Economy 10 electricity

pollywolly71

Hi there

My In-laws (both pensioners) had Electric Central Heating installed in their home last year by their housing association. Their storage heaters were removed, but they still have an immersion heater for their hot water.

They have had 2 quarterly bills so far, and both were more than double what they would normally be paying! Aparently they are on Economy 10, which I haven't been able to find out that much about. They have the lower off peak rate that comes on at 3 different times during the day, and they don't even use all of the heaters in their house.

Does anyone know much about Economy 10, and is it suitable only for storage heating?

Any advice greatly apreciated.

Thanks

spiro

All Economy 'n' tariffs are design with people who have electric heating (typically storage heaters). You pay less during the night period than you would on a standard 24/7 tariff but you pay more during the day. You need to use something like 50% (someone may correct percentage) of all your electricity during the cheap period for it to be worthwhile. Typically E10 is about 10-15% more expensive on the night rate than E7 because you get the extra 3 hours some of which can be during the day. Hope that helps.

Magentasue

In other words, it is 99% certain they'd be better off on a single tariff and should approach their supplier. Some will just switch the tariff there and then - future bills are calculated by adding the readings from peak and off peak meters together. Some suppliers require the meter to be changed and charge for this - not sure if they would waive this as a goodwill gesture for a low income household, but worth trying if applicable.

If it is chargeable, it might be worth considering switching to a supplier that doesn't charge (switching to their Econ 7 tariff) and then asking for a meter change. Definitely get it sorted before the winter.

If you know their annual consumption in kwh, you can use a comparison site to calculat savings by looking at a single tariff for the combined total kwh.

spiro

As it is an HA property and they installed the elec heating I would try to avoid having the meter changed as this may require wiring changes both of which may have to be undone if they move and someone else moves in who wants an En tariff.

pollywolly71

Thanks for all your advice. We will phone their supplier and see what can be done to get them changed onto a different tarrif.