Is anyone using electricity only? How much does it cost you?

[toffeebutterpopcorn]

A relative is spending almost twice what we do (same size property - one of her, 3 of us) on fuel (electricity only - we are electricity and gas). This sounds bonkers (she has those big storage heaters). We are both working from home, washing machine and dishwasher on every day, wash every day, hearing has been on...

Should I get her meter checked? Or is electricity really much more expensive?

Also meant to say she has switched away from the Economy 7 tariff as she is not using the storage heaters . On E7 it is cheaper electricity at night but a lot but a higher than normal tariff for day time. Just got the best normal electricity tariff she could find on uswitch. Seems to have worked for her

@HelebethH

Also meant to say she has switched away from the Economy 7 tariff as she is not using the storage heaters . On E7 it is cheaper electricity at night but a lot but a higher than normal tariff for day time. Just got the best normal electricity tariff she could find on uswitch. Seems to have worked for her

Can you switch away from economy 7 if you rent?

Money-saving Expert is great for UK advice about stuff like that. Generally yes as a tenant you're allowed to do whatever you like, as long as you pay the bill.

3 Bed Terrace house (2 adult 4 dc) We have oil for heating, Everything else is electric.
Our electric is about £120-140pm, we do use a tumble dryer constantly and electric shower 3x a day.
Heating is oil and average a year is about £450

Unless it's in your rental contract that you can't change supplier then I can't imagine it would be a problem. Anyway, surely it would be ok to change your tariff . You should be able to choose your own supplier for fuel and tariff. If not using storage heaters I don' see the point of E7. My friend is in a long term rental and didn't mention any problem.

@BertieBotts

€224 per month :(

Storage heaters are awful for energy efficiency these days. The reason they were invented was because it used to be very difficult to store electricity so you wanted to encourage people to use electricity during the night rather than day, to balance things out. Storage heaters draw a huge amount of power, much more than you would need if you were just running an electric space heater when you need it, the only upside is that they do this during the "off peak" hours.

These days energy storage has improved so much that it no longer makes any difference WHEN people are using energy, what you want is for people to reduce their consumption overall. So something that uses more but overnight is no longer beneficial. Economy 7 is also not as cheap as it was because there is no longer any need to encourage people to use energy at off-peak times. Although the difference your friend has in her rates do sound like it would work out in her favour - maybe get her to check the timers and everything are set up correctly.

Then add to that the fact that storage heaters were fashionable in the 70s and 80s but sharply declined after this so they tend to be older, less efficient technology now as well.

She will probably save money by buying a couple of A++ energy rated plug in heaters and using those for the rooms she wants to heat. We haven't even taken the storage heaters out (because we rent but also because it's incredibly expensive to do - they are built out of asbestos).

This

I have a house with an electric boiler and it is expensive.

And it's well worth replacing older electric boilers or water heater units with new energy efficient ones.

If you're not sure how much it will save you it's probably worth getting a quote done. Most people will save money doing this. A lot of electric water heaters are old and highly inefficient. As well as being inconvenient e.g. you'll run out of hot water if someone has a shower or bath. Modern ones can heat as the water comes through, so you don't run out, and don't cost much to run at all. The only problem is buying it and the installation costs but if it saves you money over the coming years it may pay for itself.

In England. If tenant pays bills then tenant chooses supplier.

All electric heaters have same efficiency. Does op relative know how to use storage heaters? Are they actually on economy 7?

Anyway, welcome to the future when gas boilers are outlawed.

@murbblurb

In England. If tenant pays bills then tenant chooses supplier.

All electric heaters have same efficiency. Does op relative know how to use storage heaters? Are they actually on economy 7?

Anyway, welcome to the future when gas boilers are outlawed.

My DS has changed supplier but the flat has some kind of storage heater for hot water and under floor electric heating. The meter is a special economy 7 one with two readings and I doubt if a tenant could change that.

How do all heaters have the same efficiency? That doesn't make sense.

@BertieBotts

How do all heaters have the same efficiency? That doesn't make sense.

Electric heaters do. A KW is a KW whatever the manufacturer would have you believe.

What @Kyph said. Electric heater manufacturers are nearly as bad as beauty product sellers for iffy product claims.

And while a tenant can stop using economy 7, it would be daft to do so with storage heaters and underfloor heating.

I’m currently in an Airbnb for a week on hold that’s electric only - smart meter is showing about £5 a day and I’ve not had the oven on yet and only boosting the hearing when I’m in (which isn’t much). Goodness knows what it would be like in the winter.

Pretty much fully electric here. 300 every 2 months for 2 adults in a 3 bedroom terraced house, we're both at home full time. We have gas for the oven only, everything else including heating and shower etc is electric.

@shivawn

Pretty much fully electric here. 300 every 2 months for 2 adults in a 3 bedroom terraced house, we're both at home full time. We have gas for the oven only, everything else including heating and shower etc is electric.

Should have said that's winter and covid (eg both home a lot lot more!) prices. Normally in Summer & Autumn it would be 140-160 every 2 months.

:o Fair enough, maybe it's me who doesn't understand efficiency ratings then.

Surely old technology is less efficient than new? Why doesn't it work that way for heaters? I understood that storage heaters work by drawing a load of power at night which they use to heat up a block of (normally ceramic). The ceramic block then slowly dissipates its heat over the day. I know when DS2 turns one of ours on and we don't notice immediately, it stays warm for about 2.5 days in total after being turned off. I joked that we could make it extra efficient to DH by just turning them on every other night and save loads of cash! (We would never remember to do this.) Isn't it inefficient to keep pumping heat into ceramic which is already hot?

Then if I'm right:

Space heaters work by heating up electrical coils, which transfer heat directly to the surrounding air. Some using a fan to disperse the air more effectively.

Oil heaters work by heating oil inside a sealed container. The hot oil rises to the top and then falls down to the bottom as it cools, where it is heated again if the heater is still on.

So surely they must be better or worse at achieving the same level of warmth?

We run a large 3 bed house and an electric car for circa £100pm (slightly more in winter, lots less in Summer).
This is almost all heating and cooking (we have a bottled gas hob but electric ovens and a woodburner and electric air source heat pump heating).
We pay no more than 15p/kwh though on a Smart tariff.

We are all electric. When we had storage heaters we were paying £130/month all year round. Now we have an air source heat pump it's £95/month all year round. Two bedroom end of terrace two adults and two dc.

@Bertiebotts try this for an explanation:

www.dimplex.co.uk/guide-home-heating/efficiency-electric-heating

We have 3 bed semi. Gas central heating, but fire, cooker, oven all electric. We only moved here a year ago, and had been used to all gas in previous property, but went with same monthly amount. Found we had underpaid for the year by £1200! We isolated each appliance to see what was costing us the most and it was our electric fire. It was causing the dial on our meter to go crazy.

They aren't accidentally using the immersion all the time? I did that and my bill tripled.

I have a 2 bed, electricty, and I pay 41 (they just upped it, grrr) for electric and 12 for heating, so 53, but heating could be double in winter so then it would be 65.