Electric bill

[u250218]

Live on my own in a small 2 bed flat. All electric. 1 convector heater on the wall in the lounge which is turned on for about 3 -4 hours in an evening. Nothing abnormal used otherwise, tv, lights, fridge/freezer, washing machine, oven, shower. Water tank hasnt been on as can manage without.

Had an electric bill come through and i'm being charged over £300, with use of around 800 kilowatts. Electric use has always seemed quite high as i dont wfh. Usually about 300 kilowatts (seems high) but this month has been the worst ive had.

Thinking about contacting energy supplier to complain but dont know if this is normal for a flat all electric.

convector heater, is it 2kw? if so, 3-4 hours a night will be costing a LOT

At 68p per hour, 4 hours a day on a 30 day month will be costing you over £80 just for the heater

Is your bill based on a firm reading or an estimate?

What period is the bill over?

Is it based on readings or an estimate?

How often do you shower and for how long? Electric showers are very expensive to run.

Do you use your oven a lot? If you're cooking for one in the oven, an air fryer could be a worthwhile investment.

That is for the month. I pay every month for the exact amount of energy I use, I give readings every month without fail.

The 800 kilowatts and cost of it just seems crazy. I shower just an average time - about 10 mins.

How does it compare in kwh to the same period last year?

I didn't live in this flat this time last year so I have nothing to compare with

Do you know what wattage your heater is?
As @AlmostAJillSandwich says, it'll account for a fair chunk of your bill - some convector heaters go up to 3kw.

Have a look at your EPC - it should tell you the expected annual consumption needed to adequately heat your flat.

I would say 10 minute showers are quite long if that’s every day and will be costing a fortune! I’m in and out in 2 mins if I am
not washing my hair and even if I am, it’s only 5 mins or so.

One small but maybe significant other thing - if your fridge or freezer is kept in a cold space (usually a temperature of 15° or less) it may not run properly and may use a lot more power than it should over the course of a month (enough to make a noticeable difference) - same applies if anything goes wrong with the seals etc.

10 mins is a long shower!
4 mins max for economising.
Do you use an electric oven a lot? They can cost a fair bit and always send our smart meter red.

I’m in an all electric house and we used 750kwh in December which was £250. So it sounds about right. We have an ASHP but a bigger house.

Metro reckons that if you've a power shower, 10 minutes will use 5.76kwh or just over two quid () if you're paying 35p/kwh...

metro.co.uk/2022/04/13/how-much-does-it-cost-to-take-a-shower-16445932

OK, so 2kW heater on for 4 hours per day = 2x4x30 =240 kWh per month

Shower (guess 10 kW) on for 10 mins per day = 10x(10/60)*30 = 50 kWh per month.

So thats about 300 kWh on showers and heating.

I think 800 kWh per month (26 kWh) per day is a lot.

probably only way you can make that up is through having 2 x 2kW heaters or maybe your heater is a 4 kWh one ?

Try reading your meter, switching the heater on for 1 hour maximum output, then switch it off and read the meter again. That should tell you the kW of the heater and allow you to estimate the real heater energy usage.

Do you have more than one heater ?

Metro is wrong. The most powerful electric showers are around 10.8 kW. If you run them for one hour, they use <drum roll>........... 10.8 kWh. If you run them for 10 mins, they use 1/6 of that, so just under 2 kWh, or about 65 p or around £20 pm for a single daily 10 minute shower.

Unfortunately OP, 800 kWh for a month in winter is probably about right, as you've got the electric heating on for a few hours a day. To help with budgeting, you might want to look at equal direct debits, then you pay more in summer, but spread the cost of the higher winter bills.

Thanks for the clarification Barbara - i thought it sounded a bit insane

No 800kwh per month is a lot in a flat even for just electric. You need to check your bill to see if it is actually for one month and if the opening and closing reading are both actual readings. Otherwise it’s 25kwh a day which is much more that you would expect to be using.

I think that is a ridiculous amount for a single person in a small flat. I pay less than that, much less, for a 3 bed uninsulated heat-leaking house with 3 people in it. Heating on for about 4 hrs per day sometimes a bit less. Altho I do also use some wood in the burner. I can't imagine one heater, even if electric, accounting for bill that high.

Are you sure someone's not stealing your supply? You're not paying your bill to a landlord or anything are you?

I think 25 kWh per day sounds like a lot if you have just one electric heater - they are usually only 2 kw so even 4 hours a day would be 8 kWh, leaving 15 units to account for.

Is there anything on your convector heater to give the KW rating?

800kwh seems a lot. For comparison I'm a three bed terrace all electric (plus woodburner).
I used 550kwh in December. That includes one storage heater but it's a 1kwh so not the largest (the big ones aren't going on and are in stupid places!)
I'm on economy 10 so the majority is off peak rate. Storage heater on 10 hours a day so it accounts for a fair amount of that use alone.
Also use an infrared heater for a couple of hours on coldest days. Plus shower for four, cooking, heating water though I only have a small tank.

Did you submit the reading yourself and have you double checked it?

Are you absolutely sure the water heater is off?

At that level of use you should probably be on a split tariff. My 550kwh cost £118 but that's because 440kwh were on the low rate.

Yeah this is actual readings, not estimates. The water tank is 100% off. The only thing I can see on the heater is 2000watts.

So a 2kw heater on for 4 hours is 8kwh. Your shower would be about 2kwh at most. Your oven is about 2kw so if you had it on an hour a day another 2kwh.

So that's 12kwh. But you are using 27kwh so another 15 a day. Your background use is unlikely to be more than 2kwh so there is something taking a big draw or your meter isn't accurate.

If you are in at the weekend I would take a reading every hour and see if you can identify a spike at any point

2000w is 2kw.

Turn absolutely everything off, then look at your meter to see it it is still moving.
My son was in a flat and the meters for all the flats were in the basement. He was paying for another flat's usage instead of his own.

^ fair point
You can double check your meter serial number (there'll be a barcode next to it) matches the one on your bill too.