How Much Does it Cost Me to Heat My Cylinder

[chris watkins]

I am a BG customer (yer don't have a go) for both Gas & Electric & have Smart Meters, sad as I am I was intrigued to see that you can call up what you have used hour by hour for each day.

As I heat my hot water (5-6am only) before my heating comes on & before any gas is used for cooking I can see exactly what it costs to heat my daily hot water.

Now I know I have a large cylinder 48 x 18" (1200x450mm) copper cylinder but it's a Part L one & the boiler is a modern condensing type, pipework well lagged & as I say only heated once a day, (& SWMBA uses an electric shower), so I was surprised to see that it costs on average 32.5p per day, thats over £85.78 a year.

I was alway lead to believe the average was around £50/year which was one of the main reasons I could never make the case of solar thermal hot water systems, not so sure now.

Anyone seen this option it's under "EnergyUsage/Overview" once you are logged in to your account.

 

[zzzjim]

I love my bath ( but get nagged to shower )

any figures for water usage ( and a HOT / cold -guestimate ? )

 

[gmartine]

Have you seen how much it costs to run the electric shower because 33p to heat 160 or so litres doesn't seem excessive.

Now you've had the guilt meters installed find a provider with a lower tariff and start measuring gas consumption in kw/h.

 

[Chalked]

Have you seen how much it costs to run the electric shower because 33p to heat 160 or so litres doesn't seem excessive.

Now you've had the guilt meters installed find a provider with a lower tariff and start measuring gas consumption in kw/h.

Think a 9 kW shower @12p a kW works out about 10p a minute! If my maths is correct.
If it's not, please put me right:32:

 

[joni os]

I'd go for 108 divided by 60 as cost per minute Approx: 2p. but its a long time since I left school.

 

[Stanios]

Its great to know exactly how much each appliance uses, I wish I had a smart meter to make it easier.
Gotta remember though its not only electric! Dishwasher may only use few pence of electric per cycle but some dishwasher tablets are up to 30p a pop! Think about that next time you skip on good old handwashing..

 

[steadyon]

Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but I worry that smart meter will give the utilities the opportunity to charge different rates at different times of the day in the future, so that we pay for their load balancing.

 

[oz-plumber]

Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but I worry that smart meter will give the utilities the opportunity to charge different rates at different times of the day in the future, so that we pay for their load balancing.

' Apparently ' that's what they do, or intend to do over here.

Charge you the peak tariff when you need / use electricity the most.
And they can change instantly, at their discretion, when you are using the most electricity.

 

[gmartine]

Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but I worry that smart meter will give the utilities the opportunity to charge different rates at different times of the day in the future, so that we pay for their load balancing.

Why didn't you just refuse to have them installed?

 

[chris watkins]

Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but I worry that smart meter will give the utilities the opportunity to charge different rates at different times of the day in the future, so that we pay for their load balancing.

And why would that be a problem ?

We need to get people to understand the costs of not using the base load, discharging (throwing) it away because we can't be bothered to do our dish/cloths washing etc overnight just don't make any sense.

I am look forward to a drop in my charges because I do this.

IMHO the suppliers should be forced to put this in place instead of only offering Economy 7 tariff which are only cost effective for high overnight users.

 

[oz-plumber]

Chris,

If your expecting a drop in your electricity bill, you will be hoping at best.

I pay electricity bills on 4 property's, and since smart meter installations - government legislation, my bills have gone up noticeably - not substantially.

I questioned electricity supplier, their response.

'Analogue Meters were inaccurate and you are now being charged the correct amount'

On all 4 property's, I asked.....Yes was their response.

 

[gmartine]

...plus we in the UK are going to be charged £200 odd for our smart meter installation. My meters have been renewed within the last decade or so they can't come at me with an inaccuracy tale. I for one won't be having smart meters installed, if I'm that interested in the cost of appliance use I can easily purchase an off the shelf monitor.

 

[chris watkins]

Chris,
'Analogue Meters were inaccurate and you are now being charged the correct amount'

On all 4 property's, I asked.....Yes was their response.

Come on OZ we all know they were only inaccurate due to those dirty great magnets you had strapped to em!! :cool3:

 

[steadyon]

Re. various responses to my post #7 above;

gmartine - I will refuse smart meters as long as this can be done, but expect they will become compulsory.

chris watkins - If you think the rate for off-peak will go down, rather than the rate for peak usage periods going up you have a higher opinion of the utility suppliers than I do. My concern is that the basic rates will stay the same, but peak times will go up, with the result of higher profits for the suppliers rather than an evening out of costs by usage.

 

[gassafe]

85 for a whole year of hot water seems good to me? Sounds like a load of penny pinchers on this thread ☺️

 

[Ric2013]

Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but I worry that smart meter will give the utilities the opportunity to charge different rates at different times of the day in the future, so that we pay for their load balancing.

Exactly the point. But hopefully we'll also have smart appliances that will switch on and off (if we're feeling cheap) to help balance demand on the grid. So immersion heaters can switch off when Eastenders finishes and everyone makes puts their kettles on.

 

[plumbandplumber]

85 for a whole year of hot water seems good to me? Sounds like a load of penny pinchers on this thread ☺️

Just what I was thinking. 32p for a whole cylinder of hot water? Sounds like a good deal to me.

 

[oz-plumber]

Come on OZ we all know they were only inaccurate due to those dirty great magnets you had strapped to em!! :cool3:

Now my Hydroponic set up is costing me an absolute fortune in electricity.
At least with the analogue meters, you could manipulate them or by-pass them and open them without detection.

You cant even open a smart meter now without the supplier knowing.

There's a switch inside that lets them know when the cover has been opened.

They want to come and inspect the meter because its inside the property.


On a serious note, I rent a small factory to a person who uses it for storage while their new house id being built.
I pay the bills and the power bill has almost doubled since the smart meter was installed. The electricity usage was 3 dollars a week prior to smart meter installation, now almost 6 dollars a week - not including supply charge.
Not much money- so not really bothered - but a rise of almost 100% had me raise some questions with supplier.

 

[Best]

You can buy a meter cheaply that monitors your electricity use and puts it into pence per hour.
I think you get a clamp part for the supply in and a portable meter.
Really brilliant to watch how the pence will drop just switching a light bulb or two off, or some appliances that were on standby.
I really shows you the reality of your electric use and waste, - especially for people that haven't a clue about the different consumption of power some things use.
If you were having to feed a meter with change every hour, you would think more about reducing the waste

 

[gmartine]

Re. various responses to my post #7 above;

gmartine - I will refuse smart meters as long as this can be done, but expect they will become compulsory.

You can, they aren't, look it up.

"One day well all have smart appliances to go with our smart meters that can make use of varying tarifs throughout the day" What faith in technology eh?

The first thing ECo's will do is charge you more for the energy you want to use to drive off demand.