Parents' £80 Elec. bill p.m, surely too much?Emersion heater maybe?

[bankhater10]

Hi,

my parents live in a 2up 2 down country cottage, they are both retired and therefore spend most of their time there. They have one tv, a microwave, use gas to boil their kettle (i believe using a kettle is a big electric user) and have two computers (one desktop and one laptop) on most of the time.

They have oil fired central heating to heat their water and heat their radiators BUT...my mother gets up at 6.30 am and my Dad at 7.30 am, my Dad has several spinal problems so needs a warm/hot bath every morning but if my mum puts the oil fired (kerosene) water heating on when she gets up, their bedroom where my Dad is, gets very hot indeed as the pipes leading to the water tank are not 'lagged' that well so my mum had, up until i nearly had a heart attack when she told me yesterday, been putting their emersion heater on for an hour a day at 6.30am so my Dad could have a hot bath.

They are on a pre-payment meter from Scottish Power and spend around £80 per month just on electric. I consider this a huge amount, especially as they use gas to boil their kettle and oil (kerosene) to heat their home and to heat their water (other than that early morning burst).

I suggested that my mum try the emersion heater for just 30 minutes, instead of an hour, yesterday to see if that heats the water up enough and thankfully it did but my question today to anyone who can help is am i correct in thinking that the emersion heater is a huge user of electric and is probably the main reason for their £80 per month electricity bill?

[nottslad]

It's not massively high, but it is a lot of money. I would suggest they talk to their supplier about having the prepayment meter removed and shopping around for a better deal, they may qualify for a discounted tariff given their pensionable age, just looking at Scottish Power's website they have one Fresh Start

[loopylil]

Hi I have prepayment meter for my electric. Im disabled too. The most i put in is £10.00 a week which is more than enough,And i leave my emersion on all the time. Looks like meter as a fault on it.I also cook by electric, use kettle etc. Hope this helps.

[bankhater10]

Hello there, thank you for both answers!!

Nottslad- that is an incredibly useful link, thank you very much, it looks perfect!!

 

Ps-My mother has just told me that she has discovered that the tumble dryer, which she can use four times every 2 days, uses 90p per load!

This works out to £54 a month!! There lies the problem i guess...however, i will still advise they check out the link from nottslad!!

[loopylil]

Hi again, i also use tumble dryer for three hrs + twice sometimes more per week. I cant stand to peg out my washing at line. Please get them to check meter. Im with British Gas for both. dont use gas only between end oct and march/april like this yr was longer. electric used all the time.

[bankhater10]

Hmmmm....interesting stuff Loopylil!! I shall inform her and report back.....(thanks for the help/advice)...

[bankhater10]

Ok, the answer i got is: Checked smaller load today and it was 60p. Mind you, the washing mashine is useless at spinning so it is quite wet'!

Any help?

[loopylil]

Hi Buy you mom a new washing machine!

[bankhater10]

Hmmm...that's not quite the answer i was hoping for! :-|

I think i will point her towards Nottslad's link- it sounds promising!!

[nottslad]

On top of the tumble dryer the immersion heater may be costing up to 50p per day, not a great deal but it all adds up when you think about it.

 

Is she not able to peg the washing out to dry whilst the weather is ok and it isn't raining?

 

Have alook at what other energy efficiency measures could be taken to try and cut the consumption:

Energy Saving Tips and Advice | Top 10 | Scottish Power

 

The eon site also has some very useful information on EE - have a look at Going Green : E.ON

[Surfer01]

The following may help reduce costs;

 

More efficient washing machine

More efficient refrigerator if thay have not got one

 

As they have heating on for the majority of the year I would suggest that they consider hanging damp washing on the heaters to get the best of two worlds once the washing machine has been updated. We do this regularly and this helps to keep costs down.

Check to see if the can get a grant for the washing machine. If with Southern Electric they qualify for a new refrigerator for £50. SPOW are always expensive so I would suggest looking for another provider through sites like energyhelpline.com - Switch and save on gas and electricity bills - impartial and free! or Comparison sites for gas & electricity, car insurance & more | uSwitch.com.

How well is the prooperty insulated as they shpoudl be able to get a grant for this. the insulation in the roof could be improved and the double walls insulated with foam at no or very little costs to them. See entiltedto.co.uk

Either way get them off the prepayment meter as that is the most expensive option. By going onto DD they will save another £12 per year and in some cases get a further reduction. We are with Southern and moved onto a special tariff that helped reduced our bill by nearly £122 a year. Our heating is on electric storage heaters.

[loopylil]

Hi, Have you checked the immersion heater as that could be set on high?As i said before My electric is on prepayment and ive only ever put £10.00 per week in it even in winter.I had both gas and electric put on meters when i moved here , mainly cos i didnt want bills.Ive just had gas put back on to normal meter because of the cold spell we had this year but left electric as it is.

[bankhater10]

Hi there, sorry for the delay, i've been gathering a bit of info!

Ok, i have a long statement from Scottish Power and it says that my parents spent:

£1809 over the last 504 days, which is-

£107 per month, or

£1310 per year.

 

With the standing charge added the total is:

£1895 for 504 days

£112 per month

£1372 per year.

 

The total amount they have paid into their pre-payment meter for between 23-2-2009 and 11-7-2010 is £2001

That is electricity charges of £1897, 'other charges' of £4.90

and VAT of £94.

 

Aditionally on this statement it states that they have used 12,366 kWh of electricity during the previous 12 months (also, it states that the estimated charge over the next 12 months for the same amount of electricity will be £1544.

 

Now, is it just me or are my parents using an extraordinary amount of electric for 2 people who live in a 2 up, 2 down cottage with a small room built on, kerosene central heating and water heating and a real solid fuel (wood) fire and their excesses in the last 12 months have been: an immersion heater on one hour a day, my mum using her tumble dryer to dry her clothes and, during the winter months, a heat lamp in an exterior shed to keep puppy dogs warm?

 

Please feel free to comment on any of these figures and/or ask me any questions or give me any advice as im furious/scared that my parents are paying, on average, £112 per month for electricity alone :mad:

 

Ps- The statement says that the most recent period of between 1-3-2010 and 11-7-2010 they Scottish Power were charging 11.2p per kWh and 17.2p per day i think, it is written down as: [email protected] and [email protected]

 

Pps- i have just been on the 'energyhelpline.com' website, inputted my parents' post code and last years/12 months usage of electricity (which we now know will be much lower this next 12 months being as my mum uses a spin dryer to partly dry her clothes instead of putting them directly into the tumble dryer like she was up to 2 weeks ago, but for the sake of the comparison site i stuck to the same usage) and clicked to see what other suppliers they could go on using a pre-payment meter and E-on came up top with a price of £1309 for the same period which was a saving of £215/14%. However, when i did the same again but chose 'any method of payment' E-on again came top with the 'pay monthly direct debit' option but with a price of £1008, a saving of a whopping 697/41%!!!

However, i have 2 questions:

1, i was under the impression that pre-payment meters/suppliers had to, by law, not over charge their customers for using a pre-payment meter? If so, then how could using the pay monthly option be so much cheaper?

2, even though i submitted my parents' post code im hesitant to hope that E-on could supply them where they are (in the hills in mid-wales where i suspected that only Scottish Power were available), apart from ringing them on Monday how can i find out this please?

Thank you in advance!!

Edited July 18, 2010 by bankhater10

[loopylil]

There is something very wrong with your parents bill. My home is a two bedroom bungalow with a large loft/roof space.Gas central heating, everything else electric.As i said before i never turn my emersion off as it takes more to reheat, cook by electric,washing machine and tumble dryer used 2/3 times a week.All i put in is 10.00 per week thats £520 per yr.Have you had the meter checked could be fault on that or better still ask them to change the meter, tell them you think there s a fault on it.Check the emersion see what temp its set at.That can be turned down.

You must try and get that sorted before the winter sets in.

When was the last time the meter was changed? Mine was done about two years ago.

[dx100uk]

12336kWh in 365days / 24hrs = 1.4kW per hour

 

that equates to leaving 14 100w lamps on 24/7.

 

i suggest to narrow down 'what' is actually using the electric you get yourself an 'owl'

OWL | Wireless Electricity Monitor Designed To Save You Money & The Environment - OWL Wireless Electricity Monitor

 

argos tescos etc all do them.

 

your supplier might well do them for pensioners for free, some of them do.

 

TBH: 1.4kW an hour is not a huge use, it is high but not huge

 

as with most old people they will typically have a fridge and or freezer which is either old or far too big for their needs.

 

anyhow

 

get one of those owls and it will soon prove where it is going.

 

and if it turns out the meter is reading wrong, you'll get it back .

 

dx

[Surfer01]

You can get the monitors for free from a number of suppliers. It does nto matter where they live, they cna choose any supplier as all it is, si that the supplier is issuing the bill. No supplier in the whole of the UK actually supplies electric. Suppliers only monitor consumption.

I would suggest that at a specific time every day a reading is taken. Do this for a week as this will give you a good indication of consumption per day. As they have seperate heating the bill should not change that much between summer and winter. The tumble dryer would be the biggest culprit. Once yu are able to analyse the readings it may give oyu a better idea whether the meter is faulty or not. When we first moved into our bugalow it was discovered that the meter was faulty. It was exchanged and the previous bill written off.

However even with the tumble dryer it still does seem a lot. Do the week reading the metering and then come back on here as you will then be able to narrow it down and analyse where the most consumption is occuring.

We have storage heaters and we usee an average of £70 per month for our two bedroom bungalow.

I would also suggest that they move away from a pre-payment meter due to high standing charges. Atlantic and also Southern offer good rates and have offers for vulnerable people.

[bankhater10]

Hello! Answers from peolple like you two really make me appreciate exactly how brilliant forums are, thank you so much!!

Regarding the fridge/freezers- you are quite correct- they have one fridge and two full size freezers- i assume that they are big users of electricity too?

Could i please trouble you for your opinions on my two questions?-

 

1, i was under the impression that pre-payment meters/suppliers had to, by law, not over charge their customers for using a pre-payment meter? If so, then how could using the pay monthly option be so much cheaper?

2, even though i submitted my parents' post code im hesitant to hope that E-on could supply them where they are (in the hills in mid-wales where i suspected that only Scottish Power were available), apart from ringing them on Monday how can i find out this please?

[Surfer01]

The cost of the unit may be the same, but the way they get around it is on the standing charge which will be higher and they can charge anything they like. Standing charge includes rental of meter, mter operator costs, Data Collector and Agregator costs, commission etc.

As said it does not matter where they live. When you input the post code into Energyhelpline that is a list of all the suppliers that can supply to that area in order of price.

[sillygirl1]

The suppliers are supposed to charge fairly but since I changed from a pre-payment meter for an electric only one bed flat my electric bill went down by £200 for the winter quarter.... I was putting in £10 every other day - even when I was out at work from 7am to 6.pm or so.

 

Prepayment meters are often set incorrectly so I think by changing that you will have discovered the root of the problem.

[nottslad]

I know with eon that PPM prices are the same as standard quarterly bill. Where you are getting quotes for such large savings will not be the standard tariff, it will be more like an online discount and direct debit discount, which is where the biggest savings are to be made. (EON give 6% just for setting a DD)

[bankhater10]

Ok, i have just bought an 'Owl' (Wireless Electricity Monitor) for my parents, now we will see what the big users are and aren't.......

[Surfer01]

Does this "Owl" show daily consumption? If not, I suggest that reading their meter every day is still an option especially if at the end of the week you can show a descrepancy between their meter and the "Owl".

In the meantime if theri account is up to date, change supplier, request removal of PPM and pay account by DD once oyu have worked out average consumption based on a week's reading and also a monthly reading.

[bankhater10]

Hi, well the Argos description reads:

Keeping an eye on your electricity has never been easier with the Owl wireless energy monitor. Owl helps in the fight against climate change and is set up to help millions of households realise just how much electricity (and money) we waste in our homes. Owl monitors the homes electricity supply and provides real time information about the households electricity use. By turning lights or appliances on or off, Owls easy to read LCD monitor reveals exactly how electricity fluctuates, how the cost of electricity changes per hour and how much harmful CO2 emissions the home is producing. By simply turning off appliances not in use or rather being used needlessly, UK consumers can actually save up to 25% of their electricity usage. A saving that translates directly to their monthly bills and households harmful emissions. Product features. Wireless electricity monitor. Cost of electricity display. Greenhouse gas emission display. Kw hours display. Temperature and humidity display. Large LCD display. Portable monitor. Wireless operation. Clip on sensor. DIY fit. Easy to read, easy to use, easy to install. Can be used with mains adaptor. (not supplied) Alarm function set your own peak usage. Unit supplied with batteries. Battery save option. Easy clean facia. Neutral colour. Water resistant transmitter for outside locations. Single phase with 3 phase capability. Monitor with integral stand.

 

Also, today i have found out that my parents have two chest freezers, please can anyone advise me if they are big users of electric?

[dx100uk]

yes they can be

age is the imp thing here

and where they are kept too.

 

if you look on most stuff it will have a dogtag

on there it will tell youu how much it consumes.

 

as for the owl

 

it will tell you EVERYTHING. daily use, night /day , cost etc etc

 

spend 5 mins programming it then it will make life easy.

 

best thing is to have it in the ENERGY mode

that way it big number show current kWh consumption

then it will jump up/down as things go on an off.

 

but as advised, KEEP doing a daily meter read on both tarrifs [1 & 2 or day/night]

try and dso it at the same time too.

 

as the owl is portable, you can walk around with it hitting mains switches.

 

what i would do is this

 

go around the house and systematically turn off EVERYTHING, [freezers wont hurt for an hour or so] [if it takes tahat long]

 

discover everything that is using power until you get the display down to '0.000'

 

then go back around and turn things on one by one, note where it is, what its label says, and by how much it increased the reading on the owl.

 

that will give you a 'hit-list' of things.

 

then operate things like the tumble dryer / cooker kettle etc.

then you can get reading from them too.

 

the owl has an alarm

you can set this at whatever kWh you like , so's if you go over that it tells you and you note the time and what has 'just' been turned on.

 

it will take a few days at least to get used to the 'sitting' consumption of the household, then use the alarm from there.

 

keep us informed.

 

dx

[bankhater10]

BRILLIANT advice!! Thank you so much!!!!:)