Help with economy 7

khc

My daughter has just moved into a one bedroom new build flat with EPC rating B.
They have economy 7 heaters - on for an hour in the morning and turned off during the day as they are out, have been away for a weekend, turn off lights. Etc but have still racked up 1000, yes, 1000 kWh in the first month. They can't afford to carry on at that rate. It seems an extortionate amount as I used under £1800 ( combined gas and electric) last year for a large detached older house.

Any suggestions as to what to do. They are currently with e-on. I am aware that they can shop around and change provider, but is there any way of checking their actual consumption is correct. Can the meter be reading wrongly?
Thanks

[Deleted User]

Hi,

E7 heaters are controlled by a time switch, normally on 11-6am or 12-7am.

How is the water heated, is the immersion heater on a timer?

CashStrapped

As per above. Althought the storage heaters "come on" in the morning, they are actually just releasing heat as they stored during the night when charging.

So unless you have turned them off individually at the socket, or at the fuse box, you may find they have still been charging overnight when you are out of the house.

macman

1,000 kWh in the coldest month of the year for heat, hot water, lighting and power is actually very low.
However going by your description I am not convinced that these heaters are E7.

[Deleted User]

Yes , Storage heaters not usually fitted in new builds.. Just make sure that the suppliers don t transpose the night and day reads..makes a big difference with electric only properties

ChumpusRex

Storage heaters are commonly used in new build flats, but it varies from region to region and size and density of the flats.

Smaller flats, and higher-rise flats are more likely to have all electric heating for which storage heaters are best. Larger or posher flats are more likely to have the more expensive gas central heating installed.

Some incompetent builders (or builders of posh flats, where people don't care about running costs) are installing things like electric panel heaters or electric boilers with water filled radiators - this type of installation is almost always the worst possible choice, and can be unmanageably expensive to run. Even worse, sometimes these get installed with Economy 7 meters, for which they are unsuitable.

It would be worth trying to find out the exact make and model of the heaters, so that we can confirm that they are storage heaters and not just electric convector heaters - there is a HUGE difference in the cost to run them, and a HUGE difference in how to work them.

Also how is the water heated? Is there a hot water controller, and if so, what is the make and model of it?

jrio

khc wrote: »

My daughter has just moved into a one bedroom new build flat with EPC rating B.
They have economy 7 heaters - on for an hour in the morning and turned off during the day as they are out, have been away for a weekend, turn off lights. Etc but have still racked up 1000, yes, 1000 kWh in the first month. They can't afford to carry on at that rate. It seems an extortionate amount as I used under £1800 ( combined gas and electric) last year for a large detached older house.

Any suggestions as to what to do. They are currently with e-on. I am aware that they can shop around and change provider, but is there any way of checking their actual consumption is correct. Can the meter be reading wrongly?
Thanks

Average overnight use for an E7 tariff is 55% over a year. For a month like last January it would be nearer 80% due to charging up the heaters overnight, which would have needed to be on for at least 3-5 hours at full charge.

The E7 unit rate for E-on is 13.3p for days, and just over 5p for night. Even on a very inefficient usage, say 30%, that's 700 x 13.3p + 300 x 5p = £113 approx(inc standing charge). Is that the sort of figure they are looking at?

That would probably result from having the hot water on for 2 hours a day and 2 large storage heaters for only an hour per day at E7 rate. It suggests to me, providing they are on the E7 tariff, that the heaters aren't being charged for long enough at the E7 rate.

For comparison, with E-on in a similar sized flat(and they are currently the cheapest for me on E7), I used 730 units in January, 650 at night rate.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi khc

Already some great advice on here. Thanks all. Thought I'd pop on and add that if your daughter (or you if you've permission to discuss the account) drop an email to the address in my Profile, I'll be happy to check out the meter and see if I can add to these comments. As has been said, details of the heating and how the water is heated would be helpful.

In the meantime, there's some decent information on our website to help your daughter save money by saving energy. Have a look at the 'Energy Saving' pages. There's a bit of a fun quiz but also some good tips to help her cut back.

Taking regular meter readings is a great way to help her understand the ongoing usage. Registering with our website will also help her keep an eye of things. She can pop up to 12 sets of readings online every 3 months to help track her usage. If she goes for paperless billing when she registers, she'll also receive a bit of discount - £5 per fuel per year. Not a lot, I know, but it all helps.

Hope the move went well and your daughter's now settled in to her new home.

Malc