sheltie68 Posted November 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 Thanks Thamsin - that is interesting I am on the D/D route - that is why I am keeping a close eye on things but I do appear to be paying a a good bit less than you - so I hope you can get yours down too. Let us know how you get on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooney1 Posted November 17, 2012 Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 Experiment by turning things off and on and see how fast the meter is spinning round. Sometimes old appliances like fridges/freezers can use lots of electricity, or could be a faulty thermostat on boiler etc. There's also the possibility of a faulty meter if it's spinning for no good reason. As mentioned the plug in electricity monitors are useful, or get an engineer out if you can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebedee Posted November 17, 2012 Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 Check the clock on your meter - it's possible that things that should be on at off-peak are being charged at higher rates if the clock on the meter is out. Having said that, in a similar house about three years ago I was paying £120 per month, it's not that far away from that figure, considering price rises since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longdog Posted November 17, 2012 Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 How do you change your immersion times?we don't seem to have any control over ours other than extra boosts which we never use. HOw do you check your meter clock times re. Different rates? We pay £140 a month I 3 bed ex council house, everything is electric and storage heaters. Never use the panel heaters, boost water, no tumble dryer, only 1 pc instead of tv, and take showers. Not many obvious options to reduce it :'( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muppet Posted November 17, 2012 Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 Longdog, your house and usage pattern are pretty similar to mine and I'm paying about the same. That seems pretty normal. PaulB I really think yours sounds very over the top. I'd try to get that checked out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khitajrah Posted November 17, 2012 Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 How do you change your immersion times?we don't seem to have any control over ours other than extra boosts which we never use. We've been trying to figure this out too. Our hot water tank switches on from 11pm-1am, 4-6 am and 4-6 pm. There is absolutely no reason to have the tank on in the middle of the night. We've spoken to both the council and the hydro and each says it's the other's responsibility and has nothing to do with them. The council said it is remotely controlled, but by whom? These times are rather odd - it means that all the hot water (we've a tiny water tank for a family of 5) gets used up during the morning routine and unless we use the boost there is no more hot water until evening (ie: none to do the lunch dishes or have a daytime bath). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustMe Posted November 17, 2012 Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 Kit, if you are on the same tariff as I was (Total heating with Total Control) then the electricity used for boosting the hot water is at the same price as the overnight electricity. I must admit I just ignored the overnight thing and just used boost but I had a high pressure cylinder so showers were OK. As for the timing it is controlled by a radio signal sent from, I believe, Aberdeen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longdog Posted November 17, 2012 Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 Muppet, that's good to know,but still seems very high, would hate to think of cost if we did use elec and have the appliances many have. With water heating like that over night it for us it will just cool all day as most of our hot water use is early evening Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unlinkedstudent Posted November 17, 2012 Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 We've been trying to figure this out too. Our hot water tank switches on from 11pm-1am, 4-6 am and 4-6 pm. There is absolutely no reason to have the tank on in the middle of the night. We've spoken to both the council and the hydro and each says it's the other's responsibility and has nothing to do with them. The council said it is remotely controlled, but by whom? These times are rather odd - it means that all the hot water (we've a tiny water tank for a family of 5) gets used up during the morning routine and unless we use the boost there is no more hot water until evening (ie: none to do the lunch dishes or have a daytime bath). There's usually either one control panel with two square switches on it plus 1 hour boost and 2 hour boosts OR no panel and just two plain switches. As far as I'm aware, they both work in pretty much the same way. If both switches are in the ON position, you have both the cheaper electricity when the radio signal kicks in and the normal rate. On the control panel ones, it is easy to work out. On the ones without the control panel, the SIC didn't mark up in all their houses which switch did what. (Marvellous!) In that scenario, you'd normally have them both turned on and have to 'experiment' to ascertain when one of them is turned off whether it turns the immersion off completely or just the cheap electricity rate. In other words, switch one switch off one night and the next night, turn the other switch back off and the other one on (Unless you hit bingo the first night!). Hope that makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheltie68 Posted November 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 I spoke to someone in the power station who gave me my off peak times as they are different from what the mainland tells you - I have a electronic 7 timer I found instructions online and changed my off-peak settings to suit me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shetlandpeat Posted November 17, 2012 Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 Heating up a tank full of water while the electricity is cheap is common practice. Make sure you have plenty of lagging around the hot water storage tank, if you can put a timer on it all the better. As ever, LED lighting can cut down bills, if not, the energy saving lamps. Turning appliances off instead of using standby can save quite a bit. I have got an energy monitor, when I left the TV (when I had one) the DVD player and Av Receiver on standby they consumed 100 watts. A unit of electricity every 10 hours.The energy monitor is a great thing to have. If set up right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hector's House Posted November 17, 2012 Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 LED lighting can cut down bills as long as you're not paying for the lamp in the first place! For example - http://www.ledbulbs.co.uk/products/Traditional+LED+Bulbs/Non-Dimmable+Traditional+LED+Bulbs/Philips+MASTER+LED+GLS+-+7W+Cool+White+BC/4019529156 and that's only equivalent to a 40w traditional bulb No doubt the price will come down, as it did for compact fluorescents, but the reliability vs payback time concerns me. I have seen the new LED fluorescent-tube replacements with sections already failed within weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinner72 Posted November 17, 2012 Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 Similar to Londog and Muppet here. 3 Bed council all electric, around £30 a week just now but not at "full winter heat" yet. It can go below £20 a week during warm summer months when there is virtually no heating on at all. I do know people who pay way more than this but at the same time I've been in houses with heaters turned to the max and windows open for "fresh air" right above them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shetlandpeat Posted November 17, 2012 Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 LED lighting can cut down bills as long as you're not paying for the lamp in the first place! I replaced my spots for LED, 40 watts each lamp, landlord had installed 3/2 lamp units, so had 10 in total. I managed to get 10 LED lamps for £25. They are not as bright, but when I want the extra, I use a lamp with a energy efficient lamp. The LED lamps come in at 4 watts each. Each to their own with this really. With a 90% cut in lamp power, it suits me. I tend to be out quite allot. Right now, with PeeCee, monitor and recording studio on, it is costing me 3.2 pence an hour, when the heater kicks in, up to 25 pence an hour, the shower can use up to 80 pence an hour and the cooker and hob about 60p an hour, the microwave about 16 pence an hour. I do agree that the cost of LED lighting has to go down for folk to invest in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ Posted November 18, 2012 Report Share Posted November 18, 2012 we are paying 220 a month. with a calor gas cooker and solid fuel fires. You forgot to mention teenagers, it's amazing how much the lecky bill goes up once each one hits about 12, plus I assume you have lights in out buildings, so your's will be a bit higher than folks in a 3bed with young children in a village or town. Oh the days of paying 40quid a month for gas/electric for a small top floor flat... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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