Is my night time economy 7 usage correct?

lacoste1985_2

Hi

Im hoping someone can help me with this because I am baffled. I moved into a 2 bedroom flat at the beginning of Sept which uses economy 7 electric (no gas at all) for everything.

When I moved in my readings were as follows:

day 31321
night 46069

In the beg of Nov I switched energy providers from British gas to scottish power (to go onto a better tariff) and provided the following meter readings to them:

day 31564
night 46354

Scottish power put me on a direct debit of £35 a month (fixed tariff for 12 months). I checked my meter the other day and thought I would submit a meter reading as I hadnt given them one for 2 months. I was shocked to learn that the reading was:

day 32070
night 48482

I started using one of the electric heaters at the beginning of Nov (using off peak charge only) and havent turned it off since. I read somewhere that it should be left on all the time during winter periods and not switched on and off like central heating is - is this right?

If my maths is right in the space of 2 months I have used 1754kwh of night time energy, which has come to a total of £100 and scottish power telling me that I am now in debit with them!! Why am i using so much? Is this correct?

I just checked the meter again and it has gone up to 48604 now....suggesting I have used around 122kwh in approx 4 days. I am currently paying 5.61p for every kwh used at night.

Can someone help me please??

I try to be so good with my energy usage...I use low energy lightbulbs and am very conscious about turning them off when I leave a room, I sit in the dark to watch TV. I do 2 loads of washing a week (I wait until night time rate kicks in and put it on a quick wash), charge my phone at night. Ive fitted draft excluders around the insides of all my windows and exterior patio doors. I only use one heater in my whole flat - the lounge as this is where I spend most of my time and where I dry washing. I turn off all appliances when Im not using them and switch things off at the wall.

why therefore is my heating and hot water costing me so much, at night???

CashStrapped

What is the brand and model no. of your storage heater!

It could be a combi storage heater with a top up boost using electric like a normal panel heater.

32070 - 31564 = 506 KWH

48482 - 46354 = 2128 KWH

If we say around 75 days since the beginning of november that is an average of...

(Day Usage ) 6KWH per day - which would be good low usage.

(Night Usage) 28KWH per day - which could be classed as very high use (but do-able on all electric).

I think you may have done what many people do with storage heaters.

Many people do not read the manual and properly learn how their storage heaters work. They then do not use the correct settings and use them very inefficiently.

How do you set your input control? Do you leave it on full? How do you set the output. This should be on the lowest setting until you want the heat!

It there an optional immediate boost you may have turned on? So not only is the storage heater charging it is heating your room using a fan heater, this would use a lot of electricity.

On the plus side, your balance of day and night useage is correct. You are using more at night than during the day. Just be glad of that! Otherwise your bill would have been double!

Give us your storage heater name and model no. and we canhelp further.

lacoste1985_2

Its a Vent Axia model no VACSH18.
It has 2 basic controls on the top- input and output - I kind of know how they work so since ive started using the heater ive set input to max (number 5 on the dial) and output to * (before the first setting, no 1 which is effectively off) yet the heat still seeps out thru the day and lasts till about 11pm. I think this heater is a convector heater too as it has one further control on the top, away from the input and output switches called convector. I didnt think this worked unless the day time switch on the wall was turned on too...the dial was halfway round thou when I looked at heater the other day (we have never used this function so dial must of turned round by accident as theyre very loose).

apart from this this is all i know about E7!

lacoste1985_2

I wasnt given a manual for the heater when I moved in, I didnt know anything about E7! I thought the horrific meter reading would of been higher for day time usage as for about 2 months I had both peak and off peak switches on for my water heater (the pressure tank attached to my water tank exploded the end of Sept and the plumber that came out to fix it told me to leave both switches on all the time as the peak one "knocks off" once the temp of the water reaches 60 degress) I didnt think this was right so turned it off a few days ago so we only heat our water up now at night.

When I checked the meter on 10th Jan I was expecting my day time usage to have been higher and not the time....I was very surprised the night time use was so much as I am usually asleep by the time it kicks in, making me think someone might be "hacking into my supply and using it also".

CashStrapped

Yes, as I suspected it is a combi storage heater.

You may have turned on the convector/peak fan heater as well as the storage heating componant.

Turn off the peak element on the storage heater. Only use that if you really run out of stored heat.

Regarding the storage heater. Yes, you turn the input up relative to how much heat you want to store. If it is very cold part of the year, put it on max. It it is generally mild, turn it down a bit.

Alwasy have out output on zero and keep it there untill you want to release more heat. If you leave the output high it will release the heat straight away.

Regarding the hot water tank: YOu are now operating it correctly.

Ensure it is well insulated. It should do the majority of it's heating off peak and the whole tank will get hot and (should) stay hot.

The peak, again, should only be used as a boost.

Try to get through a day without using the peak boost.

However, the plumber is correct. The peak boost would not just stay on all day. It has a thermal cut out so when it gets hot enough it will turn itself off. So it may not cost that much more, but it you don't need it, don't use it!

notbritishgas

Just to add a little bit to cashstrapped good replies.

£35 a month was never going to be enough to cover your electric for the year. That is perhaps correct for someone with gas central heating.
However with all electric the annual cost could be somewhere in the region of £1000, especially with the consumption you have quoted since September (November for heating).
So be prepared for a substantial increase in the DD, firstly to cover the debt and then for ongoing usage.

You suspect someone hacking in to your supply overnight, no it is the storage heaters which will come on for 7 hours normally sometime between 11pm and 8 am.

Also to add 6kwh per day on the day register is quite good.

lacoste1985_2

Thanks for the reply. You mention turning off the convector knob on top of the heater....I didnt think this worked unless the PEAK wall switch was turned on? [ we have 2 switches on the wall - PEAK and OFF PEAK....I thought the convector function only worked when the PEAK wall switch was turned on. ours has been off for 2 months.

lacoste1985_2

Also can someone tell me if it is cheaper to set input to setting 3 as opposed to setting 5 - will this use less kwh per night and therefore work out cheaper?

CashStrapped

Yes - the lower you have the input the less heat it will store and the less electricity it will use. This means you will have less stored heat for the following day though. So for a very cold day it may not be enough.

That is why you need to experiement. If 3 is enough for this time of year, use it. If not put it up another number.

Regarding the heater.

What does the manual say?

Depends how it is set-up. The peak switch may only relate to using day electricity and not stop you from using the convector during the night.If the convector is turned on at the heater, it may still work but just use the off peak electric during the night.

So the off peak will power both the storage heater and the convector. While the peak will only power the convector. That is just a guess.

Wait till it switches over to off peak and do a test. Does the convenctor/fan heater work during off peak nigh use. Can you hear it whirring?

lacoste1985_2

I do not have a manual for this heater. I have found the following info on vent axia's website though for a model like mine:

Vent-Axia Combination Storage Heaters take
advantage of low tariff night-time electricity in the
same way as our domestic storage heaters.
Vent-Axia Combination Heaters combine the
benefit of a domestic storage heater and a
convector heater in one casing. The storage heater
offers comfortable heat around the clock taking
advantage of low tariff electricity.
The convector heater can be switched on at
any time to offer additional heat when required,
or used outside the normal heating season for
instant heating.
Combination Heaters require a permanent power
supply for immediate convection heating when
required. The storage heater section has a separate
off-peak supply

The heater does not make a whirring noise but does "clunk" every now and then inside like something is turning itself on or off (i thought this was the bricks cooling down)

CashStrapped

It sounds like you can use the convector at any time. How much it costs depends on which price bracket (peak/off peak) it falls into.

As you have had the peak switch off, it has not been active during the peak hours. But when the off peak activates the convector heater has been coming on along with the storage heater. As I said, this is what may have been adding to your costs.

Furthermore, a manual!

http://www.vent-axia.com/files/pdf-downloads/438941%20A.pdf