Economy 7 excessive bills - Help!!

onesocklizzie

Thank you so so much to everyone who has replied to me, I've got my mathematical head on and am busily taking down figures.
When an electrician came round a little while back he said the water def wasn't on economy 7. He also said it would be cheaper to have the water on all the time as it doesnt take as much energy to keep it hot as it does to heat it twice a day??!!
Also the property is rented so I'm v reluctant to fork out on a timer and electrician to fit it if theres another way...... I'll get on with the figures and hopefully get it sorted. Thankyou all x

onesocklizzie

Thanks Tubster - The electrician said that i could leave the heaters switched on all the time as they were only on the economy 7 circuit and therefore wouldn't use any electric during peak hours -does that sound right??!! and they don't have a timer....they're pre-historic!!!

oscar67

Your bills do seem high. At my last place I was on Economy 10, the usual 7 hours overnight plus an additional 3 in the afternoon. I paid around £45 a month in a 2-bed gf flat. However, my hot water was also on this tarriff as well. I am surprised that yours isn't. Check that your hot water storage tank has a thermostat on it which is set at no more than 140F and that the tank is well insulated.

This should be cheaper electricity since the electricity company sell you their spare capacity during off-peak periods i.e. overnight.

Have you got convector heaters attached to your storage heaters? If so check that they are not left on as these will be using peak electricity.

At this time of year I would usually have the storage heaters on high input and low output. You then turn the output up when you get home and turn output down again when you go to bed. Don't leave them on high output overnight or when you are not in the house as they will rapidly lose their stored heat. This is even more important if you are on Economy 7 as all the electricity is stored over night and there is the likelihood that the heaters will be cold in the evening when you want the heat.

I hope this helps.

blu_3

onesocklizzie older economy7 storage heaters have no timer that you can alter, only the heating contols discharge/charge. Look around your electric meter, next to it, there maybe a radio teleswitch box this is meant to be a precise timer. If not one of them, then the heaters could be timed from some other user non adjustable electronic timer device. Such as the electric meter itself. The only way to know what time they switch on-off, is to check every 15mins as previously said.

Heating water all day does increase you bills, even if the water is boiling hot. It does switch on-off for 10-15 mins each hour or more, day and night. In the daytime this will be where the electric is and costing you money. More if the thermostat is set at a very high temprature, more often another non adjustable device, by the user.

Suggest you get a digital timer for precise timing, the older manual non digital types are total rubbish. You should get one fitted but first try and see if you have one somewhere hidden. With an electric digital timer you will be in total control when the heating switches on-off. You will only then start to save money by cutting down on high electric useage.

Get another electrician to estimate how much it will cost to install one. While the electrician is there ask them if there is a timer control somewhere for the water heater play dumb it should work. If there isn't one get the electrician to estimate how much it would cost to fit one. Then do the same again twice more to find the cheapest electrician to fit one for you. Make sure they are registered electricians for saftey of you and your infant, plus the warranty. A little extra cost against health and saftey is worth it.

How long ago was the storage heaters serviced, does each one get very hot to touch !

stewie_griffin

As you're on a pre-payment meter, I'd suggest taking all the settings off it before phoning your supplier, as it'll allow them to check that it's calibrated correctly. It's a possibility that there's still a debt set on it from the previous occupiers or the unit rates are wrong.

I'm not sure if this has also been mentioned, but have you checked that the meter is switching to the night rate when it's supposed to?

cabstar

Hi

We had numerous problems a few years ago with NPower & a prepaid meter & economy 7.

Our problems started when we had night storage heaters & economy 7 installed.

The first 6 months our token meter kept taking the same amount of tokens & the heating was working great, however when the mater reading was taken we where £100's of pounds behind with our electric bill.

An engineer was sent out who was convinced it was impossible to have economy 7 on an prepayment meter. He left it to find out more.

Another engineer came to haev a look & realised the economy 7 meter was not connected to the prepayment meter, it had actually been wired up wrong.

He said another engineer would have to come out & rewire it.

The 3rd engineer came out & told us again it was impossible to have economy 7 meter with a prepayment meter.

We had problems with this for months & NPower where absolutely useless. As we where in debt to NPower we could not have the prepayment meter removed. Eventually we managed to get the prepayment meter taken out & the bill eventually settled.

I think it eventually took us about 2 years to rectify we had energy watch involved who helped a little but there was very little that they could actually do.

Sorry if this doesn't help, but I hope it may put you on the right path.

regards

Gary

Ravideshmukh

Hi All

I am having pre pay electricity meter. Monthly i am paying more than 60 GBP.
That also i am using boiler for 1 hr only.
Room heater for 1-2 hr/ day.
still why i required to pay this much of heavy amount

Secondly what is the method of using economic electricity

thanks
Ravi

Terrylw1

cabstar wrote: »

Hi

We had numerous problems a few years ago with NPower & a prepaid meter & economy 7.

Our problems started when we had night storage heaters & economy 7 installed.

The first 6 months our token meter kept taking the same amount of tokens & the heating was working great, however when the mater reading was taken we where £100's of pounds behind with our electric bill.

An engineer was sent out who was convinced it was impossible to have economy 7 on an prepayment meter. He left it to find out more.

Another engineer came to haev a look & realised the economy 7 meter was not connected to the prepayment meter, it had actually been wired up wrong.

He said another engineer would have to come out & rewire it.

The 3rd engineer came out & told us again it was impossible to have economy 7 meter with a prepayment meter.

We had problems with this for months & NPower where absolutely useless. As we where in debt to NPower we could not have the prepayment meter removed. Eventually we managed to get the prepayment meter taken out & the bill eventually settled.

I think it eventually took us about 2 years to rectify we had energy watch involved who helped a little but there was very little that they could actually do.

Sorry if this doesn't help, but I hope it may put you on the right path.

regards

Gary

You can have them, you can even get business E7 PP's which are very rare thesedays.

If it was wired up incorrectly, do you mean in the fusebox? Hence it was all wired to the day rate? If so, thats the electricians fault, not the Supplier. If you mean the engineer who fitted the meter did not attach the night tails, then yes thats the engineers fault and Npower should have helped with that part, including amending your bill to accomodate the day/night rates since thats not your fault.

I'm guessing since you say another engineer had to come out, that it's the latter since any fusebox work they cannot do.

I've seen some cases where engineers just leave the night tails out to convert them to single rate meters. Of course, the Supplier cannot then usually bill you at all since a meter change is normally required in those cases (not all though)

I believe you on the delay side, PP like this are a bit of a nightmare with Npower.

helenjones1984

Hi,

I have economy 7 heaters ... i use vey little electric in the day (only fridge is on) and have no hot water as shower at the gym ... however .... it is costing me near enough £70 a week to heat my small 2 bed flat ...??? Can anyone please help me ... or suggest what is going on!!!!! I rang my electricity supplier ... did the whole meter reading rubbish ... and she seemed to think that they had the rates mixed up ...ie. charging me the day units as night and the night units as day .. they have since retracted this option now and seem to think that my heaters are heating at day instead of night ...? They are coming out next week to check this but looking at what some of you are saying this may not solve my problems .... In order to challenge this i have been getting up during the nights and early mornings to take meter readings yesterday - day units = 18, night = 6 ... this is my first experience of day and night units ... does this usage sound about right?? There are no timers on the heaters so im assuming they are linked to the rates. I know for sure that the rates change at 12.20am - 7.30am (night rate) but is there anyway i can tell when the heaters are heating???? Please help - i feel at my wits end

Thanks

Dave_Rowtree

Economy 7 is only worth it if you use most of your electricty at night - up to 40%. The electric companies say 20% but it is more like 40%. You actually pay more during the day than most people on economy 7 to make up for the "savings" you are making at night.