economy 7 heaters problem

myself321

hi there

i have two of my economy 7 heaters on, there set to less than half charger ( 3.54 p night rate).

yet i have had a look at my meter and it has taken over £1.20 off , does this seem correct , its seems very expensive to me. could there be a problem with the meter

the economy 7 was only put in a couple of years back ,

penrhyn

What is the wattage of your storage heaters, and how many nights have you been running them?

If they are 3.00Kwh each and have been running for 7 hours (ignoring the internal thermostats). Then the maximum it would cost you is:

2 heaters*3Kilowatt*7hours*3.45 price per kwh = £1.45

Put your own figures in to get a better idea.

myself321

hi there

last night only . how do i find out what kilowatt there running at, i doubt they would be on for 7 hours with less than half charge ? many thanks for your help, internal thermostats ? where would i find this

penrhyn

I meant the charge control, There should be a rating plate on your storage heaters or may be the make and model number.

They could be 3.4Kw, 2.55Kw, 1.7 Kw

Some typical ones here

http://www.electricshop.com/invt/4040dim110261a&source=froogle

Ryu001

I live in a two bedroom property (bungalow-type arrangement). My girlfriend and I moved in june 2005. Everything runs on electric (no gas!) In that time we have received estimated bills ranging from £58.17 upto £118.78 and thought no more off it and just paid them! Last week we received a "catch-up" bill of £1577.01 , saying that all the other bills had been underestimated! (just a touch). They are now saying that we owe them this balance! I dont quite know what to do as I cant believe we have used so much elec, we dont have the heating switched on most of the time bcoz its still freezing when we do! It is rented accomodation btw! any ideas/help please?

Cardew

Ryu001 wrote: »

I live in a two bedroom property (bungalow-type arrangement). My girlfriend and I moved in june 2005. Everything runs on electric (no gas!) In that time we have received estimated bills ranging from £58.17 upto £118.78 and thought no more off it and just paid them! Last week we received a "catch-up" bill of £1577.01 , saying that all the other bills had been underestimated! (just a touch). They are now saying that we owe them this balance! I dont quite know what to do as I cant believe we have used so much elec, we dont have the heating switched on most of the time bcoz its still freezing when we do! It is rented accomodation btw! any ideas/help please?

Welcome to the forum.

The average family spends approx £1,000 a year on gas and electricity.

Electricity alone properties spend more than average and bungalows are more expensive to heat than 2 storey properties.

So in two and a half years it would not be unexpected to spend between £2,500 and £3,000.

If your 9 previous quarterly bills were between £58 and £118 that would be average of, say, £800 so a 'catch up' bill of £1,577 would not appear unreasonable??

It will be simple enough to check by looking at the meter readings when you moved in and current readings.

The problem I am afraid is that you "thought no more of it". The bills are shown as being estimated and you should have phoned in the correct readings.

You don't appear to have any reason why you think the bill is inaccurate?

Depending on the company, they may knock some off the bill(10% or so?) if you make a fuss; and all of them will normally allow you to pay off your debt over the time it took to build up the debt.

Look at it this way, you have had an interest free loan for a couple of years and will have it for another couple of years!

ChumpusRex

myself321 wrote: »

hi there
i have two of my economy 7 heaters on, there set to less than half charger ( 3.54 p night rate).

yet i have had a look at my meter and it has taken over £1.20 off , does this seem correct , its seems very expensive to me. could there be a problem with the meter

Meter malfunctions are incredibly rare, so it's very unlikely that there is a problem.

Storage heaters are rated in kWh (kilowatt-hours) which is a measure of how much charge they will store. A typical 'large room' sized heater is 24 kWh - this means it will take 24 units of electricity to charge to full. You may find a clue to the total charge they take in the heater model number (e.g. I have some called TSR12AW - which take a 12 kWh charge, and some called CNT18CW - which take 18, etc.)

The control dials really only provide a very crude control, and even if you set it minimum, the heater will still take a small charge. If you set the dial, to 'half', you'll probably find that the heater takes about 2/3 or 3/4 charge - at least on the first night that you switch it on.

So, if you've got 2 heaters, 24 units full charge each, which both charge to 3/4 - that's 36 units @ 3.57p each = £1.27

Don't forget, that hot water, and fridge, etc. will all use energy over night, so even if the heaters use less than the calculation above, £1.20 is not unreasonable. Also don't forget that the heaters don't usually drain completely in one day, they'll typically drain to about 1/3 charge during the 17 hour 'peak' period.

Terrylw1

Ryu001 wrote: »

I live in a two bedroom property (bungalow-type arrangement). My girlfriend and I moved in june 2005. Everything runs on electric (no gas!) In that time we have received estimated bills ranging from £58.17 upto £118.78 and thought no more off it and just paid them! Last week we received a "catch-up" bill of £1577.01 , saying that all the other bills had been underestimated! (just a touch). They are now saying that we owe them this balance! I dont quite know what to do as I cant believe we have used so much elec, we dont have the heating switched on most of the time bcoz its still freezing when we do! It is rented accomodation btw! any ideas/help please?

Agree with Cardew. Your bill may look high to others but you have got elec everything so using a combined example of gas & elec for a normal arrangement should come out the same.

This is sadly how it goes with estimates. Until your Supplier has accurate data for your usage (typically a year) they have nothing to correcty estiate your usage on. So, you either pay too much or too little.

Don't just think a bill's right because they have sent it to you. It may be completely incorrect, catch up or not.

So, check your meter - is the billed reading close to the meters reading? If not, is the billed one far too high? If so, get it corrected to bring your bill down.

Have your opening readings been estimated far too low? Thats would also cause this if the previous tenant used little elec or even if he/she used a lot and the Supplier did not have a record of it, hene lumbering part of the previous tenants consumption on your bill.

Bit difficult to advise without more info.