SSE THTC Price Hike - Alternatives?
Hi I moved into a rented property in Scotland 2 years ago, the energy supplier is SSE and the tarriff is Total Heating Total Control. I pay £600 almost every quarter for my electricity at present and SSE have just informed me it's going up in April to 14.80p standing charge, 21.90 standard unit rate and 11.06 heating control rate.
I only have 2 storage heaters, the rest are the smaller type that are hard wired electric radiators you switch on and off as you want. I don't use either too often as it's so expensive.
The bulk of my bills comes from normal daily usage, cooking washing drying etc. I'm at home most of the day.
My landlord isn't interested in spending money getting an electrician in to change things and I probably can't afford to, so am I stuck with this system as is? I'm in my fifties and don't have a large income. I'm not sure how much it would even cost to try to change the meters or the wiring.
I just don't really know what my options are. I just know I'm getting more and more worried every time a bill comes in.
I only have 2 storage heaters, the rest are the smaller type that are hard wired electric radiators you switch on and off as you want. I don't use either too often as it's so expensive.
The bulk of my bills comes from normal daily usage, cooking washing drying etc. I'm at home most of the day.
My landlord isn't interested in spending money getting an electrician in to change things and I probably can't afford to, so am I stuck with this system as is? I'm in my fifties and don't have a large income. I'm not sure how much it would even cost to try to change the meters or the wiring.
I just don't really know what my options are. I just know I'm getting more and more worried every time a bill comes in.
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Comments
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FInd out how many kwh (elec meter units) you use in a year.
Maybe you have some meter readings roughly a year apart, or look at your bills.
Then use a comparison site to see how much you could save.
You will then know if its the cost v benefit of making changes0 -
I just don't really know what my options are. I just know I'm getting more and more worried every time a bill comes in.
Your supplier will soon be required to release you from your two meter THTC restricted hour tariff, and switch you to any tariff of your choice e.g. E7 for your storage heaters, at no cost to you. More info Click here
This change was due to come into force on the 1 April 2017 but suppliers have now been given until 1 September 2017 to comply with this change to their electricity supply licence, regarding restricted hour tariffs.
At least you will be able to get SSE to change your meters and put you on E7 etc. before next winter, possibly sooner and then once this has been done you will be free to use any comparison site to get the best available deal to suit your usage.0 -
E7 will still not be available without changing to an E7 meter and any necessary wiring changes at cost to the customer. This order simply makes single rate tariffs available to those with a multi rate meter. It also seems not to include E7 meters in that requirement although there is some conflict in the terminology used re RMI between different paragraphs. We can expect nothing less from the CMA of course.Your supplier will soon be required to release you from your two meter THTC restricted hour tariff, and switch you to any tariff of your choice e.g. E7 for your storage heaters, at no cost to you. More info Click here
This change was due to come into force on the 1 April 2017 but suppliers have now been given until 1 September 2017 to comply with this change to their electricity supply licence, regarding restricted hour tariffs.
At least you will be able to get SSE to change your meters and put you on E7 etc. before next winter, possibly sooner and then once this has been done you will be free to use any comparison site to get the best available deal to suit your usage.0 -
E7 will still not be available without changing to an E7 meter and any necessary wiring changes at cost to the customer. This order simply makes single rate tariffs available to those with a multi rate meter. It also seems not to include E7 meters in that requirement although there is some conflict in the terminology used re RMI between different paragraphs. We can expect nothing less from the CMA of course.
If you don't understand the wording of the order, don't make assumptions about E7 being excluded, meter changes required, wiring changes necessary etc, read the explanatory notes document hereProhibition to require the replacement of the existing electricity meter
30. Relevant Retail Electricity Suppliers will be prohibited from requiring Relevant
RMI Customers to replace their existing meter (such as to Single-Rate
Metering Infrastructure or Economy 7 Metering Infrastructure) in order to
switch to a Relevant Tariff. Relevant Retail Electricity Suppliers will also be
prohibited from charging any additional costs or financial charge associated
with keeping their existing Restricted Metering Infrastructure.
31. For the avoidance of doubt, a Relevant Retail Energy Supplier will be required
to make the Relevant Tariffs available to the Relevant RMI Customers on their
existing meters, at no additional cost for the customer.
The basic problem that is being addressed here is that restricted hour tariffs are non standard across suppliers. Suppliers of these tariffs that have previously locked customers in, will no doubt make whatever changes they see fit to ensure that they conform to the new conditions added to their supply licence at no additional charge to their customers.0 -
As I said there are conflicting statements, typical of anything from the CMA. Both documents clearly state, para 24 in the second link, that E7 metering is excluded from the single rate charging regime and the "relevant tariffs" are only single rate.0
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As I said there are conflicting statements, typical of anything from the CMA. Both documents clearly state, para 24 in the second link, that E7 metering is excluded from the single rate charging regime and the "relevant tariffs" are only single rate.
Read para 24 again, it clearly states that only E7 meters with a third (electric heating register) are excluded.
Common sense should tell you that E7 would not be excluded from customers on restricted hour tariffs like E10, Heatwise etc.24. For the avoidance of doubt, as regards the categories of metering
infrastructure that are excluded from the obligations in Article 3, the CMA
makes the following observations:
(a) Economy 7 Metering Infrastructure. The definition of Economy 7
Metering Infrastructure:
excludes (i) meters with a third (electric heating) register, in addition
to the ‘day/normal’ and ‘night/low’ registers (eg Economy 7 Plus
Weathercall), and/or (ii) meters where part of the off-peak period
occurs between 1200 and 1630 (with the remained of the off-peak
period occurring during a night-time period) (eg TwinHeat A &
; and
includes meters located in the South Scotland PES Area6 where peak
electricity consumption is recorded during 15.5 day/normal hours and
off peak electricity consumption is recorded during 8.5 ‘night/low’
hours (eg White Meter No 1 in the South Scotland PES area).0 -
Hi I moved into a rented property in Scotland 2 years ago, the energy supplier is SSE and the tarriff is Total Heating Total Control. I pay £600 almost every quarter for my electricity at present and SSE have just informed me it's going up in April to 14.80p standing charge, 21.90 standard unit rate and 11.06 heating control rate.
I only have 2 storage heaters, the rest are the smaller type that are hard wired electric radiators you switch on and off as you want. I don't use either too often as it's so expensive.
The bulk of my bills comes from normal daily usage, cooking washing drying etc. I'm at home most of the day.
My landlord isn't interested in spending money getting an electrician in to change things and I probably can't afford to, so am I stuck with this system as is? I'm in my fifties and don't have a large income. I'm not sure how much it would even cost to try to change the meters or the wiring.
I just don't really know what my options are. I just know I'm getting more and more worried every time a bill comes in.
Do not attempt to switch supplier with your existing metering.
As you rent the property, the only real option if you don't like it is to move.0 -
Thank you for all your replies. There seems to me to be a glimmer of hope from what was said so I will be pressing SSE to change me to E7 as soon as possible, if indeed it is possible.
Thank you for the links, I have saved that information to refer to again.
I'd be happy to start doing washing or cooking etc during the night if it saved me some money so I really hope I can change the meters.
I will update if I have any joy. Thanks again.0 -
Thank you for all your replies. There seems to me to be a glimmer of hope from what was said so I will be pressing SSE to change me to E7 as soon as possible, if indeed it is possible.
Thank you for the links, I have saved that information to refer to again.
I'd be happy to start doing washing or cooking etc during the night if it saved me some money so I really hope I can change the meters.
I will update if I have any joy. Thanks again.
SSE should at least be able to tell you when they will be complying with the new terms recently added to their supply licence and change you from your restricted tariff and on to E7 at no charge to you.
footyguy will have to find another phrase to parrot at every opportunity and telling you to move is just ridiculous!0 -
I have spoken to SSE who tell me they will change my THTC meters to an E7 meter for free but I will still have to pay an electrician to come and rewire things inside. SSE will only deal with putting in a new meter.
I still don't fully understand it, I'm assuming the rewire needed means there will only be one set of tails going into a new E7 meter rather than the two sets that are there just now and that's what they want an electrician to do.
I'm not sure if it would be better to shell out for this or not. I can't really afford it but I do think I'd be cheaper on E7.0
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