Electric Bill Way Too High ?

venomx

One bed flat with one person living here ( me )
Last month my bill was £155 which is way too high, isn't it ? Then I realised that the large electric radiator in the living room was on the whole time which should account for it ?


So one week into Jan i turned the heater off for the remaining 3 weeks and used up much less electric during the night. However my bill this month was still high ( £129 )

Could it be because for the first week of Jan I had the heater on constantly ?


Here are the units I used...

jan-feb day 446
jan-feb night 295

dec-jan day 480
 dec-jan night 489

Any ideas on how to diagnose what is causing this ?



I turn my heaters off when I go out, I only use Economy 7 for my hot water. etc
I'm with Robin Hood Electric





Thanks :j

renegadefm

Is the hot water tank insulated? The thermostat might be set to the highest point and constsntly boiling like a kettle. Try a few days with it off if you can.

Robin9

Venomyx - I see from your previous posts that the immersion heater had been repaired. Are you now getting hot water in the morning ? Double check that the Boost switch is off - as you live alone there should be enough hot water for the day and you shouldn't need a Boost.

From the readings you have given the night time usage is quite reasonable. However the day time use is rather high and its the day time unit cost which is much of your bill.

What do you use during the day ? Ignore the PC, TV, battery chargers - the real uses can be electric fires, cookers, showers, old fridges, lots of old lights ………………..

Talldave

I pay 11.5p per kWh, what are you paying? As well as looking at the consumption you need to look at the price. Robin Hood may be robbing you!

Robin9

Venomyx - I think you moved into your flat 12 months ago. In which case your fixed tariff will have run out - have you (or your financial advocate) made any arrangements to take out a new fix or change supplier ?

venomx

Standing Charge : 21.97p per day
Day unit rate : 20.685p/kWh
Night Unit rate : 10.08p/kWh


The thermostat has been replaced a few months ago, if anything he must have turned it down as there is slightly less hot water than before.
I have my economy 7 switch on every night only.



During the day I have a small heater in my room and a small heater in the living room. Both of which I only turn on as and when I needthem

( I am unemployed so im home quite a lot )


:beer:

Talldave

You need to change suppliers immediately. You're being robbed.

In under a minute I found Yorkshire Energy's E7 prices: 13.4p/7.6p.

Check using comparison sites for best deals, making sure you select the "show all suppliers" option.

Gerry1

venomx wrote: »

I have my economy 7 switch on every night only.

What exactly do you mean by this? Your immersion heater (the lower one if there are two) should be on a circuit that's automatically switched by the meter. If there's another one it should always be left switched off (the switch may be marked Boost) except for very occasional use if the water goes cold during the day. Don't use an instantaneous electric shower, it will bankrupt you.

venomx wrote: »

During the day I have a small heater in my room and a small heater in the living room.

I assume you can't get gas and are using panel heaters or some other plug-in devices that use expensive daytime electricity? If so, that's always going to be hideously expensive, especially on such a duff tariff. You need clever storage heaters instead.

venomx

Yes the boost is always off
The other one is marked with a "7" and the light only comes on during the night and then off in the morning

Maybe I should switch suppliers then, thanks for the info guys

A_Nice_Englishman

It sounds like the 'large electric radiator in the living room' a storage heater? If so, the idea is that it heats up overnight using the cheaper electricity and releases the heat during the day. That should work out cheaper than using your 'small heaters'.

Gerry1

venomx wrote: »

Yes the boost is always off
The other one is marked with a "7" and the light only comes on during the night and then off in the morning

Great, that's one problem ruled out.

venomx wrote: »

Maybe I should switch suppliers then

It's definitely not maybe. Don't delay, do it TODAY ! If the results don't include cheap suppliers such as Neon Reef, Avro, Yorkshire Energy you're not doing it right.

If you're renting, see whether you can persuade your landlord to install storage heaters, or consider moving: paying daytime rates for heating will always be cripplingly expensive.

Check out all the benefits to which you may be entitled, e.g Warm Home Discount, Cold Weather payments etc.