sky high energy bill! pls help

kevinvis

Hello,

I recently send a meter reading to my electrical supplier today (67238 low and 72431 normal), which is for the period from 26/10/19 to 03/02/20. The readings on 26/10 was 66104 and 71948. They told me that I have to pay over £320 for the bill! That is more than £100 a month. I find this ridiculously high given that its a one bedroom flat and I was away for the majority of December. Moreover, the bill for the first month I was in (September to October) was £56.

I do not use most of the electrical appliances in the apartment (tv, dishwasher, freezer etc), only use washing machine/tumble dryer once a week and fan heater during the night. No other form of heating is currently used. I am aware that I have immersion boiler in the flat which is particular expensive to run (its on for 24hrs).
Any advice in steps I should take would be highly appreciated.

Thank you,
Kevin

MWT

If those numbers are right, your most immediate problem would seem to be the tariff you are on.


Can you confirm who is providing your power and which tariff you are on?

Talldave

The bill would have been £200 on my tariff with Symbio.

Why is the immersion on 24/7? Is the water scalding hot? If so, turn it down a bit and get a timeswitch fitted.

How old is the fridge? Is it whirring away for more time than it's not?

Robin9

Are all these readings ACTUAL or ESTIMATED?

You say "all electric" - is this storage rads and/or on peak panel heaters? Do you have an electric shower?

Look at how you operate your immersion heater - it should not be on 24/7. There should be two switches - one always on for the element at the bottom of the tank and using off peak; the one at the top should be off and used only as a boost when you run out of water and runs at on peak.

Swipe

Buy an electric blanket for your bed instead of running a fan heater all night

Robin9

Even on a 1kW setting - your fan heater is costing you £1 a night

kevinvis

Thank you everyone for your reply.
I am with EDF and the tariff is 21.39p per kwh during the day and 10.83p per kwh during the night. I set the immersion boiler so it is on for the bottom half of the boiler only. This is the only way to heat up water in the flat (no electric shower). I think the fridge is quite old but it sounds fine, no noise or anything. I have 3 panel haters but never use them. The fan heater is set on temperature control during the night as well.
I just moved into the uk so I dont know much about changing tariff or energy provider. Any information which could help me reduce the bill, or even change it retrospectively would be really helpful. Thanks

Kevin

welshmoneylover

It’s the fan heater and immersion heater that costs the most to run hth

Talldave

I just posted on another similar thread this morning that Yorkshire Energy's E7 prices are 13.4p/7.6p. That gives you a ball park idea of where you should be aiming.


Check using comparison sites for best deals, making sure you select the "show all suppliers" option. It might also be worth looking at whether dropping E7 and going for a single rate would work out cheaper for you (e.g. I pay 11.5p per kWh). But that will depend on the percentage of night use in your total consumption.


There are lots of helpful folks on here who can guide you if you give your region (the area you live) and your estimates of annual consumption.

Gerry1

Start by using these two sites. I assume you don't have gas?

https://energycompare.citizensadvice.org.uk/

https://switch.which.co.uk/

You can't change tariffs retrospectively.

You still haven't told us how you heat your flat. The term 'immersion boiler' is a contradiction in terms. You probably have a hot water tank with an immersion heater.

You may also have an electric boiler (furnace) with wet radiators, and if so this will bankrupt you because it will be using peak rate electricity.

MWT

kevinvis wrote: »

I set the immersion boiler so it is on for the bottom half of the boiler only.

I am assuming you have a hot water cylinder with two immersion heaters, one at the top and one towards the bottom of the cylinder.


The one at the bottom will heat the whole cylinder as the warm water rises, not just the bottom half, so using this one over night will give you a full cylinder of hot water to use during the day.


The one at the top will only heat the water in the upper part of the cylinder and is typically used during the day if you need a boost because you have run out of hot water.


Hopefully your hot water is currently lasting all day without the need for a boost?