Electricity meter

gibd

Currently I have 2 meters, for day and night rates. Can I change to economy 7 and would it be cheaper? Not all elec suppliers support 2 meters.

penrhyn

If you have storage heaters then you would save money, if not you won't.

Premier_2

penrhyn wrote: »

If you have storage heaters then you would save money, if not you won't.

Surely it would be more to do with how much the OP pays for current day and night rates compared to how much the day & night rates would be on E7? (and possibly how long the current night rate is available for).

penrhyn

Just have to wait for the OP to come back, I'm probably confused by the post.

dunloadin

More info from the OP is needed. What tariff are you on at the moment??

If you live in Scotland theres a high chance that you have THTC or Comfort Plus, in which case switching to eco7 could be pricey in the long run.

What type of heating do you have?

gibd

Yes, I do have Comfort Plus Weather Call.

I am struggling to find advice on switching to a cheaper provider that can
cater for this. The price comparison web sites don't seem to be much help.

Any ideas?

dunloadin

You will have zero chance to change supplier, as Comfort Plus is Scottish Powers 'baby'. It's a two-meter three-rate tariff, making it impossible for other suppliers to bill it correctly. Another version of it has one meter with two rates (called Comfort Plus white meter)

I work a bit further north than you in the Hydro area, the equivalent system up here is Total Heating Total Control, a two-meter two-rate system, which has a few differences to CP; not sure if that means Hydro could supply yourself, may be worth an ask. There is a Scottish Power rep on this site, who tends to post more infrequently than me, your best bet is to send him/her a personal message, they may know another company you may be able to switch to.

Converting CP to Eco7 can be done, but will probably end up costing more, as you will have panel or convector heaters in some rooms that will cost a fortune to run through the day on the Eco7 day rate.

Scottish_Power

Hi gibd

The tariff you are on at the moment cannot be changed, by ScottishPower, onto a different tariff which will save you money. The reason for this is that your heating is recorded on a separate circuit from the rest of your electricity consumption and is charged at a lower unit rate. With your current set up you get up to 8.5 hours of boost for your storage heaters over a 24 hour period. The Economy 7 tariff offers 7 hours of charge at the lower night rate. Any additional heating appliance used during the day will be charge on the higher day rate.

I am unsure about other supplier tariffs and whether they can support your current set up.

If you need any further assistance let me know.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

dunloadin

Colin, just wondering on the three reads.

THTC has two rates - 24 hour Domestic, and 24 hour heating on the cheaper rate. I assume the CP Domestic supply gets a cheap rate when the storage heaters kick in; if the additional rate is for a cheaper heating rate when panel heaters are on through the day then why the extra read?

Premier_2

It it's Comfortplus Control, it has two rates i.e. normal/day rate and a control rate

If it's Comfortplus White Meter, it has three rates. i.e. day rate, night rate and control rate. Control rate is lower than night rate.

The weathercall option means the control rate is available for 0-14 hours (depending on the weather) rather than the 8.5hours (broken into two or more chunks per day) for those without weathercall option.

CPC has an advantage over CPWM in that all heating is supplied at the same low kWh price but, on the other hand, the Daily Service Charge is higher and the Heating rate is higher than CPWM's Controlled Circuit rate.

More details on page 19
http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/pricing_pdfs/general.pdf