ScottishPower economy7 times....

Barrie

Hi all,

looking for advice.....

I asked scottishPower for my economy7 times and received this reply-

"I can confirm there are no set hours for the low rate, it is any 7 hours between 11PM & 7AM."

I wrote this reply -

Sorry, I am still no clearer - the previous companies worked it out on
specific times that I could set the heater timers to.

You are saying that there is an 8 hour window of which 7 hours are
cheaper and one will be standard but I can not plan for this if you do
not tell me.

For example, if i set one storage heater at 11-6am and one at 12-7 -
which one would be paying standard price for one of the hours outside
the 7 hours period???

previously it has been either 22.30-0.30 and 2.30-7.30 or 23.30-1.30 and
3.30-8.30

Please could you confirm this as I have set the heaters and a mistake
could be very costly.

and received this email back from a different Customer Care Advisor -

"I can confirm that if you set your heaters to go on between 11pm and 7am they will be charged at the cheaper rate. If you set your heaters at any other time apart from this period they will be charged at the higher rate."

---

Does this sound right as before I switched (31st July and just emailed uswitch about my Champagne!) the times used to be 23.30-01.30 and 3.30-08.30 in the summer and an hour later in the winter.

Having read up it seems that it is standard to be 7 hours (hence economy7?) so how can they say I will get the E7 for 8 hours between 11-7.

Am I going to be ripped off when the bills come in without me even knowing it...

Thanks in advance, Barrie

espresso

What type of timeswitch do you have next to your meter? If it electromechanical, you should be able to see what times it is set to switch. If it is radio controlled, you may need to check when it actually switches by looking at it.

trace_567

Are you talking about night storage heaters? In which case they will only ever come on during the off peak electric time, no matter what time it is. Not knowing your off peak times however can be a pain for tumble drying or heating the hot water tank if its not on a off peak switch itself.

Barrie

I have a radio controlled timeswitch next to the meter - i just dont fancy staying up all night watching it.....!

I have night storage heaters and the time clock for them is in the storage heater fuse box so I check it every year and adjust it as necessary - just in case a powercut has put the clock back etc.

For the moment I have the heaters coming on 2.15 - 6.45 so that I will be charged withing the 7 hour period but as it gets colder I would like them on for longer to 'charge' the heaters.....

Cardew

They do mean 7 hours in that 8 hour window.

However many mechanical clocks are way slow/fast and some people are getting E7 rates at all sorts of odd hours - some posts here about it.

If radio controlled apparently it is not possible to change all customers to E7 at exactly the same time. Personally I would not be sure that if it changes for you to E7 at, say, 11pm on one day it won't change at midnight the next day.

Barrie

I have just writen to scottishpower for the third time -
"I was just wondering if you could confirm that your timeswitch by the meter is the same as the one as I had with the previous company if this is so, how can the times of the nightime rate changed from my previous supplier."

Just thinking I may have been paying too much for my nighttime rate for 10 years?!?

(annual charge £720 for a one bed flat - only electric, no gas)

Thanks again in advance for your responses

Barrie

Barrie

Cardew wrote:

They do mean 7 hours in that 8 hour window.

However many mechanical clocks are way slow/fast and some people are getting E7 rates at all sorts of odd hours - some posts here about it.

If radio controlled apparently it is not possible to change all customers to E7 at exactly the same time. Personally I would not be sure that if it changes for you to E7 at, say, 11pm on one day it won't change at midnight the next day.

Scary cause the storage heaters are 4kw and 3kw and the hot water tank is 3kw - so using a total of 38p per hour nightime rate 83p per hour daytime rate - thats why I dont want to pay 45p extra a day.

As its radio controlled I thought it would be very accuate? yes the mechanical clock on the heater timer is mechanical and I minus 15 mins off the start and finish to make sure I am within the cheaper rate!

Cardew

Barrie wrote:

Scary cause the storage heaters are 4kw and 3kw and the hot water tank is 3kw - so using a total of 38p per hour nightime rate 83p per hour daytime rate - thats why I dont want to pay 45p extra a day.

As its radio controlled I thought it would be very accuate? yes the mechanical clock on the heater timer is mechanical and I minus 15 mins off the start and finish to make sure I am within the cheaper rate!

That is a really good rate for E7 only 3.8p and 8.3p - is that the latest price? and what tariff and where in UK are you?

tripled

I think Barrie is referring to how much his heaters cost to run, not the tariff... ie he put 83p per hour not 8.3 p per kwh

Cardew

tripled wrote:

I think Barrie is referring to how much his heaters cost to run, not the tariff... ie he put 83p per hour not 8.3 p per kwh

Yes for 10kW(4kW + 3kW + 3kW)

the storage heaters are 4kw and 3kw and the hot water tank is 3kw

83p/38p per hour divided by 10 equals 8.3p/3.8p for a kWh.

tripled

Very true cardew, never even looked at that...

I stand corrected