Wet electric heating, economy 7 nightmare

bunny73

Hello,

Moved into a new flat in the summer and the bills for heating are killing me. The flat is freezing, I have reduced it to one hour in morn and two hours in eve. I sit in bedroom in eve so living room radiator isn’t on. Main rad and bedroom rad on only. Hot water on night rate. One shower a day. 508 kwh on day and 80 on night for last three weeks. Cost since 5th Jan =£200. If this is to be expected I will calm down, but terrified I am wasting money. On standard tariff as wanted option of moving as never had econ 7 or all electric before. Prices rose in November and again half way through Jan. Now 36p kWh day and 29p kWh night and two meters on standing charge of 35p each a day. 

Any help, guidance, reassurance would be much appreciated, I’ve exhausted google!

Thanks ☺️

Lmc74

Hi I have electric wet central heating and I am on economy 10.  This maybe worth looking into but suppliers are very limited. You get 10 hours cheap rate over 24 hrs, rather than 7 hours overnight which is more designed for storage heaters.  Do you need hot water? I leave mine off.

bunny73

Lmc74 said:

Hi I have electric wet central heating and I am on economy 10.  This maybe worth looking into but suppliers are very limited. You get 10 hours cheap rate over 24 hrs, rather than 7 hours overnight which is more designed for storage heaters.  Do you need hot water? I leave mine off.

I can look into that, my neighbour went over to a single meter and her bills are much better than mine but she has a different heating system. I thought you had to have the water on overnight as it provided hot water for radiators? Otherwise you are heating water using the day rate? 

molerat

bunny73 said:

Lmc74 said:

Hi I have electric wet central heating and I am on economy 10.  This maybe worth looking into but suppliers are very limited. You get 10 hours cheap rate over 24 hrs, rather than 7 hours overnight which is more designed for storage heaters.  Do you need hot water? I leave mine off.

I can look into that, my neighbour went over to a single meter and her bills are much better than mine but she has a different heating system. I thought you had to have the water on overnight as it provided hot water for radiators? Otherwise you are heating water using the day rate? 

You are using day rate to heat the rads.  The hot water on overnight will only be heating the water for the taps, those systems cannot store heat.  You have a combination of the most expensive form of heating available, an extortionately priced tariff and an antiquated not fit for purpose metering arrangement. E7 is not a suitable tariff for wet rads. You need to get the meter changed to single rate which will cost you around 21p / kWh and  27p / day.  Are you renting or owned ?  You may need an electrician to look at your wiring before a meter change is done.

bunny73

molerat said:

bunny73 said:

Lmc74 said:

Hi I have electric wet central heating and I am on economy 10.  This maybe worth looking into but suppliers are very limited. You get 10 hours cheap rate over 24 hrs, rather than 7 hours overnight which is more designed for storage heaters.  Do you need hot water? I leave mine off.

I can look into that, my neighbour went over to a single meter and her bills are much better than mine but she has a different heating system. I thought you had to have the water on overnight as it provided hot water for radiators? Otherwise you are heating water using the day rate? 

You are using day rate to heat the rads.  The hot water on overnight will only be heating the water for the taps, those systems cannot store heat.  You have a combination of the most expensive form of heating available, an extortionately priced tariff and an antiquated not fit for purpose metering arrangement. E7 is not a suitable tariff for wet rads. You need to get the meter changed to single rate which will cost you around 21p / kWh and  27p / day.  Are you renting or owned ?  You may need an electrician to look at your wiring before a meter change is done.

Great, thanks. I’ll turn the water off as can get by without that. I own the flat so will look into getting the meter changed. Or, would I be better to invest in another heating system altogether?

MWT

bunny73 said:

 I thought you had to have the water on overnight as it provided hot water for radiators? Otherwise you are heating water using the day rate? 

Something sounds wrong there...

Do you have a hot water tank with an immersion heater for the hot water?

If so then yes you want to heat that overnight, but no, it doesn't get used for the radiators, that will be just heating using the day rate during the day, hence your 508/80 split in usage...

bunny73

MWT said:

bunny73 said:

 I thought you had to have the water on overnight as it provided hot water for radiators? Otherwise you are heating water using the day rate? 

Something sounds wrong there...

Do you have a hot water tank with an immersion heater for the hot water?

If so then yes you want to heat that overnight, but no, it doesn't get used for the radiators, that will be just heating using the day rate during the day, hence your 508/80 split in usage...

Yes there is a hot water tank. There is another separate boiler for the radiators.

MWT

bunny73 said:

MWT said:

bunny73 said:

 I thought you had to have the water on overnight as it provided hot water for radiators? Otherwise you are heating water using the day rate? 

Something sounds wrong there...

Do you have a hot water tank with an immersion heater for the hot water?

If so then yes you want to heat that overnight, but no, it doesn't get used for the radiators, that will be just heating using the day rate during the day, hence your 508/80 split in usage...

Yes there is a hot water tank. There is another separate boiler for the radiators.

Then no, that hot water tank is just for the hot water, it will not be used for the radiators and if it was it would be cold in no time at all.

bunny73

MWT said:

bunny73 said:

MWT said:

bunny73 said:

 I thought you had to have the water on overnight as it provided hot water for radiators? Otherwise you are heating water using the day rate? 

Something sounds wrong there...

Do you have a hot water tank with an immersion heater for the hot water?

If so then yes you want to heat that overnight, but no, it doesn't get used for the radiators, that will be just heating using the day rate during the day, hence your 508/80 split in usage...

Yes there is a hot water tank. There is another separate boiler for the radiators.

Then no, that hot water tank is just for the hot water, it will not be used for the radiators and if it was it would be cold in no time at all.

Okay, that makes total sense. Thanks ☺️ 

Gerry1

Can you clarify the facts please, they don't seem correct.

● Please provide actual meter readings, preferably with a photo of the meter.  You can't possibly use 508kWh every day for three weeks, the average yearly consumption is 2400 (low), 4200 (medium) and 7100kWh (high) for an electricity only property.

●  You should be paying only one standing charge.  Victory: 2 MPANs but one SC

Your least worst option would probably be to switch to High Heat Retention night storage heaters on the cheapest E7 tariff you can find.  They're not cheap but an electric boiler on single rate is cripplingly expensive, and an E7 tariff (and an expensive one at that) makes it the most expensive heating you could possibly have.  Make sure the HHRs are big enough, otherwise you will end up topping them up at daytime rates which defeats the object.  If in doubt go for a larger size.  Also make sure you fully understand the programming and your E7 times, especially if you cut corners by using a single supply for them rather than a 24h supply for the fan and (very rare) top-up charging plus an E7 supply switched by the meter for overnight charging.

MWT

bunny73 said:

508 kwh on day and 80 on night for last three weeks.

Gerry1 said:

Can you clarify the facts please, they don't seem correct.

● Please provide actual meter readings, preferably with a photo of the meter.  You can't possibly use 508kWh every day for three weeks.

That was 508kWh on the day register and 80kWh on the night register over a period of 3 weeks...