Is it worth moving house (renting) to save money on energy? 25 January at 1:51PM in Energy 21 replies 707 views

ExpertMiser

I live in an apartment block and the owner of the block uses a third-party consultancy firm to manage energy suppliers for the building. This means that I can't choose who my supplier is and my costs are now spiralling.

I live on my own in a studio flat and my energy cost has risen from £40/month this time last year to £280/month now. I have decreased my energy usage and I'm 'heating the person' instead. I'm not particularly struggling for money and I don't qualify for any additional benefits, so the only help I'm getting is the EBRS discount. Though I also never received the payments that the government handed out, the £150 etc. They went to my landlord and were never passed on.

So, would it be worth moving house - despite increasing rents - so that I can choose my energy supplier to try to save money? I can't use comparison sites because they either aren't allowing energy comparisons at the minute, or they recognise that they can't change the supply at my address. So I can't tell if I would actually save money by moving.

Thanks in advance.

MikeJXE

I Also live alone on state pension with some savings and no benefits. 

I privately rent a flat in a block but have own meters electric and gas. My energy for the last few year was £50 monthly DD

April last year that was increased to £91 which I agreed with as I had done the maths

Over the last 2 years my usage is Electric 793kwh and Gas 5835 kWh and the supplier increased the DD to £150 which I disagreed with. I am not carrying on the argument because I am moving to a 1 Bed from a 2 bed in a different location and supplier

Again I did the maths and I'm not using more than £100 per month 

I also get the £400 and the £300 extra winter fuel allowance 

So if you can get a reasonable rent (mine is £625 monthly) and use about the same kWh as I do, do the maths and work it out 

FatherTireseus

I guess the answer is, yes, you possibly could save money on energy bills by moving.  I’m by no means an expert on what is reasonable energy consumption but there are plenty of folk on these boards who do have a very good idea of what is a reasonable amount to pay.  I will say you’re paying more than I am per month and I live in a reasonably sized house.  Also bear in mind if you’re paying by direct debit you might be overpaying relative to your usage and you may be building up a credit.  (Then again of course you might not).

But offset against any energy savings would be, what would it cost you to move?  Could you find somewhere in your local area to rent at the same cost but with cheaper energy bills?  Would service charges be more?  I think you’ve got to look at the bigger picture of all the costs associated with moving as there is no point in finding somewhere else to save £100 a month on energy bills, but be paying £200 more a month in rent and service charges.  Not to mention the costs of moving (e.g. hiring a van to move possessions?).

If you were looking to move anyway then finding somewhere with cheaper energy costs would be one of the criteria.  But if I were you I’d look carefully at the total costs associated with a move before making a decision.

MikeJXE

BTW in rented you don't pay ground rent or maintenance charges, if you're lucky like me the landlord supplies and maintains the washing machine, dishwasher and fridge freezer. 

Plus it's someone else's problem if the roof falls in 

pochase

You are not giving any information regard how much energy do use.

What type of heating do you use? How many KWh do you use for electricity. What unit rates does your landlord charge you?

ExpertMiser

pochase said:

You are not giving any information regard how much energy do use.

What type of heating do you use? How many KWh do you use for electricity. What unit rates does your landlord charge you?

My flat is all electric. Last month I used 777.74KWh of electric, which is more or less the same every month. The current unit price is 0.3822p.

pochase

You are saying you did not receive the £150 council tax discount. Don't you pay council tax? I doubt that your landlord would get the £150.

Do you have an electricity account with a supplier or does your landlord supply you with the electricity. If it is the supplier it is very possible that he will not get the £400 if he is on a business deal and not a domestic account. The 38.2  is slightly more than the EPG of 35p, it could be due being to a business rates, them slightly slightly over charging or a 3p for administration per KWh.

It seems you are a single rate and not a E7 tariff, so you are heating cost is very expensive. Possible that your landlord's setup does not support E7.

The £280 does matches the 777KWh you have used last months, I cannot see how you would have paid only £40 last year for the same usage, that would be 5p per KWh, excluding standing charge.

There potential savings to be made if you are in a flat with E7 tariff, but it might be less than you hope for depending on your supplier and region. 

macman

Is this a district heating system with an HIU in each flat or similar maybe? Are you sure you are that all your DHW and heating is electric? Or is the whole block on a commercial tariff, with a private sub-meter in every flat? This is not a common arrangement for what sounds like a large block.
You are being charged at pretty much the EPG rate for single rate leccy, and your monthly charge of £280 is a little bit low: it should be around £297, plus the standing charge. However, bear in mind that this does not mean an annual bill of £3,360, because your usage will fall massively once the heating goes off in the spring.
Price have risen over 200%, but nothing like 700%, so the problem here is that you were paying far too little at £40 per month a year ago: £480pa even for a studio is not feasible if it's all electric.
One option might be to install NSH's to heat the property, and you may already have an immersion heater. You can then possibly switch to E7 metering, but it's not clear if this is possible based on the little we know about the current arrangement for supply.
Are the existing heaters wall-mounted convectors?

ExpertMiser

pochase said:

Do you have an electricity account with a supplier or does your landlord supply you with the electricity. If it is the supplier it is very possible that he will not get the £400 if he is on a business deal and not a domestic account. The 38.2  is slightly more than the EPG of 35p, it could be due being to a business rates, them slightly slightly over charging or a 3p for administration per KWh.

I don't have an account with the actual supplier. I do have an account with the consultancy firm which manages the supply to the building, though.

It seems you are a single rate and not a E7 tariff, so you are heating cost is very expensive. Possible that your landlord's setup does not support E7.

The landlord's setup must not support E7 then, though that's not what I was led to believe. But checking my invoices it does show the same rate for day and night.

The £280 does matches the 777KWh you have used last months, I cannot see how you would have paid only £40 last year for the same usage, that would be 5p per KWh, excluding standing charge.

It may not have been 777, but it won't have been a massive difference. What I meant was that my habits haven't changed and so I've never had a significantly higher usage.

MikeJXE

If you want to be in control of everything including government handouts but excluding the rents 

Then move 

ExpertMiser

macman said:

Is this a district heating system with an HIU in each flat or similar maybe? Are you sure you are that all your DHW and heating is electric? Or is the whole block on a commercial tariff, with a private sub-meter in every flat? This is not a common arrangement for what sounds like a large block.

I've honestly no idea what a HIU is, so I can't answer that directly. There are private sub-meters in every flat for electric and water (no gas meters). The block used to be offices before being converted into 188 separate apartments of varying sizes.

Are the existing heaters wall-mounted convectors?

Yes, they are