Electricity costs really high

char115

I moved into a new build 1 bedroomed council property in September.  The property only has electric and electric heaters.  I have noticed that I am paying much more electric than my previous property (gas and electric) which was a 2 bed maisonette.  I am tracking my usage using pen and paper.  I have put £60.00 on my electric meter (I have a pre-payment meter) over the last 3 days.  I would have spent this for a month on my previous property.  I am looking for advice on what to do.   

GingerTim

Unfortunately on-demand electric heating/hot water is just about the most expensive form there is.

What electricity tariff are you on? Do you have storage heaters?

EssexHebridean

Yes - Tim’s summed it up really. 

When you moved in did you contact the supplier and set up your own account for thr electric? If not there is a chance you could be paying off someone else’s debt which certainly wouldn’t be helping things. 

What make and model are the heaters? 

Do you know if your electricity is on a single rate tariff or are you on Economy 7 (where you have different peak and off peak rates)?
Who is your supplier?
How much are you currently paying per unit of electricity?

HampshireH

It's also the coldest week of the year so far. It's naturally going to cost more to heat 

Make sure you have got some nice thick curtains against your windows/door to help.

Are you using panel heaters where you turn them on and off or storage heaters or air source heat pump with radiators installed? Also make sure your inmersion isn't switched on all day 

EssexHebridean

In fairness there’s a bit of a gulf between “it will cost more to heat in this weather” and the OP’s suggestion of £20 a day!  Allowing for the low temps I’d say £10 a day could well be expected even using storage heaters though. 

Chrysalis

EssexHebridean said:

Yes - Tim’s summed it up really. 

When you moved in did you contact the supplier and set up your own account for thr electric? If not there is a chance you could be paying off someone else’s debt which certainly wouldn’t be helping things. 

What make and model are the heaters? 

Do you know if your electricity is on a single rate tariff or are you on Economy 7 (where you have different peak and off peak rates)?
Who is your supplier?
How much are you currently paying per unit of electricity?

You beat me to it, deffo contact the supplier.
My new neighbour told me it was sucking up some money, and it immediately clicked in my head, so told her, she managed to get it solved.

knightstyle

Plus don't forget that you only pay for the heat that is escaping from your house!  A perfectly insulated house needs no heating after reaching the required temperature.
So look around and see if there are cold spots/draughts near windows, doors etc.

Northern_Wanderer

knightstyle said:

Plus don't forget that you only pay for the heat that is escaping from your house!  A perfectly insulated house needs no heating after reaching the required temperature.
So look around and see if there are cold spots/draughts near windows, doors etc.

OP says this is a new build so there should not be draughts?

MattMattMattUK

Northern_Wanderer said:

knightstyle said:

Plus don't forget that you only pay for the heat that is escaping from your house!  A perfectly insulated house needs no heating after reaching the required temperature.
So look around and see if there are cold spots/draughts near windows, doors etc.

OP says this is a new build so there should not be draughts?

There should not be, the regulations say there should not be, the pressure test will say there is not, but in the real world there will almost certainly be a whole bunch of snagging issues that means heat is getting out. Incorrectly adjusted windows and doors are usually the start of it, loads of new builds actually fail insulation tests if one uses a thermal camera because insulation is fitted incorrectly. 

Our building regulations are far to lax in the first place and the enforcement of many of them is almost non-existent. 

Scot_39

char115 said:

I moved into a new build 1 bedroomed council property in September.  The property only has electric and electric heaters.  I have noticed that I am paying much more electric than my previous property (gas and electric) which was a 2 bed maisonette.  I am tracking my usage using pen and paper.  I have put £60.00 on my electric meter (I have a pre-payment meter) over the last 3 days.  I would have spent this for a month on my previous property.  I am looking for advice on what to do.   

Winter bills like that dominated by heating type and tariff type you pay to use them.

The bad news is electric heating is expensive as rule (*) - unless using heat pump or reverse cycle air con equivalent - and it's unlikely any council has fitted those widely.

The good news is prepay is on average the cheapest payment method (lowest Ofgem cap at tdcv anyway) for electric currently.


1) We need to know more - £ totals not a big help

What sort of tariff is your prepay meter on  - single rate or multirate say economy 7 ?

Have you checked for better rates at other suplliers to suit your heating use  ?

After 4 months suspect it's not inherited debt issue on old key  etc or emergency claw back etc.

What sort of space heating and water heating do you have ?

What sort of temperatures are you heating the home and over how many hours - in each of tge rooms - say day and night if different ?

Are you using a lot of hot water cf many - say a daily full bath or long shower rather than a quick shower ?


2) Don't get dismayed by recent costs.

The last three days have been exceptionally cold across many parts of uk.  Here in compared to further north milder midlands its been barely above zero daytime and -7 overnight over last 2 / 3 days at times.

Despite only heating my small 2 bed mid DG terrace modestly to 15/16 living room 13/14 elsewhere - been over £7 a day and using double my normal winters monthly average daily kWh energy to do so.  I now wear light thermals at those temperatures to save on winter heating.  £10 plus would probably be more normal if kept it warmer  - i used to pre crisis  - and used to use 100s kWh more energy in winter months.

3 )Your recent £60Price 

£20 per day  - that's a lot  but not impossible - around 75 kWh at average rate of 25p.  On e7 with a bias to heating even more  energy.  That would probably be a mix of say max 5kWh electric and 70 gas in a dual fuel home for heating, hw and oven hob. And cost more like £8  allowing for some gad boiler and hob inefficiencies.

Can you see the daily power use on a prepay.  How many kWh were you using ?

Day and night if econmy 7.

Is meter smart - can you see 1/2 hrly data on supllier account portal on line or download say bright, loop etc to see when heavy power being used  ?

Take out say- 5kWh base, 5kWh hw - about 3kW power from all your heaters combined on ave over 24 hours.  But if using daytime power at an econmy 7 peak rate c30p - just over 2kW average.

2-3kW that's in reality 1 - 2 small panel or plug in covection, fan or oil filled radiators on permanently - but more likely 2-3 giving likely be cutting in out on thermostats.

Ramp up those temps and the bills ramp up even more as increases home losses too. 

4) Its important to control heating if you can.

Some heat the person techniques if your health and age allows it might help you - to reduce your bills.  But the priority should always be your health needs.  

I use cheap - £10-£12 a set - light thermals to layer up under normal clothing to buy me a couple of degrees off of room temps and so save on heating, others use plain or these days heated throws when on couch and electric blankets in bed etc when not active.


5) Gas vs Electric Bill Shock 

(*) Moving from gas to electric with conventional heating can be a real price shock for many. Simply due to unit rates.

Your heating could be 2-2.5x the price of gas per kWh if using a decent economy 7 off peak rate and storage heating - so hot water cylinder and night storage heaters.
And you tgen pay a day time premium on everything else - so I always think I terms of my average price not the low rate.

And the cheapest night rates comes with more expensive day rates - more like 5x or more price of gas - so not cheap.  The worst option - cost wise for heating -  if end up using standard plug in or panel heaters - radiator or convection panels for vast majority of power demand in winter during the typically all day 17 hrs of peak rate.

Single rate electric is around 4x the price of gas - less than peak rate on most economy 7 type deals - but still very expensive if using daytime plug in or panel heaters cf gas.

The only other saving grace is not having to pay the £120 gas standing charge. And if owned the annual boiler service cost - but in reality even if rent inevitably that gets built into rent.

char115

Thank you all for your comments.  There is a lot to think about. 

•  I have to contact Utilia to see if I am on Economy 7. They are not the best to get hold of on the phone.
•  I was 1st tenant here, moved in as soon as it was finished. 
•   Still need to get curtains. 
•  Building has 2 security doors to get in.  1 has been out of order for the last 2 months so the cold is coming into flat (I am on the ground floor).  
• I have no idea about kw. so I need it explained to me.