Is the Ofgem page wrong or is there something wrong with the electricity in my flat?

pricedout_1

In the price grid in the Ofgem "Typical Use" grid below there are 3 price columns... gas, elec, and elec (multi-rate)...

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/average-gas-and-electricity-use-explained

Millions of people are on electricity only...Ofgem know this (Economy 7 in my case.)

However, they don't explain the difference between the elec, and elec (multi-rate) columns and just leave people in the dark  in the dark.

My E7 bill with EDF is around 5600 KWH per year for a 1 bed. (Just me without excessive appliances so low usage)...2200KWH according to Ofgem!!??

Am I missing something or is there a problem with my boiler maybe being overheated constantly or something like that? (The hot water in this flat is like instantly super heated so I'm thinking that might be a problem)

Scot_39

A conventional electric direct HW tank will normally have it's thermostat factory to set to a min of 60C in the UK - due to HSE advice - some a little hotter. 60C is pretty hot - hot enough to scald / burn badly - if exposed to it for too long.  ( So hot in fact that you cannot get it from sink taps in many critical locations (care / NHS) - and now in modern homes - bath taps - as they are also thermostatically mixed with cold to limit risk)

What sort of HW heating do you have ?

Some flats have a small but full sized tank ( they start around say 100l - about a meter tall - but can be treble that in a larger home - other small flats / studios / bedsits etc now have a mini tank (10-20l say) - say under the sink - or even a direct heating element (heat on flow only))

If full sized tank 

- is it vented / gravity fed or mains pressurised - more likely if feeds shower ?

- how long do you switch the immersion heating element on for (note it is also switched off by it's own thermostat)

- does it feed your shower direct ?  (or does the shower heat from it's own 8-10kW element from cold supply)

Do you own or rent  ?

Depeding on answers - you may be able to cut back on HW heating costs.

There are things you might be able to do - like not heating the water continuously (not just relying on thermostat) - lagging the tank and adjacent pipes might not be that expensive and pay back relatively quickly etc.

Some only heat their HW tank 1 hour or so every 2-3 days.

Some people even went as far as switching their HW tank heating off completely when prices rose if ot needed for showering  - relying on kettles to fill basins etc.

But DESNZ - in one document quoted by Ofgem - estimated 62% of average usage is space heating.

So how hot do you heat your flat - and how good is the insulation ?

If can address / adapt - that might give rise to larger savings.

Re Ofgem TDCV

Their are some limitations of the profile class 2 data used to come up with those low electric profile class 2 numbers.

Note importantly it says example - for house size / occupancy.  Again Ofgem state they know nothing about size of occupancy in the data used.

The figures are based on a somewhat simpler statistical analysis of raw meter data.

Low Use - 25% of homes (or more strictly accurately perhaps - meters) record below

Medium Use - median - 50% below / 50% above

High use - 75th percentile - 75% below only 25% above

The meter profiles class 2 - and it's called that for a good reason - makes no distinction as to heating type etc - so can include homes with gas, wood, oil etc

The call for input to the last TDCV cap review had an interesting table towards the end

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2023-02/TDCV 2023_Call for Input.pdf

Elexon averages (Ofgem clearly making the note / point that these figures per meter not per household) - SR vs E7/E8 and E10 as of Nov 22 - 3245, 4748 and 6083 kWh respectively.

Your slightly higher than E7 mean - lower than E10 mean.

And specifies that link to the percentiles in their tables e.g. on p8

brig001

The table is wrong, or misleading at best
The last column should be the other two added together as on economy 7, everything would usually come from electricity 

Brian

PeterGr

The gas and electricity columns are for dual fuel homes.  (ie gas for heating and hot water, electricity for household appliances and lighting.  The multi rate column is the Economy 7 home which only uses electricity, but has a tariff with cheaper p/kWh rates at certain times of the day.  The consumption are not intended to match, as they are based on real-life consumption data.  Dual fuel homes will typically have higher overall consumption.

If you don't have actual consumption data they allow a calculation of annual charges for a home.  If you know your annual consumption they are of less use, but give you something to compare your consumption to.

EssexHebridean

The alleged "expected" use for electric only homes have always been wildly out - I reckon you'd need to be living in a  shoebox to be able to actually heat, light, cook and have hot water for the level they say!  

Scot_39

I can re the median / medium tdcv but only by heating a modern DG 2 bed minimally and layering up in winter.

I couldn't do that when my ex lived here.

When the recent link was up - with a compare the market postcode search link my next door neighbours were using near twice the median 4200 at C7500-8000+ kWh.

The OP is above the 4200kWh median / medium in a one bed.

DullGreyGuy

pricedout_1 said:

In the price grid in the Ofgem "Typical Use" grid below there are 3 price columns... gas, elec, and elec (multi-rate)...

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/average-gas-and-electricity-use-explained

Millions of people are on electricity only...Ofgem know this (Economy 7 in my case.)

However, they don't explain the difference between the elec, and elec (multi-rate) columns and just leave people in the dark  in the dark.

My E7 bill with EDF is around 5600 KWH per year for a 1 bed. (Just me without excessive appliances so low usage)...2200KWH according to Ofgem!!??

Am I missing something or is there a problem with my boiler maybe being overheated constantly or something like that? (The hot water in this flat is like instantly super heated so I'm thinking that might be a problem)

The table is as clear as mud... clearly the final column cannot be total energy consumption as no way would 400KW of electricity make up for the loss of 7,500 KW of gas. I suspect the middle column applies to everyone and you either add on the gas or the multi-rate electricity depending on if you are dual fuel or not. So that would make it an average of 4,000 KW which is still a third less than your usage but better than double. 

Useage is exceptionally variable though depending on your property's insulation, how warm you like it etc. If you use your storage heating all the time, using top up of both heating and water frequently etc then you can easily add a few thousand more onto the figure

Scot_39

There is no 7500 vs 400 etc real comparison to be made -  they are essentially statistics based on  different properties with different needs.

A common misconception linking 2 different data sets - leading to comparison of the two caused by how frequently Ofgem tabulate together. Putting them on the same line in one table leads to misconceptions.

It makes people associate the two as equivalent - the only real link being the data on the rows is thry are the statistical  quartiles for those columns individual data sets.  
But key to remember -  from largely independent data sets.  From different  homes in simplest terms.


Ofgem do of course regularly announce in some cap press releases and industry info / website  pages and so some of the press - but only some - duly print the all electric or  economy 7 or rather more accurately profile class 2 meter  TDCV.

And its the 4200kWh medium / median figure - regional average c£1125 iirc  from that one column that is announced.

See for instance Apr letter

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2024-02/Default%20Tariff%20Cap%20Letter%20-%201%20April%202024%20.pdf



The data set - reading the Ofgem TDCV discussions - is full of potential pit falls.

Ofgem also clearly states rhe data set it uses has no property size, type or occupancy of property or critically for your comparison whether the metered fuel is itself used for main heating.

And in some cases for data presented whether it's even the only meter in a home.


It's difficult to imagine designing a worse data recording exercise in some respects.

And yet they see fit to set the tariff framework for instance, for a significant minority clearly different from rest - lije those reliant on expensive electric heating -  based on it.

macman

If you are on E7, then I suspect you have an immersion heater, not a boiler?
If it is too hot, turn it down on the tank 'stat (not less than 60C).