All electric flat - ridiculous monthly bill!

danrv

My electricity bill was £270 for mid January to mid February. All electric 3 bed semi detached property with aircon heating. 
I could get that down though if I changed to a single rate tariff. Currently on an extortionate E10 one.
£300 sounds a bit high considering the panel heaters haven’t been used.

Jonboy_1984

Until last year my wife and I lived in an all electric one bedroom flat as built.  We used 2396 kwh between 17/12/20 and 15/03/21 (and around 6600kwh annually) so around 800kwh a month when heating was on (dropping to around 400kwh in the summer months).

This was with one daily deep warm bath, one storage heater and likely 30-45 minutes of a 2KW fan heater in the evenings. We also did 4-5 loads of washing with around 3 loads in a heat pump dryer and had a dehumidifier running around 12 hours a day for the rest. We typically had a cooked meal once a day.

I also worked from home so a small amount of lighting and tea making was involved.

Gerry1

INSIST on getting access to your meter and doing the Meter Sanity Test.

Unfortunately it looks like you may have been conned by an unholy alliance between the letting agent and the landlord so there may not be much you can do retrospectively, but at least you'll have peace of mind about future bills.

Edit: Fat fingered, should have been 'conned' not 'connected'.

diystarter7

Hi OP

Sorry to hear about your problems

I've skimmed through the posts.

The picture you saw/given. All pictures have a date tag of the original date the picture was taken. You can check this via right click on the laptop and pressing the 'inspect button.'  Others may be able to assist you with that. I hope it helps, if not it was worth considering


Thnaks

markin

How many units on the bill?  900 would be 24kwh a day, half of that could be hot water if left on 24/7

It would be odd for them not to have a photo of the day you move in and when the old tenant moved out, ask for it.

markin

diystarter7 said:

Hi OP

Sorry to hear about your problems

I've skimmed through the posts.

The picture you saw/given. All pictures have a date tag of the original date the picture was taken. You can check this via right click on the laptop and pressing the 'inspect button.'  Others may be able to assist you with that. I hope it helps, if not it was worth considering


Thnaks

I almost said the same thing until a worked out the photo was only just taken at day 36?

Scot_39

mr97_ said:

....
They are simple electric panel heaters. 

Usage from 17th Jan (01795Kw) to 26th March (02593Kw) - thank you for replying!

This was supposed to say 26th Feb!

Problem you have is that 800kWh in 40 days would not be excessive if you were heating to even a moderate degree for that total period.  And at 46p ave SC and 34p averagevsingle rate EPG - that's £290.

That's 20kWh per day.  Hot water could be say 2-3 kWh, shower 1.5 kWh for 10min etc,  oven / hob 1-2 kWh etc.  TV for 10 hrs 1kWh.  But without any heating at all, doubtful.

(Are you on flat rate or MULTI rate electric - many all electric were E7 - even if not with night storage heaters - just hot water immersion -  you only mention one reading suggesting single - but was that from bill or meter - by default many digital meters only display total until press button to cycle registers)

And are you sure they are simple panels - some look like simple but can be remotely controlled or locally controlled by timers and thermostats etc. - other posters have mistakenly thought because they weren't turning things on they weren't on.  But had been set to heat during day when out etc to welcome the previous owner / tennant home etc.

In cold weather it is unlikely an unhet property - even a flat benefitting from heat from flat below - and low losses to a heated flat above - would be all that comfortable to live in for a lot of people.


(I run by most people's standards a cold house 17C living room, 15C elsewhere - but thats a modern 2 bed mid terrace house not a flat - and used 550-600kWh pm in Dec and Jan - not too dissimilar to your 20kWh. But in really cold snap - sub zero days and nights -  that peaked at over 30kWh some days.

Few years back when whole close was moved off of old radio meters - my elderly neighbours were using 50-60% more for heating on winter bills.)

So any such comparisons with others whilst a sanity check for you - meaningless to supplier and your actual property and your use.

So you are kind of at the mercy of the initial reading and your actual reading.


But you will need to try and get better access to your readings - is the meter smart, does it give BG regular updates etc.

And how often do they produce bills / statements.  If you start getting a lot of bills with only estimates on them- that's not a good thing.  So you may well need to be able to get readings and keep an eye on that. Ask new neighbours how they get readings ?

The IHD on most Smart models don't work in many flats with centralised meter cabinets  - the range just isn't big enough - so fitters often don't even leave one.

But if Smart, you might be able to use an app, or see usage regularly updated on supplier account website.


People used to be very lax about meter readings and checking usage / bills -  even when things operating correctly - that's a luxury at current pricing for many.  But if things go wrong, can take months if not years to spot as meter reader visits by suppliers are rare.

mr97_

Scot_39 said:

mr97_ said:

....
They are simple electric panel heaters. 

Usage from 17th Jan (01795Kw) to 26th March (02593Kw) - thank you for replying!

This was supposed to say 26th Feb!

And are you sure they are simple panels - some look like simple but can be remotely controlled or locally controlled by timers and thermostats etc. - other posters have mistakenly thought because they weren't turning things on they weren't on.  But had been set to heat during day when out etc to welcome the previous owner / tennant home etc.

In cold weather it is unlikely an unhet property - even a flat benefitting from heat from flat below - and low losses to a heated flat above - would be all that comfortable to live in for a lot of people.

No I am 100% certain that the heating is never on. They are simple panels and switched off at the wall, it is cold, but I just put up with it. 

Thank you everyone for responding  

Scot_39

Then this will go back to try and get regular reliable readings and checking for reasons for heavy use.

To see if a permanent problem - obvious internal high use culprits - some people use smart plugs - to report use - but these only work on 13A plugs AFAIK - and the meter sanity / flat crossover check tests.

There can be other surprisingly energy hungry things burning a lot of electricity  - like halogen spots - some modern kitchens etc have seen have had a significant numbers maybe a mix of ratings - say 20-50W a piece.  Soon adds up.  But then probably already switched to LED if have them.

My parents house has 5 / 6 bulb lamp fittings in LR and dining room - they used to have 60W bulbs in them - so 2/3 kW total.  They went halogen as filament disapperared - but still a lot of power - now fullly LED.

Over a winter evening - 4-12pm+ filament = 6kWh, Halogen 4kWh, LED 1kWh.

Saving £1.80 a day at current rate

PS What is your bill  frequency ?

I used to get 3 or 6 month paper bills - I now get monthly electronic ones with smart actual readings (well some say statements - as I pay by annual direct debit) - which is good enough for most people's needs.

But even a month a long time to go without answers if still believe paying over the odds for use you don't think is really yours.

macman

Your CU and meter may not be in the same location: it's more likely that the CU is within your own flat, as you really do need access to that in case of emergency, or if a fuse blows. Locate it as a priority.
You have every right to read your own meters, so I'd suggest a formal complaint to the LL. If someone has to unlock and accompany you, so be it. 
Then request a smart meter.