Flat with electric heating only - bad idea?

[FlyingPi]

After looking for ages we've found a flat which seems ideal. However I'm concerned about possible high heating costs.
The whole building is about 20 years old and there's no gas supply; EPC has it rated as C band (70) and recommends replacing the storage heaters with the high heat retention types. There's also no hearing in the main bedroom apart from a plug in heater and the flat faces the river so I'm thinking it might be windy/cold. It does have double glazing.
The flat is slightly less than we'd budgeted for so we probably could afford the upgrade. Would it still be quite expensive energy bills, do you think? I've only ever had gas heating before. Would it be enough to put you off an otherwise great flat?

Thanks everyone for responses so far, very helpful.
I'm still going to view the flat tomorrow but have arranged two other viewings nearby so that I don't get too attached to the idea of this one which I think I was doing. Realise I need to be pragmatic and get more info. I'm going to ask them for heating bill info and see what they say; think I would definitely ask factor in cost of new storage heaters into the asking price too. There's no gas supply to the building so that's not an option. It's third floor with flats above and below so may share heat.
It's also occured to me that being at the river may increase insurance rates.

I don't understand why anyone would have storage heaters on at night. Surely you turn the heating off unless it's like -5 degrees at night? And even then put on low?

Turn them off at the wall then back on again when the room gets too cold.

I lived in a flat just like this 2018-2020 and my electric bill was £110pm back then! I also owed them £300 when I moved out 🙃 it was one bedroom, had mould and always cold! I would avoid.

Being near a river, I'm assuming you might mean it's a flood risk?

Your service charge should cover the buildings insurance. As a leaseholder, you would only need to consider contents insurance.

You should definitely factor in the service charge though, of course, and compare them across all flats you go to see (along with lease length etc).

The electric-only in a flat wouldn't worry me, it's very common. But the service charge (and accounts history) would definitely be top of my list to review.

No doubt doesn't regularly ventilate, or have a dehumidifier, and dries washing indoors? Black mould is 99% of the time caused by lifestyle.

Oh, how unusual and terrible... she dries washing indoors! Where else is she supposed to dry it?

Flats with storage heaters are usually on an economy 7 tariff so they heat up overnight then release the heat during the day. Once the heat is gone, some have a separate fan that can be used but this is very expensive. Some will let you turn down the heater to save the stored heat for later in the day but some just have a setting for the time you want the majority of the heat to be released.

No, that doesn't work.

Storage heaters charge up at night using cheap E7 electric. Overnight you should have them on with the output turned right down. Then when you want warmth in the daytime or evening you turn the output up.

They do emit some heat even with the output on minimum so will keep the chill off but good modern ones should store enough heat until evening and if they don't E10 gives you an afternoon and evening boost.

I had an electric only flat and it was fine. Not quite as cheap as gas heating at the time, but now electricity seems to be cheaper than gas, I think it might be. I replaced the econ 7 storage heaters with newer quantum heaters because I wanted to be able to choose when to turn them on & off. It’s likely to be well insulated as it’s newish, so I’d definitely consider it if I were you.

I’d ask for info on the electricity bills but wouldn’t discount - we’ve just had our gas switched off. There will be one less standing charge to pay for starters.

if 20 years old it should be fairly well insulated and will not be as cold as a house anyway

If it's enclosed by other flats, ie not top floor, I wouldn't mind, although I don't know about resale value. I used to live in a flat with just electric wall radiators and never used them, just a portable oil heater.

We live in a house with storage heaters, we are a terraced house and our house is usually really warm. We only put our heating on in the living room last week(we live in central Scotland so it can get quite cold) kitchen heating has been on a month. We don’t use the heaters in the room as house is warm enough.

I have to say it took a couple of winters to effectively get the storage heating set correct.

yes it’s more expensive than centrally heated houses but we pay more during the summer to even out our winter payments.

How stupid. You know exactly what was meant. Wet washing draped inside instead of being pegged outside or in a tumble dryer. Did that really need to be spelt out?🙄

@marshmallowfinder I kind of get the point though - I'm in a ground floor apartment with a private garden and I'm not allowed to dry washing outside or on view
There's also no room for a tumble. So drying outside isn't an option

My previous flat was only electricity we paid about £80-£90 a month.

Storage heaters can work really well but they are such a faff. If you set them correctly and have economy 7 they are cheap to run as well. My old flat had them and it was always nice and warm and the heat lasted all day (my partner worked from home).

However I wouldn't personally go back to that set up as its such a pain in the arse to have to manually turn them all up and down evening and morning, and look up the weather for the next day and changing settings accordingly. If you don't do all this then yes they are expensive to run and you can end up with no heat left in the evening.

C is a suspiciously good rating for an electrically heated property, either the insulation is amazing or there was a little fiddle there and its more likely a D.

I was originally responding to the poster mentioning black mould and its causes. Moisture in the air needs to be removed. That's all. I dry washing inside too, but the key thing is, I have a dehumidifier or ventilate.

I spent time in an electric only flat, from the hot water, to the oven and the storage heaters

Yes. It's a bad idea. The bills were astronomical

Old storage heaters aren't great but modern electric heaters can be good (and if you get the hang of them so are newer storage heaters with E7). Infrared heaters are potentially even better - instead of heating rooms we should heat the people in the rooms.

My neighbour installed infrared heating panels. You’re lovely and warm if standing a few specific places, quite near to the panels, but pretty cold anywhere else. They’re not at all suitable for an old, poorly insulated and draughty dwelling, plus they look pretty awful in such a setting.
However, if my next move is to a small, modern, well insulated retirement flat ☹️, I might consider them in specific areas.

My experience of London flats is that it is normal. A lot depends on the size and style of the block and the flat’s location within it. When I lived in a modern, well-insulated block the flats warmed each other and our bills were pretty low. It was much harder to cool the place down in summer.

Was it on Economy 7?

Our apartment was all electric and had eco heaters. Despite insulation it was always cold and really expensive. We were on the ground floor though.

Rooms took ages to warm up and the utility bill was more there than where we are now.

I had to pop back in June this year and I noticed the new tenant had the heating on but it was still cold.

I have no idea. Probably not

My flat is electric and I rarely need to put the heat on. The towel rail in the bathroom is sufficient for most days. But, I am not overlooking a river. I am in the middle of a middle floor and my windows open onto the next building about 15 meters away. So fairly sheltered.

If its very cold I will put the heat on in the living room for an hour or so, because I have balcony doors there and pet parakeets that might mind the chill.

It actually just occurred to me that my 100 litre tropical fish tank, which is open at the top, likely warms that room a little as its about 28 degrees.

I have a friend on the corner of the top floor and she is colder than I am.

I live in an all electric house over 10 years.
Storage heaters on e7
Love it
The house is double glazed and well insulated
It's always warm in the house.
I can set them from 1 up wards
Each room can have a different setting or off.
I wake up warm and go to be warm.
You could buy one for the bedroom at about £200
In our kitchen we powdered coat ours

It looks amazing - very modern
Never have any thing else .