East London Energy District Heating

hmovassagian

I recently moved into a new build flat and last week received my first two bills for Nov and Dec (heating & hot water), which were around £85 for each month and much higher than my previous flat which had gas. The standing charge is £28 per month and usage is billed at 6p per kWh.

It is a 2 bed flat with underfloor heating and occupied by myself and another person. We use a reasonable amount of hot water (one shower each every day, dishwasher every two days, washing machine once a week). The underfloor heating was on throughout Nov and Dec and the thermostat was usually set to between 15 and 20°C, with the green light on most of the time and the red light only coming on occasionally (this means that it is heating up, right?). 

When I received the bill last week, I right away turned off the underfloor heating via the main switch to see if it makes any difference, as you can check the daily usage on their website. I think the numbers don't really add up.

For example, for the days between 15 Dec and 23 Dec it shows a daily usage of just under 20 kWh (UFH was on). In contrast, for the entire last week, where UFH was off, it shows a usage of 25 kWh for every day. How can it possibly be higher? Does this make any sense and isn't 25 kWh way too high if I'm only using a bit of hot water every day? (Plus I am alone at the moment)

Another example: it says that we used 508 kWh in Nov and 943 kWh in Dec, which I find odd, given that we used the same amount of heating in both months AND I was on my own for almost all of Dec, whereas it was two of us throughout Nov.
 

Gerry1

With District Heating you're virtually held to ransom and can do very little about it.  If you're renting, move as soon as possible, sadly it's as simple as that.

Phones4Chris

I know nothing about "District Heating". It sounds like a nightmare! But how is your energy usage measured? What metering is there and where is it?

matelodave

Generally district heating is provided by pumping hot water around the building or even building which is then controlled by means of a thermostat within the dwelling by opening and closing valves or possibly a pump to alter the flow of hot water through your heating system or hot water tank in a similar way to a conventional boiler

The amount of heat that you use is measured by a heat meter which measures the volume of water flowing through your system as well as the temperatures of the flow and return pipes from which it can calculate the amount of heat in kwh that has been extracted from the water. You are then charged for the number of kwh that you've used. more info here if you are interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR0rQ5vK8do

However most district heating have quite high service and maintenance charges (equivalent to the daily or monthly standing charge on a gas or leccy bill)

TBH 6p/kwh although more expensive than gas is a lot cheaper than leccy however nearly £1 a day in service charges is a lot more than the 15-25p/day that energy companies charge. Unfortunately there's not a lot you can do about it. District heating isn't regulated like gas & leccy and it may even be subject to 20% vat rather than the normal 5% for domestic energy.

However that said, you don't have the cost and aggro of getting you boiler serviced or insured and hopefully it gets sorted out a bit quicker than if you had to organise it all yourself.

MWT

hmovassagian said:

Another example: it says that we used 508 kWh in Nov and 943 kWh in Dec, which I find odd, given that we used the same amount of heating in both months AND I was on my own for almost all of Dec, whereas it was two of us throughout Nov.

That is not really unusual, December was colder than November, and less people in the flat will not mean less heating used unless you change the number of rooms heated or the thermostat settings.

hmovassagian

MWT said:

That is not really unusual, December was colder than November, and less people in the flat will not mean less heating used unless you change the number of rooms heated or the thermostat settings.

Maybe not that, but it will definitely mean less hot water used. 

But anyways, even if we assume that is not unusual, how does that explain the fact that they say I used 25 kWh per day last week even though the UFH was completely off (via main switch)?

I mean seriously, how can the usage it be higher in a period where UFH was off compared to a period where UFH was on, with everything else being equal???

"The average hot water energy consumption of UK homes is approximately 4 kWh per day (based on 2.4 occupants; approx. 80 litres of hot water at 55°C)" - https://www.bregroup.com/heatpumpefficiency/hot-water-consumption

MWT

hmovassagian said:

I mean seriously, how can the usage it be higher in a period where UFH was off compared to a period where UFH was on, with everything else being equal???

Is the UFH the only heating you have that is fed by the district heating system or do you have radiators as well?

hmovassagian

MWT said:

hmovassagian said:

I mean seriously, how can the usage it be higher in a period where UFH was off compared to a period where UFH was on, with everything else being equal???

Is the UFH the only heating you have that is fed by the district heating system or do you have radiators as well?

We only have UFH. Is it possible at all that, say, there is something wrong with the meter?

hmovassagian

Gerry1 said:

With District Heating you're virtually held to ransom and can do very little about it.  If you're renting, move as soon as possible, sadly it's as simple as that.

I am renting yes and my supplier is a member of the Heat Trust, are they not useful at all for complaints etc?

It is sad because I think District Heating really is the future. Where I'm from (Germany) it is very established and there are no problems at all, but I'm sure the UK will catch up soon.

MWT

It is always possible, just not very likely.

With the UFH turned off wasn't it cold in the flat if that is the only heating?

Just wondering if you had a valve stuck which would still allow the water into the UFL circuit and still cause heat to be 'consumed' even with the system turned off...

hmovassagian

MWT said:

It is always possible, just not very likely.

With the UFH turned off wasn't it cold in the flat if that is the only heating?

Just wondering if you had a valve stuck which would still allow the water into the UFL circuit and still cause heat to be 'consumed' even with the system turned off...

You could definitely feel that the UFH was off, especially at night.