Can you spot the pattern here?
Storage heaters are costing a fortune
- Thread starter Keitai
- Start date
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The lady at Ebico said I used 152kw from Jan 18th to Feb 18th day rate
629kwh. For night rate
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If I understand all this correctly, and assuming that those figures relate to the same meter as that used for the bill you posted here, the situation appears to be as follows ...
17 March 2018: 66844 day 64834 night
17 Feb 2019: 68316 day 68358 night
If that's the case, then during that 11-month period you used 1472 units at day rate and 3542 at night rate. At the prices quoted in the bill (16.130 p/unit day, 6.130p/unit night), that equates to a total usage charge of £453.45 for that 11-month period - i.e. about £41.22 per month. Add to that the standing charge for 1 month (about 31 days at 24.77p/day) and VAT at 5%, and the total cost to you would be about £51.35 per month.
Your Direct Debit during that period therefore should have been about that figure (£51.35 per month), rather than £90, and I don't see how this all fits with the claim that your storage heaters were costing £100/month.
Just over £50 per month, total, sounds to me like a pretty reasonable fuel cost for an all-electric flat.
Kind Regards, John
Thanks for explaining.
Is it the fact that you are paying £90 per month direct debit which caused you to say it's costing you ~£100 for your small flat?
Could it therefore be that you are in fact a substantial amount in credit - this should be stated on your bill - and should ask for the DD to be reduced?
Could it therefore be that you are in fact a substantial amount in credit - this should be stated on your bill - and should ask for the DD to be reduced?
That's certainly a possibility. Another is that there was a substantial (debit) balance at the start of the 'billing year', and that the £90 DD has been designed to collect that as well as the current year's charges. If that were not the case, then it's hard to see how the DD could be so 'wrong' unless there has been a very considerable reduction in electricity usage as compared with the previous year (which would be used to estimate the current year's DD amount).
Kind Regards, John
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On other forums over the last year i have seen constant posts over and over from almost every provider that they want the DD put up even when people are between £100-£500 in Credit! They all seem to need money in the bank to keep afloat even more so from the smaller companies but not excluding the big 6.
I can only speak for my current supplier (E.ON) but, in terms of them ...
(a) at the end of each billing year, they seem to automatically refund any credit balance over £50, so one cannot start a year with more than £50 credit balance.
(b) whatever they do to the DD amount, I can decrease it by up to about 20% (and increase it by up to about 40%!) on-line if I wish.
(c) for monthly billing, the DD amount set at the start of a year will take into account anticipated increases in electricity prices during the coming year (not far off 30% increase this year in the case of E.ON!) - so might initially appear to be excessive.
Kind Regards, John
Recently asked my current supplier (Avro) why there were no statements online for my account.
Apparently it's because they don't believe that I'm telling the truth when I've submitted readings.
Apparently it's because they don't believe that I'm telling the truth when I've submitted readings.
Hmmm. If, for whatever reason, they don't believe a customer's readings, they should surely send a meter reader to determine the truth?
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For a well insulated all electric flat off peak is likely best option, however with it not being used during the day, if not well insulated likely a instant heater would work out better.
I have seen efficiency worked out at "time room used"/"time room heated"x"100" % so if room used for 2 hours and to get it warm heating has to be one 1/2 hour before then 2/2½x100=80% efficient. This is not really correct as it depends on how much of the heat is lost before next use, if flat would be without heating 10°C and you want 20°C and the next time the flat is used it has only cooled to 15°C clearly not all the heat was lost so it would be more like 90% efficient.
The efficiency rating if they measured temperature of building and outside temperature turned off heating and measured how quickly it cooled would be a real help, however walking around with a tick box, it rather pointless, and with an all electric flat tungsten light bulbs could reduce the usage as you could set the storage heaters lower and use the inferred heat from the bulbs to make it feel warmer in the evening.
In my house when front door was changed and we could see the cavity, we realised it had not filled there were just a few posts between inner and outer skins where the insulation bridged the two walls. But all the inspector does is check for tell tail holes, so energy rating survey will not pick up on poorly installed cavity wall or failed double glazed units. Of even poorly fitting doors. You may detect a damp wall where due to being cold it has condensation on it, but never saw the guy who did energy rating testing for damp.
I have seen efficiency worked out at "time room used"/"time room heated"x"100" % so if room used for 2 hours and to get it warm heating has to be one 1/2 hour before then 2/2½x100=80% efficient. This is not really correct as it depends on how much of the heat is lost before next use, if flat would be without heating 10°C and you want 20°C and the next time the flat is used it has only cooled to 15°C clearly not all the heat was lost so it would be more like 90% efficient.
The efficiency rating if they measured temperature of building and outside temperature turned off heating and measured how quickly it cooled would be a real help, however walking around with a tick box, it rather pointless, and with an all electric flat tungsten light bulbs could reduce the usage as you could set the storage heaters lower and use the inferred heat from the bulbs to make it feel warmer in the evening.
In my house when front door was changed and we could see the cavity, we realised it had not filled there were just a few posts between inner and outer skins where the insulation bridged the two walls. But all the inspector does is check for tell tail holes, so energy rating survey will not pick up on poorly installed cavity wall or failed double glazed units. Of even poorly fitting doors. You may detect a damp wall where due to being cold it has condensation on it, but never saw the guy who did energy rating testing for damp.
Conceivably, but I doubt it. I think that you are probably overlooking the fact that the OP's day-rate electricity is almost three times more expensive than night rate ...
... using his figures, over an 11-month period, he used 3542 night-time units, at a cost of £217-12 - which is an average of 65p per day. At the day-time rate he's paying, that would equate to an average of almost exactly 4 kWh per day. In other words, for what he's currently paying for night-time storage heater heating, he would only get an average of 2 hours per day for day-time use of a 2kW 'instant heater'.
Kind Regards, John
Not if their reason is to continually over-estimate and therefore bump up the DD.
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