Electricity costs extortionate

[lulu_bucket]

Thinking of purchasing a house. Have own water ie not on mains and obviously it is pumped on demand. Dont pay any water rates but elec bill is huge. Is this because the water is on demand and everytime you switch on water it is pumped therefore causing large elec bill? Any way round this at all would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[Buenchico]

Without knowing the power of the pump it's hard to be very precise but I'd be surprised if it's the cause of a very big bill.

Take a look at these pumps:
http://www.clarketool...ugal_Water_Pumps.html
The first one costs around 7½p per hour to run, whereas the second one costs around 15p per hour (based upon typical electricity prices).

In most houses taps (or a washing machine inlet, for example) won't be running for more than an hour a day in total so (even using the bigger pump above as an example) that would add less than £14 to a quarterly bill.

Chris

[dzug2]

The first thing to establish is whether the bills are huge because they reflect a high actual consumption of electricity or because they are based on inflated estimates. Which one is the case will depend on how the current owners have managed their bills.

If they are truly high it may be a case of finding a cheaper supplier.

[HowardKennitby]

I think you need to explain more about how this water supply works. Is it a from a well or a stream? Is there a storage tank?

[lulu_bucket]

thank you all for your answers, will try to find out more details so that you may be able to help even more.

[hc4361]

Also, what do you consider huge?
How big is the house? How many people?
What sort of heating/cooking?

[Hopkirk]

Huge electricity bills probably come from something that heats.

Do you have an immersion heater on to heat hot water, or electric room heaters?

Do you use a tumble drier a lot?

Do you run the washing machine a lot, on a high temeperature setting?

[boxtops]

She hasn't moved in yet, hopkirk!

[Hopkirk]

Oops. Yes.

Still, what sort of heating does it have?

[factor-fiction]

Who has told you the electricity bills are huge, lulu-bucket? Have you been given a figure?
Most people's bills have increased significantly over the last 5 years and if you haven't had a house before you may be in for a shock with utility bills, whichever house you buy

[deggers316]

i presume you have an "earth" toilet then,not paying water rates?

[gingejbee]

I presume (since there is no mains water supply) that there is no mains gas either. So *everything* is consuming electricity; I'd be surprised if the power bills *weren't* very high.

[nannybooby]

I agre tumble dryer is the most expensive thing to run ,last year we bought an electric tower type dryer from lakeland and its prooved really cost effective.