Billed £280 per month for electricity!

aleksandramcr

Hi all! 
Today, I received a £280 electricity bill for last month's usage. I live in a 1 bedroom flat, there are two of us in the property. We've switched suppliers from British Gas to Bulb recently, started to use a different underfloor heating system as recommended by the landlord but it doesn't seem to help. 
We're currently on payment plan with British Gas paying off a £600 debt on the old account - our bills changed from £40 when we first moved in last August and they were never less than £200 since October. 
Does anybody have any suggestions as to what is causing such a high energy consumption?
Thank you
Alex

Robin9

You gave the cause in your first paragraph - underfloor heating. In August the heating will have been switched off but its been on during the winter.  

You need to learn how to control it - does It have time-switches  and thermostats ?   Alongside the heating you will be heating your water by electricity - does that have a boost switch ?  (That should be off)

In conjunction look at your tariff - Bulb ay not be the best.

Intrigued   as to what your landlord has recommended. !


Edit - other than when you changed suppliers have you been giving monthly reads ? Are you bills full of "E'S" after the readings. ?  Give them a reading now and get a up to date bill - you may in for a surprise, hopefully good.

matelodave

Electric heating is expensive and electric underfloor heating is everso expensive.

What tariff are you on, is it E7 off peak - how much do you pay per kwh. I assume you have an immersion heater. As Robin asks, what controls your heating, timer, thermostats. If you are on E7 does the floor just heat up overnight. Do you use supplementary heaters (say in the bathroom, bedroom or even lounge) because they;ll increase your heating cost dramatically as well
How old is the flat and is it ground floor or an upper floor. Has it got double glazing

Without understanding what you've got and how you use it it's not possible to work out how you can save money because the there are only two ways to reduce your bill. Thats to use less energy (which means turning stuff off or down) or finding a cheaper tariff, again Bulb isn't the cheapest

Talldave

Are all the bills based on actual readings and not estimates?
The most cost effective plan of action would be to move somewhere with gas central heating.

aleksandramcr

Hi, 
Thank you for your your help! 
Let me explain in a bit more detail. We moved in to this property last August and got told by the agency that the underfloor heating is actually fairly cheap to run (I'll take it they were just trying to sell, because there's no way the cost, it turns out nobody else has lived in the property before and the whole building had been converted from a big pub to 6 apartments)
We didn't want to risk it and we didn't really need to turn the heating on until late October. 
I set up a DD with British Gas to pay £36.92, which I have been paying for the first three months. 
Somehow, I've never opted for an email as to how much is due every month but I logged in to my British Gas account at the end of November and I was rather surprised to see that I'm already £400 in debt with them. 
Had I not checked it (my fault for doing it so late, but it's our first rental property) - I would have never found out. 
The next bill in December was £194.48 and the next one in January £205.75. 
We've ended up on a payment plan with British Gas, having consulted them over the phone I was advised they simply charged me on the usage and the numbers match those on my meter so they can't help me in any other way than to set up a payment plan. 
The first time I contacted the letting agent was on discovering how high my total account balance is (back in November) - they've suggested that I find a cheaper supplier and use a different heating system. 
At first, we would only put the heating on when we were really cold for 2-3 hours in the evening. 
The landlord claims the property's finished and insulated to the highest standard, but the windows are massive and without the heating on we get mould around them and the property was then absolutely freezing in winter, not so bad now. 
We've had the landlord and his contractor come in to fix cracked socket (we were accused of breaking it, whereas we never even saw a fault before the contractor visited - my bad for letting them do it when I was at work) 
Anyway, we ended up on a different heating schedule, they've advised me:
"It is advised that in the depths of winter, an underfloor heating system should be kept on at all times. Although it should be at different temperatures depending on usage and activity in the house. This is because underfloor heating can take two to three hours to warm up, so it is best to not completely turn it off"
Up until yesterday, the heating would only be on at all times as recommended - highest temperature at night when the tarriff is meant to be cheaper, lower throughout the day cos the heat is meant to be stored. Well, !!!!!!. 
To sum it up, no matter whether I've the heating on and off, all day at various temperatures, whether I'm with British Gas or Bulb - my bill has not been lower than £180 since August. 
I'm currently on Vari Fair tarriff with Bulb. 
We did a test yesterday, switched off all appliances so the meter reading was down to 0. On turning the small appliances on, it would grow ever so slighty however when we turned the hot water tap on - the numbers spiked from 100 kWh to 3000 kWh within minutes, it worked similar on turning the heating on. 
Do you reckon it might have something to do with the boiler? 
Thank you
Alex

aleksandramcr

- I don't use supplementary heaters
- It is a ground floor 1 bed flat
- The building is quite old I think, I'll try and find out some concrete info 
- We really don't run a power plant, we have: a kettle, electric cooker, juicer, phone chargers, a laptop and a computer, fridge and a washing machine. We don't have a tumble dryer or any high-consumption machines

aleksandramcr

Only one bill was based on an estimated (my first bill from Bulb in February was about £100, now back to it's usual high £280 this month) - I've been told all other bills are the exact reading, not an estimate and I have been providing the readings to both suppliers at least once a month. 

matelodave

Arhh - what sort of underfloor heating is it ,

Is it electric wiring or hot water piping. If it's hot water piping then how is it heated have you got an electric boiler. Have a look at you water tank and any other large devices that are attached with wires going into them and find out the make and model number and come back with the info. If you dont have a hot water tank how is your water heated

I've got a dreadful feeling that you've got a hot water underfloor system fed by a flow boiler.

Have you got economy 7 if so what is the cost of your peak and off peak rates, if its not e7 what is the cost per kwh (what you pay depends where you live, so we need more info than just the tariff name) 

aleksandramcr

My total kWh usage went from 00258 kWh when we moved in on 28/08/2019 to 7943 kWh today. 
About your electricity tariffTariff name: Vari-FairUnit rate: 13.53p/kWhStanding charge: 18.66p/day (£68.11/year)Estimated annual usage: 8540 kWhTermination fee: None

My usage this month: 64 kWh/day or £ 9.26/day

"Energy 394 kWh @ 12.79 p/kWh £ 50.34Energy(1) 1605 kWh @ 13.53 p/kWh £ 217.14Standing charge 4 days @ 19.47 p/day £ 0.78Standing charge(1) 27 days @ 18.66 p/day £ 5.04"

Robin9

Thank you for the background. 
When you first wrote about underfloor I thought about an electric cable (element) laid in the floor but there is a type which uses a very big storage tank which pumps hot water under floor. 

You don't normally have in an electric heated house what you say is a boiler - that's typical of gas and oil. Electric hot water comes from a vertical tank with two elements in it - one at the top is a Boost and should be off as that uses the daytime electric, a second at the bottom which heats overnight and should be enough for use during the day.


Can you give us a copy of your bill please - blank out the personal info.

tim_p

You talk about a boiler, what exactly does your heating and hot water consist of? Is it totally electric? Is the underfloor heating wet or dry? Is there gas in the property?  Do you know for sure that you have E7?