£3,160 annual electric bill - HELP!

kuler

This is a complicated one, so a challenge to you moneysavers out there in the know! (think it might take a qualified Sparkie!):

My girlfriend's parents rang up in dispair the other day, having just received their latest electric bill, so I promised I would go 'round and have a look to see what the story is. Their situation is this:

0.5. I worked out they have used 43410 kWh units over the year and have paid £3,160!

1. They live in a (now 3-bedroom) house that's been converted from 2 cottages into one, and as a result, has 2 seperate incoming 100A supplies, on different phases.

2. They do not have mains gas and they have night storage heaters (totalling around 25kW)

3. Their hot water comes from 2 cylinders (one from each of the original cottages) and is heated by immersion heater (single, top-mounted element on each) which they have on permanently

4. They are on NPower's "Supertariff domestic", which NPower can't even seem to give me a consistent explanation of, but has one meter on economy 7 rates (supplying eveything apart from the heating) and another one that the night storage heaters are connected to, which (as far as I can gather) supplies electric to heaters for 5 hours between 12-7 and 2 hours between 1pm and 5pm

5. They only have a couple of ns heaters on between May and September

6. The electric will quite often trip when using the shower. Should add:
One 100 amp supply feeds both one bank of NS heaters (12.8kW of heaters = 56A) and the meter for all other electrics
The other 100 amp supply feeds the other bank of NS heaters only (12.5kW of heaters = 55A)


q: WHAT TO DO DO SAVE THEM MONEY?!

Here's what I've tried already:

A:First thing I did was look at switching supplier. Comparison sites don't use this seemingly out-dated tariff, but worked out they would have been £600 better off with Scottish Power on Economy 7 tariff. BUT they said they would have to treat as 2 seperate meters (therefore 2 standing charges) and even before they would do this, I would have to get NPower to rip out the meters that are in and provide 2 seperate Economy 7 meters before Scottish power could take us on. Is this the usual case?

B:Fitted timers for their immersion heaters. I need to know how long it would take for a 3kW immersion heater to heat up a 120l cylinder for them to have a bath though. I've assumed 2 hours?

C I've told them they should get more loft insulation (currently 150mm)

D I've told them to keep windows and doors shut (changing their habits will be the hardest thing!)

How do I go about finding out how much it would be to get mains gas to the house? How much would such a heating system cost?

[ok, bored you enough now]

Any answers to my questions would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,
Kuler.

Stompa

kuler wrote: »

0.5. I worked out they have used 43410 kWh units over the year and have paid £3,160!

Are you sure they've really used that much? It's roughly equivalent to using 5kW 24 hours a day, 365 days a year - which seems a hell of a lot!

anniecave

what is the split between the different amount of units (ie how many units on each of the peak and offpeak on the normal meter and how much on the storage heating)? How much are the units being charged at for each?

kuler

Yes I am sure this is the amount: 25kW worth of night storage heaters on for 7 hours a day through the winter!

Split up as:
27691 units 'heating' @ 5.07p per unit (ex VAT) = £1404 x 1.05 = £1474.20 inc VAT

1957 units 'night' @ 4.21p per unit = £82.39 x 1.05 = £86.51 inc VAT

13762 units 'day' @ 21.68p per unit for first 728 units, 10.48p per unit thereafter = (£157.83 + £1,365.96) x 1.05 = £1,599.98 inc VAT

Remember: this is a funny metering system (NPower 'supertariff') where the night storage heating is on one meter and the 'rest' of electricity usage on another economy 7 type meter.

I await your thoughts with anticipation.......

Kuler

Stompa

kuler wrote: »

Yes I am sure this is the amount: 25kW worth of night storage heaters on for 7 hours a day through the winter!

Presumably they do have thermostats though, so wouldn't have been going flat out for the full 7 hours?

kuler

Well, it's night storage heaters, so I'm assuming they 'charge' fully. I've worked it out as:
27691 units heating over 365 days = 75.87 kWh per day (over 7 hours per day, averaging 75.87 / 7 = 10.8 kW ave)

cannycat

Hiya, I bet you will find out the problem is the storage heaters, particularly if they're the old, stupidly bulky variety. I've lived in 3 houses now with these energy eaters and my electricity bills have always been hideous (averaging over £100 a month for a 1-bedroomed flat and STILL having to make extra payments in the winter of anything from £75-£150 every couple of months). So I suppose if you're looking at a property 3 times the size of an average 1-bedroom flat (old-style, made of bricks and mortar, not spit and cardboard!) then £3K sounds possible if rather high...

These horrible heaters are the most useless form of "heating" ever devised, IMHO. I monitored how many units these monsters eat each night, by taking a reading before the so-called "cheap rate" in the evening and then again in the morning, and 1 heater uses over 13 units per night. If you have 3 heaters you are looking at 3 heaters then that's at least 39-40 units per night; multiply that by your average 3 months and that's a lot of units!

A nice helpful meter reader from the local company told me about a different tariff (called Warmwise or Economy 10) which has helped get my bills down as it at least means that I have SOME cheap power during the day - don't know if it's worth asking NPower if they do something similar? Not all companies do this tariff, though,and I know from my sister's experience that NPower are not exactly the easiest of companies to deal with. Good luck!

kuler

Thanks Cannycat

The tariff they're on is similar to an economy 10 and does include an afternoon boost at the 'cheap rate' for heating only. And yep, as I've calculated below, it's averaging 75 units per day!

Does anyone know how I would go about getting mains gas to the property - do I ask NPower or British Gas or what? It seems the only way forward.

THanks,
Kuler

The_Muller

It depends where the property is. I suggest you start at http://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/Gas/Connections/domestic/

irnbru_2

kuler wrote:

3. Their hot water comes from 2 cylinders (one from each of the original cottages) and is heated by immersion heater (single, top-mounted element on each) which they have on permanently

Now they are on timers, what temperature are they heating to?

Do they need 2 immersion heaters?

kuler wrote:

6. The electric will quite often trip when using the shower.

An electric shower?

kuler wrote:

How do I go about finding out how much it would be to get mains gas to the house?

See this document.

kuler wrote:

How much would such a heating system cost?

How old are they, there may be grants available.

alan99_2

Hi

Dont know if this will be helpful but without studying the details if we can keep it simple.

Depends on your parents house insulation and where in the country and how many rooms they need heated at same time.

4 rooms lets say. one electric convector heater needed. 0.75 kw , when really cold boost it to 1 or 1.25 kwh. say 13 hours a day . less in summer.
say 11p a kw. so about £2,087 pa.
Plus hot water 3kw for 1 hour per day , another £120 pa.

That to me is the max , only 2 rooms heated then bill above about £1,000 pa , plus w/machine. Low energy bulbs. Maybe an idea to buy a plug in energy usage checker to check output of gadgets but heating will be main culprit.

PS are you on cheapest provider ? Have you looked around . 21 pkwh.for first units. Seems absolute robbery. Ebico charge about 10p all units ,depends on area.

IMHO

Alan