HELP! Why are we using so much electricity?

Nate101

Hi, me and my partner moved in to a 3 bed townhouse (Electricity only) just over a year ago now and we have had nothing but problems with our utility providers. To put it in to perspective First Utility were billing us over £2500 for around 9 months worth of electricity, the meter we had at the time was an economy 10 meter which i understand is really no longer a thing so we had an economy 7 meter installed hoping our issues were to be resolved as promised by First Utility. Unfortunately this was not the case and they refused to recognize they even installed an economy 7 meter and continued to bill us for the 10 meter. To cut a long story short i got the energy ombudsman involved and i am now with SSE. Their service is much better however in the last 2 months we have used on average 1300 units per month which just seems so high to me? The property is Electricity only and there are 2 adults 3 children and one dog. My partner stays at home during the day whilst i work during the week then she works weekends whilst im at home with the kids. Im wondering if its our water heater or perhaps someone is stealing our electricity? is that possible? sounds crazy but when your electricity bill is £250 a month something cant be right ? Does anyone know if i can contact SSE and have them check? sorry if I sound naive and a little desperate but being honest I am! If someone could shed some light that would be great. Thanks in Advance, Nate.

System

Nate101 wrote: »

Hi, me and my partner moved in to a 3 bed townhouse (Electricity only) just over a year ago now and we have had nothing but problems with our utility providers. To put it in to perspective First Utility were billing us over £2500 for around 9 months worth of electricity, the meter we had at the time was an economy 10 meter which i understand is really no longer a thing so we had an economy 7 meter installed hoping our issues were to be resolved as promised by First Utility. Unfortunately this was not the case and they refused to recognize they even installed an economy 7 meter and continued to bill us for the 10 meter. To cut a long story short i got the energy ombudsman involved and i am now with SSE. Their service is much better however in the last 2 months we have used on average 1300 units per month which just seems so high to me? The property is Electricity only and there are 2 adults 3 children and one dog. My partner stays at home during the day whilst i work during the week then she works weekends whilst im at home with the kids. Im wondering if its our water heater or perhaps someone is stealing our electricity? is that possible? sounds crazy but when your electricity bill is £250 a month something cant be right ? Does anyone know if i can contact SSE and have them check? sorry if I sound naive and a little desperate but being honest I am! If someone could shed some light that would be great. Thanks in Advance, Nate.

Hi - welcome to the forum. What type of electric heating do you have? Economy 7 is designed for homes that store electricity overnight using storage heaters. 20000kWhs/year isn't that excessive for an all electric property with 5 occupants: that said, I suspect that your bills are so high because you are using a lot of electricity during the high cost day period. It may be that a single rate will cost you less: it depends on the ratio of day/night usage.

Nate101

We have storage heaters but they are very old and only use one in the hall way that tbf is left on during the day, also we use one electric fan heater and 2 plug in oil radiators at night. I would say its a 75/25 split day and night usage. I think the reason we were told we couldn't go to single rate anymore was because it would cut the storage heaters off and perhaps the water heater?

CashStrapped

When people ask questions like this on the forum, the first line of questioning usually focuses on what their exact usage is and a clarification of their set-up and how they use it.

Before you get sidelined by notions of someone stealing your electricity or a meter fault, both of which are unlikely. A deeper analysis of your actual electricity use (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly) is key to working out how much you are using, when and why.

First, try to ascertain what your annual use is in KWH using confirmed/actual (not estimated readings). Look for a set of readings which are one year apart. The difference between the two will give you your annual use.

Then from this derive a more accurate day night split.

I know you have put notional figures above (monthly DD amounts can be misleading) and an estimated % split. But you need to confirm that with actual calculated figures.

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Then you need to look at your set-up. You have an E7 system with storage heaters and a hot water tank.

If you are no using it as designed you are pretty much throwing money down the drain.

An E7 system is designed to make use of the cheap night rate. If you bypass this and just use expensive instant use daytime heating (immersion boost and panel heaters) you are using the E7 set-up in the opposite way it is designed to be used, which will just cost you a lot more money. Basically you are using the set-up in the worst way possible as most of your use is on the super-expensive day rate, which is often more costly that a single rate tariff.

What is your exact tariff figures i.e pence per kwh for day and night rate (and any standing charge).

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So, start taking daily readings, see what you are using at this current time. Calculate your annual use. Then post your findings.

On first look, it seems to me that you are using your set-up inefficiently.

welshmoneylover

Nate101 wrote: »

Hi, me and my partner moved in to a 3 bed townhouse (Electricity only) just over a year ago now and we have had nothing but problems with our utility providers. To put it in to perspective First Utility were billing us over £2500 for around 9 months worth of electricity, the meter we had at the time was an economy 10 meter which i understand is really no longer a thing so we had an economy 7 meter installed hoping our issues were to be resolved as promised by First Utility. Unfortunately this was not the case and they refused to recognize they even installed an economy 7 meter and continued to bill us for the 10 meter. To cut a long story short i got the energy ombudsman involved and i am now with SSE. Their service is much better however in the last 2 months we have used on average 1300 units per month which just seems so high to me? The property is Electricity only and there are 2 adults 3 children and one dog. My partner stays at home during the day whilst i work during the week then she works weekends whilst im at home with the kids. Im wondering if its our water heater or perhaps someone is stealing our electricity? is that possible? sounds crazy but when your electricity bill is £250 a month something cant be right ? Does anyone know if i can contact SSE and have them check? sorry if I sound naive and a little desperate but being honest I am! If someone could shed some light that would be great. Thanks in Advance, Nate.

Economy 10 = 10 hours of cheap electricity per day.
Economy 7 = 7 hours of cheaper electricity per day.
So you have lost 3 hours of electricity at a cheaper rate.

No one is stealing your electricity; it’s high because your partner is home for 8 hours a day instead of being out of the house working and all electricity properties are expensive to maintain.

Andy_WSM

Also you need to factor in that we've just had one of the coldest periods of weather for years. Your bills will naturally be very high for the months just past, which is why it's usually prudent to build up a credit during the warmer months to even out the payments throughout the year - something else you have not been able to do due to your circumstances.

matelodave

If you are using a fan heater and plug-in oil filled rads then you are heating your place with peak rate leccy and not getting the benefit of E7 or E10.

If you've effectively got someone home nearly all day then storage heaters would be heating the house all day using heat stored during the night from off peak electricty, instead you've chosen to use peak rate to heat the house during the day and evenings and are getting minimal benefit from having an off peak supply.

As said above you've also lost the benefit of three hours of off-peak leccy by gonig from E10 to E7, so you dont get the afternoon and evening off-peak boost that you usually get with E10.

macman

Why do you only use one storage heater when you have (presumably) several more? Being 'old' doesn't make them less efficient: an NSH is just a metal box of bricks with a heating element. Ditch the fan heater and oil filled rads and use the system as intended for E7. Also make sure your immersion is heating during the cheap rate hours and try to avoid using the boost during peak rate.
Yes, you've lost the benefit of 3 more cheap rate hours by going from E10 to E7, but you have also made it possible to access far more competitive tariffs and suppliers: very few suppliers now support E10 metering, and trying to switch invariably causes problems.