Help or advice for my dads situation

Woodsey10

My dad had a stroke in September. Since then I have been overseeing his bills and medical side. 

He is in a 1 bed, 55+ year old council flat block which is all electric. He is now paying £280 per month which is split into 2 as follows:
 

The heating is on a separate circuit to the rest of the property and he pays a monthly charge of £110. It’s economy 7 and I have checked with the council that it is correct. It is and it’s a fixed payment with no options to adjust.

Rest of flat through Scottish power on a smart meter. Rising again to £170 a month. 

The high usage through Scottish Power I’m suspecting his hot water tank and am getting the ball rolling. 

But the heating charge still seems high. Is anyone else in a similar situation with a separate heating charge? Be interested to know what people are paying for same sized place. 

MultiFuelBurner

Many find themselves in a situation with energy where they only think in pounds and pence and not kWh.

Can you get the two readings from the smart meter (there will be two being on economy 7 and one that is day and one that is night)

If you can provide those and an actual reading from a bill (not marked E or listed as estimated) ideally a year ago or even before winter will be good.

There may be a case that economy 7 is not the best tariff but it is essential to get some readings from the meters first for what is actually being used (please note I mean the meter not the fancy IHD led display)

The communal heating charge you can do little about but the £170 a month hot water and general electricity use you can.

HampshireH

When you say it's a fixed payment no option to adjust what do you mean.

Does he pay the landlord directly this amount I.e. the get a communal bill and he is charged a cost in his service charge? Therefore they control the supplier (and tariff)

elsien

It’ll be one of those council set ups where it’s communal heating and fixed payment. Absolutely nothing to be done about it, it is what it is. Friend of parent’s has it and finds it expensive although I’m not sure of the monthly amount. 

Some councils are looking at heat meters within these systems if feasible so that might be a question to ask. 

Woodsey10

@MultiFuelBurner I have now taken a reading for the starting point. Also waiting for confirmation to have the water cylinder checked for efficiency. 

As @elsien has said it’s a fixed heating charge to Southampton city council. It is very expensive, especially when you take into account they switch it on for 9 months of the year. 

Scot_39

Council £110,  fixed unlikly to change until say annual review.

The councils and many ex council HA that inherited old council stock often run these fixed price systems - but they are dropping out as systems upgraded.

A sibling had a wet rads plus hot water deal via housing association, but when boilers upgraded all flats got hiu with smart (networked) metering - iirc now a legal requirement in Scotland anyway.

Some if like hers were  - are  bill based on estimated costs - and adjust for market reality in arrears.  It kind of smooths out the wholesale price spikes (8-10x) others encountered live in winter 22/23 - but it means others are seeing higher monthly rates or retrospective catch up charges based on metered historic use now.

Others in council unmetered flats were posting here about weekly payments last year going up 3x or 4x from £10/teens into £30/40 per week as they adjusted for actual fuel costs.  So the £110 whilst high not perhaps that unusual.


SP £180

Excluding heating though - even allowing for HW - £180 for the normal bill is high for many.

Is it based on actual readings or estimates - you say smart - but are they getting reliable readings.

is that annualised DD average or spot month etc ?

Does it contain any catch up for old underestimates / debt  ?

At domestic svt SR c28p - £180-£20sc = 550-600 kWh depending on regional pricing / SC.  So 17-20kWh a day on flat rate.

Its high - maybe double what many might see - treble my average low use in summer - but perhaps not unbelievably so.

If the SP also on Economy 7 - you will want to check his peak off peak balance - but if a heavy hot water user even without heating included  it can still be worth while  - c40% a typical night use to break even via flat rate (it varies by supplier and region )


HW
A small cylinder tank - say 120-140l - would need c7kW a day to heat water to 60C from typical cold fill temps.
Many single occupancy wouldn't use that volume daily even including bath / shower.
Even a modern well insulated would lose say additional 1kWh daily - 2kWh for largest c300l tanks - far more if not.  Losses will be higher if heat above 60C.
Losses will be lower if dont leave immersion on 24/7 keeping it topping up temperature 24/7 as use / losses cool  - 1-2 hours per day of a 3kW immersion heater does many.

Many showers if tank mains pressure fed, full baths, running taps can use a large amount of hot water.  If electric shower again consumption linear with time. 

If any lasting stroke impact makes dad more prone to longer use - even a few minutes daily - they could be non trivial kWh consumption differences.

My disabled elderly mum needed far longer shower (15-20mins when she could shower herself) - maybe double average - about 1kWh if electric shower extra - and even took noticably more time to rinse few dishes after meals etc

Other impacts

Simply being in home all day rather than out at work etc - cooking 1 extra meal, TV for extra 8-10 hours etc can add 2+ kWh difference over others.

Any medical equipment ?  My mums hospital style air mattress - - used I guess 2-3 kWh daily based on specs  - for its heated air pump. 

She also went through more bedding etc.

Pets - aquariums /exotics - can add kWhs.

Even a lot of lights - e.g. multiple halogen spots in kitchen (a siblings used over 400W) as many other bulbs gone led - can add up if left on cf equivalent LED consumption.

A lot of these small to little things add up quickly.