Should I be on Powergen's Economy 10 tarif?

ILoveAFreebie

Hi everyone,

I wonder if anyone can help? I've just decided to delve into my electricity statements having only just realised I'm "in debit" :eek: because I chose online statements (very easily ignored) rather than paper ones.

After talking to Powergen for an hour I kind-of understand how I'm being charged but I'm not sure why I'm on the Economy 10 tarif or whether I should stay on it. They tell me I get 5 hours cheaper at night and 5 hours boost in the afternoon, which I'm not even sure is true let alone whether I need.

I'm 31 years old, in a newly built flat (with storage heaters) that's part shared ownership and part housing association so I think the tarif was set by the housing association??? really not sure. All I know is that it's mega expensive and most of the people in the block complain about the cost (£45 per month in the summer, £65 in the winter, on average).

Does the tarif depend on the type of heating system I have installed? Do you know if I can still switch providers if I have to stay on Econ. 10?

Any advice is much appreciated.

justtoclarify_2

Check your actual meter readings against what is recorded on the bill. If your monthly payments (direct debit I assume) have been set from estimated readings and you have acutally used a lot less you should be in credit. You can then ask for your monthly payments to be brought in line with your acutal usage. The Economy 10 tariff appears to be a refinement of the Economy 7 tariff, which are normally used where all heating and hot water is generated using electricity. If you had gas central heating and a combi boiler then Economy 10 is unlike to be suitable, but from the sound of it you have electric storage heaters and an immersion tank so an Economy 10 tariff is appropriate. Unless you don't actually use very much heating because your flat is very well insulated, you may then be better off by with a different tariff.

If you can post the tariffs you are actually paying this may help, as may this thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=135700&page=1

It may also be worth checking that you use electrical items such as washing machines, dryers and dishwashers when the lowest tariff is in effect, usually the 5 night time hours.

Cardew

As you have stated you have storage heating your only realistic choice is between Economy 7 and Economy 10. It depends on how much you are in your flat during the day to calculate which would be best.

It is unusual to have a variable Direct Debit(£65 winter, £45 summer - if thats what you mean) with any supplier; normally they estimate the annual consumption and split it into 12 payments. It is quite normal then to have a debit balance at the end of the winter and this debit balance reduces over the summer.

Incidentally £65/£45 (say £660pa) is not 'mega expensive' and well below the national average - although I appreciate you live alone and your flat might be small.

gleaner

Hello,

I had a flat about 5 years ago which I switched from Economy 7 to 10 when I started living there full time. This involved having the whole meter changed, which was a good thing as the E7 one buzzed like hell when activated. I also needed very little heating because the people downstairs left theirs on full blast all the time.

The main problem i found was that you got 2 meter readings on E7 (day & night), but got 3 on E10 (day & night & day discounted). I then got a £400 bill when the reader typed the wrong figures into the wrong slots on his hand held device. It was also at a time when there were a lot of estimated bills and the Elec. Company's idea of the ratios of the amounts you should be using between the 3 tarrifs was completely wacco. So I had to phone them up with the correct figures every qtr.

My tips for using the system are as follows,

During the night rate period, all of the electricity used is charged at the low rate, heating, immersion (1) & lights.

During the normal day period, your normal appliances, optional immersion (2) & lights are charged at the high rate.

During the discounted day period, the heaters start filling again and the hard wired immersion (1) kicks in again. Your normal appliances, immersion (2) and lights are still charged at the normal rate.

What you have to do is decide how much heating you want. With Economy 7, you get 7 hours of storage over night, which then bleeds away during the day and may not last until after you get home from work. So you top up with your full price convection heater.

With Economy 10, you get 5 hours of storage over night, which then bleeds away during the day. This then gets topped up with an additional 5 hours during the day. So you have paid for an additional 3 hours, but come home to a warmer flat.

The other option is to find the seperate fuse box for the storage heater & immersion (1) and either switch it off in the evening before you go to bed or before you go to work. Then you only charge up the heaters for either 5 hours overnight or 5 hours during the day. This depends upon whether you prefer to wake up to, or come home to a toastie flat. You can then also switch off the power in the morning if you wake up to a nice sunny day.

Remember it is probably cheaper to top up with your convector heater at full price for a few hours in the evening rather than opening all the windows because you don't need the "cheap" stored heat. (I used to walk past a tower block near work where all the windows were open on a "fine" morning).

I also took out the original heaters, and replaced them with smaller ones. The builder had obviously got a job lot of large heaters and fitted them regardless of the size of the flat. So I had a 16 block storage/convector heater in the lounge and a 16 block heater in the hall. I replaced these with a 12 block heater in the lounge and a 4 block heater in the hall. Which was plenty.

PS. You probably have no other options because I believe that they banned the use of gas in new flats due to the explosion risk.

surfsister

interesting

androg28

economy 10, may very well cost you more to run than economy 7. the additional charge for storage heaters will make it warmer, but will end up costing you more in the long run. My storage heaters stay warm all day and into the evening, the very important thing is to set the 'input' to a high number (to give it maximum charge) and the 'output' to it's lowest setting, or ' boost off.' the heat still comes out, just not all at once! try it. if you have your output set to a medium or high setting, you are probably without heat by the evening.