Slow cooker power usage? Any one know?

[crosser62]

Empower have told my elderly mother that her electricity bill has to go up by £120 a year because of her slow cooker usage which is probably every other day.
She uses it as she thinks it’s too expensive to use the oven which is gas.

I read that slow cookers use the equivalent of a light bulb usage.
This can’t be right can it?

I thought they were very low energy too.

But is £120 a year a lot?

According to the N power web site it's around 21p for 8 hours.

But surely it's replacing a more expensive cooking method so her bill should come down?

Very low energy like a light bulb.

Npower as well as all the others will tell you any crap to get your money.
Just tell them you can save with xxx company who know how much energy a slow cooker takes.

How do they know she's using a slow cooker?

I bought a posh digital one last week that uses 250 watt - so a couple of large light bulbs for a few hours. My dd's uses 200 W. Compared to an electric oven that uses approx 2400W slow cookers are around 10%.

When did she last have a review of her electricity payments? Could she have been underpaying for a while but they have only just put it up? What % is £120 of her total usage?

Is it possible that she has got into the habit of turning the heating up as she has got older? My mum used to do this and was heating her house to 25-30C

Just what I was going to ask. Even smart meters can't tell what device is plugged in.

There is no way the electricity company can tell what uses the electricity in a house. Has you DM got confused? A slow cooker is a miniscule amount of power compared to a cooker. Does she pay by DD or prepay on cards? Prices have risen so it's possible she has got into a negative balance and they want to increase the DD to repay the debt and stop any future debts.

So they wrote to her telling her that her bill would be increased by £10 pcm.
She rang to question this as when she spoke to them in may she was over £150 in credit.
They asked what she used that would up her electricity bill... she said all she can think of is her slow cooker.
She won’t have her heating on because she is frightened of the bill. For this reason she goes to bed at 6.30-7 so she can be warm in bed.

She is absolutely worried to death. She thought she was in credit.
They said that her projected bill will be much more...

Surely its because prices have risen rather than her usage. Does she pay by monthly direct debit? Has she given an up to date meter reading? Does she use electricity plus gas?

Pays by dd, sent them a reading.

She might have been £150 in credit at that point but if a recent meter reading hadn't been done then charges wouldn't have been deducted from that at that point

But it’s been summer with very little usage.
She also gets the government contribution which is about £140 per year. They hadn’t factored that in.

Yes, £120 rise in a bill is catastrophic to her as she just has state pension.
She needs to budget something out of her current living allowance which is already very minimal.
No fancy mobile, no land line or internet, basic telly, food bill is low as she batch cooks with the slow cooker. Shops at Aldi.
Never ever goes out anywhere.

I'd sooner run my nylon knickers together for electricity than ever go back to NPower. Ask them for a copy of everything in writing. We gave them readings and they'd entered them incorrectly over & over. We ended up getting the Ombudsman involved.

*rub

Can she ask for an up to date bill showing whether she is in credit or debit? Will need current readings for that. How much a month does she pay? What sort of tariff? Gas and electric?

If you get a note of her annual consumption you could do a price comparison and maybe help her to switch to a cheaper supplier

She has a set for 2 years agreement tariff which is why she asked why it was increased.
I will get her to ask for an updated bill with a meter reading.

My energy company wanted to increase my payment despite being it credit. She could always find out her up to date balance and if it's in credit she could decline the increase

Energy companies can tell what you’re using it for with some limitations. I’m with and I can see online if it is heating, refrigeration or entertainment and a few more.

I must admit I have no idea how they can tell this. We do have a smart meter.

Anyhow, sounds like your dm told them she had started to use a slow cooker so my point isn’t relevant to you op, but a few posters mentioned that the energy company can’t tell what is being used my what, but it appears Ovo can.

Assuming she's not tied into a contract with NPower, can you switch her to another company? Maybe Octopus?

Martin Lewis from money saving expert was on This Morning a couple of months ago saying people are overpaying by up to £300 a year if you're still with one of the big energy firms.

He recommended a couple of alternative companies at the time but Octopus is the only one I remember (because my mum had recently switched to them)

She was referred by a friend and got £50 off her first bill. When my contract ends (also NPower) I'm going to use her referral code and we'll both get another £50 off our bill. Just thought I'd mention this because if your mother is finding money tight, that could really help.

At the very least, you could try this calculator to get a quote to see if she could save money with any company, never mind octopus: clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub/register

Also the MSE cheap gas and electric guide might be useful: www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity/

OP has said her mother is tied in for 2 years. How long does she have left?

As Martin Lewis is my GOD & next husband I utterly love the man and will take his advice.
I recently changed via MSE.
Thanks for advice.
I have text her (she has a 1990’s flip pay as you go phone and only puts £5 on every 6 weeks!!) to tell her everything you have all said and she is outraged 😡 and will phone them tomorrow.