Economy 10/7

Lennylegs

Hi

Just phoned my electric supplier - southern electric- as i'd heard a lot about this tariff and have seen the prices in the price booklet. It seems a hell of a lot better & cheaper to have storage heaters on this tariff than the standard economy 7/ flexiheat/ superdeal. We only have electric in our flat so we have no option but to have storage heaters. However they have just told me customers are only "allowed" economy 10 if they have a electrical wet central heating system which quite frankly seems unfair ?! I've worked out our consumption etc based on E10, E7, superdeal, flexiheat and for us E10 works out a lot cheaper, we wouldnt be scared to ocassionally stick the heating on before 7.30 in the evening and there should be plenty of stored heat to last through the evening. Does anyone know if they can do this (ie. exclude customers on this basis), or are there any ways around it ? after all i still have to heat my water over night too !

If that made any sense or anyone knows i'd be grateful !

Thanks

Leonie

Cardew

I can't see how that can possibly be a regulation. After all you could have electrical wet central heating with E10 and convert to storage heating on that tariff.

There have been posts on here about the reluctance of electricity companies to supply an E10 tariff. I assumed that was because of the expence of fitting the extra metering; especially if a customer then decided he was going to revert back to E7 or a normal tariff.

Having said it can't be a regulation, it is another matter if they have a policy not to place new customers on an E10 tariff for commercial reasons.

I would get advice from the Regulator on this one.

Lennylegs

Just rang them back and nobody can tell me why, all they say is i have to have a gledhill electric wet heating boiler to have E10 !
Got passed onto the next person at southern electric who then said that 10 hours charging the storage heaters will damage them, yet the supplier of my new storage heaters (dimplex) actively say to try and get 10/12/18 hours off peak charging period to save money!!!!!

grrr, whos telling the porkie pies then !

sloughflint

Lennylegs wrote:

Just rang them back and nobody can tell me why, all they say is i have to have a gledhill electric wet heating boiler to have E10 !

What! They are even insisting which boiler to get!
Thanks for your post. Am in the S.El area and couldn't find any info. I assumed it was no longer possible and would only be able to get E7

Ken68

Hi Lenny...Gledhill site mentions Golden Key Partnership with installers and builders . Could be they done a deal with Southern.

Lennylegs

Hi

Whats annoying about this is how much cheaper E10 can work out (based on the fact that *most* storage heaters run out of heat early in the evening and homes have to be topped up with peak rate electric when on E7, but with E10 they could be re-charged at the lower rate, same goes for heating stored hot water) Also I am taking in to consideration that living in my flat, the layout, my neighbours etc there is no way i can put washing machine etc on over night so theres no benefit for me there.

Following prices at 1 May 06 as typically cant find the 1 Jan 07 prices:

E7 (7 cheap hours at night)
Service charge 18.56 pence per day
Day energy 10.62 pence per unit
Night energy 4.18 pence per unit

E10 (10 cheap hours at night/day/evening)
Service charge 17.62 pence per day
Day energy 10.31 pence per unit
Night energy 4.74 pence per unit

Instead Southern electric have said if im not happy with E7 the following two plans are available:

Superdeal (similar to E7 but the stored heat and hot water is split between 5 hours at night and 3 hours in the afternoon)
Service charge 22.27 pence per day
Day energy 10.58 pence per unit
Night energy 5.82 pence per unit (7 hours at night for appliances etc)
Stored heat/hot water 3.63 pence per unit (split 5 hours night, 2 hours afternoon)

Flexiheat
Service charge 22.27 pence per day
Weekday day time energy 14.40 pence per unit (anything running m-f 7am to 7pm)
Other times energy 6.67 pence per unit (m-f 7pm to 7am plus all weekend and all week xmas week)
Stored heat/hot water 3.63 pence per unit (split 5 hours night, 2 hours afternoon)

I have sat down and done the sums and we can make flexiheat work for us over E7(although E10 would be much much cheaper), however what worries me is what if we had to use anything on peak rate - 14.40 pence - blimey !

I dont know where to go to find out if the thing SE are saying about 10hours charge ruining a storage heater are true, Dimplex say not but it would be best to find out independantly.

Leonie x

peat

You would not be giving storage heaters a 10 hour charge. You would be giving them 3hrs on 6 off: 3 on 4 off: 4 on 4 off in any 24 hr period. Not quite the same thing. Those timings are Scottish Hydro E10 by the way.

sloughflint

I 've just called Southern Electric as a potential new customer making preliminary enquiries and they were most helpful!!!!! No mention of any particular boiler when I said I was considering converting from oil to electric and needed economical electricity rates compared to my current electricity supplier.
Hope this helps you in your battle lennylegs. Maybe switch to another supplier for a little while and then revert to Southern Electric E10 might be an option or at least threaten with that concept?

Lennylegs

Hi

I 've just called Southern Electric as a potential new customer making preliminary enquiries and they were most helpful!!!!! No mention of any particular boiler when I said I was considering converting from oil to electric and needed economical electricity rates compared to my current electricity supplier.


Are you converting to storage heaters or wet electric central heating ? Their first defence was it had to be wet heating the second line was the fact that it had to be that boiler then when i wouldnt back down they implied that 10hours charge would ruin a storage heater ?

Im afraid i have a huge bill to pay back with SE after they cocked up changing my meter over to a new one coupled with a problem with my electrcian wiring in the immersion heater 24/7 for 9 months before i realised =£800 bill gulp ! so i cant really change and asides this problem i cant fault their customer service. They are also quite prepared to let me pay it interest free up to 3 years so it wont cripple me !

I think what i need to do is first find out if the storage heaters would be damaged then go from there.

Thanks !

Leonie

Cardew

Lennylegs wrote:

I think what i need to do is first find out if the storage heaters would be damaged then go from there.

They can't be damaged. They are designed to be 'topped up' at any time when needed.

The principle of storage heaters is very simple. They are basically a pile of 'bricks' which are heated by an electrical element and have a fan to blow air across the the bricks when required.

sloughflint

How about writing to them and getting them to explain in writing why they do not wish you to swap to the other tariff? I suspect they won't be quite so likely to repeat what you've been told so far and you'll stand a better chance.