Electricity Help

Nikki19912022

Afternoon, 
I hope you are well. Sorry for the lengthy post, I am looking for as much advice as possible.
 I brought a new build flat last July and fixed my electricity rate for a year. I have always switched everything off as I go along (money was tight when purchasing) so have been in the habit of being energy conscious. My property is run my electric only and I have a 7 immersion heather control too. My tariff is due for renewal, and they have advised it will be £300 a month with just me. I spoke to them about my usage and then said it is around 500kwh per month (In the summer). I asked if that was normal when everything is switched off as much as possible, but its difficult to get a definitive answer.  I dont have an in home smart metre device as the site manager removed when I collected the keys. For the last 2 days I have been doing a reading at the box every hour and then working out what I have used within that hour if anything. It goes up slowly (Since 7am today its gone up 1 and I have had laptop, tv, Alexa, broadband etc on). In the evenings when going to bed, I have been switching everything off apart from my boiler and Fridge Freezer (this is 0.88kw a day to run) When I wake 7 hours later it has been going up by 2 minimum, which seems quite high with only those two things on. I looked at the economy hours and it was set on to come on for 5 hours, so have reduced that to 2 (The site manager told me it was all programmed correctly and I didn't need to touch it, but I should have looked) I then called the electric provider to find out what the hours were as I know they can differ slightly. They advised me that the builders didn't request for an economy 7 metre to be installed, therefore it is only a normal one. Meaning 5 hours every night, I am heating water at normal rates, then anytime in the day when it needs topping up. I now believe this must be the issue, but I didn't know if anyone had any advice on this. Would it effect it that much? I have contacted the builders and told them to look into it, but I am not sure if they are in their rights to not install one anyways. I am like everyone trying to reduce the bills as much as possible, but I have nothing left to switch off anymore and do not know what to do. 
I dont know if they will replace the metre, and if they do when, so is it best I just switch it off all the time, and put it on just when I need a shower. It is a huge tank and I dont need all of that water to be heated daily. 
Any advice on this would be appreciated. and if you need anymore information, please ask. 
Many thanks,
Nikki 

pochase

Welcome to the forum Nikki.

A few questions to start
Do you have a E7 tariff? 
Who is your energy supplier?
Does your supplier allow you to look at your usage data from the smart meter? Otherwise have looked into using a free service like Bright?
What was your usage the last 12 months? 

MattMattMattUK

Nikki19912022 said:

Afternoon, 
I hope you are well. Sorry for the lengthy post, I am looking for as much advice as possible.
 I brought a new build flat last July and fixed my electricity rate for a year. I have always switched everything off as I go along (money was tight when purchasing) so have been in the habit of being energy conscious. My property is run my electric only and I have a 7 immersion heather control too. My tariff is due for renewal, and they have advised it will be £300 a month with just me. I spoke to them about my usage and then said it is around 500kwh per month (In the summer). I asked if that was normal when everything is switched off as much as possible, but its difficult to get a definitive answer.  I dont have an in home smart metre device as the site manager removed when I collected the keys. For the last 2 days I have been doing a reading at the box every hour and then working out what I have used within that hour if anything. It goes up slowly (Since 7am today its gone up 1 and I have had laptop, tv, Alexa, broadband etc on). In the evenings when going to bed, I have been switching everything off apart from my boiler and Fridge Freezer (this is 0.88kw a day to run) When I wake 7 hours later it has been going up by 2 minimum, which seems quite high with only those two things on. I looked at the economy hours and it was set on to come on for 5 hours, so have reduced that to 2 (The site manager told me it was all programmed correctly and I didn't need to touch it, but I should have looked) I then called the electric provider to find out what the hours were as I know they can differ slightly. They advised me that the builders didn't request for an economy 7 metre to be installed, therefore it is only a normal one. Meaning 5 hours every night, I am heating water at normal rates, then anytime in the day when it needs topping up. I now believe this must be the issue, but I didn't know if anyone had any advice on this. Would it effect it that much? I have contacted the builders and told them to look into it, but I am not sure if they are in their rights to not install one anyways. I am like everyone trying to reduce the bills as much as possible, but I have nothing left to switch off anymore and do not know what to do. 
I dont know if they will replace the metre, and if they do when, so is it best I just switch it off all the time, and put it on just when I need a shower. It is a huge tank and I dont need all of that water to be heated daily. 
Any advice on this would be appreciated. and if you need anymore information, please ask. 
Many thanks,
Nikki 

First things first, 500kWh per month, especially at the moment when you will not be using any heating and the water coming in is warmer than it is in winter. As an example I live in a large two bed all electric flat, at the moment I am using around 300kWh per month and a hefty chunk of my usage comes from a high end PC (600 watt draw when I am gaming or video editing), I do not have E7 as for my usage (with the higher day rate) it would not be worth it. As an example I shower at least once a day, use the dishwasher every 5 days, do multiple laundry washes every week etc. so I am not skimping on usage, so on that basis I see 500kWh at the moment as very high usage. 

Do you have a smart meter and if you look in your bills does it say estimated (or E) usage, your read, our read etc. Secondly from your bill what does it say is your annual usage. 

The thing with the hot water tank is that they do not lose that much heat once they have heated the tank, they will loose some but with a modern tank that is minimal. Also the turning everything off is unlikely to save you much, maybe a few kWh a week at most, your issue must be something wider in your usage, likely unintentional.  It would be worth doing a meter sanity test.

You also mention a boiler, is this connected to a wet heating system, or do you meant the immersion heaters on the tank?

Nikki19912022

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. 
I dont have an E7 tarrif no. I am with Eon Next. They have advised me they wouldn't have offered it because they only fitted a normal metre (at builders request) They advised me that the builders should have alerted them it was going to be an immersion boiler so the right one would have been fitted. Because it wasn't I cant have that tariff.  
I cant look at the usage data, but should be getting an in house metre within 5 days (I have had to buy one for builders to reimburse me) but have just downloaded an app (Need to wait for data to sync which can take a week) Electric usage over the year is 7,645kWh. Maybe that is normal I dont know. But as I said everything is off. I use oven 30 minutes every other day (eat at friends/families) tv for 5 hours a day maximum and on the odd occasion work from home so use the laptop for 7 hours. I have electric heaters, and sat with blankets on in the winter to not switch them on. If I did it would be in one room at a time. Then when I go to bed, I switch all but the boiler and fridge/freezer off, and get into bed (I have got that bad I use the phone torch to navigate myself into bed) Many thanks, Nikki 

Nikki19912022

pochase said:

Welcome to the forum Nikki.

A few questions to start
Do you have a E7 tariff? 
Who is your energy supplier?
Does your supplier allow you to look at your usage data from the smart meter? Otherwise have looked into using a free service like Bright?
What was your usage the last 12 months? 

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. 
I dont have an E7 tarrif no. I am with Eon Next. They have advised me they wouldn't have offered it because they only fitted a normal metre (at builders request) They advised me that the builders should have alerted them it was going to be an immersion boiler so the right one would have been fitted. Because it wasn't I cant have that tariff.  
I cant look at the usage data, but should be getting an in house metre within 5 days (I have had to buy one for builders to reimburse me) but have just downloaded an app (Need to wait for data to sync which can take a week) Electric usage over the year is 7,645kWh. Maybe that is normal I dont know. But as I said everything is off. I use oven 30 minutes every other day (eat at friends/families) tv for 5 hours a day maximum and on the odd occasion work from home so use the laptop for 7 hours. I have electric heaters, and sat with blankets on in the winter to not switch them on. If I did it would be in one room at a time. Then when I go to bed, I switch all but the boiler and fridge/freezer off, and get into bed (I have got that bad I use the phone torch to navigate myself into bed) Many thanks, Nikki 

Robin9

What form does your heating actually take ?  Storage rads/ panel heaters/ underfloor, wet filled rads ?

In olden times  - 12 months ago - £80/£90 for an all electric flat  was not unusual. So I am noot surprised by the offer of £300 for a new fix.  Whether or not that is a good deal depends on your consumption.

Have you meter readings from a year ago and today please?

 .Nikki19912022 said:

o. My tariff is due for renewal, and they have advised it will be £300 a month with just me. I spoke to them about my usage and then said it is around 500kwh per month (In the summer). 

born_again

500kW seems a lot unless you are using a lot of hot water.

2 bed bungalow electric used last month 209.0 kWh this includes 2 WFH. We do have gas for water & heating but that came to a massive £19 last month. 

Is this a electric shower? Or is it taking water from the tank? 

5 Hours to heat water seems a lot. Is there anyway to turn the temp down on tank or a timer that would allow less time on?

pochase

500KWh per months in summer, but "only" 7645KWh for 11months does not really make sense. There would have been hardly any increase in winter for heating.

What type of heating do you use? As it is not E7 it should not be storage heaters, do you have a ASHP?

From the way you describe I cannot see a usage of 500KWh in summer. Have you checked that the meter number on your bill is the same as on the meter?

Nikki19912022

Robin9 said:

What form does your heating actually take ?  Storage rads/ panel heaters/ underfloor, wet filled rads ?

In olden times  - 12 months ago - £80/£90 for an all electric flat  was not unusual. So I am noot surprised by the offer of £300 for a new fix.  Whether or not that is a good deal depends on your consumption.

Have you meter readings from a year ago and today please?

 .Nikki19912022 said:

o. My tariff is due for renewal, and they have advised it will be £300 a month with just me. I spoke to them about my usage and then said it is around 500kwh per month (In the summer). 

Hi, 
I have electric radiators in all rooms. They have not been on since February. and I only used the front room one then. My hall way one for instance has never been on. 
It is more the consumption that is worrying me. With the little amount I use vs friends who keep everything on, mine seems high. 
My opening reading on the 18th August was 1552. My reading today is 8559. Thanks 

Nikki19912022

MattMattMattUK said:

First things first, 500kWh per month, especially at the moment when you will not be using any heating and the water coming in is warmer than it is in winter. As an example I live in a large two bed all electric flat, at the moment I am using around 300kWh per month and a hefty chunk of my usage comes from a high end PC (600 watt draw when I am gaming or video editing), I do not have E7 as for my usage (with the higher day rate) it would not be worth it. As an example I shower at least once a day, use the dishwasher every 5 days, do multiple laundry washes every week etc. so I am not skimping on usage, so on that basis I see 500kWh at the moment as very high usage. 

Do you have a smart meter and if you look in your bills does it say estimated (or E) usage, your read, our read etc. Secondly from your bill what does it say is your annual usage. 

The thing with the hot water tank is that they do not lose that much heat once they have heated the tank, they will loose some but with a modern tank that is minimal. Also the turning everything off is unlikely to save you much, maybe a few kWh a week at most, your issue must be something wider in your usage, likely unintentional.  It would be worth doing a meter sanity test.

You also mention a boiler, is this connected to a wet heating system, or do you meant the immersion heaters on the tank?

Hi, Thanks for your message. This is what worries me as I am not using much. If I go out for the day or night then even the broadband is switched off. I will just keep on the immersion heater and fridge/freezer (I was told leaving the heater on was fine as they dont use much electricity) Sorry I didn't mean to mention a boiler it is the immersion heater.  The reading at midnight was 8556. Everything was off when I went to bed apart from those two things. at 7:27 it went up to 8558. However, as of 15 minutes ago it went to 8559 and that is with the kettle being used, shower, laptop on, Alexa, tv, hob etc (so a lot of use but no movement) I will get the in house metre within 5 days, so may help. 

Nikki19912022

pochase said:

500KWh per months in summer, but "only" 7645KWh for 11months does not really make sense. There would have been hardly any increase in winter for heating.

What type of heating do you use? As it is not E7 it should not be storage heaters, do you have a ASHP?

From the way you describe I cannot see a usage of 500KWh in summer. Have you checked that the meter number on your bill is the same as on the meter?

I was so worried to use heating, that I used it for perhaps one - two hours every other day in the front room only. All are switched off constantly so that maybe the reason? I dont know. 
Yes checked the metre numbers and all the same, which is why I am concerned. Eon Next read the smart metre and pull it in from that weekly/monthly