All electric house - not sure if spending too much?

jamesperrett

lizzie201296 wrote: »

While I'm on the subject - anyone have any recommendations for good brands/what to look for? These look like they have been here since 1986...

The biggest problem with storage heaters is that they release the heat when you don't need it (or at least the ones in my first house did). Storage heaters with extra insulation like the Dimplex Quantum range look interesting and I've heard a few recommendations for them but I don't have any personal experience of them. The idea is that they are better at storing the heat and (as I understand it) you can program them to release it when needed.

lizzie201296

Hi all
I have done some investigating on my EDF account and have the following numbers for you... anyone who has time to take a look and give me their thoughts I would appreciate it a lot! The whole thing is confusing me so much - perhaps someone can explain and tell me if I am using too much/paying too much etc. Now I'm wondering if I should just move to a standard tarrif (not E7), and replace all the storage heaters. My only concern with that is what it would mean for the hot water tank which is an immersion heater set to heat up during the night price.

So on a standard weekday (when nobody is in all day, the rubbish living room heater (non-storage Delongshi) is switched on for maybe 2-3 hours in the evening, no washing machine is used). EDF tells me:
62% night (00:00-05.590)
12% morning (06:00-11:59)
9% afternoon (12:00-17:59)
17% evening (18:00-23:59)
This equates to:
17.73 kwh night (£1.51)
8.98 kwh day (£2.06)

On an average Sunday (both at home, washing machine used a couple of times. rubbish living room heater (non-storage heater) on for maybe 5 hours throughout the day and evening):
44% night
14% morning
21% afternoon
21% evening
which equals:
18.70 kwh night (£1.59)
21.07 kwh day (£4.70)

Interestingly I had a look at December 25th when nobody was in the house at all, all the heaters were switched off at the wall (except for one storage heater in the hall which was on lowest settings) as was the water tank and the usage was:
3.04 kwh night (£0.34)
0.95 kwh day (£0.30)
The weirdest thing is that at 17:30 there was a weird spike of 0.32kwh from 0.04kwh...any thoughts?

Hopefully these numbers will mean something to someone and you might be able to tell me whether it is even worth me staying on E7. My confusion is that during the week, it looks like most energy is used at night so E7 makes sense, but the weekends it flips the other way. Obviously at the moment it is cold winter so the heaters are being used at night, but in Summer none of them (including the rubbish living room one) will be on.. so will E7 make sense then?

Also do these numbers look ok generally in terms of use, or does something look too high - I'm worried that something is costing too much that I'm not aware of (ie. on December 25th when nothing was switched on except the fridge and hall heater.... is 3.04/0.95 kwh a lot for an otherwise empty switched off house..?)

Any help would be hugely appreciated...!
Thanks

Cardew

The weirdest thing is that at 17:30 there was a weird spike of 0.32kwh from 0.04kwh...any thoughts?

Fridge? Freezer?


There isn't much point in taking averages from single days in winter to reach conclusions.

lizzie201296

Cardew wrote: »

Fridge? Freezer?


There isn't much point in taking averages from single days in winter to reach conclusions.

I understand, but I only moved in in November so unfortunately that is all I have to go on atm.

molerat

The basics of electric heating are:
1. Electric heating is generally fairly expensive.
2. Heating using storage heaters on off peak rates is cheaper than using on demand at peak rates.
3. Replacing working heaters, whether with new storage heaters or other types is unlikely to overcome the capital cost with reduced consumption costs for a very long time. Replacing with the cheapest available takes you back to point 2.


As for whether E7 is right for you, you need to look at the overall annual consumption. One day out of context does not make a case for either way.

lizzie201296

molerat wrote: »

The basics of electric heating are:
1. Electric heating is generally fairly expensive.
2. Heating using storage heaters on off peak rates is cheaper than using on demand at peak rates.
3. Replacing working heaters, whether with new storage heaters or other types is unlikely to overcome the capital cost with reduced consumption costs for a very long time. Replacing with the cheapest available runs you back to 2.


As for whether E7 is right for you, you need to look at the overall annual consumption. One day out of context does not make a case for either way.

Thank you - so my latest bill says:
Annual consumption
(based on estimates)
Day: 2,363 kWh
Night: 4,067 kWh

Thanks

Robin9

I suggest you do nothing for the first year and get a full years worth of consumption data.

molerat

lizzie201296 wrote: »

Thank you - so my latest bill says:
Annual consumption
(based on estimates)
Day: 2,363 kWh
Night: 4,067 kWh

Thanks

That type of consumption is more than optimal for E7 with in excess of 60% off peak use. Quite easy to see how that cost compares with a single rate using a comparison site. Of course your summer daily use will likely not, price wise, be optimal for E7 but it is the overall picture that counts the same as those complaining they are paying a standing charge for gas with 0 use over summer.


No storage heater in the living room seems to be the problem for you, my MIL had one in the bedroom and we eventually ripped it out as the one at the bottom of the stairs more than covered the need except in the absolute coldest of weather.

lizzie201296

molerat wrote: »

That type of consumption is more than optimal for E7 with in excess of 60% off peak use. Quite easy to see how that cost compares with a single rate using a comparison site. Of course your summer daily use will likely not, price wise, be optimal for E7 but it is the overall picture that counts the same as those complaining they are paying a standing charge for gas with 0 use over summer.


No storage heater in the living room seems to be the problem for you, my MIL had one in the bedroom and we eventually ripped it out as the one at the bottom of the stairs more than covered the need except in the absolute coldest of weather.

That's great, thank you! So would you suggest replacing the rubbishy living room heater with a storage heater? Would this be a lot of work to get hooked up to the electrics (assuming a storage heater needs to be wired in by an electrician to work on the E7)?

matelodave

You'll probably find that a fair proportion of your daytime use over the weekend and evenings it the peak rate heater that you are using in the lounge.
Other ways of saving energy or reducing the cost would be to try using the washing machine, tumble dryer and dishwasher overnight on the off-peak tariff - a lot of machines have a delay timer which allows this. You could also do your vaccying and ironing then as well but it's not so practical.

Turn stuff off that's not in use at the wall. Change incandescent lightbulbs in rooms where lighting is used alot, especially if you've got halogen downlighters in the kitchen or bathroom. LEDs will save 90% of the energy used.

Dont waste hot water by using it for rinsing or letting it run down the sink - everytime you run the cold through the hot tap until hot water flows you waste the cold water and the same amount of hot water sits in the pipes to get cold wasting the energy that you used to heat it.

You'll use about 65-70% of your annual energy consumption between November and March and only 30% in the seven summer months so it's a good idea to keep your own spreadsheet so you can monitor your consumption profile to see if your electricity account will balance at the end of the contract.

Here's how I do it - I pay £75 month = £900 year for 7200kwh of leccy and then work out the rough percentage cost to see if I'm on track.
It's then easy to check it against your monthly consumption see if you are using significanly more or less than your estimated amount or cost and can then do something about it.

Month- Percentage- kwh- Cost
Jan- 16%- 1152- £144
Feb- 14%- 1008- £126
Mar- 12%- 864- £108
Apr- 7%- 504- £ 63
May- 4%- 288- £ 36
Jun- 4%- 288- £ 36
Jul- 4%- 288- £ 36
Aug- 4%- 288- £ 36
Sep- 4%- 288- £ 36
Oct- 6%- 432- £ 54
Nov- 11%- 792- £ 99
Dec- 14%- 1008- £126

My percentages are based on eight years worth of monitoring so are pretty accurate for our consumption profile