Electricity usage

stirling-gorilla

Looking for advice about my electric.

I live in a 2 bedroom ground floor flat, with all electric heating. I have Dimplex Quantum storage heaters in total I have 5 quantum units and 1 standard:

Living room has 2 QM100 units
Hall has 1 QM125
Front bedroom has 1 QM100
Back bedroom has 1 QM70

Bathroom has a Dimplex XLS6 unit

I also have a water heater on between 2 am and 7am but my tank is brand new so very well insulated. I rarely use the boost function on thee timer.

The property has internal wall insulation and underfloor insulation at the front and rear half including hall was is concrete floor.

There is double glazing throughout.

The flat is currently a band d for energy efficiency and a band E for environmental impact. (Going on a survey from March 2014).

The estimated energy use for 3 years in that survey is £2,271

I got a bill for the quarter ending in February for £830 which has got me looking at my energy use and well I am shocked at my figures. I have done daily readings for a week and well my day use is only a couple of units usually between 2 and 5.

My night usage is between 45 and 55 units.

When working out the cost of this it totals around £5 a day. Which over a month works out at £150 and that isn't including standing charge or vat.

My heating is only set for use twice a day totalling around 7 hours and is set at 21 degrees throughout.

I have spoke to my supplier SSE Hydro and last week they were adamant I have "normal" usage, I spoke to them again tonight about this and not got any further other than getting a call back next week.

I have no major electrical items just the basics and I am very energy conscious making sure only things that need to stay on are on like my Sky plus box and obviously the fridge.

I charge my phone when in car plus only have it on charge when it needs it at home same with my tablet and laptop. I have no games consoles. I only watch TV in the evening mainly or at weekends when I have my kids over.

I am at a lose to how my usage is so much. I hope someone can help me here as I'm stressing myself out due to my other debt issues I have talked about elsewhere on the forums.

molerat

That use is not that high - but - how much are you paying per kWh ? You could save hundreds if you are on an expensive tariff.

D_M_E

I wonder how you manage to only use 2 to 5 units a day if your heating is coming on twice a day - or do you mean the heaters warm up overnight and then release the stored energy twice a day?

If your property is so well insulated then reduce your temperature setting to 18c and leave it there for a few days and, if you still feel warm at that setting, reduce by another degree, leave for a bit, etc etc until you find a setting which just makes you feel cold then turn it up by one degree and leave it there.

You could also buy a pullover and put it on - this will make you feel warm and the cost of a pullover will be far less than the cost of a month's heating.

Hot water - if you don't use much, then turn off the immersion heater and, when you have a shower, only turn it on for 15 to 20 minutes before showering and don't forget to turn it off afterwards - put a sticker or something up somewhere where you cannot miss seeing it which has TURN OFF IMMERSION written on it

As indicated in post#2 by molerat, make sure you are on your supplier's cheapest tariff - ring them up and ask to be put on their cheapest and back this up with an email and/or written request.

Also, has the supplier billed you using actual meter readings or have they used estimated readings. and does the meter serial number on the bill match the one on what you think your meter is?

Another possibility to check is if your meter is also supplying any other property when the E7 rate switches over.

stirling-gorilla

I'm on a a tariff with day rate 17.32p and night rate of 9.28p

Still feel my usage is a little bit too high as from neighbours with more people in the house and more gadgets that their usage isn't that high.

System

That tariff you are on is really expensive not sure where you live but there is much cheaper 1st out.

Your units seem about right I'm in a 1 bed and use the same as you.

I'm with eon and my units are day 12.59 night is 5.13 and sc is 16.42. Thats with vat.

I advise you to go on comparison sites and change to a better deal.

stirling-gorilla

D_M_E wrote: »

I wonder how you manage to only use 2 to 5 units a day if your heating is coming on twice a day - or do you mean the heaters warm up overnight and then release the stored energy twice a day?

No heating on during day, quantum let's you set times for it to release heat

D_M_E wrote: »

If your property is so well insulated then reduce your temperature setting to 18c and leave it there for a few days and, if you still feel warm at that setting, reduce by another degree, leave for a bit, etc etc until you find a setting which just makes you feel cold then turn it up by one degree and leave it there.

You could also buy a pullover and put it on - this will make you feel warm and the cost of a pullover will be far less than the cost of a month's heating.

Well insulated, that's a bit of a debate I'm having with my local authority. I have concerns about the insulation as not sure if there is insulation between me and upstairs, also bathroom is not insulated at all.

The double glazing isn't the greatest as at front it has got to be sash and case wooden frame for conservation area reasons, the rear it's slightly different but again it's not great.

As for pull over I do that any way and turning it down I done that and well 21 is best.

D_M_E wrote: »

Hot water - if you don't use much, then turn off the immersion heater and, when you have a shower, only turn it on for 15 to 20 minutes before showering and don't forget to turn it off afterwards - put a sticker or something up somewhere where you cannot miss seeing it which has TURN OFF IMMERSION written on it

Hot water isn't a concern to be honest I have been looking at that and think it is efficient. I will experiment with reducing time it is on.

D_M_E wrote: »

As indicated in post#2 by molerat, make sure you are on your supplier's cheapest tariff - ring them up and ask to be put on their cheapest and back this up with an email and/or written request.

Going to be switching soon

D_M_E wrote: »

Also, has the supplier billed you using actual meter readings or have they used estimated readings. and does the meter serial number on the bill match the one on what you think your meter is?

Readings are actual ones and meter serial is correct.

D_M_E wrote: »

Another possibility to check is if your meter is also supplying any other property when the E7 rate switches over.

Not looked at this but don't think there are any other properties connected.

As for E7 and all that I'm not sure what I should be on all I know is I have one meter which is digital dandelion has a day rate and night rate.

stirling-gorilla

mackemps3 wrote: »

That tariff you are on is really expensive not sure where you live but there is much cheaper 1st out.

Your units seem about right I'm in a 1 bed and use the same as you.

I'm with eon and my units are day 12.59 night is 5.13 and sc is 16.42. Thats with vat.

I advise you to go on comparison sites and change to a better deal.

What tariff are you on?

Methusela

It looks as if you might need to switch supplier, rather than ask your present one for a cheaper tariff. Your daytime rate of 17.32p is extremely high, where other suppliers can give you a rate of just over 10p per unit for both day and night units?

Before deciding whether a switch would help, can you advise how your £830 bill was split across day and night units?

Incidentally you don’t need to worry too much about your Sky box, fridge, laptop or charging your phone. The costs of these are trivial by comparison with your heating and water heating costs which will be the main cause of your big bill..

anna42hmr

stirling-gorilla wrote: »

I'm on a a tariff with day rate 17.32p and night rate of 9.28p

Still feel my usage is a little bit too high as from neighbours with more people in the house and more gadgets that their usage isn't that high.

i suggest that you do a comparison and move to a cheaper tariff as you can certainly get lower than that, for example mine (scottish power cancer charity tariff fixed till 2018 is 5.069p per kwh a night and day is 12.068p per kwh including vat (standing charge is 20.55p per day)

stirling-gorilla

Methusela wrote: »

It looks as if you might need to switch supplier, rather than ask your present one for a cheaper tariff. Your daytime rate of 17.32p is extremely high, where other suppliers can give you a rate of just over 10p per unit for both day and night units?

Before deciding whether a switch would help, can you advise how your £830 bill was split across day and night units?

Incidentally you don’t need to worry too much about your Sky box, fridge, laptop or charging your phone. The costs of these are trivial by comparison with your heating and water heating costs which will be the main cause of your big bill..

It's roughly split where day was around £90 to £110.

I know that sky, fridge, laptop, phone ect use very little.

System

stirling-gorilla wrote: »

What tariff are you on?

Hi I am on eon mse fixed 1 collective Feb 2016.

All the time I have lived here my units have never been any where near the price of yours.

I think Scottish power has a great deal on e7 you should check that out, I hope you can find a great deal.