Renting % economy 7

intranix

It's getting silly now, we are a young couple, renting a 1 bed flat, economy 7 heating with storage heaters...

We are finding the bills to be getting out of hand, 155 last quarter, and we havnt even turned the heating on yet!

We are finding the tarrif pretty useless for our usage pattern, and want to switch

Should we be asking permission from our landlord to get off of economy 7? and how much of a hassle will we have actually telling EDF energy we want to get off of it?

cheers

littletommytucker

Check your tennancy agreement, if it doesnt mention anything in there then you are within your right to book the appointment without notifying the landlord. He doesnt own the meter anyway.. the local electricity distributor do. I think EDF would charge between £30 to £50 change the meter, and probably get you it done hassle free within 10 days. British Gas would do it free of charge for you.. check on the comparison websites, if they show up as being cheap for you, then maybe it would be worth while changing to them first, then getting the meter exchanged, avoiding any fees!

Hope this helps

Magentasue

intranix wrote: »

We are finding the tarrif pretty useless for our usage pattern, and want to switch

What is your usage pattern? In other words, what is your annual kwh usage of day and night units? You need to take this into account if you are thinking of using storage heaters as they will cost an enormous amount of money on a standard tariff.

Do you know why your last bill was so high? Presumably not a lot of night units if no heating, but how many day units? Any estimated readings?

Ken68

Landlords LIKE storage heaters, a lot cheaper to provide at a lower maintenance cost than gas central heating.
Unless you have a gas alternative best to keep E7.

spiro

It is possible that in the summer (no heating) that E7 appears not very good however once you switch the heating on you will save. £50 a month for an all electric flat doesnt seem too high but check how many hours a day your water heater is on. If you search this forum you will find figures of over £100 per month average for this type of place. In terms of switching off E7 I would advise against it giving the cold weather is just starting.

Premier_2

littletommytucker wrote: »

Check your tennancy agreement, if it doesnt mention anything in there then you are within your right to book the appointment without notifying the landlord. He doesnt own the meter anyway.. the local electricity distributor do. I think EDF would charge between £30 to £50 change the meter, and probably get you it done hassle free within 10 days. British Gas would do it free of charge for you.. check on the comparison websites, if they show up as being cheap for you, then maybe it would be worth while changing to them first, then getting the meter exchanged, avoiding any fees!

Hope this helps

Don't forget, irrespective of whether it doesn't mention it in the TA or who actually owns the meter, the T has an overiding responsibility to hand back the property in the same condition as it was when first let (save for any express permission otherwise given)

So if T organises the meter to be changed to a single rate one, T should remember to arrange for a dual rate meter to be put back before the property is handed back to the LL or face the possibility of being charged for such work.

Having said that, there are some companies who will allow a customer to be charged on a single rate tariff even though they have a dual rate meter - not sure if EDF is one of them.

...Or maybe easier just to get the LL's permission in the first instance