Which of the following is the best Eco 7 plan?

kjsmith7

Or, you could ask the existing supplier how much the tenants used in kWh, they may be able to give you an answer?

Cardew

MrPoor wrote: »

3 bedroom semi-detached in greater west London (Feltham), storage heater in every room, immersion boiler, no gas and central heating, and average insulation. Current supplier southern on Eco 7 - seems to be popular on these forums!

Just my self and my wife. Work 9 to 6pm but I work from home 2 days a week. Average persons electric use during day, evenings and weekend. Mostly wash cloths in evening or weekend but can switch to night time for Eco 7.

I have never been on Eco 7 or any electric only plan, always been Gas and central heating. This is my first house, living with parents entire life apart from uni.

Can not afford Gas and central heating yet but may be after I save a bit more. Considering switching meter to standard electric if cheaper.

Not sure what else u will need lol

Given your circumstances, my gut feeling is that you might be better off without E7; but there probably won't be a lot between the two options.

If you do dispense with E7 just get some cheap fan heaters and perhaps oil filled radiators and have them come on with a timer just before you get home from work - and visit friends/family on winter weekends!!!!

MrPoor

Can some tell me how much 500kwh equates to? For example how long would I need to leave a light on or run a 42 inch LCD tv to reach that?

The previous occupant claimed that their Q bills in winter was around £350.

I have never been on Eco 7 plan so I have no idea what my usage would be. I work from home Mon and Fri, but other then that I'm out 9am to 5pm. Weekends we are at home.

I will contact the current provider with the current reading.

Also, I have two meters, a day one and night one. I have read on other forums that this may not be Eco 7!!

Bloody confusing. Its a nice house, good value, nice area but only this electric only issue let's it down. I do plan to switch to GCH but can not afford yet.

I am just tempted to switch to a normal electrical plan and scrap the storage heaters and bring in some oil heaters.

JennyR68

500kwh is a lot. Say you were using an energy efficient bulb of 7w if you kept it on for over 8 years without switching of it would be 500kwh.

It's a 2kw fire on constantly for 10 days.

MrPoor

JennyR68 wrote: »

500kwh is a lot. Say you were using an energy efficient bulb of 7w if you kept it on for over 8 years without switching of it would be 500kwh.

It's a 2kw fire on constantly for 10 days.

So the BT plan is not as great as it seems overall.

Bloody hell this is so frustrating.

macman

If you have 4 or more storage heaters, say 2kW each, that's 8kW. Charge them for 7 hours a day on E7 and that's 56kWh a day-so you'll go through your 500kWh higher rate in about 10 days during periods when the heating is on.
Stop worrying about the cost of a TV or light bulb, what burns power is space heating and hot water heating, this is what is expensive when heated by electricity.

Cardew

macman wrote: »

If you have 4 or more storage heaters, say 2kW each, that's 8kW.

Just to further confuse, storage heaters are normally bigger than 2kW!!!!!

macman

I believe so (3 kW?-never had them) but I was being conservative, similarly with the storage heater count-probably more than 4 if a 3 bedroomed house.

MrPoor

post has been deleted

Be_Happy

macman wrote: »

If you have 4 or more storage heaters, say 2kW each, that's 8kW. Charge them for 7 hours a day on E7 and that's 56kWh a day-so you'll go through your 500kWh higher rate in about 10 days during periods when the heating is on.
Stop worrying about the cost of a TV or light bulb, what burns power is space heating and hot water heating, this is what is expensive when heated by electricity.

Sorry. This is absolute nonsense and enough to terrify the OP. Modern storage heaters have effective thermostats. They do not charge at full rate all the time they are on. I have 6 storage heaters with a total rating of around 13 kw. At the peak of this cold winter my overnight use was around 70 kw - heaters, immersion, dishwasher, washing machine, etc. I should also add that here in Scotland, Economy 7 is the modern name given to our original White Meter rate and rather than 7 hours overnight we get 8 1/2 hours overnight, so the usage for 7 hours would be even less.

On your assumptions my 13 kw for 8 1/2 hours would be using 110.5 kw per night for heaters alone. I've just had my annual electricity statement showing that I'm in credit for my monthly DD of £90 and setting my DD for next year at the same rate of £90 per month. As it so happens, I'm in the process of changing supplier and using the same consumption with the new supplier my DD is going to be £90 with a rebate equal to 1 month's DD at the end of the year.