Economy 7 plus

chewmagna

Thanks, I am with N Power at the moment so will ask them if I can be converted to a 2 rate meter. However there are 2 seperate circuits so will it be possible ?

Premier_2

That may be possible. It is quite common for properties with E7 to have some circuits to be live 24/7 whilst another (e.g. for storage heaters) to only be live when on off peak electricity.

All electricity used during the off peak period will be charged at the off peak rate no matter which circuit it is on.

As you are with nPower, it just sounds like you have E7 but via 2 meters, which was how some suppliers originally installed it. It shouldn't be difficult to change this to a single, 2 rate meter

Pincher

My electricity meter was changed early 2009, from mechanical to digital.

I think it was EDF, (not E.ON the supplyer) who maintains the infrastructure, and decided it was time to upgrade, so didn't cost me a penny. You should check if you are due for a meter replacement, so you don't have to pay for it yourself.

Pincher

It all sounds like a bizzare arrangement to me.

Having a separate ring main sounds extremely inflexible.

If it's physically switched off during the day by the timer at the meter, because there must be one to switch between the two meters, how can you boost the heat and water during the day, if you want to?

If you were allowed to toggle the timer control during the day, then you can use the night time meter during the day time, which is great for you, so the supplier is not going to let it happen.

I hope you come back with a reason that I have never heard of, to make life more interesting.

chewmagna

The set up is as follows:- The mains supply comes in to house then goes to 2 meters one of these feeds the main ring main via an independant meter. The other feeds a mechanical time ( Horstmann ) and then goes on to feed the storage heaters via another meter. This means the first meter is reading the electricity used all the time and is charged at the normal rate the second meter is only reading when the timer switches power to it and is charged at the Economy 7 rate.
To change to one meter would I assume need some rewiring presumeably at my expense.

Pincher

If I understand this correctly, anything on the main ring main would be charged at day time rate all the time, like the fridge/freezer, TV on standby, etc.

This is simple. The main meter is simply replaced by a two readout meter, a staight swap. The Horstmann timer will be wired into the consumer unit (fuse box), needing a separate position. The worst case scenario is you will need a bigger consumer unit.
The old night time meter is worth keeping, to verify the reading on the new meter.

Cardew

Pincher wrote: »

If I understand this correctly, anything on the main ring main would be charged at day time rate all the time, like the fridge/freezer, TV on standby, etc.

Correct.

However that was a very common arrangement many years ago i.e. just the storage heaters and Immersion heater were wired to receive cheap rate electricity and all other electricity consumed was at the 'daytime' rate 24/7.

In Scotland, in particular, there were a variety of tariffs where cheap rate electricity was supplied to immersion heaters and storage heaters for differing periods during the day - in fact some had 3 meters for 3 different rates.

chewmagna

Thanks everybody, I will get on to it in the new Year and then try and get a different tariff, which is where I started.As N Power are my existing supplier I had better approach them to do the work