Smart meter: some days starts with a big balance + a bath is cheaper than a shower?

[OM2]

We're with EDF - same standard tariff as everyone else
Most days, the electric meter will start on a few pennies.
Some days it will be £1.50 - £2. Why?
There's nothing sucking energy.
We have 3 fridges, boiler, one light... and can't think of anything else.
What's causing this price hike on some days?

Bath or a shower?
Which is cheaper?
I always thought shower. A 5-10 minute shower is costing at least £1.50.
I searched for the price of a bath... it seems that it could be much much cheaper?? I couldn't find a conclusive answer.

We've got a standard combi Vaillant Ecotec 35w boiler, fitted 2+ years ago (I think that's the spec).

 

[Justin Passing]

Sounds like you're confusing gas and leccy. You probably aren't(!) but either way, can you read your meters directly?
Not a trivial matter sometimes.

 

[OM2]

Yes
I can read the meters directly
I have a smart meter though. So I don't have to read directly anymore?

 

[Justin Passing]

Depends - don't you want to know how much of each fuel is using for what??

 

[OM2]

I'll be honest, I just look at the big number on the smart meter
I've never gone to look at the meter
Can you clarify what you do and how you measure? That might give me a better idea

 

[Justin Passing]

I expect there are several types - google is your friend.
Take a reading, have a bath , take a reading, work out the difference, sort of thing.

 

[Mottie]

I always thought a shower was much cheaper than a bath. Probably is if you dash in, shower, and get out in a minute or so. Just recently because we are waiting for a partially collapsed drain to be repaired we were told to double flush after every poo and if we shower, put the plug in and empty the bath afterwards to get a good flow of water through the soil pipe. Anyway, with the plug in and having a 5-10 minute shower and washing hair as usual, the bath was filling up to the same level as if I had run a bath. Considering we both have a shower every night our gas consumption is not too bad. The only way I can tell is that in the summer months when we are only using gas for hot water and cooking, our smart meter tells us we are using between 30 and 40 pence worth of gas per day. Mind you, we were lucky to get a very good two year fix just before gas prices went crazy so it might be different from October this year!

 

[gas112]

. Anyway, with the plug in and having a 5-10 minute shower and washing hair as usual, the bath was filling up to the same level as if I had run a bath.

What sort of shower ? power shower ?

 

[Mottie]

What sort of shower ? power shower ?

No. Just an unvented cylinder, so mains pressure. A lot different to when we had gravity hot water - that was like someone spitting on you!

 

[cwhaley]

Read your meter readings before you go to bed, then again in the morning.

Times the units used by the unit rate you're billed, plus one days' standing charge (on both gas and electricity) and you will get a fairly accurate figure for what you're using.

 

[gas112]

No. Just an unvented cylinder, so mains pressure. A lot different to when we had gravity hot water - that was like someone spitting on you!

yeah unvented and power showers due to flow rate basically use the same amount of water as a bath when people hang about in them .

 

[JonathanM]

I always thought shower. A 5-10 minute shower is costing at least £1.50.

That doesn't sound right. If you have a powerful ten minute shower, you might use 120 litres of water. For a combi to heat 120 litres water from 5C to 40C will take 5KWh of gas. On the capped tariff of 10p per KWh that would be 50 pence.

It sounds like you are using the in home display (IHD) to check usage. With gas, IHDs can be very slow to update your consumption. Also, it's much more useful to use KWh than price. The best thing I've found is to take a reading in KWh, before and after a shower, directly from the meter itself. Obviously make sure the heating is off when you do it.

Are you reading gas and electric separately, or just the combined number on the IHD? If your tariff has a standing charge, that will be added on at some point, usually early in the day, so that can confuse things. Three fridges might use quite a lot of electricity, depending on size and age.

 

[gas112]

That doesn't sound right. If you have a powerful ten minute shower, you might use 120 litres of water. For a combi to heat 120 litres water from 5C to 40C will take 5KWh of gas. On the capped tariff of 10p per KWh that would be 50 pence.

It sounds like you are using the in home display (IHD) to check usage. With gas, IHDs can be very slow to update your consumption. Also, it's much more useful to use KWh than price. The best thing I've found is to take a reading in KWh, before and after a shower, directly from the meter itself. Obviously make sure the heating is off when you do it.

Are you reading gas and electric separately, or just the combined number on the IHD? If your tariff has a standing charge, that will be added on at some point, usually early in the day, so that can confuse things. Three fridges might use quite a lot of electricity, depending on size and age.

dont forget although it may use 120 litres its not heating 120 as there will be cold in that as well

 

[JonathanM]

dont forget although it may use 120 litres its not heating 120 as there will be cold in that as well

I was hoping I'd factored that in by using 40C as the shower temperature. So whatever the final composition of the shower water in respect of hot and cold, you still need to raise 120 litres from 5C to 40C overall. But I do sometimes get things like this a bit mixed up. I'm pretty sure (hoping!) it works in this case though.

 

[JonathanM]

I always thought a shower was much cheaper than a bath.

I remember that too. Back in the 1970s they used to say that fitting a shower would save you lots of energy and water. But they were basing that on a 3 minute shower and at that time it was most likely a gravity fed shower or even an electric shower giving less than 5 litres per minute. Nowadays many people enjoy taking long showers with high flow rates.