Consumption

OK, not the alcoholic kind, but the electrical kind.  How much electricity do you use per billing cycle (and what is that billing cycle)?
Why do I ask?  I think something screwy is going on with our electricity and wanted some numbers to compare ours to.  In the last 6 months, we've reported a usage of over 4000 kWh on our Economy7 meter, which supplies (to my knowledge) just the storage heaters in our living room and the combi boiler.  Our day meter only registered about 850 kWh for that same period.  While I can see the possibility of the night-powered appliances using more electricity, I can't fathom them using 4-5 times more than the rest of our flat combined.  Oh, and our flat is only 1 bedroom and (supposedly) has double glazed windows (if that helps).

My electric for two of us comes in at 120 gbp a quarter. approx
My gas comes in at 103gbp a quarter. approx

In the summer, this decreases by half approximately.

I would not have a clue at how many KW we are using, I couldn't even stab at a guess. I never check!

I think its pretty cheap considering that me and my husband work alternate hours.  The electricity is always on, nothing gets switched off in the usual working hours of 9 - 5.  Ours is on constantly. Especially with a Californian man who always feels cold in weather I wouldn't normally put the heating on 

We live in a average size 1 bed ground floor maisonette that has average height ceilings.

Our suppliers for gas and electric are British Gas.  I think however from what I have heard recently, that Eon are the cheapest at present.

Have you considered that perhaps calling your supplier and get them to come check it out? it should be free for you to have it investigated.

You *may* have weird storage heaters. We lived in a house a few years ago that had storage heaters that actually cost a bomb to run. Do your heaters have fans in them? Most storage heaters don't but if you have the kind we did, they do. The fans racked up the electric bill because the system was not designed for the heaters to drop below a certain temp. It was complicated so I won't try to explain more, but if you hear a fan whirring in your heaters, this may be your problem. I think I posted ad nauseum about this a few years ago if you are so inclined to try to search my old posts.

Nothing directly to do with your problem, but if you have a gas-fired combi, why use storage heaters?

We don't have gas at all.  It's all electrical.  And the storage heaters are not fan-assisted.  One does have a heating vent which definitely uses the day meter to run and heat.  I'll have to call Scottish Power and have them come take a look; I wanted to see if our usage was normal or not before calling.

The economy 7 set up is designed to use more power at night, the idea being that night time electricity is charged at a cheaper rate.  The storage heaters heat up water in the tank and thermal bricks in the heaters over night, the idea being you then use this heat the next day.  As the heaters use up more power than anything else in the house that's why you get more consumption over night.

As PR said, as heating (both room and water) is one of the heaviest users of electricity the whole idea is that it makes use of the Economy 7 tariff which gives you cheaper electricity (per unit) at night (generally midnight to 7 a.m. in winter, 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. in summer, although the times can vary by half an hour or so either way).   That's the whole principle of storage heaters that they use power during the cheaper rate and store it in thermal bricks to be released gradually during the day.

I'm also all electric (no gas out here) and, unfortunately, have storage heaters at the moment.  I just received my latest quarter's bill, which covers from the beginning of November through to the beginning of February:  Day usage 890 kW/h, night usage 2775 kW/h.

I'm also all electric (no gas out here) and, unfortunately, have storage heaters at the moment.  I just received my latest quarter's bill, which covers from the beginning of November through to the beginning of February:  Day usage 890 kW/h, night usage 2775 kW/h.

OK...that's about what ours was.  I wasn't sure if the actual quantity was excessive or not.  2600 kWh from a boiler and a single storage heater (we leave the rest off) seemed liked a lot of electricity when compared to the total for everything else (including a radiator heater, a few computers, stove, etc).  The only thing I was able to find was this info from Strathclyde University which suggested an "average" household uses around 4000 kWh per year.  If that's an average for a house which uses gas instead of a night meter, then I suppose we're doing well.

Might be a bit high considering you have double glazing and just one bedroom. But for 3 months for me in a 2-bed flat with single glazing and lots of drafts, keeping the place barely warm for those 3 months (Sept - Dec) used 500 KWH day and 2400KWH night.

Or equivalent for a 6-month period of 1000 kwh day and 4800 kwh night.

Like you, all electric with no gas.

from Strathclyde University which suggested an "average" household uses around 4000 kWh per year. 

Average figures for consumption can be pretty meaningless across the whole range of circumstances since they mask the large variation in annual consumption from the lowest to highest (e.g. one-bed apartment with gas heating & cooking through to big house which is all electric).