Storage Heaters

Philis89

Morning all. 
So it's been a week since I moved into temporary housing from the council. It's a studio with separate kitchen and bathroom (in a small block of flats) which I share with my 1 year old. It is all electric and its with Utilita.
Upon sign up, I was told I was to pay a heating charge of £20.40 as it had underfloor heating. When I moved in, the flat was freezing so an engineer came out and he told me that the underfloor heating had been condemned and one storage heater (old style) had been put in its place and thats what I pay my heating charge for. He turned it on and left. I turned it off after an hour or so as I believe this is what ate into my electric. I've been in this flat a week and it's already cost me £60 in electric alone, I just don't have that money to spend. I have since been using an electric heater to heat the room as my baby is cold. 
a) do you think it's the electric heater that's been eating my electric
b) I don't believe through storage heater is connected to the council as the plug is in my flat and it's on the fuse box
c) Ive even turned the emerson switch off as apparently this eats electric too. 
Any advice would be appreciated 

FrugaiMacDugal

The idea of a  storage heater is that it stores up heat overnight, on a cheaper rate, and lets it out during the day.

If yours is charging during the day then it will be at the dearer rate.

Have a look at your meter, there will be a light flashing, count the number of flashes per minute, switch on the storage heater and count again, that'll tell you if heater charging through your meter.

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

Philis89 said:

Upon sign up, I was told I was to pay a heating charge of £20.40 as it had underfloor heating. 

You need to find out exactly what your £20.40 was payment for. Who did you pay it to? Did they give you a receipt? Did they say there would be future payments or was this a one-off?

Philis89 said:

... he told me that the underfloor heating had been condemned and one storage heater (old style) had been put in its place and thats what I pay my heating charge for. He turned it on and left. I turned it off after an hour or so as I believe this is what ate into my electric.

Storage heaters need an electricity tariff that has peak (expensive) and off-peak (cheap) rates. They're meant to heat up on the cheap rate (usually overnight) then let the heat out again when you need it.

Can you share a photo of the heater? Is it marked with the make and model?

One hour's use isn't going to make a huge difference to your electricity bill.

What are the details of your Utilita tariff - the tariff name, and the rates that apply? Is it a prepayment tariff or a credit tariff? I'd guess prepayment but can you confirm?

Philis89 said:

I've been in this flat a week and it's already cost me £60 in electric alone, I just don't have that money to spend.

Thsat's quite a lot, considering the winter hasn't been especially cold yet. Once you share the tariff details we can comment more meaningfully.

Philis89 said:

I have since been using an electric heater to heat the room as my baby is cold.

I can appreciate the wish to keep your baby warm. Again, can you tell us the make and model of this heater? What controls does it have?

Philis89 said:

a) do you think it's the electric heater that's been eating my electric

Possibly. If you run a one kilowatt heater for twelve hours, on a standard tariff, it will use about £3-worth of electricity. Do that every day of the week and that's about half of your electricity costs already.

But that's just a guess until we know more about your heater and your tariff.

Philis89 said:
b) I don't believe through storage heater is connected to the council as the plug is in my flat and it's on the fuse box

It would be normal for a storage heater to be connected to your fusebox, and for you to pay for the electricity it uses. This is why I've asked who you paid the £20.40 to, and what it was meant to be payment for.

Can you share a photo of the fusebox too?

Philis89 said:

c) Ive even turned the emerson switch off as apparently this eats electric too. 

How are you providing hot water in your flat?

The hot water tank should be well insulated, and if your flat is set up for storage heaters with the correct tariff the immersion heater should also be using the cheap off-peak electricity.

If your flat isn't set up right, the immersion heater will cost more but it's still a reasonable way of providing hot water.

Philis89

Thank you for the comments. I'm to pay the council the heating charge every week. 


This is my tarrif 

Philis89

I was told the far 3 fuses belong to the council (what i pay my heating charge for) and the rest comes off my own electric 

QrizB

Ok, if the three on the right of your photo (two red "main switch" and one MCB "storage heater") are connected to a supply that's paid by the council, it looks like you shouldn't be charged anything extra for use of the storage heater.

Your storage heater is an an old "box of bricks" model. It will take several hours to get hot and might not heat up at all until the middle of the might. Once it gets hot you can adjust the output knob to control the temperature. Switch it on, turn the input knob to max and let it heat up.

Your electricity tariff is Utilita's standard prepayment tariff. There's no standing charge but the first two units each day are more expensive.

All things considered, if the storage heater will keep your flat warm and is only costing £20 a week you should be using it rather than your plugin electric heater.

EssexHebridean

It sounds like the first thing the OP needs to do is to set the storage heater up correctly  - so the input dial, at this stage of the year, I'd set around two thirds of the way round the dial, and the output one needs to be dialled right back round to the "closed" position as this is what operates the "baffle" inside that stops the heat all escaping during the early part of the day. (If you operate that dial in a smooth movement al the way round and then straight back, you may be able to her a metallic sound as the baffle closes, then opens again.) Turn the heater on at the wall switch during the day - hopefully this is a hard wired switch with an LED indicator which shows whether the circuit is live or not. I'd normally say "check the meter" to see if it is showing any activity, but in this case, with the possibility that the circuit is connected to a central meter elsewhere, this is going to be less helpful I suspect. 

Do you have a smart meter, and if so, does your supplier's app give you access to daily readings, ideally half hourly ones? That might help you to make sure that the cost of the storage heater taking charge isn't going to be charged to your electric account. 

QrizB

@Scot_39 OP has shared photos and has answered several of your questions already.

It's definitely an older Dimplex storage heater. They are on the no-standing-charge standard-rate Utilita electricity tariff.

Xbigman

In your first post you mention under floor heating. Where does that fit into the picture? Is that what you are paying extra for? And if its broken why is no one fixing it?

I think you first step is to talk to the council and find out exactly what you are paying for. Be prepared to open a complaint about the broken heating and get someone to sort this out. 
Also have a chat with your neighbours, they might be helpful.



Darren

EssexHebridean

Xbigman said:

In your first post you mention under floor heating. Where does that fit into the picture? Is that what you are paying extra for? And if its broken why is no one fixing it?

I think you first step is to talk to the council and find out exactly what you are paying for. Be prepared to open a complaint about the broken heating and get someone to sort this out. 
Also have a chat with your neighbours, they might be helpful.



Darren

The OP has already posted this:

Philis89 said:

Morning all. 
So it's been a week since I moved into temporary housing from the council. It's a studio with separate kitchen and bathroom (in a small block of flats) which I share with my 1 year old. It is all electric and its with Utilita.
Upon sign up, I was told I was to pay a heating charge of £20.40 as it had underfloor heating. When I moved in, the flat was freezing so an engineer came out and he told me that the underfloor heating had been condemned and one storage heater (old style) had been put in its place and thats what I pay my heating charge for. He turned it on and left. I turned it off after an hour or so as I believe this is what ate into my electric. I've been in this flat a week and it's already cost me £60 in electric alone, I just don't have that money to spend. I have since been using an electric heater to heat the room as my baby is cold. 
a) do you think it's the electric heater that's been eating my electric
b) I don't believe through storage heater is connected to the council as the plug is in my flat and it's on the fuse box
c) Ive even turned the emerson switch off as apparently this eats electric too. 
Any advice would be appreciated 

It sounds like it is beyond "fixing" and the Storage Heater is the replacement.

debitcardmayhem

Is the storage heater on a separate meter ? I would hope so and therefore using a standalone heater is dupicating the £20+ heating charge, and she needs to just use the NSH properly