£700 a month electricity bill now im on the price cap

mark19851234

Thanks for all the replies guys. I am having an emporia energy monitor fitted so we can see what energy is going where. I am also going to fit an emporia wifi plug to the hot tub so I will know exactly how much it is using. I am paying around 20p per KWH. I am really not looking forward to April. Hopefully the government steps in as businesses are not going to survive. The guests do sometimes have the heaters on max but it is very well insulated so they usually do turn themselves off.

mark19851234

brewerdave said:

Haven't you got a separate meter for the rental ?? I would suspect VERY strongly that the majority of your leccy bill is due to the rental - a hot tub and wall panel heaters ?  More likely £600 pm !!!

Thanks. I agree I think about £5 a day is us. The other £15 is from the annex

mark19851234

Sea_Shell said:

brewerdave said:

Haven't you got a separate meter for the rental ?? I would suspect VERY strongly that the majority of your leccy bill is due to the rental - a hot tub and wall panel heaters ?  More likely £600 pm !!!

As far as guest are concerned, the price they pay includes "all you can eat" energy.   So they aren't going to worried about turning up the heating, or turning lights off etc. like they might in their own home.

Will it still be a viable business if you can't increase your rental fees to cover increased costs.

That is true. The guests definitely do not seem to care. We try to sell it to them that we are very "environmental" but doesnt normally do anything. The annex is doing very well on Air BNB. We usually get around £100+ a night + £30 cleaning fee. So with £15 a day running cost is still very profitable.

mark19851234

daveyjp said:

Friends with a holiday cottage charge extra for hot tub use.

 With electric costs how they are you should do the same.

The main draw I think for most guests is the hot tub so include it in the price

mark19851234

savers_united said:

Best way is to look at it spread over the year, £700pm is that £8400 annually or is it more like £700pm in winter months and say £350pm during the warmer months.

I agree with others that it's the rental, panel heaters and a hot tub ain't going to be cheap to run especially this time of year on a free for all. 

My understanding from people who own Hot Tubs is that it's best to keep them heated rather than blast them from cold when you need to use them, so I doubt it would make much difference to costs switching it off instead of keeping it on low heat if its being used on a regular basis, but maybe limit its use so that the cover is not removed for long periods.

It may be worth connecting a meter to the rental just to see how much its using, do you have electric showers, Oven? How is the water heated? you may even have a few guests here and there charging their EVs. 

Thanks. We are looking forward to the warmer months but with the price cap going up we dont think it is going to go down. Yes we keep our hot tub at 38-40 degrees all year round. Everything is electric in both the house and the annex. We keep an eye out for guests with electric cars luckily most dont have them.

mark19851234

QrizB said:

£700 will buy you almost 3500kWh of electricity. That's more than I'd expect a "3 bed cottage" to use in a year without electric heating.

Could you share your recent meter readings, please?

I agree with brewerdave that you should have a separate meter for the AirBnB so you know how much your business is costing you.

Thanks! That is the plan I am having an emporia energy monitor fitted shortly. I will try and get some readings for you

QrizB

mark19851234 said:

I am paying around 20p per KWH. I am really not looking forward to April. Hopefully the government steps in as businesses are not going to survive.

a lot of people are paying that rate, and it's likely to rise to 30p/kWh in April.
Just be thankful you don't have a business tariff!

Keep_pedalling

mark19851234 said:

Sea_Shell said:

brewerdave said:

Haven't you got a separate meter for the rental ?? I would suspect VERY strongly that the majority of your leccy bill is due to the rental - a hot tub and wall panel heaters ?  More likely £600 pm !!!

As far as guest are concerned, the price they pay includes "all you can eat" energy.   So they aren't going to worried about turning up the heating, or turning lights off etc. like they might in their own home.

Will it still be a viable business if you can't increase your rental fees to cover increased costs.

That is true. The guests definitely do not seem to care. We try to sell it to them that we are very "environmental" but doesnt normally do anything. The annex is doing very well on Air BNB. We usually get around £100+ a night + £30 cleaning fee. So with £15 a day running cost is still very profitable.

I think a hot tub is the very opposite of ‘environmental’.