At minimum electrify switched on, still high bills.

Koolerking

bagand96 said:

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)

I have completely shut off the fuse box for an afternoon, and no movement on the meter, so it not something else on my electricity feed. Meter is definitely mine, as the flats are all separate external meter boxes.

Koolerking

Thanks for all the replies. As the owner, i'd want to get this sorted for next winter. Perhaps its new rads, are there more effiecent ones avialable?

The building was converted to flats around 2015, so fairly new.

Water heater is a 130L OSO Super S. Apparently this is quite a good one, i chatted to a specialist. They also said to only switch on for an hour and it made a huge difference in costs, but as i mentioned, i seem to only see about £4 difference, which is strange.
Oven is an indesit FIM33 KA GB
Hob is an indesit VEM 630 or 640 (not sure as instructions cover a few)
Fridge is a indesit IN C325 AI
Towel rails are switched off.

As I mentioned before, if i was heating and lighting the entire flat with no thought to energy use, then yep, i agree the costs are what they are. But if im living in a cold flat save for using one rad for say, 5 hrs a day and 2 low wattage lights, i really don't understand where the actual electricity is going! 

bagand96

Koolerking said:

» show previous quotes

I have completely shut off the fuse box for an afternoon, and no movement on the meter, so it not something else on my electricity feed. Meter is definitely mine, as the flats are all separate external meter boxes.

So we can eliminate wrong meter and there's no background use then something in your flat is using the electricity.

Assuming you have a modern consumer unit, switch each circuit on one by one and monitor the meter to narrow down where the use is coming from.   

Koolerking said:.

Oven is an indesit FIM33 KA GB
Hob is an indesit VEM 630 or 640 (not sure as instructions cover a few)
Fridge is a indesit IN C325 AI
Towel rails are switched off.

As I mentioned before, if i was heating and lighting the entire flat with no thought to energy use, then yep, i agree the costs are what they are. But if im living in a cold flat save for using one rad for say, 5 hrs a day and 2 low wattage lights, i really don't understand where the actual electricity is going! 

It won't be the fridge/hob/cooker etc.  It could just be those wall heaters.  Depends what power they are?  If they are 1kW then using one for 5 hours will use 5kWh a day, so 150kWh a month.  Another guess - double check the immersion isn't on a timer and coming on when you don't realise?  Same for the heaters, although it's less likely as you're more likely to realise if they are on unexpectedly.

500 kWh a month in an all electric property is not outrageous, it will fall in the summer monts when you don't need to heat.  Storage heaters would be more efficient if you paired it with an Economy 7/smart tariff.  They'd heat up at night on cheap electricity.  Obviously the capital costs of purchasing and fitting them would have to be taken into account vs how long it would take to recoup the savings.

Koolerking

Heres some numbers:

First month after moving in, BG Evolve
Sept - Oct
246 kWH (obviously warmer then, but water heater was on at the wall 24/7. Might not have been heating all the time if water was "at temp".)
Octopus:
Oct/Nov
529.0 kWh
Noc-Dec
508.0 kWh

Alias_Omega

The costs are...

Fixed Cost

A. Standing Charge x Number of Days 

Variable Costs

B. Energy Cost x Energy Used


If you are a high energy user, (which you are), then you want to be looking at a Higher Standing Charge, but a Lower Energy Cost. Ignore the calculators, comparison sites. Do the maths yourself....  

You are a single fuel flat, you usage will be higher, as you only have one source..

Now to work out the usage, "heat" costs money. So its going to be anything that gets hot...

Washing Machine
Dish Washer
Dryer
Water Heaters
Wall Heaters
Under Floor Heating
Hair Dryer
Animal Heat Lamps

Things that are low energy - 

TV's
Lighting
Bathroom Fan's
Fridge/Freezer

If you want to get proper an@l, you can get a electrical currently clamp meter, stick it on the meter tails / consumer unit tails , then turn each circuit on / off and monitor the current draw. 

Robin9

@Koolerking Let's not get deflected with what other properties use or not. Let's look at your property.

What are the ratings of your Rointe heaters please ?  

Koolerking

Alias_Omega said:

The costs are...

Fixed Cost

A. Standing Charge x Number of Days 

Variable Costs

B. Energy Cost x Energy Used


If you are a high energy user, (which you are), then you want to be looking at a Higher Standing Charge, but a Lower Energy Cost. Ignore the calculators, comparison sites. Do the maths yourself....  

You are a single fuel flat, you usage will be higher, as you only have one source..

Now to work out the usage, "heat" costs money. So its going to be anything that gets hot...

Washing Machine
Dish Washer
Dryer
Water Heaters
Wall Heaters
Under Floor Heating
Hair Dryer
Animal Heat Lamps

Things that are low energy - 

TV's
Lighting
Bathroom Fan's
Fridge/Freezer

If you want to get proper an@l, you can get a electrical currently clamp meter, stick it on the meter tails / consumer unit tails , then turn each circuit on / off and monitor the current draw. 

I'll have a look at one of the meters. Can they also be put on items mains wiring to see draw?

To add to your list, im not using the washing machine. No heat lamps, hairdryers, dishwasher or underfloor heating.

bagand96

Koolerking said:

Alias_Omega said:

The costs are...

Fixed Cost

A. Standing Charge x Number of Days 

Variable Costs

B. Energy Cost x Energy Used


If you are a high energy user, (which you are), then you want to be looking at a Higher Standing Charge, but a Lower Energy Cost. Ignore the calculators, comparison sites. Do the maths yourself....  

You are a single fuel flat, you usage will be higher, as you only have one source..

Now to work out the usage, "heat" costs money. So its going to be anything that gets hot...

Washing Machine
Dish Washer
Dryer
Water Heaters
Wall Heaters
Under Floor Heating
Hair Dryer
Animal Heat Lamps

Things that are low energy - 

TV's
Lighting
Bathroom Fan's
Fridge/Freezer

If you want to get proper an@l, you can get a electrical currently clamp meter, stick it on the meter tails / consumer unit tails , then turn each circuit on / off and monitor the current draw. 

I'll have a look at one of the meters. Can they also be put on items mains wiring to see draw?

To add to your list, im not using the washing machine. No heat lamps, hairdryers, dishwasher or underfloor heating.

There isn't at this stage any need to go and buy anything.

As previously suggested turn on each circuit at your consumer unit one by one and go to the meter to see how quickly the little red light "1000 imp kWh" is flashing.  faster it flashes, more electricity being used.  Or if you have a smart meter with an IHD that will tell you a live figure.

Knowing the rating of your wall panel heaters will help as well.

Genex

Just chiming in to say I'm having the same problem with SSE. I was with Eon paying £45 a month in total for Gas and Electric for my house. It was time to switch so I went with SSE which had the best rates, expectedly higher which I was ok with HOWEVER SSE are claiming I'm using 10x the units of gas than I was with Eon despite nothing having changed. I dont have the heating on, I've even stopped using the gas cooker as much, washing once a fortnight. 

As I say, I expected the cost per unit to go up but they're claiming I'm using 10x more units which is just !!!!!!. So, yeah, write SSE off as another consumer abuser

[Deleted User]

Hi,

Genex said:

Just chiming in to say I'm having the same problem with SSE. I was with Eon paying £45 a month in total for Gas and Electric for my house. It was time to switch so I went with SSE which had the best rates, expectedly higher which I was ok with HOWEVER SSE are claiming I'm using 10x the units of gas than I was with Eon despite nothing having changed. I dont have the heating on, I've even stopped using the gas cooker as much, washing once a fortnight. 

As I say, I expected the cost per unit to go up but they're claiming I'm using 10x more units which is just !!!!!!. So, yeah, write SSE off as another consumer abuser

Hi,

is there claim based on actual readings, or just estimates?