Electricity meter readings seem too high & bill is excessive

couriervanman

Even 100% efficiency......gas is as little as 2.3p per kwh electric is 12p per kwh 

Harry_510

couriervanman said:

Even 100% efficiency......gas is as little as 2.3p per kwh electric is 12p per kwh 

Oof This is a rental unfortunately, had no say/choice in the boiler

Gerry1

There is nothing more expensive to run than an electric boiler.  You're using energy at 17.71p/kWh whereas gas is less than 3p/kWh.  Would you fill up with petrol at £7.20 per litre?

Sorry, but there's no getting away from the fact that it was an absolutely dreadful mistake to move to a property without gas but with the most expensive electric heating system it's possible to have.  You need to move to a place with gas central heating ASAP.

In the meantime, switch to the cheapest single rate credit tariff you can find.

tim_p

Harry_510 said:

tim_p said:

Harry_510 said:

tim_p said:

Maybe take some meter readings, twice a day at the approx the same time to get an idea when the usage is occurring. 

I'm taking hourly readings, the big jumps are during boiler operation - is 10KW per hour normal?

Perfectly normal for a 10kW electric boiler running for an hour (obviously a different rated boiler could be different) Any thermostat would turn it off once target tempt had been reached. What boiler is it? (Rating)

It's a 10KW ehc 'slimjim' boiler with a '100% efficiency rating' apparently. I would assume it uses 10KW per hour, but say for 4 hours of use per day (hot water and heating), that just makes the energy bill insane? £200+ per month? 

If the room it’s heating (or the water, or both) isn’t reaching the demand temp then yes, it will churn away eating up 10kW for as many hours it’s on until temp is reached. You could easily hit £175-£200 per month on that 4hours per day. 

matelodave

Oh dear, you've got the most expensive sort of heating known to man (apart from using £20 notes in a fireplace). Although it may be 100% efficient a flow boiler like the one you've got is even worse than using fan heaters all over the place.
Unfortunately it uses peak rate electricity and 17.71p/kwh is outrageous. I pay just 12.25p.

There really isn't a lot you can do except find somewhere cheaper to live. Using a portable heater and moving it from room to room would work out cheaper as you are only heating one room at a time with 1-2kwh rather than blasting 10kw out all over the place. About the only consolation is that it should reduce now that spring is just around the corner

IMHO these things ought to be illegal

tim_p

matelodave said:

IMHO these things ought to be illegal

Whilst you are right, it ain’t gonna happen because if the gummint has its way we will all be using electric to heat our homes in the future. 

theoretica

Harry_510 said:

Gerry1 said:

Welcome to the forum.

Make sure you're not being charged for the visit; if so, cancel.  There are lots of checks you can do yourself.

Bills will always be more expensive in winter because it's cold and dark.  The £51 figure is an average over the whole year.

Send monthly readings and keep records.

Why have you chosen such an expensive tariff?  Start comparing with Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch'.

Hi there, I understand that the bills are cheaper in the summer and so they average them out over the year but £240 per month in the winter? I have two hours of heating in the morning and two hours at night, and an hour of hot water in the morning and an hour at night. My neighbour's last bill was £95. I didn't choose that tariff, it was a continuation of the landlord's account - I was led to believe I had to stick to it. I will be changing to a different tariff but I need to get this issue remedied first. 

Do you need to heat the hot water twice a day?  Worth trying if you could get away with only heating once - or every other day - experiment until your shower is definitely too cold!

mrsmsebastian

matelodave said:

Unfortunately it uses peak rate electricity and 17.71p/kwh is outrageous. I pay just 12.25p.

which energy supplier you're on matelodave as the usual price per kwh I can find on electric is ranging from 17-19p? I move to Avro which is 16p per kwh and that is the cheapest I could find

matelodave

I'm with Neon Reef, Aqua One, but that tariff is from last October and isn't available anymore. Ideally to keep on top of your energy costs you should check every 2-3 months to see whats available.

Even if you are in a contract - it can sometimes be worth paying the Early Termination Charge if you can get a decent deal that saves you more than the ETC. As I use just over 7000kwh a year, just 1p/kwh less can save me at least £70 a year (£6 a month)

Gerry1

mrsmsebastian said:

which energy supplier you're on matelodave as the usual price per kwh I can find on electric is ranging from 17-19p? I move to Avro which is 16p per kwh and that is the cheapest I could find

Clearly you didn't compare using Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch' !