Help!! Air source heat pump costs

MrsBeee

Hello everyone, 

I am desperately looking for advice on energy bills for those of us with air source heat pumps. 

I have found and read some helpful threads on here but none are really what I’m looking for. In short, how do I reduce my astronomical energy costs!! Our usage is 15,000 kWh per annum.  

We are two adults living in an old 3 bed property which has an ASHP. We live a simple life, with one tv and no ‘gadgets’ and I don’t understand why our electricity costs are so high. We are at the price cap, with Eon next. 

Can anyone offer any advice on how to reduce our bills? We have had the system and settings checked twice; the second time following a power cut but we have never seen a notable change in costs. I have tried to understand the system myself and review settings but there seems to be little option and I have checked against recommendations and the settings seem to be as they should. 

Our heating went off on 1st April, we turn every appliance except the fridge off when not in use. We try not to use the hot water at all apart from a shower each daily. Our hot water pump is off so we no longer have instant hot water. Our hot water is set to 45 degrees (safe because our tank runs a legionella prevention cycle). 

We are currently in the position where we must move if we cannot do something about our energy costs, which are set to sky rocket in a couple of months. 

Can any experts offer any advice or point me to someone who could? I’m more than happy to pay for someone to attend to assess if it’s going to reduce our costs, I’m just not sure where to turn at this stage. 

Any help is highly appreciated. 

Evan3020

Are you sure it's the heat pump?
What is your daily usage now that you are not heating the house?

MrsBeee

Hello, 

Thank you for your reply. 

Our daily usage is currently 16kwh. I can only contribute that to being the hot water as we have nothing else on, fish tank etc. 

This Summer we have averaged 500khw per month. 

Evan3020

I heat my hot water with electricity using the immersion but it comes from solar, it only takes 4 or 5 kwh for a shower, a bath, and general washing so 16 is a lot.

Evan3020

16 kwh will be £260 a month for summer use.
It must be going somewhere else.

welshmoneylover

Ashp has never been a low cost heating solution. If you want lower bills , just use less .
are you both out of the home working full time? You don’t really give much away about your lifestyle 

I turned my heating off in January and haven’t used it since ; not sure why you had it on in April 

MrsBeee

Last month bill was £170, details below: 

5008.7 Smart meter reading 5567.4
Smart meter reading 558.7 kWh @ 26.54p/kWh 30 days @ 45.835p/day

When you say it must be going somewhere else, I have tried to reduce costs by turning everything off. My fridge is 12 years old and the only other thing that’s left on. I expect it’s not very energy efficient. 

Evan3020

Do you heat water all day or just for half an hour a day, i don't really know how you use heat pumps.

Evan3020

Check your meter several times a day, like before and after you heat water.
Is the heat pump switched off when not in use.
If you check the meter every couple of hours you may find a pattern to the usage.

MrsBeee

welshmoneylover said:

Ashp has never been a low cost heating solution. If you want lower bills , just use less .
are you both out of the home working full time? You don’t really give much away about your lifestyle 

I turned my heating off in January and haven’t used it since ; not sure why you had it on in April 

Hello, 

Thank you for your reply. 

Yes we both work full time so out of the house during the week. We don’t have any children at home and haven’t since living here. 

We had the thermostat at 15 degrees all winter until 1st April, we live in the north. It was still snowing in March. We do have to use some form of heat otherwise we would both freeze and I expect the house would suffer from mould and damp. I applause you for turning off yours in January! 

15 degrees I feel is cold, I have never previously set the thermostat so low but we are aware of the costs of running heating on ASHP. 

I am surprised about our summer costs and that’s why I am appealing for help as I feel we are using as little energy as possible in our home and have made every effort to keep everything turned off but still receiving very high bills.   

Evan3020

As I say, check your meter every couple of hours until you see where it's going.
What about how you heat hot water?.
16 kwh a day in summer takes some doing.