New house no gas extortionate bills

my_rainbow_life

Hi all
I moved to a new house in a small village with no gas last April. I had no idea that electricity would be so expensive to heat a house. I have just had my monthly bill- £419! I have the heating on upstairs twice a day for an hour and downstairs from 4-9pm. This still seems so expensive! Its a small 3 bed house. I have a heated towel rail and a few things on standby when they aren't being used but I have always done that and never had bills this high! 
Can anyone give me any adivce on how to get the bills down or how they manage with electric radiators? Each radiator has to be programmed independently. Thanks so much 

FrugaiMacDugal

Ok, what heating have you got, storage heaters (E7) or direct heating/panel heaters?

FrugaiMacDugal

Oh, is your bill actual readings or estimated?

QrizB

FrugaiMacDugal said:

Ok, what heating have you got, storage heaters (E7) or direct heating/panel heaters?

Yes, this will dictate the best approach to managing your bills.

Also, is your electricity being supplied on a single-rate tariff or do you have eg. Economy 7 with a cheap overnight period and expensive daytimes?

my_rainbow_life said:

I moved to a new house in a small village with no gas last April.

Rent or buy? Did you get an Energy Performance Certificate, EPC? What does it say regarding heating appliances and energy use?

my_rainbow_life said:

I had no idea that electricity would be so expensive to heat a house. I have just had my monthly bill - £419!

Electricity can be expensive, and this is the coldest part of the year. £100 a week on the SVT would be around 50-60kWh/day, which is well within the bounds of possibility for a 3-bed house.

my_rainbow_life said:

Can anyone give me any adivce on how to get the bills down or how they manage with electric radiators? Each radiator has to be programmed independently. Thanks so much 

As above, more details on the radiators will help us help you. Make? Model? Approximate age?

TroubledTarts

Sounds like individually programmable electric panel heaters so expensive. Every kwh will be up to 27p kwh depending on your region and likely to increase by 7% in April if you are on the price cap SVT tariff.

How new homes can come with this type of heating baffles me

Scot_39

my_rainbow_life said:

Hi all
I moved to a new house in a small village with no gas last April. I had no idea that electricity would be so expensive to heat a house. I have just had my monthly bill- £419! I have the heating on upstairs twice a day for an hour and downstairs from 4-9pm. This still seems so expensive! Its a small 3 bed house. I have a heated towel rail and a few things on standby when they aren't being used but I have always done that and never had bills this high! 
Can anyone give me any adivce on how to get the bills down or how they manage with electric radiators? Each radiator has to be programmed independently. Thanks so much 

Chances are you will be using a similar number of kWh - to a comparable gas home - its the rate thats the killer.

Single rate electricity is currently around 25p/ kWh

Gas currently around 6.3p/kWh

So electric - is roughly 4x the price of gas per raw unit - but a little bit less as tends to be more efficient at converting to actual heat - than some gas appliances (old boilers - especially those with permanent piolt lights), gas hobs etc.

Bill shock a common event for those moving from gas to electric.

A typical regions economy 7 at EDF is around

15p off peak - more like 2.5x gas

30p peak rate - more like 5x gas

But you cannot get that without paying the peak rate at other times - so I tend to look at my average unit rate for the comparison with gas.

As a regular user here @Gerry1 would say - daytime panels on economy 7 day rate the worst of both worlds.

Heating and year round hot water are both potentially quite significant bill components if look annually.

And this Jan - despite a low room temp dweller cf many  - perhaps perversely because I am - in percentage terms - I have used 25% more energy on heating than the milder here at any rate Jan 2024.  I heat sparingly - I have light thermals on right now - and so comfortable at 15-16C - but others that would be potentially damaging to health - if not life threatening - so it's not for everyone.

My heating costs more for my compact 2 bed mid terrace on electric - than it costs my sister on gas for an old far larger 3 bed semi - floor area nearly double.

So as above - tariff and what sort of heaters (sounds like normal radiators rather than storage)

There might be options - like LPG or oil - or perhaps an ASHP - only wet iirc gets grant - but air to air - or standalone through the wall reverse air conditioning units with a COP ratio advantage  - might be a viable long term investment.  Even if start with one in the downstairs livng area - at a COP of 3 could save 100s kWh monthly for a large open plan area

born_again

TroubledTarts said:

Sounds like individually programmable electric panel heaters so expensive. Every kwh will be up to 27p kwh depending on your region and likely to increase by 7% in April if you are on the price cap SVT tariff.

How new homes can come with this type of heating baffles me

Cheap & easy install 👍

TroubledTarts

born_again said:

TroubledTarts said:

Sounds like individually programmable electric panel heaters so expensive. Every kwh will be up to 27p kwh depending on your region and likely to increase by 7% in April if you are on the price cap SVT tariff.

How new homes can come with this type of heating baffles me

Cheap & easy install 👍

I know the why but I asked the how. How are new builds allowed to install the cheap and easy but expensive (for the occupier) heating rather than the efficient heat pump option.

More a need for some legislative change I suspect and buyer beware.

People really do buy blind without doing the proper research and probably conned by the sales patter.

Gerry1

Did you use a tame surveyor recommended by the vendor's agent?

Stubod

..as above really. If all electric you are better off with either modern storage heaters on economy 7, or an air source heat pump....definately not panel heaters!!

Brie

TroubledTarts said:

People really do buy blind without doing the proper research and probably conned by the sales patter.

People who have never owned a home, possibly always live with parents etc don't know what to ask about.  Yes they should do research but they need to know that research is required!!! 

I know that when I first moved from my parents' place I was surprised at the number of things I had to deal with - cleaning the bathroom, buying staples like dish soap and toothpaste.  Good thing I knew how to cook even if it was quite basic at that point.