Energy bill help?

douknowdawae · 27 January 2018 at 10:57PM

I live in a 2 bed flat and the final bill of edf says that the usage of energy is at 616 kWh for 26 days totalling up to £114. A little bit stumped here as 10 of those days which the bill period (9th - 4th) was done I wasn't in the property. The only thing that was left running was electric central heating which needs to be left on when the property is empty more than a week. It was set to 21 degrees C to go on 3 times a day. All appliances were switched off and unplugged at the plug, no lights were left on. Does 615kWh for that amount of time seem really steep considering I wasn't even there for 10 of those days, essentially meaning for 16 days 616kWh was used. Surely this isn't right? I couldn't check my meter either as I was away so wasn't able to give meter readings but my new electricity provider has only charged me £23.07 for this month and that's with the heating still on the same setting? :huh: Also correct me if I'm wrong the 615kWh figure but my meter was 9904 when I moved in and 10520 for the bill period. Are meters already in kwh? First time renter so completely useless :A Either way, if I calculated it wrong the huge bill is still incorrect I know for a fact. Can I still read my meter now as it's totally past the date?

daveyjp · 27 January 2018 at 11:35PM

You weren’t in, but the heating was on.

21 degrees is high for an empty property, electric heating is expensive. 23 units a day isn’t excessive with such a set up.

douknowdawae · 28 January 2018 at 12:05AM

I was thinking that

that is the only thing that could make it soar so high.

Hoof_Hearted · 28 January 2018 at 12:45AM

I presume the heating has to be left on for frost protection. 15 would have been plenty.

douknowdawae · 28 January 2018 at 4:15AM

yes it was for frost protection, as a first time renter I was clueless tbh, we set it on the factory program because the central heating monitor is very complicated and we still haven't figured it out. I guess that's where our huge bill has come from. Kinda !!!!ed tbh since the estate agent said to us the flat was very heat efficient and so were the radiators and we then got the energy certificate and the heaters and insulation have 1 star. Oh well. Thanks for the input guys.

matelodave · 28 January 2018 at 10:39AM

If you only need the heating on for frost protection, turn it down to 5 degrees - you certainly dont need it at 21 degrees.

System · 28 January 2018 at 11:33AM

New energy consumers can become confused about monthly DD payments, annual cost and charges. Think of a DD payment as money that goes into a piggy bank each month from which actual charges for energy consumed are deducted. In an ideal World, we would all know with 100% accuracy that we will consume a given amount of electricity (kWhs) per year. If that was the case, it would be a simple sum to work out the Annual Cost and divide this into 12 equal payments (the monthly DD amount).

Sadly, this isn't the case. Usage varies around the average each year and, more importantly, we tend to use about 70% of our annual consumption in the 5 winter months (assuming electricity used for heating). It doesn't follow that just because Supplier A tells you that it will be £23 per month and Supplier B says £26, that Supplier B is more expensive. The suppliers MAY be using different annual projections unless YOU have given them an estimated annual consumption in kWhs.

How much heat to leave on when you are Away? Now there is a question that will generate as many different views as posts. My Honeywell thermostat has an Away setting; it defaults to 15C which is pretty standard across the heating control sector. If I leave home with the heating turned off, the thermostat will also turn on heat whenever the temperature falls below 5C (frost protection). This is also the case with the boiler. Only you can decide what to set when you are away for a protracted period of time.

douknowdawae · 28 January 2018 at 10:42PM

lesson learnt :doh:

Bigphil1474 · 29 January 2018 at 1:42PM

OP, electric meter unit is kwh - the 616 kwh is from when you moved in until the end of the bill, based on the readings you provided. Did you give your new supplier a meter reading when you switched? and presumably you took a reading when you moved in? The end reading EDF used should be pretty much the same as the start reading of the new supplier. You might have a slight variance but I don't think they bother unless it's way out. BTW, I only have my heating on about 19C when I'm in - 21 is high.

douknowdawae · 29 January 2018 at 4:49PM

Bigphil thanks for that, I figured that 21 is a bit high. However the program set while we were away was 21 for two hours twice a day, for 2 hours. Do you think this would still be very costly?

matelodave · 29 January 2018 at 5:17PM

What sort of heating have you got - it sounds like electric.

Has it got a boiler with ordinary radiators or what. How about your hot water, how is that heated. have you got a big hot water tank.

Have a look and see what make it is and the model number. It might even have a rating plate in kw.

depending on the sort of insulation you've got and how cold it is, trying to blast the place up to 21 degrees for two hours twice a day could easily use 30-40kwh a day at this time of year

You really need to start reading the meter regularly (at least weekly) and keeping your own records. It's too late to do much about it when the bill comes in because you've already used it.

You should send meter readings to your supplier at least once a month and then check your bills & stsements to make sure that they are using the correct readings. If not get then sorted out. Do not accept estimated bills

By monitoring it yourself you will understand how to control it because you'll know what uses it all and when. You'll also keep on top of the costs.

Energy bill help?

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