[Scarlett Minx]

Hi

I've just moved into a rental flat (first time I've rented).

Its a one bedroom, own front door etc (no communal leccy).

It has economy 7, which I can't change, with night storage heaters.

It has an immersion, which is being fixed tomorrow, which I will have on for an hour in the early hours of the morning to warm my airing cupboard up and give me a spot of hot water in the morning (I have electric shower).

Due to noise, I can't really have the washing machine on at night

Due to cold flat, I'm buying a tumble dryer, 'D' rating, which I shall have to use for about 2-3 hours per week evenings, as my clothes aren't drying well. I probably use the washing machine twice a week.

I won't put the night storage heaters on until December (there are two, one in bedroom and one in lounge).

My OH is buying me a "fake fireplace" with a 2kw fire to give me some extra heat eves.

Question: For those in the know, how much electricity do you think I should I budget for each month?

I have set up a DD for £40 but am obsessing over every single bit of electricity I use and that needs to stop, as I need to keep warm, as does my little old boy rat, who indeed has a fur coat and warm bed but I do worry!

I can't change supplier or get a single rate meter as my tenancy agreement won't allow it.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts

[Hypnodisc]

Originally Posted by Scarlett Minx

Hi

I've just moved into a rental flat (first time I've rented).

Its a one bedroom, own front door etc (no communal leccy).

It has economy 7, which I can't change, with night storage heaters.

It has an immersion, which is being fixed tomorrow, which I will have on for an hour in the early hours of the morning to warm my airing cupboard up and give me a spot of hot water in the morning (I have electric shower).

Due to noise, I can't really have the washing machine on at night

Due to cold flat, I'm buying a tumble dryer, 'D' rating, which I shall have to use for about 2-3 hours per week evenings, as my clothes aren't drying well. I probably use the washing machine twice a week.

I won't put the night storage heaters on until December (there are two, one in bedroom and one in lounge).

My OH is buying me a "fake fireplace" with a 2kw fire to give me some extra heat eves.

Question: For those in the know, how much electricity do you think I should I budget for each month?

I have set up a DD for £40 but am obsessing over every single bit of electricity I use and that needs to stop, as I need to keep warm, as does my little old boy rat, who indeed has a fur coat and warm bed but I do worry!

I can't change supplier or get a single rate meter as my tenancy agreement won't allow it.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts

I don't think electricity is quite as expensive as people realise.

We live in a 4 bedroom shared terraced house - and we top up just £40 a month to the key meter. We use stuff like tumble dryers, plasma TV's, washing machines etc. a lot.

I know that every supplier is a little different - but they are all much of a muchness - on these comparison sites the differences were like £20 a year between them

[Appleseed]

It's very hard to determine what your usage will be really. All I'd suggest you do would be to take a meter reading (peak and off-peak as you have econ7) then take another at the same time a week later. then work out in £££s what you've used. Obviously, you'll need to know what your unit rates are.
Times the result by 52 and then divide by 12 to get what you should be paying each month.
Remember we're virually in winter now so things will ease up a bit as the weather gets warmer next spring, but if you work it out for this time of year, you should be on the right side of good when summer arrives.

Another way of saving is to try and have your morning shower before the cheap rate goes back to standard rate (you'll need to find out what your off-peak hours are, prob midnight to 7am at the moment, and 1am to 8am in summer (BST), but these times can vary a bit either way) and use the immersion heater during the night to get hot water as much as possible (fit a timer - one with an override is better as you might sometimes need to have it on in the day)
In summer get a load of washing on in the cheap period (before 8am) it all helps!

[lemoncurd]

Originally Posted by Scarlett Minx

Hi

I've just moved into a rental flat (first time I've rented).

Its a one bedroom, own front door etc (no communal leccy).

It has economy 7, which I can't change, with night storage heaters.

It has an immersion, which is being fixed tomorrow, which I will have on for an hour in the early hours of the morning to warm my airing cupboard up and give me a spot of hot water in the morning (I have electric shower).

Due to noise, I can't really have the washing machine on at night

Due to cold flat, I'm buying a tumble dryer, 'D' rating, which I shall have to use for about 2-3 hours per week evenings, as my clothes aren't drying well. I probably use the washing machine twice a week.

I won't put the night storage heaters on until December (there are two, one in bedroom and one in lounge).

My OH is buying me a "fake fireplace" with a 2kw fire to give me some extra heat eves.

Question: For those in the know, how much electricity do you think I should I budget for each month?

I have set up a DD for £40 but am obsessing over every single bit of electricity I use and that needs to stop, as I need to keep warm, as does my little old boy rat, who indeed has a fur coat and warm bed but I do worry!

I can't change supplier or get a single rate meter as my tenancy agreement won't allow it.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts

£40 is quite a lot for a 1-bed flat. I pay about £28 per month for a semi, and I have an electric cooker/hob and use my dishwasher and washer/dryer a fair bit.

[hanndav]

I dont get this. I have an all electric two bedroom flat with storage heaters and immersion tank that only comes on at night. All lights low energy, tumble drier an hour a week washing machine twice a week. How come I'm getting charged £90 per month? The heating is off most of the year.

[lemoncurd]

Originally Posted by hanndav

I dont get this. I have an all electric two bedroom flat with storage heaters and immersion tank that only comes on at night. All lights low energy, tumble drier an hour a week washing machine twice a week. How come I'm getting charged £90 per month? The heating is off most of the year.

£90??

I guess the immersion heater (about 2.5kW?) will be the bulk of that - A lot of your £90 I will be paying for in gas instead.

As for the rest, I don't really use that much leccy apart from the 2 appliances I mentioned, the microwave, a TV, my PC and the hobs (which get used 4-5 times per week).

Still, it does seem a big differential.

[Scarlett Minx]

Your area/supplier? I'm Southern Electric in Southampton area.

[hanndav]

Originally Posted by lemoncurd

£90??

I guess the immersion heater (about 2.5kW?) will be the bulk of that - A lot of your £90 I will be paying for in gas instead.

As for the rest, I don't really use that much leccy apart from the 2 appliances I mentioned, the microwave, a TV, my PC and the hobs (which get used 4-5 times per week).

Still, it does seem a big differential.

I think you're right there. The annoying thing is, it's a lot of water to heat up just for my OH's shave and the washing up! Of course it doesn't help that my OH re heats the water for a bath a couple of times a week using the day electric.

[mjwarman]

I think that there are recent laws in place to say that a landlord cannot determine which supplier you have to be with, or even what meter you have so I think you may find that you can chage to a single rate meter if you really wanted!! Check again with whoever gave you your tenancy agreement because I think they were telling porkies!!!

I'm currently with Southern Electric in the Aylesbury area and they have recently shafted me for £117 a month, (2 bed house with no working heating system!!) I have got southern to send me a wireless electricity meter for free which you can monitor exactly what appliances use the most electricity. Hopefully it will also enable me to prove that their meter, (fitted c.1980) is faulty. I've already had the time switch replaced as that was ticking it was so broken!!!

[paddysu]

Originally Posted by hanndav

I dont get this. I have an all electric two bedroom flat with storage heaters and immersion tank that only comes on at night. All lights low energy, tumble drier an hour a week washing machine twice a week. How come I'm getting charged £90 per month? The heating is off most of the year.

How recently have you had a bill. I've got a similar set up to you and 18 months ago I was paying £35 a month and then now its £80 but my last bill had me almost £200 in credit. You really would think the bloody electric companies would think to tell people when the rates change as until I've spent that I can't do anything about seeing if anyone else has a better rate as I don't trust these companies to do refunds.

I haven't looked at prices much over the last year and I've not actually seen much on the news about it. Has the cost fallen quite a bit over the last year. I think it must have done for me to have got so much in credit as I can't think what I've stopped using.

I wish I had a meter that i could actually get at to see just how much different things cost to run like the washing machine etc but the meters in an awkward to get at cupboard about 7ft high and you have to press that little red button to get the different rates. Even the meter readers have to ask me for something to press the button with and then they have the nerve to ask me to read the bloody thing myself so I don't get an estimated bill.

[Scarlett Minx]

I think I will stick with my £40 and see what my first bill is, and up it if I need to. The man at Southern Lec said I seemed quite switched on to what I needed and was happy to set it at £40.

The thing with single rates is that I won't get the cheaper leccy at night with the night storage heaters (which will be my main source of heating), and I'm out all day and most of the weekend, so I supopse the slightly higher day rate will even itself out. I don't have gas so won't be paying that either.

So many questions, so many different answers!

[paddysu]

Economy 7 is the cheap rate for your heating and hot water if you had a boiler.
Theres specific fuses under the meter that those are run off, I've got a spare slot for the room that I've not got heaters in. Well there is in mine but then its a 50 year old initial instalation so modern ones might not show anything visible or be alot smaller as I've not seen many other meters cuboards with so much junk in them in the way of fuses and switches as mine.

[jrio]

Originally Posted by Scarlett Minx

Hi

I've just moved into a rental flat (first time I've rented).

Its a one bedroom, own front door etc (no communal leccy).

It has economy 7, which I can't change, with night storage heaters.

It has an immersion, which is being fixed tomorrow, which I will have on for an hour in the early hours of the morning to warm my airing cupboard up and give me a spot of hot water in the morning (I have electric shower).

Due to noise, I can't really have the washing machine on at night

Due to cold flat, I'm buying a tumble dryer, 'D' rating, which I shall have to use for about 2-3 hours per week evenings, as my clothes aren't drying well. I probably use the washing machine twice a week.

I won't put the night storage heaters on until December (there are two, one in bedroom and one in lounge).

My OH is buying me a "fake fireplace" with a 2kw fire to give me some extra heat eves.

Question: For those in the know, how much electricity do you think I should I budget for each month?

I have set up a DD for £40 but am obsessing over every single bit of electricity I use and that needs to stop, as I need to keep warm, as does my little old boy rat, who indeed has a fur coat and warm bed but I do worry!

I can't change supplier or get a single rate meter as my tenancy agreement won't allow it.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts

Why would you want a single rate meter? Economy 7 will save you a lot of money, around £100 in a one bed flat on heating and hot water. Make sure you know the cheap rate hours(it's usually a 7 hour period between 10pm to 7am, often 11.30pm to 6.30am currently).

Electricity suppliers can vary a lot in their rates, and I can't see any reason, since you're responsible for paying the bills, why you should be blocked from switching. You should discuss it with your landlord having worked out the potential savings. Energyhelpline.com is very useful and you can get £15 cashback for switching to some suppliers. Over the past year I've saved at least £60 by switching and am planning to do it again, potentially another saving of £40.

My accommodation is similar to yours, and my last yearly bill will have been around £340. With your washing machine/dryer usage being at day rates, that would probably add on another £20. As a guide my usage is around 1700 day units and 1900 night units.

Depending on how well insulated the flat is, not using your storage heaters until December may see you get very cold from this weekend. Typically, the unit cost is 4/5p compared to 10/12p during the day. Not using them at all in November isn't going to make massive savings.

[Scarlett Minx]

I think its more a pyschological thing re the heaters, as if I'm this cold in November, what are Jan/Feb going to be like?

Its all food for thought and thanks for those who commented. I reckon I should just use electricity normally and keep giving regular meter readings to the leccy board so my bill is correct and not estimated. I'm happy on economy 7 as my heaters are night storage.