To turn down the 'perfect' flat because it has electric heating?

[PeachyParisian]

Lovely flat that ticks all of our boxes but DH is kicking up a fuss because it has electric radiators. It's only to rent, not buy and I'm not sure if it's worth continuing our search (we've been looking since September!) because of this one thing.

Are they really that much more expensive to run? I've only ever had gas heating in the UK. We had electric heating in France and it was quite expensive (although had nothing to compare it with really) which is probably why he is against it.

We have to decide by tomorrow over to you wise MNers!

[Laquitar]

I had it in one flat and it was expensive but it was also a pre payment meter.

You can ask the EA to see bills feom previous tenants or knock the door of the other flats, explain the situation and ask them?

[SoonToBeMrsB]

Don't do it, I have a one-bed one-box room flat with electric heating and the place is like an igloo. It's expensive, the heater in the bedroom is broken and it's so cold that I haven't slept properly in four nights. I've taken to tumble drying in the hall just to spread some heat about!

[Starlightbright1]

I live in a house with only storage heaters..Electric and no gas...I can honestly say not bad heat wise..not more expensive as I have no standing charge for gas.

I pay £80 per month and really don't think much about what I spend..We do have a fan type fire in the lounge fr top up when cold

[TheMagicToyshop]

Having lived in two flats with storage heaters I would say it really depends on the flat. Our last place was a damp basement in an Edwardian house and it was expensive to 'heat' and always freezing. Our new flat is in a modern double glazed conversion on the top floor and it's much warmer - although the drawbacks of storage heaters are still there: hard to predict how warm you will want it next day, heat rarely lasts all day so you will need something to top up (we have oil filled electric radiators, they are the cheapest top up option), it will be hot overnight - we don't use the bedroom one for this reason. We also pay 20 quid less a month here even though it is much warmer, so the flat is really what makes the difference.

Also neither of our flats had timers on the water.

[sleepyhead]

Depends how big it is and how well insulated.

We heat our 3 bed modern flat on 2 storage heaters. We've got panel heaters in the bedrooms but they've never been on in the 12 months we've been here.

Livingroom and hall storage heaters are on half input setting and we keep the bedroom doors open except at night. Result is warm bedrooms when we go to bed (c 20 degrees) but cool during the night and when we wake up (never lower than 16 degrees).

The other rooms are never much below 20 degrees but around 23 when we get up in the morning.

No heating in the kitchen or bathroom but they don't need it (bathroom is internal).

However, the insulation is very good so we're not losing heat during the day much. It would have been a disaster in our old tenement with the high ceilings and draughty windows.

Bills are higher than our old place (gch), but we are warmer and have more hot water and are running a tumble dryer.

[sleepyhead]

For hot water with have a big cylinder that gets heated at the night rate and we rarely have to boost it (quick showers for the adults in the morning, bath for the children at night, water for dishes and enough for a bath for an adult left), so it's costing much the same as when we were heating water with gas.

[Pengyquin]

RUN AWAY NOW!!!

I sold because of these damn things and we were sick of being cold. new build property I might add.

The one winter I decided sod it, I'm putting everything on (got an extra heater as well) because we had a newborn, our electric bill was £270 for one month

On average, bill was £120-£150 a month.

Every single winter we lived there we were cold.

[MoreBeta]

If you have an economy 7 meter AND the rent is reduced well below the level of rent on an equivalent flat with good gas central heating system then take it but not otherwise.

Electric heating costs more and the rent has to be reduced to take account of that.

To put it bluntly, the reason flats have electric heating is to reduce the build costs. Flats aimed at buy to let landlords were built this way so the selling price could be reduced to attract buy to let investors and then the extra cost of heating with electric was dumped on the unsuspecting tenant.

There is a price for everything.

[MoreBeta]

Electric costs a lot less in France (heavily subsidised Nuclear) by the way so no comparison between your flat in Paris and what this will cost you in the UK where the price is set by expensive gas and coal fired generation - especially during the day.

Economy 7 electric is only cheaper because the night time electric is powered mainly by nuclear power stations and partly by coal fired capacity running at marginal cost on standby mode.

[ChunkyPickle]

Had electric heaters in a big flat in Canada and they spent most of the time off it was so toasty.

On the other hand, had storage heaters growing up, and my parents installed oil-fired central heating as soon as they had the cash.

[LeonardWentToTheOffice]

12 years ago I lived in a one bedroom studio flat with electric heating only. In the winter I was putting in about £40 week in meter. I now live in a 2 bedroom flat and even in the winter my gas/elec bill is about £50 per month. I'm gutted I didn't realise at the time I could have lived in a mansion for the same price as long as it was properly gas central heated and insulated (Now live in 10 year old new build.

The flat was also unbearable for most of the summer too as too hot - it was in the attic. Plus lots of damp in bathroom!! Whyever did I live there so long - 10 years - but I did love it - it was about 1 minute from the centre of town and I'm a lazy arse so couldn't be bothered to pack up and move either!

[LeonardWentToTheOffice]

*I live in a 2 bedroom house now that should say

[BreconBeBuggered]

We moved into a newly refurbished small bungalow with electric storage heating back in the late 90s. Our first electricity bill for two months in a freezing house was £333. The house had a gas supply for hot water and cooking, which back then cost us around £10 a month, as a comparison.

[Screwballscrambled]

My storage heaters were old so Iv never had experience of the new kind and the next flat I had had a back boiler which was also bloody awful!

From the sounds of it if the heating is modern it may be ok.

[PeachyParisian]

Right-o it's definitely storage heaters with an immersion thingy heater tank in a cupboard.
I forgot to mention the rent is about £60-100 cheaper a month than many 2 beds in the area and this is probably why (and that its a 20min walk to the train station instead of 'in town')
It's right in the middle of the building so flats on all sides

[thisisnow]

Lived in a flat with storage heaters twice and hated it both times, I would avoid definitely

Was either baking hot or freezing, no control over heating and no radiators to dry clothes on.

[FreeWee]

Unless you love it I wouldn't advise it. I've lived in a house with them and it was extortionate. We only heated our living room and bedroom in the end. In the 21st century they really should be replaced with the new electric radiator things which are amazing.

[silverstreak]

Bit of a weird suggestion (maybe!) but any chance you could bring yourselves to knock on a couple of neighbours and ask them how they find the heating (& place generally)...?? We really wished we'd done this with the old place as not only the properties linked so (as we found out after!) they both had the same issues - which the neighbours were more than happy to moan about to us! - but they would've let us know about other issues that we found out after the fact too.... It's also nice to have a heads up as to whether your prospective new neighbours are nice and normal or potentially psycho nut bags!! :)

[Rebecca2014]

I live in a small 2 bedroom house with electric storage heaters. I turn them on at night and they don't even heat the house during the day so my house is freezing. I now resorted to using fan heaters and they heat my living room a lot better.

My electricity bill is very high for such a small property. I would never move to another properly with electricity.

[TotallySociallyInep]

To everyone saying they are having to use fan heaters and such. I really recommend getting a one or two of the 750Kw oil radiators that I linked to on page one. As they kick out plenty of heat and don't cost as much to run, you can leave them on low or half all the time. Plus they not noisy and I found the fan heaters dried my throat.

[Fluffy40]

Storage heaters are supposed to charge up at night and release the heat in the day. I've never found them any good.
A 2kw convector heater will cost 30p an hour to run, but will keep you nice and warm. I would look for another flat.

[millymae]

I'm almost on my own here but I love my storage heaters. They are relatively modern ones though which are set to give out more heat during the evening. Our house is never cold at any time which is good for me as I am a SAHM and the water is always hot. The Emersion heats up during the night when the economy 7 tariff applies and I rarely have to boost it during the day. I set my washing machine to come whilst my electricity is cheaper and am usually up in time to get it dried in the tumble dryer as well.The only cold room in the house is the bathroom (and it isn't really). The storage heater in there is only small and whilst it's perfect during the cold mornings by the time it comes to the evening and it's time for the children's baths I often feel the need to put the wall fan heater on to warm the room up a bit.

When I hear my friends talking about the problems they are having with their boilers and their radiators and complaining about the noise they make it makes me realise that electric heating really doesn't deserve the bed press its gets as it does have some advantages. I also only have one standing charge to pay and think the £120.00 I pay each month is pretty good value considering I have no other bills for lighting and cooking.

[ZombieApocalypse]

I rented lots of 80s/90s flats with storage heating and without exception they were terrible for all the reasons people have mentioned. If you do end up in a flat like this, oil radiators are brilliant. Mine had a timer on so I'd set it to come on about an hour before I got home.

Storage heaters have got better since then - my new build flat has them, is well insulated and the heaters are super efficient. I only ever needed a couple on in the whole flat.

[Theoretician]

To everyone saying they are having to use fan heaters and such. I really recommend getting a one or two of the 750Kw oil radiators that I linked to on page one. As they kick out plenty of heat and don't cost as much to run, you can leave them on low or half all the time.

Those are just a type of electric heater, so they can't be cheaper to run than any other type of electric heater. (Unless like storage heaters they store energy at a time of day when electricity is cheaper, which I assume they don't.)

[DownstairsMixUp]

My bungalow is electric only. We have a woodburner for the kitchen and lounge but our room and the boys room we each have a oil filled radiator with in built timers. We time them so they come on at 5pm for two hours then off for an hour on for an hour etc etc till 7 am then they stay off. It's a single skimmed build and we don't have any mould or condensation (I check frequently as I'm paranoid! ) and it's always toasty. Our bills in winter are £67 a month though I'm always in credit so even without the woodburner and another oil filled in front room our bills would still be fine as we don't have any gas. We also have am immersion for water we use the shower mostly tho tbh but if we fancy a bath we just flick it on the evening then turn it off while we are done bathing!