Economy 7 heaters using too much electricty

misshill

I manage my mums account, she only has electricity, no gas and uses mainly economy 7 storage heaters and a couple of electric heaters on timers.  Her usage is just going up and up, its ridiculous. I gave some updated readings on 4th February, the usage from 11th January to 4th February was:
Day rate 418 kWh x 18.578p £77.66 Standing Charge 24 days x 36.000p £8.64
Night rate 867 kWh x 8.910p £77.25
Considering she was in hospital for most of January and I turned everything off or on the lowest setting, thats really high! She's with Scottish power who I switched to a couple of years ago and am switching again, but surely theres something wrong and something using far too much electricity. She lives alone in a small 2 bedroom house.  Any ideas?

Gerry1

Have you done all the basic tests?

• Did you switch off the immersion heater?  Are you certain that it's only powered during the E7 cheap rate periods?  Is there a second (boost) immersion heater?
• Switch absolutely everything off for an hour or two when it's dark, make sure the meter readings don't change and the red light doesn't flash
• Make sure that the number on the meter is the same as that on the bill

You also need to switch away from that uncompetitive tariff.

Richie-from-the-Boro

You mum has an online account where you can in its entirety.see her annual, daily use/cost. Ditto an annual CAC.  Summer use minimum, winter use frighteningly high, I use a self imposed factual budget of:
- calculated annual consumption
- divided by 12
- paid by direct debit
- 8500kWh annual total
- 2600kWh expensive day rate (30%)
- 5900kWh cheap day rate (60%)

My annual average consumption has not changed over the last 5 years. I submit fact meter reads every 6 weeks. I decline their 'bot' monthly attempt to increase the payment every month. I refuse all attempts to install a 'smart meter'. So the trick on control is understand night store room and water heating. Get as close as possible to 60/40% night/day use. Get best fixed tariff for needs. Focus on stable CAC. Best of luck.

Robin9

Were the readings on Jan 11th yours or were they estimated ?

I echo the immersion heater questions of Gerry1 - if she in hospital it needs to be turned off completely
If the settings on the storage rads is right there should be no need for the on peak panels,

misshill

Gerry1 said:

Have you done all the basic tests?

• Did you switch off the immersion heater?  Are you certain that it's only powered during the E7 cheap rate periods?  Is there a second (boost) immersion heater?
• Switch absolutely everything off for an hour or two when it's dark, make sure the meter readings don't change and the red light doesn't flash
• Make sure that the number on the meter is the same as that on the bill

You also need to switch away from that uncompetitive tariff.

Actually, thats the one thing I forgot about, I have no idea if there's an immersion heater or what heats the water.  The heater does have an afternoon boost button that she puts on as she says its cold by evening if she doesnt.
Ive switched to Bulb, so hopefully that will make it cheaper.  I thought about getting a smart meter too so we can see exactly when the electricity is at its highest.
I'll try the tests, thanks.

misshill

Richie-from-the-Boro said:

You mum has an online account where you can in its entirety.see her annual, daily use/cost. Ditto an annual CAC.  Summer use minimum, winter use frighteningly high, I use a self imposed factual budget of:
- calculated annual consumption
- divided by 12
- paid by direct debit
- 8500kWh annual total
- 2600kWh expensive day rate (30%)
- 5900kWh cheap day rate (60%)

My annual average consumption has not changed over the last 5 years. I submit fact meter reads every 6 weeks. I decline their 'bot' monthly attempt to increase the payment every month. I refuse all attempts to install a 'smart meter'. So the trick on control is understand night store room and water heating. Get as close as possible to 60/40% night/day use. Get best fixed tariff for needs. Focus on stable CAC. Best of luck.

Thanks for that.  The last 12 months was Day 3,637 kWh, Night 9,041 kWh.
How does Economy 7 heat the water?  She has a heated towel rail in the bathroom, I wonder if thats using a lot.
I thought a smart meter might help to see when the electricity is at its highest?

misshill

Robin9 said:

Were the readings on Jan 11th yours or were they estimated ?

I echo the immersion heater questions of Gerry1 - if she in hospital it needs to be turned off completely
If the settings on the storage rads is right there should be no need for the on peak panels,

They were my readings on 11th Jan.
From what I can see theres an input dial usually at 4, I turned it to 1 when she was in hospital. The output dial has 1. No boost    2. Lunchtime boost and  3 evening boost.  She turns the evening boost on the one in the lounge. Theres also a heater in the kitchen and one in the hall.  Not sure where the immersion is or how it works.  What settings would you recommend?
thanks

Gerry1

misshill said:The heater does have an afternoon boost button that she puts on as she says its cold by evening if she doesnt.

BIG mistake: she's paying the E7 peak rate unnecessarily. The boost switch should always be left switched off unless there's a very good reason, e.g. returning to cold water after a holiday.

misshill said:I thought about getting a smart meter too so we can see exactly when the electricity is at its highest.

No need to mess around with a smart meter. She just needs to ensure that the main immersion heater is on a night time circuit controlled by the E7 meter. A workaround is a local timer that shadows the E7 cheap rates, but that can be an expensive mistake if the cheap rate times are not set correctly (check by dialling 105) or if the timer gets upset by a power failure.  Make sure the tank is well insulated.

Gerry1

misshill said: She turns the evening boost on the one in the lounge. Theres also a heater in the kitchen and one in the hall.

Oh dear, more expensive mistakes, assuming she's on E7.  If she's on a legacy SP tariff that's a whole new can of worms as you'll soon see if you look through the forum (search for terms such as RHT, Restricted Hours Tariff, E10, E12, E15, Comfort Plus, White Meter etc).  Storage heaters are expensive at the best of times, but they're bankruptcy inducing if topped up at peak rate.  Turn the input control up before resorting to a peak rate boost.

Similarly, plug in heaters used on peak rate (fan heaters, convectors, oil filled radiators, panel heaters, electric fires etc) are as cost-effective as burning bank notes.  A fan heater might be useful in the bedroom for a few minutes when getting up or going to bed, but that's about all they should be used for.

Richie-from-the-Boro

SMETS1 & SMETS2 are both different SMETS1 are dumb while SMETS2 are 'supposed to work. Both need calibrating but according to evidence in this forum almost never are so don't put a lot of confidence in smart meter. The % split of Day 3,637 kWh, Night 9,041 kWh is an excellent ratio, one  I would be proud of ! However 12,678kWhpa is a heck of as lot, I'm open plan, two bedroom house and am a full 30% less kWhpa.

NSH usually have only two adjustments and they are [a mechanical flap] that 'boost' opens an closes, I keep mine shut tight - have never used in many decades - and [stored cheap heat] 'input' or how full do you want it.I use mine to "bank" cheap heat. The NSH is just one of 3 sized tins holding 9-16 bricks, holding up to 21kWh each.

Heated towel rail is always expensive, I mean its another radiator, cost per 18x365pa hour day rate hour is going to be high @ 150-200Wph.