BIG electricity bills?? How to deal with them

Hi all...

Has anyone had to touch their timer at all?

I moved in a couple of months ago and my bills are pretty big...Can anyone help me with how the timer works etc?

Thanks!

Zoe

Depends if you got Southern Electric to fit them Ambz, they fit them for free and should save you money with the timers fitted although Steve is prob best to confirm - my prob was that I had the meter changed but the water heater packed up and the contractor preffered to wait till I had it fixed which happened within days but by then they had managed to run out of the timers - failing to mention it was just the heater timers and thus didnt turn up to fix them till today mening i was turning the peak on and off on the water heater to try and avoid the huge bills!

beter late than never Chris
I got timers fixed for my flat today...yipiiee!

Just curious why u mention stayin up late and gettin up early for the heaters....we dont really have any off-peak/on-peak system installed for the electricity meters right??? does'nt matter wht time of the day or night u use the boilers or any other applicances...is that wrong?

Finally had the timers fitted by the contractors in block c, and the part that had delayed the fitting for so long due to stocks was the poxy heater timers not the water heater timer! I really couldnt of cared less about the heater timers if they had explained it to me and would of saved me staying up late and getting up early to turn my water heater on/off, bloody idiots

vickyo27 wrote:

I also can't understand it...I'm using slightly more on peak than off peak yet the heaters have not been on since last winter and the water comes on in off peak.....just don't know how we have used so much!

Vicky - I have sent you a PM (private message). I have some questions, I may be able to help.

I have been struggling with my electric bills since I moved in. I'm in the small block so have the water heater with a timer which is set up to come on during off peak hours.

Crest told me my meter was actually my neighbours meter so I have been reading the wrong one up until a week ago when southern electric read the meters and advised me otherwise. Sadly the one I'd been reading was a lot lower so I'm not left with a big outstanding bill!!!

I also can't understand it...I'm using slightly more on peak than off peak yet the heaters have not been on since last winter and the water comes on in off peak.....just don't know how we have used so much!

Hi,

I just moved into 'the limes' block last friday. Similar to rossco the estate agent did not explain anything at all about the heating or boiler. I did not have any hot water for the first couple of days. Thanks to this forum and the work that you guys have put in I became aware that we should have timers! Went back to the agent and I guess they too look up the forum..so they knew about the issue. Im finally getting a timer fit in the apartment next week!! Hopefully this will help keep my bill in check.

Thanks people! Appreciate all the work and follow up done here.

Since you are all the experts....is there a preferance for the energy supplier around here? Ive been told i have nPower as the supplier but I'm free to change and inform the agents.

Cheers,
ambz

Some interesting news that may explain why we don't all have the timers fitted.

I had my timer switch fitted for my boiler on Wednesday morning. The chap that came over to fit it was surprised that it hadn't been done already, and said that I also needed them fitted on my heaters. He didn't have any more timers on him as he was waiting for a delivery (could be a few months...this seems to be what we are all hearing).

Anyway, he told me that apartments 1 - 12 all have matching plot numbers, but then when we get to 14 and above, the plot numbers don't match with the apartment numbers. There is no 'apartment 13' as apparently no one would buy ever buy it! (Personally, I think 'apartment 13' sounds cool!)

He says that when they have been ticking off the apartments completed, they must have been ticking off plot numbers instead - hence the missed apartments!

Shocking really

Well I’m a tenant in block b and moved in back in July.

When I first moved in the landlords agent never explained or went through with me how these heaters worked. I also found it odd that there was no timer fitted and it had to be left on 24/7. I had a look on this forum to see if anyone could help and that is when I found the useful step by step instruction manual, and that the water heater should come with a timer.

I called my landlords agent and they knew nothing about Crest’s offer so I called Crest direct. Crest are claiming the offer to fit the timer was only available for 6 months. I think this is a load of rubbish because they have not fitted the heater to the manufactures instructions thus making it their responsibility to put it right even though the defects period would be up on these flats.

They were supposed to of been ittybitty,i was told by Julie that mine would be fitted before i moved in (may)and 1 knackered water heater later they still arnt "in stock".I think i may start sending my bills their way and then see how quickly they can be in stock!

Good info, thanks. I've made steps to get my timer fitted.

Though Karen Barber said that 'she was under the impression that this had already been done [for C block]'

I have been in contact with the contracted electricians very recently and am awaiting a visit for the timers to be fitted but apparently they are out of stock at the moment after i had to cancel the origianl visit after the water heater itself packed up and they wernt sure whether to fit or not. I will post the number and contact name when they ring back as i cant find it at mo

Good luck. Remember, there is no doubt there should be timers - this has been agreed.

In the meantime, you can best manage your water heater manually. Take a look at the document linked above. Much tedious research went into it!

Thanks guys - I shall make this my next little project

I noticed the link at the top of this topic was broken. To download the original report about the water heater, go to:

www.viridiansquare.org.uk/goto/reduce_electric_bill

I believe the agreement was that Crest would fit them to the property owners that asked for them. I know that was the case in block B. Of course block C owned by Circle Anglia, may have some other agreement.

In any case, it was after much fuss last year, finally admitted there should be timers.

Hi A & M,

I live in block C too and when I bought my flat (in April) there was a timer fitted to my waterheater. It didn't work (I got my dad's mate to fix it!) but it was there. I understood from Julie (Circle Anglia Sales) that all flats were getting the timers fitted too.

I'd have word with her.

Jaq

Hi

I'm in block C and wanted to know if anyone successfully convinced crest nicholson/Circle Anglia that the Pulsacoil heaters should really have a timer? If so when as I may try my luck but figure it properly is a little late in the day.

This is an extract of an email I sent to a fellow resident questioning whether to 'sign up' for the Economy tariffs...Thought it may be useful...

“One thing to note is that I am in block B. I think you are in Block C, and I believe you may have a Heatrae Sadia boiler / water store rather than the Gledhill we have in block A and B, but I am not sure. I know block D has the latter. I don’t know so much about that unit but I am fairly sure it works on the same principal that it heats up a tank of water and has a kind of electronic mixer tap and a pump to output hot water at mains pressure, up to a maximum temperature (normally 55 deg). Anyway, the point is, the tank has to be heated up, but it keeps the water hot for quite some time and depending on your usage, one ‘full charge’ may last two to four days. Indeed, I live on my own and taking one or two showers a day, and some other water for washing, I only heat mine every two or three nights. For the remainder of the time, it is just switched on on standby. However, when I arrived I was told to leave the thing heating ALL THE TIME! Which is in fact, totally crazy and a massive waste of huge consumption of power, and it’s totally unnecessary.

The issue is that these water heaters ARE designed for use with Eco / ‘dual tarrif’ supplies. That is, you get peak, and off-peak rates during certain times of day. These boilers are like the water equivalent of storage heaters – they are designed to ‘charge’ at off peak rates, and deliver during peak rates whilst using no power. The problem is, we didn’t get dual supply meters along with it. Further more, the real bigger issue is the HEATERS they chose. They are NOT storage heaters – they are ‘instant on’, you get heat straight away which is great, but they consume power whenever they are on.

So there lies the problem. If you do change to dual supply, then that will suit your water heater as long as you ‘charge’ it during off peak time. But then, if you want to use your heating which will typically be more in peak-time, the price you pay for your heating will increase, even if your water heating will be reduced. [This would not of course be much of a problem in the summer…]

Everyone’s situation is different. At the end of the day, you have to consider your usage. Consider what the time-of-days are of the tariff you choose, and whether it will suit you to heat your water and use your heating during the off-peak times. If that doesn’t suit, then be careful as then you may well get an even bigger bill than with a standard tariff.

I notice you mention economy 7, here in block be in fact we have been offered economy 10, which is in fact more flexible than economy 7. Did you mean economy 10? I found this on the web:

“The structure of [economy 10 is] ten off peak hours is three hours in the afternoon; two hours in the evening; and five hours over night. The time of the designated hours can vary so it’s best to ask your proposed supplier directly for precise times.”

For me personally, I have decided to stick with a standard tariff, and simply control my usage better. There are lots of things you can do, including manually managing your water heating times (and not assuming you need to reheat every night).

It’s worth bearing in mind that when you draw hot water at the tap, you are not only using the hot water you finally get, you are wasting hot water in the pipe on the way from the tank to the tap, but also the tank has to refill with cold water, so it reduces the tank temperature much more that you may imagine. So if you only need some water for washing up, etc – it is in fact far more economical to boil the kettle into a bowl with some cold water.

The wall heaters we have do have a ‘lower power’ mode, which is good for maintaining heat but not that good at heating up from cold. Notice that on the control wheel there is a ‘sun’ – which is full power. Use that to heat up from cold, then change over to the ‘moon’, which reduces the amount of power used, and the frequency at which the thermostat kicks in. It’s worth noting that these flats are quite well insulated, and I find there is no need to leave heating on all the time even when it’s really cold. Far better to turn the heaters on just in the rooms you want, on full, when it gets warm enough, put them to low power mode. Low power mode is great for night use too. Oh and don’t forget to leave your oven door open when your done cooking! As well as the washer door after doing a tumble dry cycle. I find this heats up my main room and kitchen quite nicely!

Many of the flats have garishly bright halogen bulbs typically in the kitchen, which consume a lot of power. These days there are a lot of new generation LED based bulbs which can act as direct replacement. They are not as bright but the modern ones are pretty good. They don’t seem to be available in the shops yet, but can be found on the web. They will use about 8% of the power the halogens use. They also last a hell of a lot longer than the Halogens which often burn themselves out because of the wasteful heat they put out. There is also the replacement of any classic bulbs with energy saving ones – yes they get bad press – but the modern ones are much better than their earlier counterparts.

You can also save a surprising amount of power by ‘consolidating’ items on standby on a gang socket which you can switch off all at once. For example, if you have a TV, DVD player, sky box, etc, put them into a gang socket and switch them off all at once when you are not using them. Don’t put too much on one socket though, and be aware that some items should not be switched off completely (some boxes need to remain connected to receive updates etc).
”
PS – These days my total energy bill is around just £40 per month – there is no gas. That’s my total energy bill. That’s much better than the £110 per month I had when I first moved in!

I had the timer fitted to the boiler and also the wall heaters.

The timers on the wall heaters does work but obviously you have to have it constantly swtiched on at the wall so I havent bothered as I havent found it cold enough yet.

The timer on the boiler has really worked in my favour. I've got it programmed to come on for 4 hours in the early mornings and I've found my usage has gone down to around 8 units a day so lots of money saving.

Shame the idiots at Crest didnt install these to start with!!

This is late news, but in case anyone doesn't know Crest have finally offered to fit timers to heaters and the water heater in the flats of Block B 'the Firs' (I don't know if Block A has had a similar offer). I know the newer flats have timers fitted as standard. This comes as a result of a number of neighbours efforts so thanks to everyone who contributed to this campaign.

For anyone who has experienced very large electricity bills, they should definitely take up this offer to take control of their appliances. Contact Crest for more information.

For more detail to the background of this issue, or if you have experienced very high electricity usage, you can download an article at www.viridiansquare.org.uk/goto/reduce_electric_bill

I know some of you have already taken up the offer and had the timers fitted. Why not share your experience of this?

...some over 50%! And I'm very glad to hear it. If you haven't had a look at the report yet, visit www.viridiansquare.org.uk/goto/reduce_electric_bill to download your copy.

Post your comments, let me know how you get on!

Steve M

Some have said it's quite heavy reading! If you want to 'cut to the chase' - start reading from page four - "So what can be done?"

Let me know your thoughts on this and how you get on.

Some do not seem to be experiencing high energy bills. Are you one of them? Let us know your experience.

I have also had several reports of other general problems with the water heater - namely failing sensors (sometimes leading to complete failure) and also unexplained sudden luke warm water only. Any comments?

Steve M

Find out more here www.viridiansquare.org.uk/goto/reduce_electric_bill