New House - Storage Heaters, Economy 7/10 and bill questions

JennyR68

I got the impression they were toying with the idea of removing the storage heaters completely dunloadin, not just switching them off amd changing tariff for the summer. If that's not the case and they want to use them next winter then, your right, you can't be chopping and changing tariffs to suit the season. That's not what we are advising. Only that there are other options if you don't want storage.

I can assure you heating your water on a standard tariff is not prohibitive as you imagine! My bills dropped by £5 a week when I finally could change the meter despite having to heat the water. When I changed my night tariff was 5.07p, the equivalent single rate tariff I changed to was 7.46p so not a huge difference.

Changing to a single rate with thermostatic electric heating instead of storage will save me around £200 this year.

Premier_2

Monkey_Joe wrote: »

So are you saying that Im better off sticking with the storage heaters on E7 rather then switching to a standard electrical tariff?

I can see the advantage of the storage heaters and the E7 tarriff for heating and water. However, how about for other electrical appliances such as TV's, Computers, Stereos, Kettles ect....I hear the E7 tarriff will be a lot more expensive for day time use.

What would you do in my situation?

You need to do the calculations. E7 typically has a break even point somewhere around 25% (but it varies by supplier/tariff, hence why you need to do the calculation). i.e. you need to use 25% of total consumption during the off peak period to pay the same cost as a single rate. Use more and you start saving money; use less and it costs you more.

7hrs/24hrs is almost 30%

But of course if you don't have night storage heaters and/or a big hot water tank to heat up at night, chances are you'll be using less electricity at night when asleep ... but you can see it doesn't take much just to break even.

As soon as you start using night storage heaters, you'll be using a lot more overnight electricity. The earlier calculation assumptionss given to you are wrong (As explained by dunloadin, the heaters won't usually be drawing full power for the full 7 hours. Same goes for an immersion heater), but to be using 50%+ of total consumption overnight wouldn't be unusual.

JennyR68

shegar wrote: »

My best advise to you is dont buy a house with electric heating it will cost you a bomb, and the electric heating is useless.The only people that say electric heating is good is the ones that cant get GCH ,cos thay are not on the mains ,so they make out their electric is brilliant, only cos they are stuck with it ...and cant change..:mad:

Shegar that is totally unhelpful and untrue. Electric heating is not as grim as you imagine.

Monkey_Joe

JennyR68 wrote: »

I got the impression they were toying with the idea of removing the storage heaters completely dunloadin, not just switching them off amd changing tariff for the summer. If that's not the case and they want to use them next winter then, your right, you can't be chopping and changing tariffs to suit the season. That's not what we are advising. Only that there are other options if you don't want storage.

I can assure you heating your water on a standard tariff is not prohibitive as you imagine! My bills dropped by £5 a week when I finally could change the meter despite having to heat the water. When I changed my night tariff was 5.07p, the equivalent single rate tariff I changed to was 7.46p so not a huge difference.

Changing to a single rate with thermostatic electric heating instead of storage will save me around £200 this year.

No, I have no plans to chop and change with the seasons. Until I have enough money to switch to GCH, I want to be on a reasonable electrical tariff.

Its my fault, I think my bad explanation of what I'm looking for has led many people to give various advise.

The house has storage heaters and after doing a price comparison check, I noticed that the standard electrical tariffs were a lot cheaper then the E7 tarrifs that I can only use with the storage heaters. Therefore, I was wondering if it was possible to just not use the storage heaters and instead buy some normal electrical/oil heaters and use them after switching to a normal cheap electrical tarriff eg EDF, Southern Eelectric ect

However, based on some comments its appears that I can not just switch and since I have storage heaters I am lumbered with the E7 tarriff, have I understood this correct?

Also, on the E7 tarriff, the cost to use other electrical items such as TV, computers ect is a lot more expensive?

dunloadin

So are you saying that Im better off sticking with the storage heaters on E7 rather then switching to a standard electrical tariff?

Most definatley, Eco7 and storage heaters go togeather, any other tariff will cost more. If at some point in the future you decide to convert to some other form of heating then ensure the metering is compatible for the type of heating you go for.

What would you do in my situation?

First off, don't panic, from your original post you have yet to move in to the place, so before you see if you need to change anything live there for a while. Sounds like the cost of the lekky bill is OK for Eco7, but I bet you can get it cheaper than Southern, so shop around.

The biggie to do is to make sure you take the meter read when you move in, then go from there.

JennyR68

Monkey_Joe wrote: »

So are you saying that Im better off sticking with the storage heaters on E7 rather then switching to a standard electrical tariff?

I can see the advantage of the storage heaters and the E7 tarriff for heating and water. However, how about for other electrical appliances such as TV's, Computers, Stereos, Kettles ect....I hear the E7 tarriff will be a lot more expensive for day time use.

What would you do in my situation?

I'd advise you get moved in and live with it for a while. The heating will be going off soon and you'll have all summer to benefit from the low rate for your water heating. Spend next winter with the storage and see what you think of them and of the bills. Then if your not happy with them, think of changing then.

Just make sure you get switched to best deal you can when you move in.

Monkey_Joe

Premier wrote: »

You need to do the calculations. E7 typically has a break even point somewhere around 25% (but it varies by supplier/tariff, hence why you need to do the calculation). i.e. you need to use 25% of total consumption during the off peak period to pay the same cost as a single rate. Use more and you start saving money; use less and it costs you more.

7hrs/24hrs is almost 30%

.

What do you mean by "25% of total consumption"? do you need that I need to use at least 25% of whatever electricity that I can possibly use during the night for me to pay a reasonable rate.

I have no clue what your talking about mate. I'm sorry...

JennyR68

Monkey_Joe wrote: »

No, I have no plans to chop and change with the seasons. Until I have enough money to switch to GCH, I want to be on a reasonable electrical tariff.

Its my fault, I think my bad explanation of what I'm looking for has led many people to give various advise.

The house has storage heaters and after doing a price comparison check, I noticed that the standard electrical tariffs were a lot cheaper then the E7 tarrifs that I can only use with the storage heaters. Therefore, I was wondering if it was possible to just not use the storage heaters and instead buy some normal electrical/oil heaters and use them after switching to a normal cheap electrical tarriff eg EDF, Southern Eelectric ect

However, based on some comments its appears that I can not just switch and since I have storage heaters I am lumbered with the E7 tarriff, have I understood this correct?

Also, on the E7 tarriff, the cost to use other electrical items such as TV, computers ect is a lot more expensive?

No your not lumbered with them, we've just removed ours and switched meter with no real problems. The only one was waiting 28 days to change the meter with a new supplier.

Just don't go switching meters and still using the storage that's all.

Ada3050

Monkey_Joe wrote: »

Therefore, I was wondering if it was possible to just not use the storage heaters and instead buy some normal electrical/oil heaters and use them after switching to a normal cheap electrical tarriff eg EDF, Southern Eelectric ect Yes you can

However, based on some comments its appears that I can not just switch and since I have storage heaters I am lumbered with the E7 tarriff, have I understood this correct? You may have to have a meter change to do this

Also, on the E7 tarriff, the cost to use other electrical items such as TV, computers ect is a lot more expensive? Yes

Electric heating is more expensive than gas, but with a bit of planning it needn't cost that much to heat your new house while you save up for GCH.

People on here turn their nose up at us who have electric heating I am afraid.

sandiep

One thing I would suggest is a check of the wiring. My sister moved into an economy7 house and after months of huge electric bills found out that the switches for the immersion heater were wired the wrong way round, so it was on all day expensive and off all night cheap!

If it's an old house, definitely get a wiring check.