn one on, crank the dial up and in a few mins you'll feel heat coming out...this is your boost. Turn this off and only use it if / when it gets really chilly. We barely used ours with a proper setting on the night heat and the flat was well insulated.