All electric house costs\?

nkkingston

Our last two flats, (both two bed, both fairly modern) worked out as under £600 a year. One only had electric heaters, but good insulation, the other had storage heaters but was less well built. We don't use the heating much anyway, to be fair. We've moved to a three bed house with gas now, and I'm concerned that paying two sets of bills is going to work out much more expensive, because we have less control over the heating and it's not as well insulated (and we don't have people above and blow us heating their homes, and by proxy ours, any more!).

Evelina80

I think you'd need to ask the vendor to see bills to get a realistic idea as there are too many variables.

We have an all electric 4 bed three storey house with a heat exchange boiler, two adults, two teens constantly in the bath and two children. I feel the cold so the heating is set to 23 degrees year round. I work from at home, so im home all day, and the nature of my job means that my patio doors are open for a couple of hours most days too, year round. Our bill is just over £800/year. My relative, on the other hand, had storage heaters and a 1930s uninsulated house and paid a fortune - they would close most of the house off in winter and live in one bedroom/kitchen/bathroom just to be able to afford to heat the place reasonably.

pinkpiglit

Our previous place was all electric, with storage heaters and electric radiators.

It all depends on how insulated the property is. Ours wasn't (top floor, 2-bed flat conversion with one flat below us and one behind us....we also had single glazing sash windows).

The storage rads were newly installed by us when we moved in and therefore should have been pretty efficient. However I was ALWAYS cold in winter (by cold I mean wearing several layers but still having to sit on the couch with a blanket and hot water bottle) the room stayed cold even when using the boost function, which of course bumped up the cost.

Annual cost worked out to be approx. £1200 a year. We also ran out of hot water on occasion, so if either of us wanted a bath we had to "boost" the hot water cylinder as well.

It was not an ideal situation, one which I hope never to endure again. But would be totally different if the place is well insulated.

pathtofreedom

I have a 2 bed bungalow that is all electric and built in 2009 so all double glazed, and good insulation. I've only lived here a few months but they set my direct debit up at £152 a month based on the last people's usage but they were at home all day. It is economy 11 (like economy 7 but you have some extra times in the day it is the cheaper rate).

I have an electric boiler with radiators like someone else mentioned, but I have also put in a multifuel stove (without boiler) as I didn't want to be tied to the cheap times I could use the heating in winter. If you can fit a stove with a boiler (I couldn't afford the extra building work it would have involved) you can get grants to help towards that if it is an option when you have no gas. It works the same with pellet boilers too.

It depends if you're out at work all day or not I guess, and how strict you are about not using electric at the expensive rate. Since I've changed jobs I've managed to get a lot better at only using washing machine, tv, cooking etc at the off peak times which has helped bring my DD down to £127 a month, but I'll have to see over winter how much the usage actually is.

AlexMac

As Tiddleypom says
"Insulation, insulation, insulation..."

Oh- hang on a minute; or was that Tony Blair
"Education, Education, Education...?"
or was it
"Invasion, invasion, invasion..."

Argghhh

you could have solar panels installed, they give you free electricity

Davesnave

Argghhh wrote: »

you could have solar panels installed. They give you some free electricity when you have recouped the capital cost and any maintenance charges.

Fixed that for you.

ElsieMonkey

I'm in a 2 bed flat grade II listed building, secondary glazing, solid walls so no insulation, end of block so 3 outside exposed walls to our flat. Have electric boiler wet central heating system. Runs on economy 10 (3 cheaper periods in day). Heats water during cheaper period over night and stores it, i try to put heating on during cheaper times as much as possible, and also appliances. Works out about £80 per month so comparable with gas. Like someone has already said, it's about how you choose to run it really (the whole flat is electric, no gas at all, so this is bill for not only heating and how water but all electric use).

Don't believe the scare stories about how expensive electric is. I was worried before we had it installed but done my research and ensure I use it sensibly/ Whether gas or electric I'd be take the same approach to be honest. Both can be be expensive if you use is carelessly and excessively.

KingS6

Had three different kinds of heating in three different properties.

First was a 1997 one bed room ground floor flat with gas central heating hooked up to a combination boiler.

Boiler was a few years old Glowworm combo boiler. Thermostat on boiler. Poorly insulated property and shoddy construction. Gas hob. Pvc front door with large frosted glass panels. Double glazed throughout. Radiators had cooler spots and needed bleeding. North west location.

Gas about £23 a month on a dual fuel tariff all year round.

Then a 2008 2 bed penthouse with wet central heating and an Amptec 4kw electric boiler.

Radiators not brilliant. Plumbed in heated towel rail that couldn't be turned off without turning off the heating. Same for two radiators. Ran on a thermostat in the hall. Massively underpowered. Also had an immersion heater that I had to use as couldn't figure out how to get the boiler to heat just water. Also the dishwasher used hot water from the tank instead of a cold supply! North west location.

Cost £40 a week on a prepayment economy 10 tariff. Had that replaced with a credit meter and moved over to a single rate tariff. Costs came down to under £60 a month.

Now a 2008 ground floor 2 bed flat. With electric panel heaters and an immersion heater. Two electrically heated towel rails with buttons. North west again.
£45 a month all year round and that's including all electrical use.

Cheap electric properties can be done. Just got to get the right system.