Smart Meter - Electricity use and showers

Recently had a smart meter installed to keep an eye on our electric and gas usage, and noticed how much certain things cost to use which i hadn't considered before.
I have it set up to show us how much in pence per hour is being used.

General costs like the TV and sky box are very low use, and it does go up when using the oven or kettle.
But... when our shower is on it shoots up to around £1.50 per hour... :eek:

Both me and my husband enjoy having a long shower, so we're trying to find a way to reduce our electricity consumption without having to forgo comfort.

We have a few options, and opinions on this would be great.

We could get a lower powered electric shower... but i worry that the water flow would be weak in comparison, and the cost saving would not be worth it (e.g go from a 9KWH to 8KWH)

We have a very old valliant combi boiler which has been marked as 'super inefficient' but we could potentially run a shower from the bath taps instead. When running the central heating our boiler uses 20p p/h electricity and 60p p/h gas. I guess it would work out more cost effective to run a shower from that, or do i run the risk of bringing our 30 year old boiler to it's deathbed earlier than needed?

I have only ever had an electric shower, so i'm not sure on the pros and cons of either option, or if there is anything else i am missing/could do to help.

:money:
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Comments

  • martinsurrey
    martinsurrey Posts: 3,368 Forumite
    I would be using the boiler.

    Gas is around 1/3 of the price of electricity for heating water.

    As long as you can afford to replace the boiler when it packs in (which will then save you more cash in the long term).

    If you can afford it, replacing an old boiler now will save you a lot going forward. The difference between a 50% efficient old boiler and a 90% modern condenser will save you a fortune.

    Without lots of energy usage numbers I cant say if I think its better to replace asap or wait for it to die.
  • Ganga
    Ganga Posts: 4,102
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    share the shower,will reduce the cost by 50%
    ITS NOT EASY TO GET EVERYTHING WRONG ,I HAVE TO WORK HARD TO DO IT!
  • ST1991 wrote: »
    General costs like the TV and sky box are very low use, and it does go up when using the oven or kettle.
    But... when our shower is on it shoots up to around £1.50 per hour... :eek:
    Yes, but appliances like the TV (and more importantly the fridge/freezer) are on for hours, the kettle and the shower are only on for minutes. Remember it's energy you pay for, not power!
    When running the central heating our boiler uses 20p p/h electricity

    WHAT!!!!! That's about 1400W! My boiler uses 29W at full load, and 6W average. My guess from that figure is that you've left something else on in the house as well as the boiler.
  • Aylesbury_Duck
    Aylesbury_Duck Posts: 13,877
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    Ganga wrote: »
    share the shower,will reduce the cost by 50%
    I think they already do :)

    "Both me and my husband enjoy having a long shower"

    I bet you do, you saucy pair...
  • Carrot007
    Carrot007 Posts: 4,534
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    Unsurprising result is unsurprising?

    Love a shower myself and my last house was an electric one. (Bad choice given I was doing a complete re-fit, but you live, you learn!)

    Current one is off the combi. My electric costs are well down! (combined cost of £90 p/m when it was £140 in old place, yes I know I have high use, but costs have gone up too so consider how much less i use now!)
  • coffeehound
    coffeehound Posts: 5,649
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    ST1991 wrote: »
    We could get a lower powered electric shower... but i worry that the water flow would be weak in comparison, and the cost saving would not be worth it (e.g go from a 9KWH to 8KWH)

    Have you tried using the shower on its lower power setting(s)?

    The 8.5 kW one here is fine for me on half power during these warmer months. But it does depend on how warm/cold your incoming water is, which is something that varies from place to place. I moved a quarter of a mile to a new place once and the mains water was noticeably colder.
  • Strider590
    Strider590 Posts: 11,874 Forumite
    Whatever you do it's going to cost pretty much the same........ When it comes to a shower for example, the energy required to keep the water at the same temperature at the same flow will be absolutely identical no matter whether you use gas or electricity.
    Except of course the cost of conversion will far exceed any imagined savings.

    Gas costs less, but it's relatively inefficient.

    Electricity costs more, but electric heating is 99%+ efficient, as in almost all the energy put in is converted to heat.

    This is what people don't quite grasp when it comes to saving money on heating bills, using an electric heater in 1 or 2 commonly used rooms, is massively cheaper than heating the whole house on gas, BUT we've had it beaten into us over the years that electricity is really costly.
    “I may not agree with you, but I will defend to the death your right to make an a** of yourself.”

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  • EssexExile
    EssexExile Posts: 6,110
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    Strider590 wrote: »

    This is what people don't quite grasp when it comes to saving money on heating bills, using an electric heater in 1 or 2 commonly used rooms, is massively cheaper than heating the whole house on gas, BUT we've had it beaten into us over the years that electricity is really costly.
    What about if you compare heating 1 or 2 commonly used rooms with gas or electricity? Or compare heating the whole house with gas or electricity?
    Comparing one scenario using one fuel with a different scenario using another fuel doesn't help.
    Tall, dark & handsome. Well two out of three ain't bad.
  • Strider590 wrote: »
    This is what people don't quite grasp when it comes to saving money on heating bills, using an electric heater in 1 or 2 commonly used rooms, is massively cheaper than heating the whole house on gas, BUT we've had it beaten into us over the years that electricity is really costly.

    Not by a long chalk. My electricity costs 3.64 times the price of the gas, taking boiler efficiency of 90% into account, the gas is still 3.28 times cheaper. I can heat the whole house by GCH for about the same price as heating one room by electric.
  • Grenage
    Grenage Posts: 2,897
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    Aye, unless your house has the insulation value of a packet of crisps, it could easily cost the same (or less) heating the whole house with GSH vs 1 room with electric.
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