Electric wet CH - yes roll your eyes!

Doug86

I know you’re probably rolling your eyes at yet another all electric home owner but this is keeping me awake at night and consuming an inordinate amount of time. I live in a 2.5 bedroom semi-detached house with 9 radiators (small and large). This is my first house (bought April 2020) and through a serious case of naivety I did not fully appreciate just how expensive electric heating can be with a wet central heating system.  

As it stands I’m on an E7 standard tariff from Scottish Power (who have appalling customer service) so that’s roughly 19p day, 8p night. No amount of reading has helped me understand how exactly certain tariffs can save me money – I simply cannot understand how they work.  You pay this or that per Kwh and that’s that… surely?

The CH is run by a Heatrae Sadia Amtec C900 Electric flow boiler (9kw) and while it heats the radiators up very hot; the house really struggles to get to 18 degrees (particularly in this weather). This means the thing is chugging away constantly at £1.75/hr for hours and hours (smart meter reading). The house was at 11.5 DC last night and it took 4 hours to bring it up to 15.1 DC… is that normal or ridiculous given the temperature outside?

Consequently I’ve been extremely frugal with it and basically just stuck to largely using a 2kw electric oil heater in the sitting room. My energy cost for the year has been reasonable (probably end up being between £600 and £700) but that’s only because I’ve been out a lot over winter and very rarely put the CH on so God only knows how horrific that figure would be if I were using the CH daily.

I’m not bothered about anything else… it’s only the heating that is making me wince. Saving this or that with a kettle or standby mode on the TV is totally insignificant compared to the cost of the heating. I suppose because I moved in at the start of summer I was flying high with £15-25/m and a solar panel to heat the water but now I’m slightly shell shocked!

I suppose what I’m trying to ask is would it be prudent to invest in some storage heaters? More insulation…? Do I just suck it up? I’m too terrified to use the CH “normally” other than to keep the house from going under 5 degrees.

tim_p

Guessing that getting gas to the property isn’t possible? 

Gerry1

There's no way you should be on E7 with an electric boiler and wet radiators.  Switch today to the cheapest single rate tariff you can find.  You probably won't need to change the meter, many suppliers will happily bill both registers at the same rate.  Neon Reef is one, and they'll probably be near the top of the list.  Start comparing with Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch' using your annual kWh consumption from actual meter readings.  Ignore all projections and savings claims, just compare annual costs.

9kW is very under powered for a 2.5 bed property so no wonder it's cold.  But a 16kW version or whatever would just make you go bankrupt even faster !

Oil or LPG might be the best bet, otherwise clever NSHs would be the answer.  Is it absolutely impossible to get gas?

Doug86

tim_p said:

Guessing that getting gas to the property isn’t possible? 

Nope, not currently.

Gerry1 said:

There's no way you should be on E7 with an electric boiler and wet radiators.  Switch today to the cheapest single rate tariff you can find.  You probably won't need to change the meter, many suppliers will happily bill both registers at the same rate.  Neon Reef is one, and they'll probably be near the top of the list.  Start comparing with Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch' using your annual kWh consumption from actual meter readings.  Ignore all projections and savings claims, just compare annual costs.

9kW is very under powered for a 2.5 bed property so no wonder it's cold.  But a 16kW version or whatever would just make you go bankrupt even faster !

Oil or LPG might be the best bet, otherwise clever NSHs would be the answer.  Is it absolutely impossible to get gas?

Yes, I need to get my head wrapped around the whole tariff business but the cheapest rate per Kwh for electricity seems to be 16p. Is that generally as low as electricity will go?
I had read about the particular 9kw boiler I have which was advertised as being ideal for flats so why on earth the house builders put them in I don't know. Either way, the radiators get hot but they don't exactly heat things up fast. 

Gerry1

Doug86 said:

tim_p said:

Guessing that getting gas to the property isn’t possible? 

Nope, not currently.

Gerry1 said:

There's no way you should be on E7 with an electric boiler and wet radiators.  Switch today to the cheapest single rate tariff you can find.  You probably won't need to change the meter, many suppliers will happily bill both registers at the same rate.  Neon Reef is one, and they'll probably be near the top of the list.  Start comparing with Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch' using your annual kWh consumption from actual meter readings.  Ignore all projections and savings claims, just compare annual costs.

9kW is very under powered for a 2.5 bed property so no wonder it's cold.  But a 16kW version or whatever would just make you go bankrupt even faster !

Oil or LPG might be the best bet, otherwise clever NSHs would be the answer.  Is it absolutely impossible to get gas?

the cheapest rate per Kwh for electricity seems to be 16p. Is that generally as low as electricity will go?

Did you do a comparison using the recommended websites?  No, thought not.

Doug86 said:

tim_p said:

Guessing that getting gas to the property isn’t possible? 

Nope, not currently.

Gerry1 said:

There's no way you should be on E7 with an electric boiler and wet radiators.  Switch today to the cheapest single rate tariff you can find.  You probably won't need to change the meter, many suppliers will happily bill both registers at the same rate.  Neon Reef is one, and they'll probably be near the top of the list.  Start comparing with Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch' using your annual kWh consumption from actual meter readings.  Ignore all projections and savings claims, just compare annual costs.

9kW is very under powered for a 2.5 bed property so no wonder it's cold.  But a 16kW version or whatever would just make you go bankrupt even faster !

Oil or LPG might be the best bet, otherwise clever NSHs would be the answer.  Is it absolutely impossible to get gas?

I had read about the particular 9kw boiler I have which was advertised as being ideal for flats so why on earth the house builders put them in I don't know.

Because they were cheap.

Doug86

Gerry1 said:

Did you do a comparison using the recommended websites?  No, thought not.

Okay sorry, I got Octopus energy to start off which quoted 16p and then just had that stuck it in my mind because I've turned my head into knots!
My bill is projecting that i'll have used about 3500kwh annually which sounds about right given there is less than 2 months left before year 1 is up. The caveat to that is that it isn't a fair reflection of the amount I might have used were I not paranoid about using the CH. Neon Reef quote 13.619p which seems a bit better at a fixed 12-month rate.

It's a shame. I considered everything else with this house except properly investigating the heating. I simply took it for granted that electric boilers were cheaper, were 100% efficient and required next to no maintenance thereby evening out the cheaper cost of gas. I figured it would be more expensive for sure but not to this degree.

molerat

Doug86 said:

Yes, I need to get my head wrapped around the whole tariff business but the cheapest rate per Kwh for electricity seems to be 16p. Is that generally as low as electricity will go?

I am in one of the most expensive areas for electric in UK and am paying <13p so no, 16p is not low.

Of course, unit charge is not the only part of your bill but in your case, being a high user, you need to look for the overall lowest cost but also unit price needs to be low at maybe a cost of allowing for a higher daily charge.

What are the first 4 of your post code and your total annual kWh use ?  Won't identify you but others can have a look at what is available to you

Doug86

molerat said:

Doug86 said:

Yes, I need to get my head wrapped around the whole tariff business but the cheapest rate per Kwh for electricity seems to be 16p. Is that generally as low as electricity will go?

I am in one of the most expensive areas for electric in UK and am paying <13p so no, 16p is not low.

Of course, unit charge is not the only part of your bill but in your case, being a high user, you need to look for the overall lowest cost but also unit price needs to be low at maybe a cost of allowing for a higher daily charge.

What are the first 4 of your post code and your total annual kWh use ?  Won't identify you but others can have a look at what is available to you

Thanks.
RG17.
My bill is projecting 3500kWh (2900 day, 600 night) although this probably isn't all that accurate given I only just managed to figure how to get the immersion to come on in the 'off-peak' times.

tim_p

If you’ve got two immersions (on side of cylinder) check the top one isn’t switched on 24/7. It probably isn’t given that electric usage isn’t that far above a ‘typical’ house with GCH, let alone an all electric one, worth checking if only to know what you’ve got there. 

matelodave

What heats your hot water, do you have a hot water tank, does it have an immersion heater or does the flow boiler heat the tank as well. What about your shower/bath have they skimped on that as well and put in an electric shower unit?

As said above you are using most of your leccy at peak times so you need the cheapest single rate tariff that you can get. Even if you can heat your hot water tank overnight on an E7 tariff it doesn't really benefit you all that much if your heating and other stuff is being used during peak times at inflated costs.
9kw isn't really enough to heat a place that's much bigger than a small flat unless it's really well insulated and even then you've probably got to run it for hours on end. TBH you probably are better off using a 2kwh oil rad in lounge as you are only heating the room that you are in rather than the whole place

Gerry1

Doug86 said:

molerat said:

Doug86 said:

Yes, I need to get my head wrapped around the whole tariff business but the cheapest rate per Kwh for electricity seems to be 16p. Is that generally as low as electricity will go?

I am in one of the most expensive areas for electric in UK and am paying <13p so no, 16p is not low.

Of course, unit charge is not the only part of your bill but in your case, being a high user, you need to look for the overall lowest cost but also unit price needs to be low at maybe a cost of allowing for a higher daily charge.

What are the first 4 of your post code and your total annual kWh use ?  Won't identify you but others can have a look at what is available to you

My bill is projecting 3500kWh (2900 day, 600 night) although this probably isn't all that accurate given I only just managed to figure how to get the immersion to come on in the 'off-peak' times.

It won't make any difference because you need single rate, at least until you get your NSHs installed and in use.

At that point you'll need to switch again because IIRC Neon Reef don't offer an E7 tariff.