We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
We're aware that dates on the Forum are not currently showing correctly. Please bear with us while we get this fixed, and see Site feedback for updates.

Why are we paying so much for electric?

24

Comments

  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,128 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 30 November 2020 am30 10:27AM
    yksi said:
    My previous landlord told me that when you first switch on a night storage heater, it will chew through a lot of electricity as it does its first store of heat. I don't know if it's actually true but she swore it like gospel. She also echoed what Gerry1 has said, which is, if another tenant has moved their account to a new address which also has a key meter, then your topups are paying for both properties' power use.
    An NSH will use as much electricity is as required to fully charge it, so that will be more from cold than from warm, but the OP is not using NSH's: they have wall mounted convectors.
    OP, you stated that your new flat has 'different' heaters. If the previous ones were NSH's and an immersion heater running on E7, then yes, the cost is going to be much higher now: probably around 300% more on single rate tariff. than on E7.
    Does nobody ever check what the heating system is when taking on rental properties? We seem to hear this same story so often now, as LL's upgrade properties and fit nice 'modern' convectors instead of NSH's?
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • Thanks for your replies all.
    I spoke with british gas on their online chat on sunday. The advisor said that we had been paying off a debt and would be refunded what we had spent. He said the debt was at £0 (on sunday) but since then we have stil spent at £5 per day. Since moving in on the 21st we have spent £60. We just topped up another £40 today. We have turned the immersion heater off to see if it's that. We did not have NSHs in the previous flat, or my flat before that, just standard electric heaters, so the same as here. Totally confused about whats going on!
  • Gerry1
    Gerry1 Posts: 10,608 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 3 December 2020 pm31 8:56PM
    • Have you carried out all the previous suggestions?
    • How many kWh are you using each day?
    • How much are you paying per kWh and what is the daily charge?
    You need to think in kWh: comparing ££ usage isn't very helpful because you could be on a stupidly expensive tariff.
    If there's a red LED on the meter marked '800 Imp/kWh' or similar, that will tell you how much you are using at any given moment: 800 flashes (impulses) and you've used 1kWh. 
    Turn everything off at the wall switches, watch the LED like a hawk for a few minutes and make sure it never flashes once.  You can then turn various things on and note what appliances and circuits use the most.
  • Do any of these photos help?
  • Gerry1
    Gerry1 Posts: 10,608 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 3 December 2020 pm31 9:51PM
    I've already told you what those letters mean.  Put your card into the meter and see whether anything is displayed against S and T.  Those rates are crippling and you shouldn't be on Economy 7 paying a fortune on the day rate.
    In a nutshell, you're doing everything wrong.  Sorry, but that's the way it is. 
    Move out or limit the damage (it'll still cost an arm and a leg) by switching to a credit meter and a competitive single rate tariff (but be prepared to change the meter, possibly at your expense) before you move out.
  • So as there are two rates does that definitely mean we are on economy 7? We have applied to switch to a normal meter but takes 28 days. I’ll put the card in and see if it says anything for those letters.

    thank you for your advice :) 
  • There are two rates, which does mean economy 7. You are paying an exorbitant amount at 20.84p per unit day rate. Mine is 13.2p
    You need to read the 'H' reading and the 'J' reading every day for a week. 'H' is the reading of daytime units, and 'J' is the reading of night time. The difference between the readings is the number of units used. That is subtract today's 'H' reading from tomorrow's 'H' reading to know how many daytime units you used. Same principle for the nighttime readings. The sooner you can get to a credit meter, and a sensible tariff the better.
  • We have had the hot water off since Thursday and still using £5 a day. Tried to request to speak with a manager at British Gas twice now and they are just ignoring us. 
  • Gerry1
    Gerry1 Posts: 10,608 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I’ll put the card in and see if it says anything for those letters.
    Well, what happened when you put your card into the meter; what was displayed against S and T?
  • £0 on both. Honestly so confused and had the worst help from British Gas :(
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 348.4K Banking & Borrowing
  • 252.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 452.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 241K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 617.3K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 175.7K Life & Family
  • 254.1K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.