Electric only flat

[Hapixmas]

I'm buying a flat which is electric only. Any tips on money saving?! I've never had to deal with electric heaters before!

[Mydogisagentleman]

We looked at replacing our gas hearing with electric. Currently we would save a lot on our energy bills, but it seemed wasteful as our system is less than 10 years old and I couldn’t stomach the disruption

[Hapixmas]

Ahh interesting. I always thought electric was more expensive?

[Starisnotanumber]

Is it storage heaters or underfloor heating.
If storage heaters check which tarif the electric is on. It may be worth using an economy 7 type package which is cheaper at night and more expensive during the day. The heaters get charged up overnight then radiate heat during the day
If its just you consider an electric throw around 50.00 or so from argos and electric blanket so heating can be lower.

[Mydogisagentleman]

We looked at gel filled radiators that just plug into the wall

[Thelnebriati]

Make sure you have economy 7, its not just for storage heaters. Its 2/3 of the price of the daytime rate.
You can run the washing machine and an electric blanket at night. I used to have an oil filled radiator that came on at 6am on a timer plug.

[NeedCoffeeToSurvive]

We just moved out of a electric only flat in December which our landlord planned on selling.

I absolutely loved it, we had a two bed, open plan living, dining and kitchen with one bathroom, storage heater boiler/hot water storage tank sort of thing. Never had issues, place was so easy to heat, only one bill and it wasn't very expensive (economy 7) although we used one of the cheapest suppliers available (symbio), only downside we found was if the power went put we'd lose everything, although we now live in a house with gas central heating but an electric hob and oven so this is still an issue when we get power cuts.

[catnoir1]

It costs a fortune and isn't very good.

At the very least I would want the system swapped to the most efficient type of storage heating.

Make sure your energy supplier has BOTH M Pan numbers so you can be billed accurately. Otherwise your bills will be astronomical.

[Ditzyduck]

We live in an electric flat and it's so miserable in winter. It's an old building with huge windows which don't help. We've got ceramic heaters that are great and better than oil filled ones. and this year we've got heated throws and electric blankets. The cooker is electric which I hate and we can't wait to move to somewhere with proper heating. We've never used the storage heating.

[AcornAutumn]

I'm in one of these and it's fine...but....the insulation is mega. So that's a factor.

[RandomUsernameHere]

Our house is electric only (no mains gas) and it's fine. The electricity bill is about double in winter what it is in summer, but this includes the tumble dryer (which I don't use in summer) and more lighting etc. The radiators heat the room really quickly so I only switch them on when we are using a room.

[ResignYourself]

Get a heated throw. And for your first month take a meter reading after you’ve done everything you want in terms of heating etc and see how much it costs you to judge your direct debit.

[pinkpetal2]

Mines fully electric 2 bedroom over three floors I use around £12 a week electric I'm still on a pay as you go meter though never switched to monthly.

[Liking80]

I have storage heaters, there's pros & cons. Cheap to maintain and if you ever do need to replace one not the same sorts of costs of replacing a boiler. The electric water heaters are also cheap to maintain. I really feel the expense in winter but balances out in the summer months.

[EagleFlight]

Most new builds (for a while) are electric only so it’s increasing normal.

It really depends upon what type of electric heating you have and how good your insulation is. It can be much cheaper and efficient to have electricity.

[BackforGood]

I had electric only in my first home (maisonette). It wasn't that expensive. I was on economy 7 which makes a big difference.
The thing with storage heaters is, because they collect all the 'heat' during the night, you have to be sensible about things like shutting doors, otherwise you lose the heat before you want to in the evening. As long as you do that, they are surprisingly good.

I am surprised they are building lots of new build as electric only. though.

[Hapixmas]

Wow thanks all for the responses!! Sorry I only now came back on and saw all the replies.
I guess I need to look in to it more. I don't even know what storage heaters are?! All I know is that each room has those ugly electric radiators 😂 and it is electric hobs. I'm hoping to change the hobs to induction but am unsure if this is possible yet (I know someone who will come and look!) It isn't brand new but was a new build type flat about 10 years ago. For context, you walk in and have 2 little bedrooms on the left and on the right you have the bathroom and the lounge/ kitchen. It isn't huge!
I guess I need to look in to economy 7 and storage heaters ?!

[287xx]

We are electric only with economy 7 and underfloor heating, we actually find bills a lot cheaper! It’s also not a cold flat as we are sandwiched with flats either side and above and below, so we don’t often put our heating on. We use bulb as our electricity provider, 100% renewable energy and cheaper than the big providers. I think octopus is another one.

[LillithTheLynx]

I'm in a small electric-only 1 bed and pay about 80 a month if I don't really use the radiators! Good blankets a must. Make sure you're on the cheapest possible tariff and switch providers whenever a better offer comes along, that's my advice.

[Starisnotanumber]

If its already on economy 7 there wil be 2 different electric meters showing different readings one for day and one for night.
It seems that the difference in tariffs is greater than it is because stuff that's on all the time like freezers run on cheaper electricity during the night so for 7 hours they are on cheaper tariffs
Like other posters have said doing washing and using dishwasher at night saves money as well if it's not too noisy
With being a relatively new build should be reasonable well insulated.
If your hot water is an immersion heater then use a timer to heat it up during the cheap period you may need to top it up later in the day but should be hot enough in the morning