# ESB Bills Crippling Us!



## tweety07 (7 Jun 2012)

Moved into a house (4 years old) at the end of January 2012. There are 3 of us living in the house (all full time workers so nobody there during the day Mon-Fri). Two of us not from area so go home 2 of out 4 weekends each give or take. 

We have nothing electrical plugged in, in the bedrooms, bar a hair straightner here and there and a hairdryer occasionally, clock radio.

The house has storage heaters 4 in the main house (kitchen/sitting room/2 halls). Both halls have been turned off completely since February. Kitchen/Sitting Room off for a period of 3 weeks since we moved in (any chance we get we turn them off to try and reduce the bills). When storage heaters are in use they are on a timer so they kick in at 11pm and out at 8am.



Other electrical items in the house:

Dryer – never used since we moved in
Washing Machine – goes on after 8pm and full loads i.e. we put in clothes together for the house
Dishwasher – again goes on after 8pm
Kettle/Toaster/Fridge Freezer 
Electric Oven/Hob – only used 30-40% of the time
Microwave – used very little
3 showers – 1 electric and 2 pump/power (3 showers used per day) extractor fans in all bathrooms.
Flat screen TV in sitting room used most eves
Small lamp in sitting room
Everything that has a switch gets turned off immediately after use bar fridge of course.


*BILL BREAKDOWN* 
Jan/March (as we moved in end Jan) - €286

April/May - €271

Any advice greatly appreciated.  I really do see where else we can improve the situation?


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## Woodie (7 Jun 2012)

Many people would be glad to receive such a bill, that is less than 5Eur per week.  But that is me being a bit envious without knowing your true situation.
I am guessing this also includes the VAT, service charge, etc.?  But looking at your bill I would say the showers and cooker are a big part of your cost.  I am not sure why 8pm is such a significant time, unless you have a pack of which I am unaware. Nightrates are usually 11-8 or 12-9 depending on the time of the year and you must be signed up and actually have a night meter.  

You need to keep a monitor on the number of units you are using.  See when you are clocking up the most usage and see what you were using during those times.  There are hardware devices that can help you monitor this or is also a free ESB app which will allow you punch the device and it will tell you the per bill cost.

Furthermore ESB is expensive in comparison with others now, you could shop around for cheaper unit rates.


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## elcato (7 Jun 2012)

I presume the readings are not estimated ? The idea that storage heating is cheap is not true imho. They cost about 1.2 euro a day each so about a fiver a day just for them alone. Is there an open fire ? Showers are quite expensive. Do you have any bar type heaters in the bathrooms ?


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## Berni (7 Jun 2012)

tweety07 said:


> The house has storage heaters 4 in the main house (kitchen/sitting room/2 halls). Both halls have been turned off completely since February. Kitchen/Sitting Room off for a period of 3 weeks since we moved in (any chance we get we turn them off to try and reduce the bills). When storage heaters are in use they are on a timer so they kick in at 11pm and out at 8am.



Are these on a timer you have set for these hours, or on a proper nightsaver setup?
They should only need to be on for the whole period in the depths of winter, in this kind of weather they shouldn't coming on until about 3 or 4am

Do you have a nightsaver meter, and if so, what is the breakdown of your usage for day and night?


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## Jonny (7 Jun 2012)

ESB increased their rates some time ago as did the other suppliers (but not by as much)  Other suppliers ARE cheaper  We switched to Airtricity some time ago  Saving so far is roughly 10%


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## STEINER (7 Jun 2012)

your bills may be estimated, just check it out.

You can eliminate unnecessary usage where possible but you have to live and need heat.

Mother in law has storage heating, heavy on the usage they are.

Use the microwave instead of a pot on the hob for potatoes, veg etc

I live with one other adult, we use the electric oven most days.  Our average 2 monthly bill is 80-90 euro. At least your summer bills will reduce as you won't need much/any heat.


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## tallpaul (8 Jun 2012)

You should look at getting an electricity monitor such as an Owl. They are quite cheap:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/OWL-Micro-W...RJ82/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1339142234&sr=8-3

It will show you the effect that each appliance has on your usage once you use it. A kettle is a massive draw as is the immersion. You could also use it to check that there isn't a fault somewhere by turning off all appliances and see if electricity is still being used.


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## SparkRite (8 Jun 2012)

tweety07 said:


> Moved into a house (4 years old) at the end of January 2012. There are 3 of us living in the house (all full time workers so nobody there during the day Mon-Fri). Two of us not from area so go home 2 of out 4 weekends each give or take.
> 
> We have nothing electrical plugged in, in the bedrooms, bar a hair straightner here and there and a hairdryer occasionally, clock radio.
> 
> ...



Something doesn't add up here, if, as you state, are using the oven/hob for an average of 35% of the time, (see above) that is over 8 hours a day!!

I wouldn't mind if my electricity bill was only €271 then.

Somehow I don't think that is what you mean though.


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## ariidae (8 Jun 2012)

You got me thinking about my energy bills. 

I live in a two bed apartment - two of us. It is not ground floor (so warmer) and is well insulated. Storage heating also but my difference to you is we have Economy 7 water heating so hot water every day and no electric showers. The storage heaters aren't on at all from May to September. 

We also have lots of appliances, computers, printers on all evening and are less careful about turning things off than you guys seem to be. 

My electricity bill with Airtricity on average (over two years of data) per month €99.81. If I only look at my Jan to April bills the average monthly cost is €149.90.

So I hope that makes you feel better that your not doing too bad at all bill wise. 

However in answer to your question there is some tips here:


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## sydthebeat (13 Jun 2012)

SparkRite said:


> Something doesn't add up here, if, as you state, are using the oven/hob for an average of 35% of the time, (see above) that is over 8 hours a day!!
> 
> I wouldn't mind if my electricity bill was only €271 then.
> 
> Somehow I don't think that is what you mean though.



i think they mean 30-40% in frequency... not per hour per day


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## Protocol (14 Jun 2012)

4-bed det house.

OFCH

Elec bill is usually 80-100 per 2 months.


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## luna (14 Jun 2012)

You mention appliances being switched on after 8pm. Do you have nightsaver electricity? If so the cheaper units don't apply until after midnight in Summer months (until 9am).

Have you actually looked at your meter when you are expecting there to be little activity, and also worked out daily usage while you're not around? Things like this will help you get to the bottom of where you're spending your units. 

And buy the Owl monitor.


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## ClaireM (15 Jun 2012)

Read the meter last thing at night and first thing in the morning and this will give you an idea of your baseline usage and indicate if there is something being left on all the time that is using electricity.


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## serotoninsid (15 Jun 2012)

Protocol said:


> 4-bed det house.
> 
> OFCH
> 
> Elec bill is usually 80-100 per 2 months.


Just making comparison with my own setup.  Usually costs €130-140/bi  monthly.  Is your bill inclusive of electric showers - or is this run off the ofch system?


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## Slim (13 Jul 2012)

Protocol said:


> 4-bed det house.
> 
> OFCH
> 
> Elec bill is usually 80-100 per 2 months.


 
I am green with envy. Our May bill (mid March - mid May) was €270 incl. VAT and Standing charges etc. Actual usage was 1,342 units, we have 2 electric showers (3 showers per day), OFCH on a range that is timed for a few hours per day. House is quite cold most of time. 4 bed det. We also use washing machine daily, electric oven some days (hob is gas). Kettle 5/6 times a day. My own suspicion is the loads of tiny candle style bulbs in fittings all over the house and also use the dryer most days in winter (and some in summer).

Have you made any changes/improvements that help you keep the bill down?


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## Guns N Roses (13 Jul 2012)

Slim said:


> we have 2 electric showers (3 showers per day),


 
I believe electric showers are fairly hard on electricity usage. Also make sure to turn of the standby switch.


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## Slim (13 Jul 2012)

Guns N Roses said:


> I believe electric showers are fairly hard on electricity usage. Also make sure to turn of the standby switch.


 
Really, would the standby switch for the showers consume many units?

We don't switch off the tv(s) plugs at night either, nor Skybox. Would they consume much?


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## Leo (13 Jul 2012)

Slim said:


> Really, would the standby switch for the showers consume many units?
> 
> We don't switch off the tv(s) plugs at night either, nor Skybox. Would they consume much?


 
A shower on standby uses next to no elecrticity, roughly 1 unit of electricity per year.

Newer Sky boxes are said to use less than 3 Watts in Stand-By mode, so that would be  0.003 units per hour, or 26 units over a year.  

TV consumption varies from model to model, the maximum will be stated in the manual. Again, modern units are quite efficient. For example, Panasonic's 50" plasmas use 0.3W in stand-by, so 2.6 units a year.


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## Delboy (13 Jul 2012)

2 adults, 2 small kids in a smallish 3 bed townhouse- bi-monthly electricity bill around €85-€95. Average units 6.5 to 7.5 per day.
OFCH, Electric cooker, emersion never used, electric shower, tv etc unplugged every night, energy bulbs in throughout the house. dishwasher and washing machine

I kept checking the meter a year or so back at various times to establish what was using power and the quantities.
My readings put the shower at 0.6-0.8 units for 1 shower. The electric cooker certainly uses a fair chunk of power and we cook a lot from scratch, rarely using the microwave. 
Cant find the stats for the fridge/small freezer but I recall working out some time back it accounts for half our usage. It's about 10 years old and maybe worth changing


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## Protocol (17 Jul 2012)

Update:

4-bed det, OFCH, one electric shower, most bulbs low energy.

Most appliances Bosch / AEG / Electrolux, most low energy

2011 bills = 2495 units, 512 euro, or 85.33 per 2 months.

*Prices per unit:*

Mid-2011: BGE, unit rate = *14.1c*, discount finished

Mid-2011: switched back to ESB, *12.86c* plus some discount for online billing and DD.

The ESB unit rate has since increased to 14.76c.


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## landmarkjohn (18 Jul 2012)

I may have missed it but I can't see how you are heating your hot water. I guess you must have an immersion. My daughter moved into an appt with storage heaters and the bills were very high but we pinned it down to a daft timer on the immersion that had it coming on at night for a minimum of 4 hours.

Remember that even though you may have night rate electric it still isn't free. This was a typical celtic tiger "cheap as possible, don't worry about efficiency the tenant just has to swallow it" control on the immersion.


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## Delboy (20 Jul 2012)

Protocol said:


> Update:
> 
> 4-bed det, OFCH, one electric shower, most bulbs low energy.
> 
> ...



85 units per month...thats wild impressive


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## Protocol (21 Jul 2012)

2,495 units across six bills

512 euro across six bills

85.33 euro per bill on average.


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## Protocol (21 Jul 2012)

landmarkjohn said:


> I may have missed it but I can't see how you are heating your hot water. I guess you must have an immersion.



When the OFCH is on, for maybe 3-4 hrs per day, that heats the water.

When the OFCH isn't on ("summer" months), then there is no hot water in general.

Yes, we had an immersion, now replaced with a Willis water heater.  This is turned on a few times per week to provide some hot water.


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## McGann (30 Jul 2012)

I live in an 2 bed apartment, 3 night storage heaters & hot water immersion timer comes on during the cheaper rate of electricity.  As one poster already mentioned the night saver rate is not free.

The nightsaver rate only applies between 11 pm - 8 am. Have you compared your bill with neighbours on similar usage? and if you still feel you bills are high - I would even suggest getting a good electrician to check it out for you.

In 2005 I was getting Electric bills in the region €300 - €400 despite cutting down with energy save bulbs etc.

It turned out the meters were wired incorrectly - I was actually getting the bills for the apartment downstairs!

The best way to check is turn off all applicances and check your meter - the meter wheel should be almost stopped - then boil a kettle and see if it increases in speed, this may sound crazy but you need to do this yourself because believe me the utility company are absolutely no help - we had a fight on our hands to even get the company to come out and check the meter and having proven been billed incorrectly was another fight altogether.


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## dewdrop (30 Jul 2012)

I was under the impression nightssaver hours in summer went on till 9 am.  I stand corrected?


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## Berni (30 Jul 2012)

Summer is 12 - 9


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## McGann (31 Jul 2012)

Apologies, I stand corrected


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## Marigold77 (18 Aug 2012)

Storage heaters are costly to run.

A few years ago they built a new council estate, I think in Ballyshannon, Donegal, with storage heaters and a large number of tenants got into debt. When we rented a house with them in we simply never used them.

We get the Household Benefit package and at the moment ESB owe us E2..


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