High bills since installing storage heaters

[Amo63]

A tenant has noticed extremely high electric bills since having storage heaters installed.

Would an electrician be able to tell me the cause?

 

[Andy™]

storage heaters don't run on free electric....

 

[UNG]

An electrician may be able to help but the high bills could be down to a number of things not least the tariff they are being run on, how the charge period is regulated and are they set up properly

How was this property heated before the storage heaters

 

[shaunuk]

Make sure the tenant is on a time
Of use tarif. Like octopus go. Or an economy 7 tarrif so they get cheep energy at night when the storage heaters are charging. For instance go is 12p per kWh over night but the tennant may be on standard tarif at the moment at 34p.
34p x 30kwh a day of heat would be £10 a day. On economy 7 or time of use that would be half to a third of the cost.

Too late now as well but a heat pump would use 70% less energy than storage heaters and there is a 5.5k grant for all at the moment.

 

[Murdoch]

Does the property have economy 7 ?

 

[Amo63]

Thanks for your reply .. I’m checking the tarrif. He says he’s using 997Kw per month . It’s that excessive for a small one bedroom flat?

 

[champagnecharly]

A tenant has noticed extremely high electric bills since having storage heaters installed.

Would an electrician be able to tell me the cause?

Each storage heater will be rated in KW. Thats 1 hours use and it equates to what you would theoretically use if it the heater was on and never got to temperature. . e.g. if your storage heater is 2Kw then if on a normal tariff that would be 68p/ hour of it being on. (assuming it was permanently on) so two of them that would be 1.36/hr. ... an energy monitor like this:

Energy monitor like this might help work out what the usage actually is and how frequently it is actually on for,.

Remember a storage heater is just an electric heater with additional material that holds the heat. usually like brick type material. which give what is called thermal mass.

 

[Murdoch]

Thanks for your reply .. I’m checking the tarrif. He says he’s using 997Kw per month . It’s that excessive for a small one bedroom flat?

So about 30 kw per day . For a flat it’s certainly looks high BUT how many heaters, and what rating are they and has he been using the day time boost?

 

[binky]

Thanks for your reply .. I’m checking the tarrif. He says he’s using 997Kw per month . It’s that excessive for a small one bedroom flat?

Clearly likes a warm flat. Half the trouble with NSHs is people simply don't understand how they work.

 

[champagnecharly]

Thanks for your reply .. I’m checking the tarrif. He says he’s using 997Kw per month . It’s that excessive for a small one bedroom flat?

You could run a Airsource heatpump for a 2 bed or bigger on that amount of KW. wether it is excessive for that kind of flat is hard to say although i would think almost deffinately. much would depend on:

insulation of the build (EPC)
hot it is set to/
how long they are left on
outside temperature is/ location in the UK
whether they keep their windows open all the time and loose the heat generated.

Storage heaters are not magic devices and not meant to be just left on. They are meant to use cheap electricity e.g. at night on economy 7 and then store that energy using the thermal mass =brick type things. so the heat is radiate throughout the day.

Octopus has a great deal on air source heatpumps you may wish to consider that.

 

[UNG]

Sounds like it could be a design failure on the installing electricians part which ultimately comes back to the base level of training some newcomers to the trade believe they only need to be an electrician
My other thought is are they actually storage heaters could they be one of the many panel heating offerings that claim to be cheap to run

 

[Murdoch]

My other thought is are they actually storage heaters could they be one of the many panel heating offerings that claim to be cheap to run

I was wondering about that. But some people have strange ideas about how warm they want their homes to be ….. until the bills arrive

 

[ProDave]

Post the actual figures from the bill, units and rates, and the name of the tariff they are on.

If you have only just installed the storage heaters, they won't be old school real storage heaters, the EU outlawed those and even though we have left we have not reversed that. So they will be some fancy modern combination of part storage and part convector and will use a certain amount of peak rate daytime electricity to top up the heating when it's control algorithm thinks is best. Perhaps you can post pictures or a model number of the heaters?

And are they even that sophisticated, or were you hoodwinked into getting a certain notorious brand of electric radiators with a clay core that have sometimes been described as "storage"?

Locked to prevent being hi-jacked (again)

 

[Techstride]

Hi all,

I recently had storage heaters installed in my home, hoping to save on energy costs and take advantage of off-peak electricity rates. However, since their installation, I’ve noticed a significant increase in my electricity bills, and I’m really concerned.

The heaters are supposed to store heat overnight when electricity is cheaper, and release it during the day. But despite using them as intended, my bills have been higher than expected. I’m wondering if I’m doing something wrong or if there’s a better way to use them effectively.

Here’s what I’ve noticed:

• The heaters seem to use a lot of electricity during the night, even though I’ve set them to charge only during off-peak hours.
• During the day, it doesn’t feel like the heat lasts long enough, so I end up turning them on again or using other forms of heating.
• I’ve tried adjusting the settings, but I’m still not getting the results I hoped for.
• I’ve also heard that if storage heaters aren’t maintained properly, they can be inefficient.

Has anyone else experienced this after installing storage heaters? What changes did you make to reduce your bills? Should I be considering other types of heaters, or is there a way to optimize the use of my current ones?

I’d love to hear your experiences and any tips you might have!

Thanks!

 

[Murdoch]

Hi all,

I recently had storage heaters installed in my home, hoping to save on energy costs and take advantage of off-peak electricity rates. However, since their installation, I’ve noticed a significant increase in my electricity bills, and I’m really concerned.

The heaters are supposed to store heat overnight when electricity is cheaper, and release it during the day. But despite using them as intended, my bills have been higher than expected. I’m wondering if I’m doing something wrong or if there’s a better way to use them effectively.

Here’s what I’ve noticed:

• The heaters seem to use a lot of electricity during the night, even though I’ve set them to charge only during off-peak hours.
• During the day, it doesn’t feel like the heat lasts long enough, so I end up turning them on again or using other forms of heating.
• I’ve tried adjusting the settings, but I’m still not getting the results I hoped for.
• I’ve also heard that if storage heaters aren’t maintained properly, they can be inefficient.

Has anyone else experienced this after installing storage heaters? What changes did you make to reduce your bills? Should I be considering other types of heaters, or is there a way to optimize the use of my current ones?

I’d love to hear your experiences and any tips you might have!

Thanks!

How was your home heated previously?

Modern storage heaters are rather complicated so if they are using daytime electricity you probably need to turn up the required temperature so it heats more at night

What make and model are they?

 

[Techstride]

Hi, I bought this home 6 years back with some old heating system installed. I had to call the electrician and got it fixed. Wiring was a bit old too.

 

[Techstride]

How was your home heated previously?

Modern storage heaters are rather complicated so if they are using daytime electricity you probably need to turn up the required temperature so it heats more at night

What make and model are they?

Hi, I bought this home 6 years back with some old heating system installed. I had to call the electrician and got it fixed. Wiring was a bit old too. So I had to install a new gen storage heater Dimplex brand.

 

[ProDave]

New Gen storage heaters use a combination of off peak stored heat and real time daytime electric to top them up. they may be more comfortable and less prone to running out of heat than old storage heaters but they won't be cheaper.

For the price you paid you missed a golden opportunity so swap to an air to air heat pump that would have used about 1/3 the electricity of any form of resitance heating.