Excessive energy bill price - help??

adam06_2

I had a similar issue when I lived in a flat a few years back, they wouldn't give me access to the shared meter cupboard and had the cleaner do the reading when we requested them... But the cleaner was reading the wrong meter... So I got much bigger bills than I expected.

MattMattMattUK

adam06_2 said:

I had a similar issue when I lived in a flat a few years back, they wouldn't give me access to the shared meter cupboard and had the cleaner do the reading when we requested them... But the cleaner was reading the wrong meter... So I got much bigger bills than I expected.

If you have individual meters then they are required to allow you access. These are normally behind fire doors and have FB2 locks on them (the Fire Brigade need to be able to have easy access), have a look and double check, then get yourself the relevant key. 

MWT

MattMattMattUK said:

adam06_2 said:

I had a similar issue when I lived in a flat a few years back, they wouldn't give me access to the shared meter cupboard and had the cleaner do the reading when we requested them... But the cleaner was reading the wrong meter... So I got much bigger bills than I expected.

If you have individual meters then they are required to allow you access. These are normally behind fire doors and have FB2 locks on them (the Fire Brigade need to be able to have easy access), have a look and double check, then get yourself the relevant key. 

They are required to give you access to a gas meter, but I've never seen anything that mandated access to an electricity meter...?

kgirl123

I have just come across this thread as I have the same timer (flat is electric only) and noticed my energy usage overnight is questionably high. Eventually worked out it’s the immersion heater that’s currently pre-set to come on between 1am and 5am. 

We’re not on E7 or E10 and 4h seems like a long time as there’s only 2 of us and we mostly just use it to shower. Dishwasher heats up water on its own etc. I’m hoping someone could advise how long it needs to be on for from experience? Is 2h a day enough? And is it best to time it closer to when hot water is being used, i.e. in the afternoon for evening showers?

Any advice would be appreciated!

Gerry1

How do you heat the flat?

kgirl123

There are Haverland electric radiators in each room, each individually controlled (via panels on the radiator itself) so don’t think it’s connected 

Alnat1

We heat ours for 40 minutes, does 2 showers, hubby's shave and a bit for cleaning etc. Try 90 minutes and see how you go for a couple of days, if still plenty go for a shorter time. When someone gets a cold shower you know you've gone too far 

The incoming water will be at a much lower temperature at the moment so will need a bit longer to warm up than it does over summer. You might be able to cut heating time down a bit over summer.

EssexHebridean

The method suggested above has a great advantage for you too - as you know you’ve done it, you can cannily ensure that it’s not you that gets the cold shower…  

Gerry1

Unfortunately daytime electricity is the most expensive type of heating it's possible to have,, so your options for costs savings are limited.  There's little point in asking what others do because their usage patterns are likely to be different (number of occupants, frequency of showers, length of showers, warm or hot showers and ditto for baths.

There's no point in heating the water overnight on single rate.  If you leave the cylinder on 24/7 it'll lose about 1.62kWh/day.  You could leave it off and only top it up just enough for each shower but your savings would be less than the 1.62kWh/day figure.

Trial and error is the only way to proceed: try switching it on a couple of hours before a morning shower is needed, then reduce or increase the duration until the hot water runs out just after showering has finished.  Repeat the procedure for the evening use.

If you own the flat and it's impossible to get gas then it might be worth considering High Heat Retention storage heaters (e.g. Dimplex Quantum or similar) and switching to Economy 7.  If you are renting then there's not much you can do except move to a property with GCH or HHR NSHs.

kgirl123

Thanks all, very useful info, I’ll try out a few different options and see how we go - and definitely make sure I’m not the last one in the shower! 😄

Unfortunately the flat is rented so can’t change much, but will certainly pick a property with GCH in the future