How is my electric bill £150, is this normal?!

[wtfffffff]

Posting for traffic.

I previously lived in a one bedroom, one bathroom flat. I had a communal water tank and never had to pay the gas & electric bill as this was included in the rent (Landlord payed for my usage through his service charge). Admittedly, I’m quite out of touch of how much energy bills cost.

I recently moved into a two bedroom, two bathroom and it just so happens, I’ve moved into a property that doesn’t have a boiler yet again. I have a water tank which supplies the hot water but the heating is electric and supplied through these very old school wall panel heaters. I had a thought that my bills would be expensive if all heating comes through the electric but bloody hell.

OVO Energy estimated my bills to be £70 a month. I thought this was probably wrong so increased my Direct Debit to £90. Just got my bill for this month and it’s £150?! Last month it was £125. Is this just life then? Do I just accept that the prices of things have sky rocketed and my usage means expensive bills? Am I out of touch and is that not really an expensive bill for a 2 bedroom property?

I also submit monthly meter readings so it’s definitely accurate. I guess I can’t complain seeing as I went two years with only paying £50 or so towards the energy bills… sigh

Mines £300 a month in a two bed so you're not doing too bad there, that's gas as well tho

Do you live in the dark? Seriously what are you doing? Please share

Do you have hot water coming from the taps, is there any sound when you turn them on, what floor are you on, where does that pipe on the top go? I've no idea but interesting to see how it works

Does it depend on areas?
There's two adults and a child living in our three bedroom 1 bathroom semi detached house. And we're on a pay as you go meter and never top up more than £100 a month combined gas and electricity and there's always money leftover on the meter.

Electric heating is VERY inefficient and VERY expensive I'm afraid.

Heat the person not the room and then if you have to heat the room not the house.

Good thermal base layer.
Heated throw
Good socks and slippers
Just use the radiator in main living space

We only turn whole house on around 5/6pm

3bed house we pay 400 a quarter in summer, up to 1000 in winter.

I'm on Octopus agile tariff and saving loads. 4 bed town house, 3 adults, wfh 4 days a week across summer was averaging £60 per month, this month I've billed £50 so far, will be about £120ish pm over winter. Heating on most days 7am - 9pm this month. You have to be a customer and not sure how it all works with water heater, also risks of gas price go up, but my bills have dropped about 1/3 since being on it

My electric is currently costing £80-90 a month excluding heating as ours is gas (3 bed, 1 bath, me & my teenage son at home). Both out of the house during the day. Based on this I think £150 with heating sounds ok. Gas is costing around £70 at the minute so a total of pretty much the same as you for gas & electric combined but with the frost now starting its likely to go up quite a bit in the near future as my heating kicks in more. This time last year gas alone was costing me £115 a month.

Still a hell of a lot! Ours is 90 a month DD, 3 bed, detached, two people, and were in credit.

Please see my previous post where I included a picture of what’s in the flat. I have no clue what an immersion heater is🫣

An immersion heater means there’s an element inside your water tank that heats the water (a bit like an electric kettle). Often this heating happens overnight (esp if you’re on Economy 7) to supply you with sufficient hot water for the next day. If you run out, there’s usually an override or booster switch which tops up the hot water and you might put it on for an hour for extra hot water. Sometimes people call this “putting the immersion on”. You need to figure out when and for how long your immersion heater is on.

Yep this is where all your money is going. They are extraordinarily bad for electric.

See where that wire goes in, that's the immersion heater, i.e. an electric heater that maintains the hot water. That's what is costing so much. Follow it back to a switch at the wall. Switch it off.

Now just put it on 20 mins before you need hot running water, then back off when you're done.

If you have an electric shower that heats its own water and can get away with boiling a kettle for any washing up that doesn't go in the dishwasher... then you might get away without using it.

I think it sounds similar to what I'd expect for an all electric property that size. I've lived with electric heating for over two decades, bills can be an awful lot more than that. Wall panel heaters cost a lot to run so I suspect that might be where it's been using up. Other than the hot water advice you've been given.

Where the white cable comes out of the tank, follow it back. It should be wired into a fused spur. This should have an on/off switch on it. This can be changed for a spur with a timeswitch. You can just switch it on and off though. This controls the power to the heating element of the immersion.

The thermostat is usually part of the tank, it regulates the temperature of the water. The water has to be above a certain temperature to prevent some types of bacteria. When the water cools, the thermostat will switch the heating element on. The water will cool if the tank is not insulated or if you draw off hot water and it gets topped up with cold water.

Think of it like a giant kettle that's always trying to keep the water at a certain temperature.

Sounds quite reasonable if it's heating too - gas is very expensive and would prob cost that on its own in winter.

It’s possible it’s a communal water tank like my last place

What makes you think that (that tank looks enormous btw), are there lots of other flats in a block?
Where is that tank located?
Do you have to switch anything off/on or do you always have hot water?

@Thepurplepig Sometimes I'd maybe like that 😂 but no!
Our electricity usage was low when we lived in our old flat too tbh. I don't know what we do! I work 7am-4pm so am out every day, my partner works shifts.
We have a lot of Alexa controlled bulbs, and tend to use lamps instead of the big light in the living room and bedroom. Not sure if that helps any!
If my partner is back shift, I'm an early to bed sort of person, I'll watch a little tv when eating dinner, but then more likely to go lie in bed and read my book.
One of the rooms is unused, and one is an office, so the PC in there is probably the highest use.

Check how you are heating your water

Is it on the whole time? We accidently.had our immersion switch on constantly and the price skyrocketed

If you are cold and the heating is crap. What about a portable heater? Not sure to be fair on the cost difference of running one vs what you have.

This is why I love Mumsnet🤯🤯🤯

So I followed the cable and it just went through a hole in the wall. The next room was the kitchen so I had a look and there was a switch that said ‘immersion heater.’ Now, I know I should have noticed that before but you know when you move into a new place and you have 101 things on your mind.

So you’re all saying that with an immersion heater, it costs money overnight as it’s heating the water for the next day, is that correct? So I can switch this immersion heater off and when I need the water to be hot, I can click on the boost switch? I wonder how much money that’d actually save though, it sounds like a bit of a faff

And sorry forgot to ask. If I turn the immersion heater off, this doesn’t interfere with the panel heaters does it, as that’s electric?

Sorry see you posted a photo

I would go to the diy / home.board and put out a call for pigletjohn

Mumsent legend of all things house!

if they are still around

AHH no the immersion is definitely not good to keep on, it will bleed you dry! Put it this way - every Irish child has a memory of being out for the day and experiencing the terror of having to inform your parents you accidentally left it on 🤣

I wonder how much money that’d actually save though, it sounds like a bit of a faff

It will save as much money as it would cost to heat the water for 23 hours and 40 minutes. Worth the faff to me as I always thought it was a massive waste to keep it running when I don't need hot water. It's a bit like having your kettle on all the time when you only drink one cup of tea a day

Electric heating is so expensive. Before the energy crisis I was paying £100 a month in a one bed flat and it was always bloody cold. It was cheaper (at the time) when I moved into a 3 bed house!