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

JennyR68

'You think'

You sit with your gas boiler being the expert on electric heating.

Whilst totally dismissing the opinions of people who have actually lived with electric heating for decades.

I keep my electric heating on 24/7, heat my water on a single rate tariff and still come out £200 a year cheaper than I would be on the E7. And at an annual bill of around £980 in a 3 bed all electric semi, family of 5, I wouldn't call the bills extortionate.

tori.k

I agree with JennyR68 we are still all electric at the mo and have a single rate meter. my electric bill for 96 days (December 2nd 2009 till March 8th 2010)was a £ 189.00 (-vat) compared that to my old E7 bill of 91 days (December 29th 2008 till march 30th 2009) that was £355 (-vat)
It all comes down to lifestyle, my 2 pence worth if you work during the day ditch the NSH get some oil filled rads and put you hot water on for an hour when you need it, my electric bills for a three bed with 5 should come in around the £900 mark compare to the £1300 i was paying on E7

shegar

JennyR68 wrote: »

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

Well I had it for 18 years and yes it is grim, im trying to help the bloke its going to cost him a lot to heat his house on electric,you wait in 3 months time when he gets his first bill he will be on here whinging away about storage heaters !!! :eek::eek:

Monkey_Joe

Just confirmed with current occupier, there are two electrical meters; one for normal electric and the other is the night time off-peak meter for heating. I assume this is E7 and its with Southern Electric? I assumed there was only one meter involved?


Ok, I have decided the following..

If what some people have said is correct, that despite having storage heaters Im still not restricted to E7 and can still change my E7 storage heater meter to a regular one then this will be the first thing I do when I move in. I will find the cheapest electricity provider who will be willing to change the current E7 meter to a regular one ASAP. Hopefully this wont be too difficult. I assume its a one day job to have the meter changed from E7 compatible one to a regular electrical one?

The storage heaters and E7 does appear to have some pros but I just dont like the idea of me not being in control of when it turns on or off. At least with a regular meter, I have the option to unplug the heaters whenever i please.

Its a terraced house in West London and its only going to be my self and the wife in there (at least for 9 months! ).

JennyR68

Monkey_Joe wrote: »

I assume its a one day job to have the meter changed from E7 compatible one to a regular electrical one?

Ours took about 1/2 an hour to do. Though it was a 1/2 day slot they gave him to arrive in.

Monkey_Joe

JennyR68 wrote: »

Ours took about 1/2 an hour to do. Though it was a 1/2 day slot they gave him to arrive in.

only half an hour? thought it would take longer.

did you find it difficult to switch from E7 to a regular one and what did you do with your old storage heaters?

Ada3050

In my flat there were two meters as I remember.

My house has an electronic meter with two readings, I
it wont matter as the meter may be changed anyway.

JennyR68

Monkey_Joe wrote: »

only half an hour? thought it would take longer.

did you find it difficult to switch from E7 to a regular one and what did you do with your old storage heaters?

We dumped the older ones and advertised the most modern one in our local paper. It soon found a home.

No difficulty at all, the only difficulty I had was the impatience of waiting 4 weeks to have it done knowing it was costing us an extra £5 a week while we waited!:D

We asked him to make sure the old storage heater points were still connected to meter so that we could use the same sockets for our new heaters. It wasn't a problem but he wasn't doing it till we asked.

dunloadin

Monkey_Joe wrote: »

Just confirmed with current occupier, there are two electrical meters; one for normal electric and the other is the night time off-peak meter for heating. I assume this is E7 and its with Southern Electric? I assumed there was only one meter involved?

QUOTE]

If theres two meters then it aint Eco7, sounds like something more exotic, could have problems switching in the future.

Monkey_Joe

JennyR68 wrote: »

We asked him to make sure the old storage heater points were still connected to meter so that we could use the same sockets for our new heaters. It wasn't a problem but he wasn't doing it till we asked.

did you buy portable heaters or ones that you can connect to the wall, like storage heaters. How much do they go for?

Everything i have learnt today contradicts what Southern Electric told me prior to me posting here. I called them this morning to enquire what the procedure is when one of their customers move house and the new occupant of the house (ie ME) wishes to switch to a different provider. She said that there is no real issue switching but
(1) I will have to pay them for electrical usage until the switch over date to new provider
(2) Since I had storage heaters I can only be on Economy 7 and therefore can not take advantage of any other tariffs nor can I switch meters

However, you guys think I can. Hence my confusion at the start...