Electricity Bills seeming way too high

rosiehgoodwin

Hello, I wonder if anyone thinks our bills sound off as I think they're really high. For context, we live in an electricity only, 2 bedroom flat above a shop. It's quit small - you can get from one side to the other in about ten big paces. We have no central heating, just four storage heaters, one of which is completely dead and doesn't turn on. We never have the remaining three on full either, at most halfway.

We've had two monthly bills so far - the first £216 (486 kWh at night and 556 kWh during the day) and the second £282 (669 kWh during the night and 256 kWh during the day). Bearing in mind we both are usually at work every week day, one of us for 10+1 shifts, I don't understand how our consumption could possibly be this high. I've called our energy supplier to enquire, but all they've done is send me a pamphlet of energy saving tips most of which we already do.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? Our monthly direct debit was estimated at £84 a month when we moved in, so if this continues we're going to end the year almost £2000 in credit. We're having a smart meter installed on the 1st of March if the Landlord approves, but I don't really see how this could help.

If anyone has any advice I'd be so appreciative, I've already shed many tears over this!!

TimSynths

I found this great tool to work out your cost on London Church's website-

Energy Prices, Energy Crisis - What might you be paying with the introduction of the new energy price cap? (godisgiving.org)

easy to use and to monitor your usage.

jbuchanangb

The first advice is to read your meters. When was the last time you read the meters, One reading for day and another for night. You should have read the meter when you moved in. What were the readings? Read them today. What are they now? Then you can work out how much energy you have used. Storage heaters work by getting warmed up at night and giving out the heat during the day. Make sure you understand the controls, one for how much to heat up by and another to control the rate it comes out. 

ariarnia

there’s really two likely reasons why your use might be high. 

the first is that your using it (just using more than you think or there might be something like a water heater on that you forgot about or the timing on your storage heaters might be off and there charging for longer or at different times than you think) 

the second is a problem with the meter. 

the exact problem might be hard to track down but a couple of basic checks can be helpful. 

turn everything off (everything) for a few hours (fridges and freezers are fine with no power for 4 hours as long as you keep the door closed) then check the meter to see if anything has registered. 

then keep everything off and boil the kettle. check your meter is flashing. 

then turn everything off except the fridge/freezer overnight (8-12 hours) and see what registers. 

EssexHebridean

Your day use looks very high considering you're on storage heaters - that is my first thought.

We are relatively low day users - we shift just about everything appliance-wise to night rate so day is mostly just baseline plus lights, TV, kettle, that sort of thing. My Day use during January was just under 125kWh - for comparison, my night use was  800kWh - that is two storage heaters, working to keep the place (larger than yours by the sound of it) to a temperature of around 19 degrees in the living room, cooler elsewhere. Currently we're on a day rate at 48p/kWh and night rate 16p (rounded for ease) so that probably compares differently to yours too. we don't use electric for cooking - it's the only thing we have gas for - so that would make a little difference but not a huge amount, and certainly not THAT amount. 

I take it you have an immersion heater for water - can you confirm that is switched to "timed" and that the timer is set for the right time? Also - are the heaters and the immersion on a separate circuit so that they only activate on the off-peak rate, or are there other timers involved? 

Gerry1

Do the Meter Sanity Test.  Make sure you're not paying for the shop's usage as well !

Get the faulty storage heater fixed.  It's and easy and the parts are cheap.

Do the Storage Heater Sanity Test.

If they're old-style plain 'Box of Bricks' storage heaters, make sure you are operating them correctly.

Spoonie_Turtle

If it turns out you are using it, some things to think about - electric shower?  Tumble dryer?  Oven every day?  Gaming PC/console(s)?

Robin9

I don't think they are high 

Night store 3 x 3kw plus immersion heater another 3kw = 12kw. Say they take  even 2 hours to charge = 24kWh = about 700 kWh in a month

Day time -   a couple of 10 min showers, cooking, water heating (is your i/h left of boost?,  washing/ tumble dryer.

Get into reading that meter several times a day = find out when you are using that energy

ariarnia

Robin9 said:

I don't think they are high 

Night store 3 x 3kw plus immersion heater another 3kw = 12kw. Say they take  even 2 hours to charge = 24kWh = about 700 kWh in a month

Day time -   a couple of 10 min showers, cooking, water heating (is your i/h left of boost?,  washing/ tumble dryer.

Get into reading that meter several times a day = find out when you are using that energy

for me its the day use that looks high if heating and water is done over night. why i think its worth seeing if theres anything else during the day thats being used maybe without the op being aware. 

EssexHebridean

ariarnia said:

Robin9 said:

I don't think they are high 

Night store 3 x 3kw plus immersion heater another 3kw = 12kw. Say they take  even 2 hours to charge = 24kWh = about 700 kWh in a month

Day time -   a couple of 10 min showers, cooking, water heating (is your i/h left of boost?,  washing/ tumble dryer.

Get into reading that meter several times a day = find out when you are using that energy

for me its the day use that looks high if heating and water is done over night. why i think its worth seeing if theres anything else during the day thats being used maybe without the op being aware. 

Particularly that first month the day use is high for an E7 setup - and that in turn is going to mean higher bills because the day rate is so much more expensive of course. Electric showers etc are energy hungry, we know that, but realistically you don’t expect the standard stuff that everyone uses electricity for to come in HIGHER on the peak rate of an E7 setup than on a single rate one! 

I still reckon the immersion heater is the first thing to be checked! 

diystarter7

Robin9 said:

I don't think they are high 

Night store 3 x 3kw plus immersion heater another 3kw = 12kw. Say they take  even 2 hours to charge = 24kWh = about 700 kWh in a month

Day time -   a couple of 10 min showers, cooking, water heating (is your i/h left of boost?,  washing/ tumble dryer.

Get into reading that meter several times a day = find out when you are using that energy

Hi

Brill post and up until I read your post, I was a bit unsure, but did feel they were not high. Looking at it like that, I think you've hit the nail on the head.

OP - ask others if there another flats in there

Thanks