Storage heater or small electric heater? Best tariff?

Richie-from-the-Boro

I don't know what tariff I'm on at the moment - Once I found out how 'useful' the living room heater is, and whether it works I'll look at a proper tariff

- you should know your tariff and have an account in your name
- you are [deemed] by default and put on the most expensive tariff available
- I would never ever want to be on a PAYG 'debit' meter
- I would never ever want to be ignorant of my costs for even one day

What do you mean by 50/50?

- my actual 'real time' usage in the last 12 months was :
Day 3,721.647 kWh
Night 4,776.222 kWh
- so almost 50% cheap and 50% expensive rate over the whole 52 week period
- furniture, old costs, fridge, washing machine etc are a distraction not part of the conversation

An EPC of B-rating

- is very good, a performance of 81-91 so near to the top

I have one big heater in the living room

- not unless you can tell me which of the four you actually have !
- it is at best a guess, I've told you what the sizes and outputs are

And wouldn't it be cheaper in the end to use an electric fan heater or a different means of heating only when I'm at home on a cheaper 24/7 tariff

- you can have cheap[er] water and space heating
- or twice the price 'fan' expensive heating, you choose

Yirara, you tell me what NSH you have in the living area and I'll tell you how much kW you can put into it over 7 hours and how many kWh of heat you can get out over the 17 hours its switched off. For example the biggest available 16 bricker called a 3.4 kW [normally 1021mm long] will accept 23.8kWh in the 17 hours ÷ 7 hours = 3.4kW per hour of heat to release. Its a norm that most of the UK is under specified.

Landlords and builders will always go for the cheapest capital install costs which usually leads the the complaint that "these heaters don't stay hot enough - long enough", in other words the cheap heat storage capacity is and was never enough at design stage. For beginners the best way to learn to use them effectively is to turn the input to full and the output to zero and decide after more than a couple of days whether it maintains the 21°C [or whatever] comfortable living space you need for the times when you are in the dwelling. Best of luck.

Yirara

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

- you should know your tariff and have an account in your name
- you are [deemed] by default and put on the most expensive tariff available
- I would never ever want to be on a PAYG 'debit' meter
- I would never ever want to be ignorant of my costs for even one day

Like I said, I'll have that changed once I know if the heater is working properly I'll look into getting a proper tariff. There currently is a PAYG tariff on the meter, which is probably better than anything ScottishPower would put me one once I created an account there, thus for now it's not a good idea to do so. At least I have confirmation that there's no debt on the meter, both from the landlord and ScottishPower.

- my actual 'real time' usage in the last 12 months was :
Day 3,721.647 kWh
Night 4,776.222 kWh
- so almost 50% cheap and 50% expensive rate over the whole 52 week period
- furniture, old costs, fridge, washing machine etc are a distraction not part of the conversation

Ok, thus part of your day costs is related to using an additional heater then?

- is very good, a performance of 81-91 so near to the top

Yes.

- not unless you can tell me which of the four you actually have !
- it is at best a guess, I've told you what the sizes and outputs are

It doesn't say so and I currently don't have tools with me to take that thing apart and to look inside. But I guess it's a 3.4kw machine, given it's size.

- you can have cheap[er] water and space heating
- or twice the price 'fan' expensive heating, you choose

I don't need warm water. I'd only use it for dishes and for washing anyway. It took ages in my old flat to get warm water, thus I'm used to washing myself with cold water. And I could get water for the dishes 2-3 times per week from the shower if I really need to. No need to fire up the immersion heater and keep it running for this tiny bit of use - unless it's really cheaper to run it compared to the electric shower. Will look into that.

Yirara, you tell me what NSH you have in the living area and I'll tell you how much kW you can put into it over 7 hours and how many kWh of heat you can get out over the 17 hours its switched off. For example the biggest available 16 bricker called a 3.4 kW [normally 1021mm long] will accept 23.8kWh in the 17 hours ÷ 7 hours = 3.4kW per hour of heat to release. Its a norm that most of the UK is under specified.

I don't know yet, but I suppose it's a 3.4kW one, given it's size and thickness, at least 1m long, probably more. But I'm still waiting for an answer from the manufacturer.

Landlords and builders will always go for the cheapest capital install costs which usually leads the the complaint that "these heaters don't stay hot enough - long enough", in other words the cheap heat storage capacity is and was never enough at design stage. For beginners the best way to learn to use them effectively is to turn the input to full and the output to zero and decide after more than a couple of days whether it maintains the 21°C [or whatever] comfortable living space you need for the times when you are in the dwelling. Best of luck.

Thanks. Lets see how this works. Worst case I'll be looking for a new flat in 6 months.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

Yirara wrote: »

I don't know what the tariff is called or whether the displayed tariff is with VAT but the PAYG meter key reads Scottish Power, and displays the following tariffs:
16.73 pence/kwh
7.51 pence/kwh
approx. 26.1 standing charge

As I told you in the other thread:

'as you're in Edinburgh you'll be in Scottish Power area code 18, and presuming you are on WM No1,

Prices from here,

Saver Dec 17: DSC 19.18 Day 15.201 Night 7.567
HBC Jan 19: DSC 25.76 Day 15.201 Night 7.567
Standard: DSC 27.39 Day 15.975 Night 7.407

so looks as though your best deal is Saver Dec17.'

As said in a previous post, just start using the heater and taking a daily reading to get your usage and running costs.

Jings, even if you still want to change it's not going to cost you that much more for 3/4 weeks on the 'deemed' tariff.

Yirara

I finally moved into my flat. The heating situation is a bit different than I imagined it to be to be honest.

First attempt at firing up the storage heating: it was cold the next morning and no money taken off the PAYG meter apart from the standing charge.
So I put on the booster yesterday evening and managed to heat the living room very easily with it. At the end of the day I'd spent about 40p in total for heating the living room all evening, fridge from the evening onward, internet router and lighting all day.
Tried a switch on the heater last night, which the producer told me is only for the booster. Standing charge and a few pence for the fridge paid over night. Nothing else.
So I guess I'll use the booster again tonight and keep an eye again on how much this costs. It seems very cheap to be honest. Makes me wonder if someone mixed up some cables.

footyguy

Yirara wrote: »

I spent some time in my new flat (still waiting for furniture to arrive) and looked at the heating options there, and what electricity tariff is running.

I don't know what the tariff is called or whether the displayed tariff is with VAT but the PAYG meter key reads Scottish Power, and displays the following tariffs:
16.73 pence/kwh
7.51 pence/kwh
approx. 26.1 standing charge

I will most likely only need a heater in the living room, and of course only for part of the year. The flat is well insulated and feels fairly warm even without any heating on. Might feel different though once I sit on the sofa. I'm not sure how much power the heater has, nor if it automatically switches to charging once the cheaper tariff kicks in (how does that work?), thus this is all a bit guess work. It's a fairly big heater though. It looks like this one: http://www.thegreenage.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Storage-heater.jpg

In my old flat I spent about 60/month on gas in the winter, otherwise the inside temperature would drop below 13C within a very short time. Thus spending 2/day on the heater would not shock me. But it should certainly not be more.
Electricity rate in the old flat was at 14.86kwh, standing charge 26.1p and I spent about 30/month on electricity.

Thus options:
- Stick with this tariff?
- Try to get a split tariff contract that might be cheaper?
- Get rid of the split tariff, use an overall cheaper one, in combination with a small fan heater or any other option available (are there better options in absence of gas)? Living room is about 18m^2, cavity wall with insulation, double glazing.

I tried playing with comparison websites, but as I have no idea how much energy I'll be using with this storage heater in the end, and whether I'll use it and to what extend it's impossible to compare for now.

The landlord is considering replacing this storage heater in the summer for a more modern one, but it's not certain yet.

Assume your current position. i.e the heater you currently have.
Consult a comparison site to find the best deal for you
If you don't know your anticipated annual usage, no problem - the comparison site will guide you.

Once you know your anticipated annual usage, or know it may change due to a change of heating, do another comparison

Simples! :cool:

footyguy

Yirara wrote: »

I finally moved into my flat. The heating situation is a bit different than I imagined it to be to be honest.

First attempt at firing up the storage heating: it was cold the next morning and no money taken off the PAYG meter apart from the standing charge.
So I put on the booster yesterday evening and managed to heat the living room very easily with it. At the end of the day I'd spent about 40p in total for heating the living room all evening, fridge from the evening onward, internet router and lighting all day.
Tried a switch on the heater last night, which the producer told me is only for the booster. Standing charge and a few pence for the fridge paid over night. Nothing else.
So I guess I'll use the booster again tonight and keep an eye again on how much this costs. It seems very cheap to be honest. Makes me wonder if someone mixed up some cables.

Contact your landlord/agent and advise them of the problem with the current heating.

Simples! :cool:

Yirara

footyguy wrote: »

Contact your landlord/agent and advise them of the problem with the current heating.

Simples! :cool:

Sure, but as I have the feeling that I'm paying much less than I thought I would, and as I get the living room heated up easily it's a question of whether I should really do something. I'll have a look at the meter again tonight to see if I'm really heating my room for so little cash...

TRB

40p seems far to little as that is only 2.5kwh worth of power worked out from the rate you posted.

lstar337

Yirara, take a piccy of your heater and post it in the forum.

We need to know what you have to help you.