Could somebody help me with understanding my energy bills and ways to potentially save money?

GeorgeKnows

I live by myself in a 1 bedroom flat which is powered by electric only, I am on an Economy 10 meter, I've been here for just over 5 years and am with EON by default.

I'm looking to make some savings on my electric. I pay £101.00 a month which I've always thought was very high considering I don't spend much time here, I live by myself and I don't use my storage heaters. Having spoken to EON today, it turns out that after having given them my meter readings, they now say that I also owe them an additional £900, which has really thrown me. 

I also spoke with USwitch who informed me that they can't help me with an energy switch because I'm on an Economy 10 meter. I feel trapped! I then reverted back to EON to try and get some more answers, I asked whether I could go onto an Economy 7 fixed tariff which would then enable me to get a smart meter and they said that in order for me to do that, I would have to physically remove my storage heaters from my walls (I was surprised at this - but this could be normal practice, I don't know).

It's also got me wondering whether I should may £3Kish to change my flat from Gas to Electric to bring my monthly bills down. 

Many of my friends live with their partners in 3 bed houses and they pay less than I do in my 1 bedroom flat.

I'm an absolute novice when it comes to electricity bills, so some help would be massively appreciated. I only gave my first meter reading in 5 years today.

[EDIT: I have added the information below on Page 2 of this thread]

Hi all, thank you ALL for your help so far. It's clear I haven't provided you all with enough information though.

Just to provide some updates as per my EON account and things I may have missed out on. I live in a 1 bedroom flat which I own and have owned for the last 5 years. 

I pay £101.00 a month at the moment on my Economy 10 meter. I owe an additional £900 on top of that at the time of posting this according to EON.

Having just logged into my EON account. I apparently use 6,808 kWh each year. Which, having done a quick Google search is the average for a FOUR BEDROOM HOUSE. I understand that my flat is electric only, but this seems outrageous. I feel like I must be paying for the entire block of flats.

Also, to reiterate, it's rare that I spend a full week at my flat. I live by myself and use my energy frugally. I have low energy spotlights throughout, I rarely cook, I have a very quick shower in the morning and wash up all in one go. I can't remember the last time I even sat in my living room to watch TV. This is how sparingly I use my energy. 

Here's a summary of my current tariff: 



Any and all input would be greatly appreciated.

Reed_Richards

GeorgeKnows said:

I live by myself in a 1 bedroom flat which is powered by electric only, .... I live by myself and I don't use my storage heaters. 

So how do you heat your flat?  How do you heat your hot water?  Do you actually make use of Economy 10 to save on electricity costs?

GeorgeKnows

Reed_Richards said:

GeorgeKnows said:

I live by myself in a 1 bedroom flat which is powered by electric only, .... I live by myself and I don't use my storage heaters. 

So how do you heat your flat?  How do you heat your hot water?  Do you actually make use of Economy 10 to save on electricity costs?

In the colder months I tend to stay with my girlfriend. I probably stay at home 2/3 days a week during the winter. And when I do - I heat a single room with a plug in oil heater. Because the storage heaters in my flat are very poor.

theoretica

You need to do some data gathering.  When are your readings going up?  And day or night?  Which goes up by how much when you are at home?  When you are away?  For a little while record the readings daily and every time you leave to visit your GF or come back.

Reed_Richards

Gerry1 said:

Apart from significant savings (gas is about five times as expensive as electricity, just look at the kWh rates) ....

It was late in the evening and I think @Gerry1 meant to write "electricity is about 5 times as expensive as gas" - which it true in terms of amount of heat per pound spent.  But Economy 10 electricity is, I think, about half the price of regular electricity so you might make a significant saving if you can get you storage heaters to work for you.

And you still have not said how you heat your water, which potentially can use a lot of electricity. 

GeorgeKnows

Reed_Richards said:

Gerry1 said:

Apart from significant savings (gas is about five times as expensive as electricity, just look at the kWh rates) ....

It was late in the evening and I think @Gerry1 meant to write "electricity is about 5 times as expensive as gas" - which it true in terms of amount of heat per pound spent.  But Economy 10 electricity is, I think, about half the price of regular electricity so you might make a significant saving if you can get you storage heaters to work for you.

And you still have not said how you heat your water, which potentially can use a lot of electricity. 

Sorry! My water boiler is powered by electricity too! I have a short shower in the mornings and tend to do my washing up in 1 go each day when I'm home. I don't use a lot of hot water at all!

tim_p

So no gas in the place?

as others have said, start by taking some meter readings regularly, maybe twice daily, to get an idea of your usage pattern, enter the data into a spreadsheet or an app. 

Check your immersion heater doesn’t have two elements on the side of the tank and if it does make sure the top one is OFF. 

edgex

Insulation, insulation, insulation

What insulation & glazing have you got?
Is the hot water tank very well insulated? Are the hot water pipes insulated?

Is the immersion on a timer, & does that match the E10 times?


The plug-in oil radiator is costing you a lot, as your likely using it at peak time, & your trying to heat a room from cold.
(when your not there, unless the insulation is brilliant, everything in the property is losing heat, & your then trying to heat it all back up when you are there)
You may be better leaving the storage heater in that room on low.

Reed_Richards

GeorgeKnows said:

Sorry! My water boiler is powered by electricity too! I have a short shower in the mornings and tend to do my washing up in 1 go each day when I'm home. I don't use a lot of hot water at all!

If you mean you have a hot water cylinder with an immersion heater then just keeping the water hot with no use at all will cost money.  Make sure that it is well-insulated and only runs at night off your Economy 10 tariff to keep the cost down as low as possible.

Gerry1

Reed_Richards said:

Gerry1 said:

Apart from significant savings (gas is about five times as expensive as electricity, just look at the kWh rates) ....

It was late in the evening and I think @Gerry1 meant to write "electricity is about 5 times as expensive as gas" - which it true in terms of amount of heat per pound spent.  But Economy 10 electricity is, I think, about half the price of regular electricity so you might make a significant saving if you can get you storage heaters to work for you.

And you still have not said how you heat your water, which potentially can use a lot of electricity. 

Whoops !     Managed to copy the mistake made by the OP, so I've now deleted that post.

Should have said that Electricity is about five times as expensive as gas, just look at the kWh rates, and that it was tosh for E.On to say that the storage radiators would have to be physically removed to qualify for E7.

Not sure that E10 is still all that cheap compared to the best E7 and single rates.  May other posters have said that they are trapped on legacy rates and are finding them cripplingly expensive, and the energy companies seem to be withdrawing them.

If @GeorgeKnows gave more info such as his tariff rates and whether he has gas then we would be able to give more meaningful advice.

E.ON_Company_Representative

Hi GeorgeKnows, I can completely understand your concerns over your current energy costs, especially when it comes to Economy 10 and Night Storage Heaters. 

The extra cost that you have incurred sounds to me like your usage was being under estimated for quite some time if we haven't received a reading in 5 years, this can cause a bit of a shock and I would advise to always provide regular readings if you can to ensure that there is no surprises when you receive your bill. 

Economy 10 can be a little tricky, you typically have a day rate which is used outside of your hours of Economy 10, this can be quite high, and you then have a much lower rate which applies during your Economy 10 hours (usually Midnight to 7am, and 3 hours spaced around the afternoon and late evening, this can vary depending on your meter set up, if you're unsure on yours, please get in touch so we can tell you). 

I'm sorry if you've been advised that your storage heaters will need to be removed if you change to an Economy 7 meter, this isn't correct, it just means that you will have less hours on a low rate, this however does give you more freedom to change suppliers as all suppliers support Economy 7 meters. 

One thing I would recommend if you're thinking of going from a specialist multi-rate meter like Economy 10 to a more conventional meter is to ask a qualified electrician to check over your system. Because of the way Economy 10 meters are wired into the heating/hot water circuits, changing the meter sometimes affects these services. This isn't always the case but it's something you should be aware of just in case. I'd also recommend having a talk with our specialist Simpler Metering team (contact details are on our website under metering) if you're considering the meter change.

There's some great advice from the above posters, as theoretica has mentioned, taking some spaced readings throughout the day and later in the evening can really help you to understand when your usage is spiking, and to better understand how to utilise your usage during your Economy 10 hours.

With your plug in oil heater, as edgex has said, this can cost you a lot to run, even if this is for a short period of time as you may be running this during your higher rate on your meter and not taking advantage of the Economy 10 hours. 

Economy 10, storage heaters and an immersion heater to heat your hot water can be quite costly as they are an outdated set up for home heating these days, the costs can be managed though with timers which can be installed on your immersion water heater and adjusting your storage heaters to operate within the low, Economy 10 rates.

If you need to speak to us about your outstanding balance, your meter set up or any other concerns relating to your account and usage, please do visit our website and get in touch with us so that we can assist you further. 

Thanks, Peter