Desperate for some help/advice

MacCoinnich79

Good evening,

I recently moved into a new property with an economy 10 meter. I understand how this works and what times of the day the cheaper rate runs at so I have my heating set to come on and off again to comply with these times and my immersion for one hour in the morning again during the allocated times.

For now I am living alone and out at work for between 8 and 12 hours a day with a weekend off every fortnight. The only appliances that i have running constantly while I am not at home are the heating system, the fridge freezer and the broadband router.

When I am at home which is usually after 6pm I will have the TV and Sky box on, a light in the room I am occupying at the time, the laptop. The kettle might go on two or three times, I will cook a meal and i usually do my laundry once or twice a week. I can't think of anything else that would be consuming energy.

However, despite being what i consider a low user. I am paying £160 a month with Scottish Hydro PAYG. I have monitored my usage over the last month and have worked out I am spending between £4 and £6 a day but there have been days this has jumped to as as high as £8. When I spoke to Scottish Hydro they were of course pretty uninterested and instead of offering to look into it, did some maths and worked out that since I have been a customer based on what I have spent and the number of days it is actually only working out at around £2.5 a day. My main concern is that in 3 weeks time my girlfriend and daughter will be coming to live in Scotland with me. As my g/f will be at home every day for the first while I know that the consumption is going to increase which will inevitably mean the cost will increase. i can't justify this in my head though and I believe something must be wrong. As I am paying so much now if the usage doubles then I can expect to pay double which is impossible. I am in a 2 bedroom, mid terrace house.

The heating is a wet system using a Santon Solar Premier Plus boiler which I guess is for the hot water. The heating is an electric boiler with radiators throughout the house and a thermostat. The boiler has three cells attached to the side, two have a thick wire running from the cell into a plug socket which are both on and the third cell has a small thin wire which i think runs into a programmable timer that is screwed shut so I have never tampered with it.

The heating boiler also has a switch which is on at all times. These are the only two things I can think of that are causing the large bill. Or I have a problem with the meter or electrics.

Can anyone help? Please

Rebecca_Palmer

Hi, i'm sorry to hear about that. I think, you should have your meter or electrics check to be sure and safe also.

lstar337

MacCoinnich79 wrote: »

The heating is a wet system using a Santon Solar Premier Plus boiler which I guess is for the hot water. The heating is an electric boiler with radiators throughout the house and a thermostat. The boiler has three cells attached to the side, two have a thick wire running from the cell into a plug socket which are both on and the third cell has a small thin wire which i think runs into a programmable timer that is screwed shut so I have never tampered with it.

The heating boiler also has a switch which is on at all times. These are the only two things I can think of that are causing the large bill. Or I have a problem with the meter or electrics.

Wet electric heating is the most expensive form of electric heating bar none. If it is on all the time it is most certainly what is gobbling up your electric.

Can you post a picture of your strange wiring setup?

If the boiler is on all the time then you need to find out how to get it on a timer and make sure the timer matches up with the off-peak periods of your E10 tariff. Sounds like somebody has made a pigs ear of it all. Sadly, if somebody has bodged it this way then it is likely that the E10 periods are not enough to sustain a sensible temperature.

Do you know what your insulation is like? Do you have an EPC certificate?

Pincher

At 15p per kWh, £4 is 27kWh.
At 10p per kWh, £4 is 40kWh.


40kWh a day for winter, including hot water, does not seem excessive.

amtrakuk

Something doesn't sound right.... If you are on Off-Peak then isn't your off peak between something like 11pm and 6am, maybe an hour in the daytime? If so then what I am confused at is why you have a electric powered wet central heating system. Wet CH systems have little to no heat storage capacity to them. So, either you'll only get heating during off peak periods (between midnight and 6am) and maybe a burst for an hour throughout the day. OR your running the central heating during peak hours which will cost you about twice as much a single rate meter.

From what I understand, if you have an off-peak electric tariff then you should be using storage heaters (or a heating system with a heat storage capacity) else your burning electricity at twice the cost of a single rate setup.

As the previous member suggests the boiler and heating system needs investigating. On the face of it it sounds like the heating boiler is on 24/4 relying on the thermostat and NOT conforming to the off-Peak tariff. The elements to the wet CH system also sounds dangerous. when I had my thermal store installed I was told the regulations say they should be properly hard wired earthed to the fuse box NOT a 13 amp socket - even if it's on it's own spur from the fuse box.

Sounds like a classic cowboy installation. Get it checked out by a qualified electrical engineer who is used to Off Peak tariff setups

As a rough guide I'm in an all electric 1900s solid wall end tarrace, no gas and on single rate and my whole house bill is £90 a month

amtrakuk

10-15 units a day during summer.
20-25 units a day Autumn/Spring
25-40 units a day for a Winter.

On a side note to the OP. If your a new customer and have just moved in (Winter) you will have NO credit built up so you will be paying the true cost. Only when spring and summer has arrived although you'll be paying £160 (Or less by then), by the time next winter comes around you will have the credit in your electric account so this will offset your DD.