Is it worth buying a new energy efficient cooker?

clanger66

Hi everyone, I hope I am posting in the right place. I have an old electric fan cooker, it is at least 20 years old but more likely to be older than this as it was here when we moved in. Our electric bill has always been a lot higher than our gas bill despite having gas central heating (gas heats the hot water as well). I do use a dishwasher(I am disabled due to illness) and of course a washing machine. I have a tumble dryer but only use it about once a week in winter and not at all in Summer. Our electric bill is £126 per month, evened out over the year by direct debit, but we owe the energy company over £600, they have been very good about it. I am beginning to wonder if the cooker is the main contributor to the high bill. The fan went on it a few years ago and we had it repaired. We have a small amount of savings which are kept for "a rainy day" so I want to know if anyone else has replaced their old cooker with a more energy-efficient one and was it worth it, did it make a difference to the bills? I was looking at buying the cooker on an interest-free plan etc so we could pay off for it without paying interest.  I don't do a huge amount of cooking, just average cooking evening meal at night and odd cake baking. The problem is we have an old kitchen but cannot afford to replace this, and our current cooker is a "built under" style under worktops with separate hob on top so there is not a massive amount of choice. We also have a dehumidifier running because of condensation in the house and allergies and asthma, it is not running at present in summer as windows are open, it is a fairly new model. I had a smart meter fitted when I was with British Gas and that came with an In Home display unit you plugged in, but when we changed suppliers for a better deal it would not work. I would be grateful for any advice, please

casper_gutman

I don't really see that a grill or hob can vary massively in energy efficiency. Heating elements are 100% efficient and any heat which doesn't go into the food goes to heat your home. 

Perhaps an oven could vary somewhat depending on how well insulated it is though. Would you say you use the oven a great deal?

YellowCarBlueCar

We replaced a fan oven of similar vintage at the start of the year, mainly because the door hinges didn't hold the door firmly shut anymore, wasting energy (at least when heating wasn't needed), and not getting as hot as it should. 

With an average oven use of about 40 minutes a day it's made no noticeable difference to our consumption, though it does actually cook food in the expected time. 

I think it would take a long while to recover the cost in savings, unless you find someone replacing a kitchen and getting rid on the cheap.

Is a gas oven an option?

EssexExile

That's one heck of an electric bill but I can't see the cooker being the problem. They use a lot of power but they aren't on for very long.

greyteam1959

Don't bother replacing the oven as you will not make a significant savings.
Have you an electric immersion heater ??
Is it accidentally turned on ??
Look at the rating plate on the dehumidifier.
What does it consume ??
How long do you have it on for ??

twopenny

Is there any chance that you could replace with a free standing gas one when you need to?

It's perfectly possible to make an insert for a free standing one. My plumber/gas man has done it in his house.

I've moved and now I'm getting the same bill as you for a tiny house, all low energy bulbs. It's a lot more than the huge house I lived in before and I'm trying to track down what the problem is.

Pretty sure it's the electric cooker even though I use the small oven. It's the only thing different.

When I cooked all gas my bills were much lower.

Do you have an electric shower? Do you have a special disabled shower with pumps and such or does it take you a long time to shower? Just a thought.

grumbler

greyteam1959 said:

Have you an electric immersion heater ??
Is it accidentally turned on ??

That's exactly my thought.

Also, do you have a smart meter? Try finding the culprit by switching appliances off and on. My house is small and we don't cook much, but with electric hob, oven (both 20 y.o.) and shower and gas heating we pay just £50sh p.m. in total for both gas and electricity.

clanger66

Hi everyone, thank you very much for replying. I don't have an electric shower, well not one with a control box on the wall. It is a power shower and has a pump which is powered by electricity( I did not think of this) You can have a shower without the pump which we have done during a power cut, but it is a pretty pathetic dribble! I don't spend very long in the shower, my husband spends longer but even then only 5 or 6 mins. so about three showers a day in total.

I did look at the immersion to see if it was accidentally left on but it isn't. I had this in a previous property many years ago. I don't have a smart meter now, I had one with BG then switched to Bulb and the in home display that you plug into a socket now no longer works, Bulb has said their meters are 2nd generation and mine is first gen so not compatible. Pretty sure we threw the meter that you have in the house out when it didn't work. We do have stuff on standby like laptops etc , but i have told everyone(there are only three of us) to stop this. I am going to look at getting a stand by extension lead etc as it is not easy for me to get to sockets to switch them on and off.

Re the dehumidifier, what is the rating plate? is that the thing on an appliance that tells you what energy rating it is A, A++ etc? I don't think it has one. I know that many years ago when we first got a dehumidifier in 2005 that our bills doubled overnight, but this one is newer and works in a different way and does not produce so much heat as the other one did. It also has an economy setting which I use mostly. I have three-bedroom bungalow. It is a 1960s build, the irony is I had a much older house before and was never bothered by condensation but that was because there was no double glazing so the house was always aired through the gaps in the windows but of course was not very warm!

I did try to turn everything off  and turned the  oven on to see if the meter was whizzing round but of course, it is digital now and it did not seem to move.

Thank you for the suggestion about free standing, worth considering. My husband is not great at DIY and not sure what we would do with the work top, will try and post a pic later

clanger66

greyteam1959 said:

Don't bother replacing the oven as you will not make a significant savings.
Have you an electric immersion heater ??
Is it accidentally turned on ??
Look at the rating plate on the dehumidifier.
What does it consume ??
How long do you have it on for ??

Sorry forgot to say, we have it on all the time except in Summer when I only have it on if it is raining etc outside and we are drying washing inside. I have started to turn it off a lot more often now , I also do have in on overnight in Summer thinking about it ,as living in a bungalow it is not safe to leave windows open at night, I have no small windows if you see what I mean, and if we do not do this then the damp from condensation comes back in the bedrooms.  I also have a heated airer for drying clothes and that is on most of the time except in summer but i have been told that only costs 5p per hour.

grumbler

clanger66 said:

I don't have a smart meter now,

You can buy a clip-on energy monitor. Some are reasonably cheap - especially those that work only with a smartphone, e.g.

YellowCarBlueCar

I suspect from what you're saying is that it's the 'low power' but 'on all the time' things which are running up the bill.  The clothes airer at 'only 5p per hour' is £1.20 a day, so £36 of your £126 a month (28%).  The dehumidifier could be using similar (the rating plate referred to above will say how many watts it consumes which tells us the consumption).

I think you need to look at another way to address the condensation.  Dry clothes outside if you can, open windows when you can, and may be look at whole house ventilation systems which push outside air (often from the loft) into your living space.