At minimum electrify switched on, still high bills.

Koolerking

Happy new Year. Newly registered as I need help with the usual electricity usages, and or a question on if something could be over using electricity.

My flat:

3 bedroom, 1 bathroom. 1 shower. 2 bedrooms upstairs. Bathrooms have towel rails. Converted approx 5 years ago, so that’s the max age of equipment.

Flat is all electric, so heating is Roinhte wall radiators (not storage heaters, I think they are clay centres). Water heating is a 130L immersion.

The bills:

First bill was with BG Evolve. This was the last owners supplier, which I kept for the 1st month of moving in so its Sept 18th-Oct 18th 2021. I didn’t worry on what I used, I wanted a base line normal month, so immersion was on all the time (wall switch, it doesn’t have a timer).

This bill was pre Nov 2021 price rise, and came to £56, I used 247kwh.

Move to Octopus energy (flexible taffies, I believe at 0.23 per kWh) in Oct 2021. They claimed it would be £43 per month, which I think ties into the BG Evolve pricing. 

Oct - Nov 2021 bill was £113! 

So Nov to Dec I went on a electricity cut down:

Lounge has 2 rads. When it was really cold a few weeks ago at night I had these two on to get it up to temp, then switched down to one, then both off. 

Its only me in the flat, so one bedroom used, but didn’t heat. Both bathrooms I have stopped using the towel rails, as they don’t heat the room at all.

Lounge lights. I only use 2, both are A+ rated, approx 4 watts each.

Immersion. only switched on for one hour at night.

Last bill went down £4 (What! I really thought the cut down of the immersion would help more).

Tests:

When I went out for the day I turned off the mains fuse. I wanted to se if perhaps something from another flat was using my electricity (all flats converted at the same time, so its all modern). Nothing was used on the meter.

Measured a normal hour.

Then measured an hour afterwards with the built in fridge/freezer off. 

Results: Perhaps I need to measure over a longer duration, but over 1 hour:

1 hour fridge on - 52414-52415

1 hour fridge off - 52415-52416

So no change really.

I have a combo washer/dryer, which I have stopped using for a month or so, but checked the indesit page and its annual usage I worked out to be about £25 (one wash a week). Wall rads not used are fully switched off at the wall.

Fridge/freezer, again about £65 per year, so I don’t think its these items.

So, with me on minimal electricity use I’m not sure where to go next with this. My thoughts are:

I feel Octopus energy’s initial guess on sigh up could be a huge con. But I also do think it would be around this, but not £70 per money more. BG evolve at £53, pre increase, so that’s a 100% increase, which it wasn’t in October, so I don’t understand the difference in price. Meter outside seems to be correct, ie when fuse box is off, there’s no increase. The readings seems to be right, but the use is high when im on minimal use of electricity. 

I know it’s tricky, there are many variables, but my parents 1600’s cottage (gas and electric). So just on electricity they use the same as me, and that’s two people not worried about energy saving.

Friends in Bristol. Two people, multiple lights on, old 2 bed, 2 story house. They have an smart meter, and they used approx 35-45kwh a week, at my energy rate of 0.23p per kWh, about £10 per week, which id say is on par with what Octopus energy thought mine would be.

So really, my only thought is could something on the fuse board be sapping electricity? Are there any tests I could do? Im waiting on Octopus to install a smart meter, but nothing as yet. I feel it could at least make testing things easier.

Any thoughts would be appreciated

Robin9

£113 for an all electric flat isn't bad ; expect £150 +    in a winter month . Worst to come 

Gerry1

Your Rointe heaters will always be a big problem.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2148437/anyone-used-rointe-heaters/

Same drawbacks as Fischer non-storage heaters.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3516223/fischer-storage-heaters

QrizB

Can we have some meter readings, please, with dates. The ones you've given to BG and Octopus will be a good start.

bagand96

Octopus would only given estimated cost based on estimated use, which with you being new to the property was always going to be a bit "finger in the air"

You say your Oct-Nov bill was £113. Some very rough calculations:

Assuming 31 days at a standing charge of something like 25p gives £7.75. 

So the usage part of the bill would be £105.25. At 23p per unit that's 458 kWh for the month. For an all electric flat in the winter that doesn't seem outrageous. Unfortunately your heaters are a pretty expensive way of heating. 


If you're still not convinced then there's a few checks you can do... Firstly check you're reading the right meter, is the meter in your flat or in a communal area?



Next is the basic consumption check.  Turn everything off at the consumer unit. Check the meter to see if it's recording any use.  There'll be a little red light on the meter marked 1000/imp kWh. With everything off this should not flash at all. Then you can turn on each circuit one by one and see how usage increases. Faster the red light flashes, more electcitiy being used (1000 flashes = 1kWh)

Robin9

Koolerking said:

Friends in Bristol. Two people, multiple lights on, old 2 bed, 2 story house. They have an smart meter, and they used approx 35-45kwh a week, at my energy rate of 0.23p per kWh, about £10 per week, which id say is on par with what Octopus energy thought mine would be.

Almost impossible   - well below national average even assuming gas heating or woodburner.

Concentrate on your property and heating arrangements

Gerry1

Robin9 said:

Koolerking said:

Friends in Bristol. Two people, multiple lights on, old 2 bed, 2 story house. They have an smart meter, and they used approx 35-45kwh a week, at my energy rate of 0.23p per kWh, about £10 per week, which id say is on par with what Octopus energy thought mine would be.

Almost impossible   - well below national average even assuming gas heating or woodburner.

Nope - I average about 41.5kWh electricity per week over the year, with GCH and gas cooker.  But 0.23p/kWh is definitely impossible, even for gas !

However, I agree that comparisons can be misleading, there are just too many variables, and clearly the friends do not use electricity for room or water heating.

Patr100

Robin9 said:

Koolerking said:

Friends in Bristol. Two people, multiple lights on, old 2 bed, 2 story house. They have an smart meter, and they used approx 35-45kwh a week, at my energy rate of 0.23p per kWh, about £10 per week, which id say is on par with what Octopus energy thought mine would be.

Almost impossible   - well below national average even assuming gas heating or woodburner.

Concentrate on your property and heating arrangements

And I average about 30kwh per week (all electric cooking/GCH rarely used ) - single household - but 2 people should not necessarily double the usage depending on where they spend their time.

Robin9

We've had the discussion re "typical" consumption many times. My wife and I are heavy users -  I'm an early bird, she's a night owl -  gas ch - cook twice a day by electric, lots of lighting and nearly 80/90 kWh a week.

The challenge is to help the OP 

.

wittynamegoeshere

Where is the hot water tank, how old is it and is it and all the pipes thickly lagged?

As you're all electric you will definitely pay over £100/month as you're starting from zero at the beginning of winter.

Once you get through a summer you may build up credit and can review, but at the moment they only know that you're currently using lots.

ALL electric heat is expensive, those designer branded radiators will cost exactly the same as any other scam brand or a £10 Argos heater.  They're all 100% efficient.  The only exception is a heat pump, which will cost roughly a third of an equivalent heater.

If your shower is 9kW (typical) then it will cost you around £2 per hour at the current capped prices.  This can't be avoided, it's just how it is.

Gas or a heat pump would cost less, you just are using one of the most expensive ways to heat a home.

Koolerking

Robin9 said:

Koolerking said:

Friends in Bristol. Two people, multiple lights on, old 2 bed, 2 story house. They have an smart meter, and they used approx 35-45kwh a week, at my energy rate of 0.23p per kWh, about £10 per week, which id say is on par with what Octopus energy thought mine would be.

Almost impossible   - well below national average even assuming gas heating or woodburner.

Concentrate on your property and heating arrangements

That is from their smart meter.