electricity bill is massive

Margaretk76

Hi This is a lot to get thro so please bear with me.........Pics attached if they help!
Brief history................been in current flat for just over a year signed up to SSE hydro economy 10 tariff pay £100 per month by Direct Debit (no gas available at house its all electricity) few months after moving in got hit with massive £1600+ bill from SSE...............kick start massive investigations as to why we are using so much juice! (just me and partner in house 3 bedroom 4 in a block)
Moved in Jan 2015 and so far total spend for electricity is £3685.92 up to 31.03.2016 with us using total of
13729 units on off peak rate tarrif and 14608 units on peak rate tarrif.
Done loads of experiments by turning stuff off yadda yadda.............just me in during the day..............tv in lounge on fridge freezer on sky box and internet thingy and alarm clock at the bed are the only other things on. Heating set to come on a maximum of 5 hours a day at the cheaper times, Hot water set to come on max 2 hours per day again at cheaper rates.
took some readings at 3pm 29.3 Rate 1 (23821) Rate 2 (34033)...................switched my boiler off
took some readings at 3pm 30.3 Rate 1 (23826) Rate 2 (34039)...................so used 11 units in total
switched boiler back on ..............................
took some readings at 3pm 31.3 Rate 1 (23829) Rate 2 (34077)...................so used 41 units
most of that at the peak rate is my boiler doing something at night I am not aware off?
when calculating my usage from the total of the 434 days i have lived here i am averaging 65.29 units of electricity per day (trust me my maths is solid)
I got my hands on an SSE Energy Monitor which tracks your usage and monthly spend........i almost died !!!
as soon as the heating or hot water comes on it says i am using massive kwh and my monthly spend will be over £600 the exact reading on the monitor this morning at 6:45 am was £975pm for current usage. Readings on the monitor are showing most of the juice is overnight but nothing is set to come on!!

Can anyone help please I am going crazy trying to figure out what the fudge I am doing wrong!

Cardew

Firstly: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/utilities/2014/05/do-you-use-sses-economy-10-tariff-you-could-be-in-line-for-a--refund


When talking about that sort of consumption, you can largely ignore everything except heating, hot water and cooker when looking for reasons for high bills.


You don't state the rates on your tariff - off-peak; peak; and Daily Standing Charge(DSC).


What heating do you have? Storage Heating or Electric boiler providing water to radiators?


Many people are better off switching to Economy 7.

CashStrapped

OK....first things first. We need to eliminate the any obvious issues.

1) Did you give an opening meter reading when you moved in.

Getting a £1600 bill a few months after moving in rings alarm bells and the above is usually the issue because people forget to do it.

This means the energy company has to guess the opening reading and depending on the previous occupiers last meter reading, you may be paying for some of their use.

Next:

The fact that you are surprised that the majority of your boiler use is at night suggest you are not sure what how the tariff works or the exact time switches are.

So....


Economy 10/7 are set-ups designed for all electric properties. You have an expensive day rate and a cheap night rate (E10 has cheap times during the day too). As Cardew says, Economy 7 is usually a better tariff than E10 for an all electric property

To make the set-up cost effective, a property with economy 7 usually has storage heaters and a water tank. You do not say what your set-up is. You just mention a boiler?

The idea behind economy 7 is that the electric supply switches onto the cheaper rate at night and the allows the hot water tank to heat up and the storage heaters to charge on cheap rate only. They will only come on at night.

Sometimes heating systems are changed but the property is kept on economy 7. You need to give us the details of your specific system as it my not suitable for E7.

Cardew

CashStrapped wrote: »

Next:

You are on an economy 7. The fact that you are surprised that the majority of your boiler use is at night suggest you are not sure what economy 7 is.

.

OP is on Economy 10!

CashStrapped

Good spot, did not see the E10 remark.

Margaretk76

Hi thanks for the replies.

I am on economy 10.......................there is a tank in the upstairs neighbours loft I havent been up there yet to make sure that there is actually TWO !! lol other than that im totally clueless as to how it works or what type radiators i have
As i stated my maths is solid i took my original readings that i took myself when i moved in took again on the 31/3.

two tariffs are 16.24 peak and 9.53 off peak with a daily charge of 14.79

Margaretk76

oh sorry i know my cheaper times are

04.30 to 07.30 then 1pm to 4pm then 20.30 to 12.30

my heating and hot water set to come on only at the cheaper times

Margaretk76

oh Im about to have a blonde moment!!:rotfl::rotfl:

Does the actual boiler thingy have a timer built into that as well???

Richie-from-the-Boro

what type radiators i have

- do you mean [dry] night store heaters ? or [wet] radiators ?
- your annual usage depends entirely on your original starting counters [CashStrapped], what were your opening numbers ?
- do you have a direct cylinder or a wet electric boiler ?

You need to eliminate what you don't have, and be a whole lot clearer on what you do have. You certainly need to post photo's of your CU / water heating system / electricity meter and heater type so the group can begin to understand your kWh usage.

Rubidium

Margaretk76 wrote: »

Hi This is a lot to get thro so please bear with me.........Pics attached if they help!

Post an edited link to your pictures uploaded onto a hosting site e.g. tinypic and type DOT in place of . etc

Margaretk76 wrote: »

I got my hands on an SSE Energy Monitor which tracks your usage and monthly spend........i almost died !!!
as soon as the heating or hot water comes on it says i am using massive kwh

What is massive kWh?

Margaretk76 wrote: »

Does the actual boiler thingy have a timer built into that as well???

It is likely that your "boiler thingy" is wired so that it can only operate during the cheaper Rate 2 time, so no additional timer but pictures will confirm.

Margaretk76

I have no idea how to put pictures on here it is a wet electric boiler (type: fusion)
and wet radiators

i moved in over a year ago readings were

Rate 1 : 10099 Rate 2 : 19461

Readings taken 31/3

Rate 1 : 23828 Rate 2 : 34069