Electric only £400+ monthly bills

Helpmemybillsaresohigh

born_again said:

You mention E7, are you still on that tariff?
Who is your supplier, as many have schemes to help people in this situation.

 4 electric radiators, are these storage heaters, or just plain electric radiators. Which are around the most expensive means of heating a home. Especially if you are still on E7 so paying a higher daily rate.

You could try heated throws to keep warm, cheaper to run.

Currently still on an E7 tariff, which will be changed as last week they fitted a single rate meter. We removed the old storage heaters as they weren't working and replaced by Rionte electric heaters. Got the heated throws on the go. 

Helpmemybillsaresohigh

Reed_Richards said:

If you are on an Economy 7 tariff (or similar), you have storage heaters, and your storage heaters are timed so that they charge up during the cheap night rate, then switching to oil (or a heat pump) is unlikely to save you a lot of money.  But if you are heating your property with electricity charged at the day rate then your bills will be much higher than they could be.   

I think this is probably the big issue, we no longer have storage heaters, removed a few years back for Rionte electric rads, were falsely sold the old "more economical" story and fell for it. Notified energy company and told difference between tariffs would only save a few pound at the time.

Helpmemybillsaresohigh

RelievedSheff said:

What unit rates are you paying for your electric?

RelievedSheff said:

What unit rates are you paying for your electric?

31.2 day
13.5 night 

61.57 standing charge

Helpmemybillsaresohigh

EssexHebridean said:

Make and model of those "electric radiators" please - that's the surest way of being able to confirm what they are, and then fid out if they are being used to best effect.

Also as already asked - who is your supplier and what is the exact name of your tariff?

Rointe series k radiators. Worked well until the led display broke on all of them so can't set a timer/ heat itenary.

Flexible Octopus 

Helpmemybillsaresohigh

A great read, thank you.

The Temperature issue is obviously an issue with partner and child's circulation problem and often results in blue or white feet and hands. I try to get that temperature down often but they feel it very quickly.

Our council just push me back in the direction of the eco4 suppliers.

I'm currently using 17000kwh per year split 12 day and 5 night, roughly. The immersion heater only used for hand basins/sink and we all use the electric shower. We find this to be expensive, the new smart meter goes red as soon as this goes on.

Currently paying 31.24 day and 13.5 night with a SC of 61.57 although I have been given a 6 month SC holiday.

Haven't been able to change to single rate tariff yet, details still showing up as me having an E7 meter but contacted customer support again today to update. This should save a small amount.

Electric company have said if new readings are more then past readings they will compensate for previous overpayments, as yet the change is marginal.

Uses during winter previously has been 50 kwh a day and summer closer to 30, still seems so high even with all radiators etc off

Helpmemybillsaresohigh

EssexHebridean said:

With Reynauds in the picture we probably need to focus on making more of the OP's energy use at their current temperatures as even a single degree can make an enormous difference, and additional layers only go so far, sadly. 

Yes I agree, only so far I can put the temperature down before it starts affecting them. 

Spoonie_Turtle

Helpmemybillsaresohigh said:

I'm currently using 17000kwh per year split 12 day and 5 night, roughly. The immersion heater only used for hand basins/sink and we all use the electric shower. We find this to be expensive, the new smart meter goes red as soon as this goes on.

That'll account for a fair chunk of usage, how much so depends on how long the showers are.  (And I completely understand medical issues with cold alone potentially leading to longer showers; before we had central heating it would take me several minutes to actually warm up in the shower and then it was extremely difficult to get back out into a cold room at the end of the shower!)

As the weather warms up it'll be worth looking to see if any of the smart tariffs (such as Agile) may suit, to at least save some money in the summer even if you go back onto the flat rate in winter.  [Agile prices are definitely not recommended right now though!]

QrizB

Helpmemybillsaresohigh said:

EssexHebridean said:

Make and model of those "electric radiators" please - that's the surest way of being able to confirm what they are, and then fid out if they are being used to best effect.

Also as already asked - who is your supplier and what is the exact name of your tariff?

Rointe series k radiators. Worked well until the led display broke on all of them so can't set a timer/ heat itenary.

Running direct electric radiators on E7 is pretty much the most expensive way to heat a home, short of running a multi fuel stove on used fivers.

There's a link in my signature that illustrates how, for a typical tariff, it's at least twice as expensive as E7 with storage heaters.

Edit: link is here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78557202/#Comment_78557202

I've not updated it for a year, but in Jan 2024 it was potentially ~£1600 for storage heaters vs. ~£3600 for daytime E7. Second edit: I have just added details for the January 2025 price cap period.

Based on the tariff you quoted above, 10MWh of heat would cost £1350 with E7 storage heaters or £3150 on daytime direct electric heat.

The best (and cheapest) thing you can do is get a heat pump on ECO4. The next best thing is put storage heaters back in, but that'll cost you a few thousand.

Reed_Richards

I think it is very unlikely that a heat pump would not meet your needs; perhaps another bit of misinformation you were given?  It should be very much cheaper to run than what you have at present and you might be able to get one installed under the Eco4 scheme.

Helpmemybillsaresohigh

Reed_Richards said:

I think it is very unlikely that a heat pump would not meet your needs; perhaps another bit of misinformation you were given?  It should be very much cheaper to run than what you have at present and you might be able to get one installed under the Eco4 scheme.

It was two separate engineers who come round after the initial assessments, from different companies, both said they'd never have one in their own house, it would struggle to heat above 18°, plus they wanted to fit it right outside my autistic daughters bedroom window who has sensory issues. 

I know beggars can't be choosers but at the same time I couldn't afford to remove and replace a heat pump if it turned out to be crap, our neighbours a few house down had there's removed due to problems with it every other day, got to a point were I thought there family member was working for the company as the van was there so much.