One bed flat using masses of electricity

Greenbanana81

Hello all, I need some help getting my electricity consumption under control. I'm in a one bed ex-local flat, top floor, flat roof, uninsulated solid brick walls, no cavity. We used to have old storage heaters which were terrible at heating the flat and we really struggled with condensation and very bad mould all over the walls, especially the north facing ones. We got rid of them and switched to single electricity and installed some electric Rointes instead (no gas supply to building). Over the past year (we're with Bulb at the moment) our usage (winter to winter) was over 11,000kW. The summers are fine but the flat needs the radiators going just to keep it warm in the winter which is obviously where our bills shoot up incredibly. This is also because we are trying to avoid our condensation issues coming back (along with using proper ventilation). I think this is our major electricity expenditure although we also have an electric water tank on a timer (not convinced this is as significant). Would really like to stop spending so much over the winter months to get the bill down. Any help appreciated!

Gerry1

Oh dear, you've made the worst possible decision if the Rointe heaters are not storage and run on full price electricity. 

If there is gas in the area it would be worth investigating whether you can get a supply installed; if you own the property it will probably be worthwhile.  Also consider better insulation.

Otherwise your only hope is to switch to the cheapest possible tariff: check suppliers such as Neon Reef, or to install clever storage heaters such as Dimplex Quantum, and make sure they're big enough so that you don't need to top them up in the evening with daytime E7.

See the Fischer thread for endless similar stories of woe.

daveyjp

If the property is badly insulated there is no way of heating it cheaply using electricity.

Robin9

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear    

See the Fischer thread  that Gerry 1 refers to.

Move

Richie-from-the-Boro

Rointe

100% very worst wrong choice my friend. Sorry!

matelodave

As Gerry says, Rointe are only marginally less bad than Fischer - they use exactly the same amount of leccy as Fischer but are a bit cheaper to buy. You would have saved even more if you'd bough heaters for £25-£30 each from B&Q or Argos. They'd still have cost the same silly amount to use but you would have saved the upfront costs. The only way you'll save money is by not using them.

You really should have persevered with the storage heaters, kept your E7 tariff and learned how to use them effectively instaed of dumping them. I suspect that you wont be able to have gas installed, if that's the case then you might consider re-instating the storage heaters together with E7 and use them properly. Likewise heat you hot water on off peak leccy.

You might even be able to get hold of storage heaters on E-bay or Gumtree although more modern ones are a bit better at storing and retaining heat that old decrepit heaters. the main thing is to ensure that they are large enough to heat the place - undersized heater wont do the job and in a perverted way can cost you more to run. They wont store enough heat and you'll need to use supplementary heating to keep warm and damp at bay.

Last but not least get yourself onto a better tariff - Bulb aren't the cheapest and read you meters yourself regularly and keep a spread sheet so you can see where all your leccy is going - if you dont monitor it you cant control it.

Gerry1

matelodave said:

You might even be able to get hold of storage heaters on E-bay or Gumtree

If they're old ones, check that they don't contain asbestos.  Moving them might well release asbestos fibres, and there might be failed elements which would need to be replaced, again with a risk of disturbing any asbestos present. Otherwise a good workaround if they're cheap.

Hasbeen

OP okay you bought Rointe. Perhaps as others have said not wise. But if you cannot get gas supply in? Then get consider " better" heaters such as Dimplex Quantum? As suggested by Gerry1.

You say ex local? Council?

An ex council flat on top floor should in my opinion benefit from heat below? And council flats are rarely solid walls without a cavity? Have you checked?

Choices are Move. Improve. Cheaper energy supplier with a tariff that suits your circumstances?

Gerry1

Hasbeen said:

An ex council flat on top floor should in my opinion benefit from heat below?

Unfortunately it will be outweighed by the heat loss through the roof.  The insulation is likely to be absolutely minimal and it'll be almost impossible to replace it or to add another layer.  It's like having a large cold radiator above every room.

The winds are likely to be significantly higher than at lower levels, and that will increase the losses, ditto for the roof especially if it isn't walled.

Let's hope that the OP is renting and will be able to move easily.  If they stay then it's just a case of damage limitation, sadly they can't win.

matelodave

Depending on the ceiling height it wouldn't be ever such an expensive job to clad it with insulation on the inside - even Kingspan or similar with a high insulation factor could make as much difference as four or more inches of conventional loft insulation.

Some older properties had fairly high ceilings so a couple of inches wouldn't make a lot of difference to the height but could do wonders for the heating costs

Richie-from-the-Boro

getting my electricity consumption under control
Unlikely ever with your EPC rating using that heating type. Off gas rent, leaseholder or owner ?
E7 NSH & water heating with damper closed tight and sufficient input for your needs is your best cheapest option. Don't waste time and much more money on Dimplex either, get free ebay take away's of the manual kind over the next six months and use any money to pay a sparky to do heating and water to provide for your next winter period, then insulate. #Take control# my friend.