Electricity unit charges

[Andy]

calling all you intellectual lot on here please can someone tell me what it
would cost to run a 2kw fan heater per hour in Ireland. Of course the wife
phoned up ESB first before I asked on here and got a rudish woman who gave
12.42 cents per unit and go work it out for herself! - she did say that a
2kw fan heater uses 1 unit every 30-40 minutes. Do you reckon that sounds
right?

So we went out and worked it out ourselves to 24.84 cents per hour which
seems too cheap. - Now just to be difficult we want to find out what it
would cost to run a 3kw fan heater per hour but we wont be ringing up the
rude buggers at the ESB again.

[James]

Post by Andy
calling all you intellectual lot on here please can someone tell me what it
would cost to run a 2kw fan heater per hour in Ireland. Of course the wife
phoned up ESB first before I asked on here and got a rudish woman who gave
12.42 cents per unit and go work it out for herself! - she did say that a
2kw fan heater uses 1 unit every 30-40 minutes. Do you reckon that sounds
right?
So we went out and worked it out ourselves to 24.84 cents per hour which
seems too cheap. - Now just to be difficult we want to find out what it
would cost to run a 3kw fan heater per hour but we wont be ringing up the
rude buggers at the ESB again.

According to this:
www.esb.ie/main/energy_home/your_esb_bill_tariffs.jsp
the current domestic charge is 13.85c/kWh.
(A kWh is one unit).

Thus a 2kW fan heater will cost 2 X 13.85c per hour or 27.7c.

[Andy]

Post by James

Post by Andy
calling all you intellectual lot on here please can someone tell me what it
would cost to run a 2kw fan heater per hour in Ireland. Of course the wife
phoned up ESB first before I asked on here and got a rudish woman who gave
12.42 cents per unit and go work it out for herself! - she did say that a
2kw fan heater uses 1 unit every 30-40 minutes. Do you reckon that sounds
right?
So we went out and worked it out ourselves to 24.84 cents per hour which
seems too cheap. - Now just to be difficult we want to find out what it
would cost to run a 3kw fan heater per hour but we wont be ringing up the
rude buggers at the ESB again.

www.esb.ie/main/energy_home/your_esb_bill_tariffs.jsp
the current domestic charge is 13.85c/kWh.
(A kWh is one unit).
Thus a 2kW fan heater will cost 2 X 13.85c per hour or 27.7c.

Thanks for that James. I wonder why the lady on the phone quoted 12.42 cents
per unit, maybe that's the price before VAT. Thanks also for the link on the
website. Just looked and was surprised to see that Standing Charge for Urban
areas is E10.38 Incl Vat but Standing Charge for Rural areas is E17.48 Incl
Vat. Bit of a fair difference there in price, I suppose its because they
have more of a distance to go to read the meters or something like that but
up until now I thought that standing charges were the same across the whole
of Ireland.

Does anyone know also if it is possible that an electricity meter can go out
of adjustment (either overcharging or undercharging)? - or are they always
reliable?

[_TJ_]

Thread Hijack alert! ;-)

Can anyone settle this argument for me? Which costs more money on
average - boiling 1 litre of water in an electrical kettle or boiling
the same amount of water in a regular kettle on a gas cooker?

The gas cooker method takes about twice as long I reckon, but gas
is usually a lot cheaper than electricity (I'm told).

Any takers?

[Calum Benson]

Post by _TJ_
The gas cooker method takes about twice as long I reckon, but gas
is usually a lot cheaper than electricity (I'm told).

Standard supply price from Bord Gáis is 3.398c per kWh (according to
http://www.bordgais.ie/energysupply/gas_at_home/htm/4_your_bill/gas_price_index.htm),
compared to the 13.85c per kWh from ESB mentioned earlier in the thread.

[Andy]

Post by Calum Benson

Post by _TJ_
The gas cooker method takes about twice as long I reckon, but gas
is usually a lot cheaper than electricity (I'm told).

Standard supply price from Bord Gáis is 3.398c per kWh (according to

http://www.bordgais.ie/energysupply/gas_at_home/htm/4_your_bill/gas_price_in
dex.htm),

Post by Calum Benson
compared to the 13.85c per kWh from ESB mentioned earlier in the thread.

Just to bung another spanner into the scenario what about if its an LPG
(Calor) gas cooker? ..........

[James]

Post by Calum Benson
Standard supply price from Bord Gáis is 3.398c per kWh (according to

http://www.bordgais.ie/energysupply/gas_at_home/htm/4_your_bill/gas_price_index.htm), >
compared to the 13.85c per kWh from ESB mentioned earlier in the thread.

You cannot just compare cost per kWh. You also need to take into account
the efficiency in the energy conversion process in your home. An electric
kettle will be highly efficient (over 90%) as little of the heat energy
created by the submerged electric element will be lost. I have heard of
gas appliance efficiencies from below 20% up to high efficiencies for some
well designed gas ch boilers but I don't know what the efficiency of boiling
a kettle on an open gas stove would be. A lot of heat energy from the
burning gas may not convert into hot water but will heat the gas stove and
the surrounding air.

[_TJ_]

Post by Calum Benson

Post by Calum Benson
Standard supply price from Bord Gáis is 3.398c per kWh (according to

http://www.bordgais.ie/energysupply/gas_at_home/htm/4_your_bill/gas_price_index.htm),

Post by Calum Benson
compared to the 13.85c per kWh from ESB mentioned earlier in the

thread.
You cannot just compare cost per kWh. You also need to take into
account the efficiency in the energy conversion process in your home. An
electric kettle will be highly efficient (over 90%) as little of the heat
energy created by the submerged electric element will be lost. I have
heard of gas appliance efficiencies from below 20% up to high efficiencies for
some well designed gas ch boilers but I don't know what the efficiency of
boiling a kettle on an open gas stove would be. A lot of heat energy from
the burning gas may not convert into hot water but will heat the gas
stove and the surrounding air.

Now my head hurts ;-)

[Andy]

Post by _TJ_

Post by Calum Benson

Post by Calum Benson
Standard supply price from Bord Gáis is 3.398c per kWh (according to

http://www.bordgais.ie/energysupply/gas_at_home/htm/4_your_bill/gas_price_in
dex.htm),

Post by _TJ_

Post by Calum Benson

Post by Calum Benson
compared to the 13.85c per kWh from ESB mentioned earlier in the

thread.
You cannot just compare cost per kWh. You also need to take into
account the efficiency in the energy conversion process in your home.

An

Post by _TJ_

Post by Calum Benson
electric kettle will be highly efficient (over 90%) as little of the heat
energy created by the submerged electric element will be lost. I have
heard of gas appliance efficiencies from below 20% up to high efficiencies for
some well designed gas ch boilers but I don't know what the efficiency of
boiling a kettle on an open gas stove would be. A lot of heat energy from
the burning gas may not convert into hot water but will heat the gas
stove and the surrounding air.

Now my head hurts ;-)
--
_TJ_

Who would have thought that boiling a kettle of water could be so
scientific! .......

[Mens sana]

Post by _TJ_

Post by Calum Benson

Post by Calum Benson
Standard supply price from Bord Gáis is 3.398c per kWh (according to

http://www.bordgais.ie/energysupply/gas_at_home/htm/4_your_bill/gas_price_index.htm),

Post by Calum Benson
compared to the 13.85c per kWh from ESB mentioned earlier in the

thread.
You cannot just compare cost per kWh. You also need to take into
account the efficiency in the energy conversion process in your home.
An
electric kettle will be highly efficient (over 90%) as little of the heat
energy created by the submerged electric element will be lost. I have
heard of gas appliance efficiencies from below 20% up to high
efficiencies for
some well designed gas ch boilers but I don't know what the efficiency of
boiling a kettle on an open gas stove would be. A lot of heat energy from
the burning gas may not convert into hot water but will heat the gas
stove and the surrounding air.

Now my head hurts ;-)

And we haven't even mentioned the old copper kettle on the Stanley 8.

MS.

[Calum Benson]

Post by James

Post by Calum Benson
Standard supply price from Bord Gáis is 3.398c per kWh (according to

http://www.bordgais.ie/energysupply/gas_at_home/htm/4_your_bill/gas_price_index.htm), >
compared to the 13.85c per kWh from ESB mentioned earlier in the thread.
You cannot just compare cost per kWh. You also need to take into account
the efficiency in the energy conversion process in your home.

I know, that's why I didn't go on to make any claims about which one
would actually work out cheaper :)

[carrigman]

Post by Andy
Does anyone know also if it is possible that an electricity meter can go out
of adjustment (either overcharging or undercharging)? - or are they always
reliable?

Electricity meters are highly reliable and hardly ever malfunction. They do
tend to slow down i.e. under-record slightly after about 20 years or so
which is why electricity utilities world-wide usually replace them after
that time. Customers claiming that their meters are over-recording are
almost always incorrect. The reason for unexpected high usage is invariably
down to simply increased use of electricity, an electrical installation
fault e.g. a leakage to earth problem, or a faulty appliance.

(Also: check your last few bills: is the present bill based on an actual
reading whereas the previous one - or more- was estimated? If so, then the
present bill covers more than the normal two-month usage as it contains
units actually used during the previous period - or periods - but which were
not billed at the time due to an under-estimated reading).

A simple check: turn off all appliances and look at your meter. The
revolving dial should come to a complete stop after about a minute. If it
doesn't, and you are certain you have switched everything off, get an
electrician to check your installation as you have a problem. The chances of
it being a faulty meter are *extremely* remote.

Regards,

Carrigman

[Holly, in France]

Post by carrigman
A simple check: turn off all appliances and look at your meter. The
revolving dial should come to a complete stop after about a minute.

Why does it take a minute? Hardly likely to be momentum, they don't move
very fast :-)

--
Holly, in France
Holiday Home in Dordogne
http://la-plaine.chez.tiscali.fr/

[carrigman]

A minute is generous. Should take a lot less.

Carrigman

Post by Holly, in France

Post by carrigman
A simple check: turn off all appliances and look at your meter. The
revolving dial should come to a complete stop after about a minute.

Why does it take a minute? Hardly likely to be momentum, they don't move
very fast :-)
--
Holly, in France
Holiday Home in Dordogne
http://la-plaine.chez.tiscali.fr/

[Holly, in France]

Post by carrigman
A minute is generous. Should take a lot less.

OK, fair enough. Half a minute then :-) Ten seconds even! Why doesn;t it
just stop?

Holly

Post by carrigman
Carrigman

Post by Holly, in France

Post by carrigman
A simple check: turn off all appliances and look at your meter. The
revolving dial should come to a complete stop after about a minute.

Why does it take a minute? Hardly likely to be momentum, they don't
move very fast :-)
--
Holly, in France
Holiday Home in Dordogne
http://la-plaine.chez.tiscali.fr/

--
Holly, in France
Holiday Home in Dordogne
http://la-plaine.chez.tiscali.fr/

[James]

Post by Holly, in France
Why does it take a minute? Hardly likely to be momentum, they don't move
very fast :-)

That's to give him a chance to take his fingers out of the socket :-)