Economy 7 and Oil Heaters

bluebird1984

Hi,

I'm in a rental flat with old Storage Heaters installed (1990's), no gas, and I'm on NPower E7 tariff.

I hate these storage heaters but I can't change them. I don't want to have them switched on every night, and it's always the case that when I do want them switched on (After a weekend away for example), I have to wait until Midnight before they come on.

Also if I forget to switch them on then I sometimes have to turn one of them on manually in the afternoon on the more expensive rate (Which doesn't store heat, it just pumps it out).

A mixture of switching this heater on during the day and having to keep them on when I'm out of the flat has resulted in my bills being a bit too high that I'd like during winter. Looking at my bill it's clear that these storage heaters are using far too much electricity. I have a photo but I can't post the image here, showing 400+ kWh during January, feb and March, almost 50%/50% day/night, which then drops to under 200 kWh in April when the heaters are not used at all.


I want to use an alternative, what are your opinions on Oil Filed Radiators? I could just have the one and wheel it around between the bedroom and living room as required. Other than the 1 off cost, are they a good money saving way to heat the rooms of my house, at day or at night. I don't want to buy something that is going to get through more electric that the storage heaters.

thanks

Robwiz

To get a comfortable level of warmth in your flat will take a certain amount of kWh of energy. Whether you used storage heaters, oil-filled heaters, halogen heaters or convectors it will take about the same amount of energy.

Using night storage heaters you should benefit from cheaper electricity when used during the off peak hours. It's best to think about it in terms of switching them on to ensure tomorrow's warmth and comfort.

The other heaters may give you more flexibility if you run them at the cheaper night rate. I have had good results with the Glen skirting heater - use one of these on a timer for the last two hours of your cheap rate may be enough to warm your bedroom for getting up.

200 kWh of night rate electricity for heating isn't actually very much! That's an average of 7 kWh per day.

You could put your usage into the MSE Energy Club's comparison engine to see if it's worth changing to a supplier with a tariff that's better for you. npower is not usually one of the cheapest.

[Deleted User]

bluebird1984 wrote: »

I have a photo but I can't post the image here, showing 400+ kWh during January, feb and March, almost 50%/50% day/night, which then drops to under 200 kWh in April when the heaters are not used at all.

Certainly to me that seems cheap. Even with a heat pump here that can easily use 1500 units in one cold winter month. Ok we are very detached in the frozen north...

bluebird1984

Thanks for your replies. Coincidentally I've just received my updated bill for the last 6 months, and I'm £250 in credit! My monthly direct debit is now going down from £71 per month to £6 per month.

Day - 619 kWh at 17.110p per kWh £105.91
Night - 451 kWh at 5.390p per kWh £24.31
Standing charge of 6.840p a day for 177 days £12.11
VAT @ 5.00% £7.12
Total Electricity cost £149.45

This must be due to me not using the heaters at all during the day or night over the summer.

I'm quite surprised at the Day tariff cost of 17p per kWh, I was sure it was more towards the 12p mark! I'm on the "Price Fix April 2015 DD Economy 7" tariff. The difference between day and night seems much bigger than I remember.

Just because of it's convenience of switching it on and moving it around the flat, I think I will go ahead with the purchase of an oil heater. I'm getting the "De'Longhi Dragon 4 TRD4102ST Oil Filled Radiator" from Argos a little later today (£119).

Robwiz

Your night rate of 5.39p is pretty good, so in your shoes I would shift as much of my electricity usage as possible to the off peak hours.

It would be worth using a timer plug on your oil filled radiator to switch it on for the last few hours of the night rate to warm your flat up in the morning now that the overnight temperatures are falling.

matelodave

If I were you I'd start reading my meter a bit more frequently - at least weekly, recording the readings and getting an idea of what is using the leccy and when.

From this you'll be able to see what's cost effective and what's not - if you don't measure it you can't control it. If you wait for the bill it's too late, you've already used it and you'll have to pay for what's been used.

Bear in mind that 3kwh at the night rate costs less than 1kwh at your day rate so you need to maximise your night use and minimise it during the day or look for a better tariff.

Ectophile

bluebird1984 wrote: »

I'm quite surprised at the Day tariff cost of 17p per kWh, I was sure it was more towards the 12p mark! I'm on the "Price Fix April 2015 DD Economy 7" tariff. The difference between day and night seems much bigger than I remember.

Remember that if you're on E7, your night-time electricity is a lot cheaper, but your day-time electricity is more expensive than what everybody else pays.

You'd be lucky to get 12p/kWh even on a standard rate these days.