Households with heated towel rails face £54.03 charges from April 1 | UK | News
Electric heated towel rails could cost some UK households around £54.03 a year from the start of next month, according to calculations by The Express. From 1 April, people in England, Wales and Scotland who use a standard variable tariff and pay for their electricity via Direct Debit will pay an average of 24.67 pence per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
This represents a 7% drop in the current price cap of 27.69 pence per kWh, with Ofgem saying the main reason for the drop is Government budget interventions. As a result, your electricity bills may soon be lower, but some appliances will continue to add up to surprisingly large sums throughout the year. This includes electrically powered heated towel rails, which are often heavily used. While most heated rails will be connected to central heating rather than mains, some will be a hybrid of the two.
However, many Brits will have electric versions as they can be used without turning on the whole house heating in the summer and are cheaper and easier to install.
Elegant HeatA UK specialist in a range of heating devices, moderate home use for a light user is around 2 hours a day, including morning and evening use.
Wattage values will vary depending on the model and size of the device. But for the sake of estimating year-round costs, let’s assume this is a fairly standard 300-watt model.
If we add this to Smart Money Tool’s Electricity cost calculator we see that, based on this level of usage, your electric rail could add £60.64 to your energy bill over 12 months below the current cap (27.69 pence per kWh).
This works out to a cost of £0.01 per 10 minutes, £0.17 per day or £5.05 per month.
Under the April 1 cap price (24.67p) it will be quite low, around £54.03 over 12 months, £0.01 per 10, £0.15 per day or £4.50 per month.
However, this assumes continuous electricity use for two hours. Elegant Heat says some models have thermostats that save power when the rail reaches a certain temperature, cutting costs in half.
Therefore, the cost of using a thermostat under the new cap could be around £27.25 per year.
While the forecast gives you a clear idea of the costs the cap represents over a longer period, the maximum cap on unit rates and standard charges is reviewed by the regulator every three months and does not remain in place for a year.
Meanwhile, the flat rate will rise slightly to 57.21p per day from the current level of 54.75p.
The ceiling price on April 1 will be valid until June 30, and the next price ceiling will be announced on May 27.
