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sinca123
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February 25, 2023
Solved

High electricity usage - what could it be?

  • February 25, 2023
  • 62 replies
  • 1676 views

My apartment is on electricity only! why my electricity  heating using 10KW to run in 50 minutes! It cost me 4£ to run for only 50 minutes! 

Best answer by M.isterW

Updated on 18/08/25 by Ben_OVO

If your property runs purely off electricity and not gas, then you may have electric heating / radiators, possibly storage heaters, and maybe an immersion tank to heat the water. A lot of this sort of kit can use a lot of electricity, especially if it’s quite old. If you’d like tips on the most cost efficient ways to use your appliances, it's worth doing a quick Google search of ‘energy saving tips in (your local area). You should find that there will be organisations who will offer this sort of advice, often for free. You may also be able to get this advice from your local council.

 

If you’ve got a smart meter The ‘Usage’ pages of your online account / app are really useful to see what times of the day your electricity usage is highest, which helps you to get an idea of what is causing the higher usage. For the most accurate data you’ll need to have your smart meter set to send us half-hourly meter readings. Below are guides for changing your smart meter reading schedule online, and using the ‘Usage’ pages 👇

 

 

You have something that's heating the water that feeds the radiators, likely an electric boiler. You probably have a hot water cylinder heated by an immersion heater.

 

To reduce the cost of your hot water you can find a tariff that offers cheaper electricity at certain times (normally overnight) and use a timer on your immersion heater.

 

Reducing the cost of your heating is harder because it doesn't look like you have any way of storing the heat. If you can find your boiler and tell us what it is we might be able to suggest some options.

62 replies

juliamc
Rank 20
juliamc
Rank 20
February 25, 2023

Are you seeing that on your In Home Display ? Can you post a photo please. What hot water and space heating appliances do you have ?

S
Rank 2
sinca123Author
Rank 2
February 25, 2023

this one showing only when heating is running and all other appliances are switched off

juliamc
Rank 20
juliamc
Rank 20
February 25, 2023

Can you say what your heating is please ? 

S
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sinca123Author
Rank 2
February 25, 2023

electric

juliamc
Rank 20
juliamc
Rank 20
February 25, 2023

Heat pump ? Storage heaters ? Infrared ? 

S
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sinca123Author
Rank 2
February 25, 2023

storage 

juliamc
Rank 20
juliamc
Rank 20
February 25, 2023

So are you on an Economy 7 type tariff ? If so the idea is to charge them up during the cheap hours (usually a 7 hour block at night) then they emit the stored heat during the day. Your display shows a time of 13:12 which suggests they are using electricity at the peak rate. I think they do have a setting for giving a boost of heat but that’s going to be expensive to run. Can you post a photo of one of your heaters? How many do you have? 

    Blastoise186
    Super User
    Blastoise186Super User
    Super User
    February 25, 2023

    Storage Heaters are really expensive to run during the day. You might want to make sure it is only running during Off-Peak hours. Don’t run them at 1PM in the afternoon or your electric bills will absolutely rocket!

    Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!
      S
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      sinca123Author
      Rank 2
      February 25, 2023

      i do have this in each room (2bedroms shower living room

      Blastoise186
      Super User
      Blastoise186Super User
      Super User
      February 25, 2023

      That’s a very strange storage heater...

      Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!
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