25kw electricity usage per day - two bedroom flat

dxm3tri5

Hi guys,

I just moved into my new two bedroom flat and was told by the electricity supplier that my usage of electricity is insane!

The flat is entirely powered by electricity and I am currently living myself. There is a big tank immersion water heater and two storage heaters, which I reckon might be the cause for high electricity bills (using 25kw per day). I couldn't find a way to turn off the storage heaters and could only minimise the input of electricity to 1 (the minimal setting) and the output also to 1.

Is there any recommendation on this issue (i.e.: replacing the tank with tankless water heater/ replacing the storage heaters）

System

Welcome to the forum. Consumption of 25kWhs a day for an all electric flat is not insane. I have gas CH and we consume about 8kWhs/day just for things electrical; ie, no hot water heating. Are you on an E7 tariff?

dxm3tri5

Hi Hengus,

Thanks for your reply.

No I'm not on E7 tariff. I will get charged the same rate for the whole day. Since I have storage heaters, should I apply for that? If so, do you mind advising on how to do it?

Again, thanks a lot!

matelodave

I'm guessing that you are on an E7 or E10 tariff, so what is the energy consumption on the two rates (peak and off peak).

The heating and hot water should be on the off-peak circuit and should only come on during the off peak times - approx midnight to 7 am for E7 so you need to try and sort out when its all being used. Take meter readings (and record them) of both registers (peak and off peak) at roughly the same time every day for a couple of weeks to see what's using it all.

It's worthwhile checking that you are reading the correct meter and that your bills do actually refer to your meter as it often happens that meters in flats can be mislabelled

Make sure that you aren't wasting energy by turning stuff off and not leaving it on standby when it's not being used and that includes the TV, Video recorder, computer, phone chargers etc.etc. LED bulbs use 90% less energy than incandescent so swap out those which are used the most and especially if you've got down halogen downlighters.

If your hot water tank has a boost function (usually separately switched) that it's turned off and you could maybe reduce the hot water temperature by turning the immersion heater thermostat down a bit. (its usually under the thermostat cap but enure that you turn it off before removing the cover as you'll expose the electrical connections -ELECTRICITY KILLS)

Don't waste hot water - rinse stuff (including your hands) in cold water. Dont let water run down the sink and dont spend more than 5 minutes in the shower.

Consider fitting a flow restrictor on the shower. deluge showers are great but can get through 20 litres a minute.

Only use the washining machine, diswaher and tumble dryer with full loads and consider just washing up once a day.

PeterGr

There should be some time control for the storage heaters and the hot water. That is the principal of how they work, and without it you'd probably be using even more. If you are not certain take some readings 2 or 3 times a day for a couple of day, which should show a obvious night-time consumption for heating and hot water.


Minimise the time the hot water tank is being heated, and lower the temperatures (as already suggested)


Really understanding what heating and hot water controls you've got is the first step, then taking regular readings to track your consumption.


If your storage heaters don't have a local switch, then you'd have to turn them off at the consumer unit. Again knowing what circuits you have at the cu is important .

Robin9

It would be surprising if the property wasn't wired already for the storage rads and immersion heater back to a consumer unit - there even be a separate consumer unit for them. Even more surprising if you are not on E7 - double check your bill.

Contact your existing supplier to kick start the process of transferring to E7 if necessary..

[Deleted User]

Check the meter. Some digital meters are not obvious that they are showing high/low rates and most will show a total kwh as well, they may have no buttons but would scroll round on a loop. The older analogue meters have obvious night rate at top with day rate below.