Electricity meter readings seem too high & bill is excessive

molerat

Harry_510 said:

Now trying to get onto a different tariff... If my electricity meter is a 'single rate watt hour meter', does this mean I'm unable to have separate day and night tariffs?

Correct but with that type of heating you do not want dual rate as the day rate is expensive and the overnight cheap rate is unlikely to compensate.

As for rates, I live in one of the most expensive areas in the UK for electricity and am paying less than 13p.

matelodave

As Molerat says, an off peak tariff will probably cost you even more unless you are only going to heat your place, cook and use stuff between midnight and 7am. The saving on heating hot water overnight wont compensate for the higher cost of peak rate leccy for your heating, cooking,, lighting washing etc during the day and evening.

With E7 or E10 the peak rate cost is usually quite a lot higher than a single rate tariff and TBH some of the off off-peak rates aren't all that attractive at the moment so a decent single rate tariff would suit you best with your sort of heating

Gerry1

Bung your expected annual kWh usage into the Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch' and get the cheapest single rate credit tariff that you can find.

Ofgem suggests the annual figures for an all electric property are 2,400kWh (Low), 4,200kWh (Medium) and 7,100 (High) so perhaps something like 3,300kWh might be a good guesstimate?

matelodave

I know you are quoting OFGEM but but that’s patently ridiculous as it suggests that an all electric house or flat requires substantially less heat to keep it warm than one heated by gas.

Average domestic kWh per day in 2020

The exact amount of gas and electricity used per day will vary depending on

1 - the appliances used on that day

2 - the day – people generally use more energy on a weekend

3 -t he season – people  generally use lots more energy in winter

4- Size and type of premises – flat, house, barn, building construction, insulation etc

4 – Lifestyle – home all day, out all day, older people, young families etc

So although there are significant differences the average household uses:

Electricity: 8.5 – 10 kWh per day (approx 3100-3600kwh/year

Gas – 33 – 38 kWh per day (12,000-14,000 kwh a year

If that’s the case then an all electric household should end up using at least the same amount of leccy for normal use (say 3000kwh) plus roughly the same (or a bit less, to take into account the efficiency difference between gas = 90% and leccy = 100%) so approx 10,000kwh to 12,500kwh

A much more realistic figure to use for an all electric house would be between 10,000-13,000kwh unless it’s ever so small or something like a heatpump is being used.

(even with a heatpump it uses the same amount of heat but you need something like a 1/3 to ½ the quantity of electricity to produce it, say 3500-6000kwh plus whatever the household requirements are, so you are still looking at around 6,500-10,000kwh)

Gerry1

@matelodave said:

I know you are quoting OFGEM but but that’s patently ridiculous as it suggests that an all electric house or flat requires substantially less heat to keep it warm than one heated by gas.

TL;DR: Wrong conclusion ! The properties being compared are NOT similar.

==========

On their Typical Domestic Consumption Values page Ofgem don't even bother to define the meaning of 'Electricity: Profile Class 2', let alone explain why their total energy usage is less than that of properties with gas.  'Ofgem' and 'Plain English' are usually exclusive but in this case it turns out that there is actually method in their madness, surprising as that may seem at first.

'Electricity: Profile Class 1' relates to customers with single rate meters whereas 'Electricity: Profile Class 2' relates to multi-rate meters, about 90% of which are Economy 7.  However, large properties without gas seldom use electric heating because of the cripplingly high costs involved: they probably use oil or LPG because tank space and access is unlikely to be a problem.

In contrast, All-Electric properties are likely to be relatively small houses or flats where use of oil and LPG would be unrealistic.  Small houses use less energy than average, and flats use even less because they have smaller areas of roof and outside walls.

The outcome is that Class 2 properties have lower average total energy consumption than those with gas.

matelodave

ALL ELECTRIC, implies heating and everything else from electricity, rather than a mixture of LPG, wood, oil or other exotic methods.

I'd doubt that anything much larger than a single room studio apartment could get away with less than about 3000kwh a year if it's being heating with leccy and lived in normally - let's see who comes on board and proves me wrong 

Unfortunately if you give people figures that dont actually represent some sort of reality they get unreal expectations. I guess that's why so many people have problems when they find out that they are using significantly more than an estimate or guess and then get a ginormous bill or they dont understand why their DD gets doubled

Gerry1

@matelodave

Don't shoot me, I'm only the messenger !

matelodave

Thats what happens if you give the wrong message  (or not the one they were hoping to get).

Lmc74

I have a slim jim all electric. I dont use my immerser much to heat water and have a small stove in the living room.  I was also using 5 hours of heating a day on economy 10 so off peak rate. My winter bill for 3 months is £660. My monthly dd£120 all year. 3 bed semi so your costs seem about right. I am still waiting for a no gas heating solution 

Harry_510

matelodave said:

I know you are quoting OFGEM but but that’s patently ridiculous as it suggests that an all electric house or flat requires substantially less heat to keep it warm than one heated by gas.

Average domestic kWh per day in 2020

The exact amount of gas and electricity used per day will vary depending on

1 - the appliances used on that day

2 - the day – people generally use more energy on a weekend

3 -t he season – people  generally use lots more energy in winter

4- Size and type of premises – flat, house, barn, building construction, insulation etc

4 – Lifestyle – home all day, out all day, older people, young families etc

So although there are significant differences the average household uses:

Electricity: 8.5 – 10 kWh per day (approx 3100-3600kwh/year

Gas – 33 – 38 kWh per day (12,000-14,000 kwh a year

If that’s the case then an all electric household should end up using at least the same amount of leccy for normal use (say 3000kwh) plus roughly the same (or a bit less, to take into account the efficiency difference between gas = 90% and leccy = 100%) so approx 10,000kwh to 12,500kwh

A much more realistic figure to use for an all electric house would be between 10,000-13,000kwh unless it’s ever so small or something like a heatpump is being used.

(even with a heatpump it uses the same amount of heat but you need something like a 1/3 to ½ the quantity of electricity to produce it, say 3500-6000kwh plus whatever the household requirements are, so you are still looking at around 6,500-10,000kwh)

Your estimates are a lot more realistic that the comments above you, I have reduced the heating to an hour in the morning and an hour and half at night, 50mins hot water in the morning and 50mins at night. The energy usage is still around 35KWH per day, so certainly looking at 10,000KWH+ per annum. I wish I had known before I moved, and I would advise people to be wary of all electric systems in rentals. They save you landlord a bunch with installation costs, but the tenant sure makes up for it in their energy bills. Thank you to everyone who has commented thus far