Electricity help

steph_87

When I moved in during September, my meter was 8137 kwh.  I've used 6303kwh in around 5 months.  My electricity usage was climbing each month as I didn't get my heating system put in till half way through December.  SSE said that I won't see that usage until January to march. 

My highest bill was December. My underfloor heating had a higher kwh as did my old electric heaters.  Also i had them in for 13-14 hours a day because they would heat up and took hours to achieve an 18 degree heat.  My bedsheets and towels were damp due to the coldness so I had to change my heating system. 

Robin9

The more I look at this @steph_87 I'm not seeing anything unusual in terms of consumption - perhaps the question is where are the costs coming from.?   If we were to assume say 20p/KWh - 6303 is £1260; add 25 p/day standing charges is £40; add VAT and you get about £1400 or £300/month.  My apologies if already given your tariff details but what are you paying.

A further question - although your meter is Smart is SSE actually using the readings or estimating them. On your bill do the readings have A,C or E against them.?

markin

@Robin9 She luckily has a 1 year fix from September when she moved in, "standing charge 23.54p and unit charge 19.34p per kwh."

What is the current daily kwh and outside temp? What is the EPC saying and the heading demand?

Unless you want to install new night storage and go back to E7 it may be best to spend money on windows and insulation, what kind of flat is it, are you on the top, middle or bottom floor, Is it converted or custom built flats, Age?

If you aren't on the top floor i would consider insulating the ceiling or a drop ceiling install.

coffeehound

markin said:

 

If you aren't on the top floor i would consider insulating the ceiling or a drop ceiling install.

Interesting idea.  If it's a place with high ceilings, convectors are a bad match as the hot air tends to go straight up and stay there.  Radiant heating of some description is a better bet in that situation.

Anyway, still a mystery 5-6am consumer to identify

Robin9

Anyway, still a mystery 5-6am consumer to identify

Perhaps the time switches are a 4 on 4 off variety are set for a on at 0600 and off at 0615 . What are the timings on the immersion heater ?

EssexHebridean

@steph_87 just a thought, allowing that it makes no odds in terms of cost when the immersion heater runs, can you turn it off altogether overnight tonight and see whether the spike still appears? (Apologies if this is something you've already done and I've missed) If you need the water hot for first thing in the morning you could pop it on for a boost this evening perhaps. 

Robin9

@steph_87    You have spoken of these spikes but I don't think there has been any detail.

Do these last 1 min, 5 min , an hour ?  and how many Kw - 1, 2, 3 or more ?   Do these spikes coincide with your immersion heater timer ?

steph_87

Hi, 

I had tried the immersion water off for 4 days and it didn't make a difference.

After much reading and trying things out. I noticed my heaters had came on at 2.30pm when they were supposed to come on at 5.30 as programmed. It turns out that the heaters have a 'ecostart' mode which means the read tbe temperature outside and inside and determine how long it will take to achieve my temperature setting.  So they've been coming on a few hours before the timer to achieve the desired temperature.

Over December they must have been on over night due to the snow and the ice and I had been none the wiser.  I only noticed yesterday as I had been working from home.

I've disabled  the function on my heaters and guess what? No spike of 7kw of energy at 5am/6am.  Just my water boiler and now I've woke up to £1.36 of energy rather than £5.  

Thank you for all your help as I had managed to rule out and identify what burns what. 

My bills are still going to be £250 a month which is crazy but its better than £500.

BooJewels

Delighted that you've identified the culprit.  Doesn't sound like much of an 'eco' feature if it doubles your fuel use!

MWT

BooJewels said:

Delighted that you've identified the culprit.  Doesn't sound like much of an 'eco' feature if it doubles your fuel use!

Generally there are two options, 'eco' and 'comfort', what was described was the 'comfort' setting, not the 'eco'.

The 'eco' setting usually aims to delay the start as long as possible and to end the heating period as early as possible while staying close to the target temperatures.