New build flat burning through energy

rozmister

Hi, I moved into a new build rental flat a few months ago. One of the reasons we picked new build was for the energy efficiencies this brings (and they promised)...except we're using an insane amount of electricity!

Due to the contractors being a-holes we were originally stuck with Ecotricity and 2 months & 1 day of electric cost us £348 :eek::eek::eek: We've now switched to OVO because, whilst their standing rate isn't great, they offer a really cheap rate KWH per hour wise. And we need that because we're burning through electric!

Our first bill averaged out at 29.34KWH a day and our second bill averaged 22.8KWH a day. We work full time out of town (so the flat's empty from 8am-6pm normally), only switch the heating on when it's freezing cold, have one shower each a day, run the washing machine & dryer a few times a week, run the dishwasher every other day and don't use anything else really other than small appliances. Our dishwasher, washing machine/dryer, fridge/freezer & boiler are brand new. We have got an air filtration system which everybody is telling us should reduce our energy costs but we're now planning to shut it down just in case that's not true.

We're obviously paying off Ecotricity because according to our smart meter we have used that electricity so the problem lies with the managing agents who promised us an energy efficient home and have delivered a never ending money pit. We've got a residents FB group and about 90% of the conversation is about electricity bills, everyone is in the same boat. What could be the cause of these kind of problems? Anyone else experienced this in a new build? And how do we make our managing agents deal with it?

daveyjp

Im afraid to say 22kwh a day doesnt look too high to me.

Our annual useage averages about 7kwh a day and the only really power hungry item is a tumble dryer, everything else is gas powered.

You have a 10kwh shower, 3kw dryer, 2kw kettle, electric cooker, hot water cylinder and whatever type of heaters, but probably 1-3kwh each.

It is also winter and you need to look at useage on an annual basis.

Come summer you wont need to heat the rooms so useage should reduce significantly.

molerat

Sounds not unreasonable to me.
Did you take meter reads when you moved in ?
Are you sure the meter you are being charged for is connected to your flat ?
What is this magic air filtration system that saves you energy ?

matelodave

What sort of heating have you got? I'm guessing it's electric, but what sort, storage heaters, wet radiators, panel heaters, infra red etc.. Are you on an dual rate tariff, how much do you pay per kwh.

You'll be using a lot more at this time of the year, ours goes upt to 50+kwh/day when its really cold and the washing is being done with the tumble dryer flogging it's heart out but we drop to around 8kwh/day in the summer.

Ideally, even though you've got a smart meter you should reading the meter yourself and putting it down in a spreadsheet so you can see when it's all being consumed and then you can try to do something about it.

How is your water heated, do you have a power shower - how long do you stand in it, what stuff is being left on. Do you turn off stuff when it's not in use, what sort of lighting have you got

The ventilation system is probably around 50watts or so, it's not a lot but 50watts continuously will use about 1.2kw/day, say 18p/day or £65 a year whereas 5 minutes in a 10.5kw electric shower will cost you around 13p, thats 26p for two of you or about £100 a year

nigelbb

rozmister wrote: »

We're obviously paying off Ecotricity because according to our smart meter we have used that electricity so the problem lies with the managing agents who promised us an energy efficient home and have delivered a never ending money pit. We've got a residents FB group and about 90% of the conversation is about electricity bills, everyone is in the same boat. What could be the cause of these kind of problems? Anyone else experienced this in a new build? And how do we make our managing agents deal with it?

Your basic problem is that you are using electricity for space heating. This will always be much more expensive than using gas. Typically 4x more expensive with regular heaters & 2x as expensive if using Economy 7 & storage heaters.

spiro

What is the EPC rating of the flat?