Night storage heater expensive to run?

Miami

Hi,

I moved into my new flat on 05/12/14 and registered with EDF Energy the same day, gave them an opening meter reading and was offered their Blue+Price Promise April 2016 E7 fixed tariff, which I accepted as it was cheaper than their standard tariff. My first bill was dated 20/12/14 and was £19.82, this was based on a meter reading I submitted to them. I was pleasantly surprised at how low it was, since for those two weeks I was using my night storage heater AND a portable heater I'd borrowed from my dad which he told me was "very, very expensive to run". However, I stopped using the portable heater before Christmas as my aim is to keep the bills as low as possible. I was away visiting my mum for five days at Christmas and have just returned from a week and a half house-sitting while she's in hospital recuperating an operation. During those absences, I left my night storage heater running because a) I have cats and they would have frozen to death without heating and b) my building has a condensation problem and I have slight damp caused by condensation due to the lack of heating in the flat when it was empty. I didn't want to turn off my heating and risk aggravating the damp.

I submitted my meter reading yesterday (21/01/15) and this month's bill is £36.48 :eek: In between 20/12 and 21/01, I bought a new washing machine and chest freezer (both rated A for energy) and have only used the washing machine three or four times on a Quick Wash in the last month due to being at my mum's, and although I was expecting the bill to be a little higher from this, I wasn't expecting it to be almost double the previous bill even though I've stopped using the portable heater. I'd completely understand the bill amount if I was actually living in my flat for the entire month and using the washing machine, cooking food, putting lights on etc but I haven't been. The only thing I can think of is that my night storage heater (which is brand new, according to my landlord) is expensive to run despite being set so that it generates heat during my Economy 7 night hours (which are cheaper) and releases it during the day.

I'm not sure if this is a normal amount to pay, since this is the first time I've had electric heating, but I'm considering keeping my night storage heater on for the next two weeks, then turn it completely off, record my meter reading and use ONLY my portable heater for the following two weeks to see which one works out cheaper. I'm wondering if any MSErs who have "been there, done that, got the t-shirt" has any other suggestions on what could have caused the high bill? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

tberry6686

How many KWH did you use during the month ?

£36 for an all electric flat during winter appears at first glance to be pretty low.

How many storage heaters are there and do you know their rating ? 2, 3 Kw ?

Miami

According to my bill, in the past 32 days I have used:

Day: 28 kWh @ 16.63p
Night: 386 kWh @ 6.30p

I was away for 15 of those 32 days. There is only one night storage heater (although there is an additional 17-year-old heater in my bathroom that I refuse to use) and I don't know how many kWh it uses as there was no instruction manual -- had to Google the name on it to find out instructions on how to adjust the temperature when I moved in. As for "pretty low", I work the late shift so my "evening" relaxing after work coincides with my Economy 7 hours, so watching TV, cooking food, using lights etc costs less. My father lives in a different flat in the same building and works days, so his TV, food, lights etc costs more, yet he's also with EDF and pays approximately £50 a month... :think:

tberry6686

That usage still seems pretty low all things considered. The night usage is the highest (as it should be with E7) and fits with your work/rest patterns.

As for your father does he have storage heating ? The heating and hot water is where most of the usage will be so if he has the same heating system as you I would expect his bills to be higher but not by very much.

When you do the maths then you are using ~13 kWh per night which is not a large amount for heating, hot water etc. Remember we are at the time of year when your heating will be working the hardest and using most power, in summer you won't have the heating on so will probably drop to 2-3kWh per night.

It looks to me that you are being quite frugal with your electricity use (for the time of year).:)

[Deleted User]

Hi,

I would agree with the above.

Your first bill £19.82 for 15 days, next £36.48 for 31 days, so steady usage, even though you were away during the second period.

The 'very, very expensive portable heater', will be expensive if on 24/7, but you say your 'evening' usage is during the E7 period, so you benefit from the 'cheap' rate, and the 'very, very expensive portable heater', will be thermostatically controlled, so not on constantly.

What you should have done when away was to turn your heater down to a comfortable setting, enough to keep the chill away.

As already said, when your heater is off your E7 usage will be low.

Have you thought about going on monthly DD, idea being you pay the same amount each month, though you will have to keep your eye on things, take a monthly reading, and monitor usage/cost.

Miami

He has a night storage heater which is a different make from mine, but works in the same way. According to my lettings agent (who manage other flats in the building) all the flats do.

Frugal?! :eek: I haven't been particularly careful about how much electricity I used this month -- accidentally left a light on for 14 hours during the day last week -- so it'll be interesting to see how much my bills are once I'm fully settled into a routine and start watching the pennies

Oooh -- just noticed on my bill that EDF are estimating my annual usage at:

Day: 545 kWh
Night: 1,106 kWh

I can't understand where those numbers have come from? Based on this month's bill, the day estimate is too high and the night estimate is too low. Is it possible they've used previous tenants' / the landlord's bills to calculate my usage?

tberry6686

They may well have used previous bills to the property to estimate usage but will more likely have based it on the typical usage in that type of property. But remember that your usage is not typical so these estimates will be wrong. Also during the summer you will use much less electricity at night (no heating on) so this will affect your usage.

Contrary to popular belief lights do not use that much power. leaving one on for 14hrs will probably cost less than 10p.

For not being frugal with use, you are keeping your bill down pretty well. :T

Miami

The "very, very expensive portable heater" is not thermostatically controlled. It's a basic plug-in-wall-and-emit-heat type of heater -- and it can't be left unsupervised while I'm at work etc due to the fire risk.

My heater has five temperature settings, #1 to #5 -- I'm on #3, tried to turn it down to #2 to keep the cost down and found that while the temperature was find in the morning, it was chilly in the afternoon and my teeth were chattering that evening (my day off work). Needless to say, I turned it back up to #3. As stated in my first post, I have cats and I didn't want to leave them in a freezing flat while I was away.

EDF did offer me a DD option but then there is the question of what my monthly amount should be. I've also heard stories about them suddenly changing the DD amount without notice, particularly after readings are submitted. As the DD date they offered is a few days before my rent's paid, I'm a little worried about taking that risk.

Miami

There should be two types of estimate: one that assumes the bill payer works or resides in the household during the day and uses most of their energy in the day and evening, and one that assumes the bill payer is a night owl. Life (and budgeting) would be much simpler then

Thank you! Just trying to use common sense where possible -- put jumper/dressing gown on when feeling chilly instead of turning up the heating, etc.

luvchocolate

Hi I have 2 storage heaters, about 25 yrs old, at the moment input set at 4, at work during the day and use washer on timer during the night.
I pay by dd £65 per month and last April got a refund of £300, did not want to lower dd rather not have to worry about it.
The wall fan heater in kitchen and bathroom are never now used,
used the bathroom one for 10 mins a day when we had a bad winter a couple of years ago....never again cost a fortune.

lstar337

Night storage heating used effectively is not much more expensive than gas central heating, which is one of the cheapest. Sounds like your usage is pretty reasonable, but there is some room for improvement. You seem to be aware of what is costing you more money, so just cut back as much as you can if you are finding your bills unmanageable.