Meter Reading

ZacharyJohn

Hi all,

I've just moved into a flat with my girlfriend, and we noted the electricity meter reading on moving day at 41709 kWh. Now, just four days later, the meter's at 41880 kWh.

Does this mean we've used 171 kWh in just three days or am I missing something? All energy is electric (no gas) and it's underfloor heated but surely that's a ludicrous jump in such s short amount of time and it's gonna cost me hundreds per month. Any advice is greatly received.

Thanks!

Robin9

All electric usually means big bills - switch that underfloor off and take much shorter showers.   Then read your meter regularly.

Gerry1

Have you registered with the existing supplier and sent the opening meter reading?

Unfortunately it's the most expensive heating it's possible to have, so you'll always have crippling bills.  Make sure it's single rate, not Economy 7 or similar, unless it has some cheap rate hours in the daytime and/or evening.  Even then, single rate may be cheaper because the old legacy tariffs are often uncompetitive and are being phased out.

Hopefully you're renting because it's relatively easy to fix the problem by moving to somewhere with gas central heating.

Ectophile

Turn the heating down and put on a jumper.

ZacharyJohn

Thanks for the replies, guys. I have registered with SSE and sent a meter reading when we first moved in.

So I'm starting to think an important element of this problem may lie in our hot water storage / heat immersion cylinder. I have no idea about any of this stuff so we've had both water heating switches on but after having done some reading up, it seems like the top switch is meant for a water heating 'boost' and should only be switched on when necessary, and the bottom switch is used in conjunction with an Economy 7 tariff and only heats the water during off-peak hours. Does this sound right?

Presumably if we're not on an Economy 7 tariff this system won't be achieving its full potential so I'll have to check with SSE, although Gerry1, you suggest Economy 7 might not be the best tariff considering the underfloor heating situation? Is that because the prices are more expensive during peak hours? 

Robin9

ZacharyJohn said:

Thanks for the replies, guys. I have registered with SSE and sent a meter reading when we first moved in.

So I'm starting to think an important element of this problem may lie in our hot water storage / heat immersion cylinder. I have no idea about any of this stuff so we've had both water heating switches on but after having done some reading up, it seems like the top switch is meant for a water heating 'boost' and should only be switched on when necessary, and the bottom switch is used in conjunction with an Economy 7 tariff and only heats the water during off-peak hours. Does this sound right?

Presumably if we're not on an Economy 7 tariff this system won't be achieving its full potential so I'll have to check with SSE, although Gerry1, you suggest Economy 7 might not be the best tariff considering the underfloor heating situation? Is that because the prices are more expensive during peak hours? 

Correct on both counts - the Boost switch should be off when on E7 - but if you're not on E7 it doesn't really matter except that what is happening is that you are continually heating your water. Try switching both off and only switch on when you need to. 

The underfloor will be on during the day and if you're on E7 the rates are even more expensive..

First move is to get on the best tariff you can.  You'll need to guess your annual consumption - perhaps 15,000 kWh

The good news is that as you've now turned the heating off  your daily consumption will plummet - until next winter.

Reed_Richards

ZacharyJohn said:

Thanks for the replies, guys. I have registered with SSE and sent a meter reading when we first moved in....

Presumably if we're not on an Economy 7 tariff this system won't be achieving its full potential so I'll have to check with SSE,

If you sent a single meter reading then either you did not read the meter correctly or you are not on an Economy 7 tariff.  An Economy 7 meter will give two readings, one for the day rate and one for the Economy 7 night rate.  Also, I would have expected to see timers on your two immersion heaters so you can control when they come on if it is going to affect what you pay.  It's possible the timers are somewhere between your fuse box and the switches you see but the obvious place to put them is in the airing cupboard with the hot water cylinder.  So it looks pretty unlikely you are on a day rate/night rate tariff like Economy 7.

Try to read your meter at midnight, then at 7 AM then at midnight again so you have an idea of how your overnight usage compares to your day usage.  This would give you some idea of whether Economy 7 would be worthwhile.  The problem is that on Economy 7 you pay a bit more for your day rate electricity and savings on the night rate are diminishing, according to other posts here.

matelodave

Can you show us a piccy of your meter with all the wiring and fuseboxes as well (ideally all in the same picture) so we can see how you are wired up. This will give us an ideal of what sort of set up you've got. A close up of the meter with the wiring would also help so we can see if you are on a dual or single rate tariff (or even one of the more obscure ones that are still around)

As otrhers have said, you've got a pretty expensive way to heat your house and your hot water so you will have to learn how to use it effectively to try and keep the costs down but first you need to understand how to control it properly.

When you've worked out what sort of system you've got then you can try to get onto the best tariff

newbigginboy

Hi - A couple of observations about smart meters
1 Why are they so hard to read
2 Why don't the meters hav ea single button press here for your latest meter reading which is backlit & large enough to read
3 If the meters are smart why can't the company just read them? Why do I have to go out into the yard & struggle with mine?
4 Why aren't meters made disabled friendly?
5 Does anyone know if you can book a meter reading - I used to get random ones call but never had one make an appointment ie am / Pm on Tuesday between 08.00am & 6.00pm
6 Martin - can you do a class action complaint about this to the energy watchdog? most people including me have know idea what the meter reads or how to read it.

Thanks in advance for any assistance - I've tried reading the meters & submitting the readings but they tell me I've got it wrong & when I explain the difficulties I have as a disabled person reading the meter - I still get no help - am currently with Utilities Warehouse & switching to Avro Energy FYIO

Robin9

@newbigginboy    When you switch to Avro make sure you are on its Priority Register with meter must reads.

Don't forget that Avro will ask you for a read as part of the process - have you someone who can read the meter for you (and take a photo)

One day meters will be truly smart - but don't hold your breath,

Gerry1

If you have an E7 meter, the neon on the lower outlet should be off right now: it should be on a circuit that's switched by the meter.  However, you may not necessarily be on an E7 tariff, you could be on single rate, i.e. both registers are charged at the same rate.  You need to look at the meter to see whether it has two registers.  If it has an LCD screen it may show the rate in use at that moment and require a button ('Cycle Display' or similar) to be pushed to show the other rate.  Set up an online account to see your tariff details.

E7 has a lower rate for seven hours, but the catch is that the day rate is usually higher than single rate, and the standing charge may be a bit higher.  The problem is that, unlike 'box of bricks' storage heaters, underfloor heating probably doesn't store sufficient heat to last through into the evening, and even if it did, it would waste vast amounts of money because the flat would be red hot in the early hours of the morning.  It's likely that you'll have to use daytime electricity which would probably make E7 uneconomic.

Underfloor heating was favoured by local authorities and cheapskate developers because the capital costs were low, there was no risk of CO poisoning or explosions, so it didn't need annual safety checks.  They weren't worried about running costs, that was the occupants' problem, and anyway there were tariffs with cheap rate periods of up to 12 - 15 hours that included afternoon / evening boosts.  Unfortunately these tariffs are now very expensive and are being phased out so the choice is effectively becoming just single rate or E7.  The underfloor circuit may be live 24h so you'll have to monitor your consumption to work out whether E7 or singe rate would be cheaper.

You could even consider using E7 in the summer and single rate in the winter; some suppliers will let you switch between their tariffs without penalty, or you could do the same with variable tariffs.  Sadly, it'll always be expensive or very expensive.