Switching from Economy 10 Tariff

burns863

I need some advice about switching.

In our village we have no gas supply. Our house has an all electric wet central heating system. It works like a conventional non-combi gas system whereby the radiators contain water and we set the water in the tank to be heated at set times. It's a modern system (bought in 2008) and at the time was one of the more efficient models of electric boiler.

We are on an Economy-10 tariff with Southern Electric that gives us - as the name suggests - 10 hours of cheaper electric (5 hours during the night, 3 hours in the afternoon and 2 hours in the evening) with the two rates being between 7 and 8p per unit for the cheaper times, and between 15 and 16p per unit at all other times.

We pay 80 pounds per month, which is about the minimum we can pay whilst being careful when we put the heating on/use large appliances. Anything less and we we'd be left owing a fair bit.

Is Economy-10 likely to be the best tariff for me? As it limits me to only Southern Electric. I spoke to them and they said none of their other tariffs would bring costs down. I thought about moving to another provider but I would need a new meter right? I was told that I would be charged for this. I also got some prices from BG a while ago and did an estimate for 6 months past usage as a comparison to our current tariff and it seemed little difference.

Just to add, we live in an old cottage which isn't the best at keeping the heat in. We are renting privately so can't make changes. The building is also Grade-II listed so this also makes things difficult.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Most articles about changing tariffs to avoid price hikes don't address people on economy tariffs!

Cheers

misterbarlow

E10 was primarily designed for modern electric heating like this type of system, and also on/off panel heating too, just as was E7 made for storage heating, so its probably your best bet I would have thought...

add up all your bills since having the meter in, then take the total register from the meter and work out what that many units would have cost you on a standard domestic tariff (usually around 11-13p/kwh over the years), and the lower cost is your best option...

It seems a lot to you, but bear in mind you dont pay anything for gas.. £80 a month with NO GAS is good really, i pay £60pm for electric, not much less than you, but another £60pm for gas too, so a lot more than you per month in total....
I would be happy getting away with paying just £80pm compared to £120...

Just be sure to maximise the use during off peak times to help you benefit...

burns863

Thanks for your reply!

That's actually what I did. I compared what my previous 6 month usage would have been on the cheapest BG tariff at the time and there wasn't much different.

What I'm worried about is the price hikes. It seems as though I'm just stuck and that I can't switch. Where as being on a standard tariff with a standard meter would mean I could easily switch.

Only Southern seem to do E10, unless anyone knows of any other suppliers that do it that I might have missed?

If I was to switch to a standard meter with another company is it likely that I would be charged?

Richie-from-the-Boro

burns863 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply!

That's actually what I did. I compared what my previous 6 month usage would have been on the cheapest BG tariff at the time and there wasn't much different.

What I'm worried about is the price hikes. It seems as though I'm just stuck and that I can't switch. Where as being on a standard tariff with a standard meter would mean I could easily switch.

Only Southern seem to do E10, unless anyone knows of any other suppliers that do it that I might have missed?

If I was to switch to a standard meter with another company is it likely that I would be charged?

Historically E10 was a regional provision tariff, even in todays market most suppliers will refuse to suppy out of what they describe as 'their host region'. Scottish Power supply me and as you can see I'm not in Scotland. SP supply all over as far as I'm aware see this and search for > supply region < so ask SP for a quote. Your other alternative is to swap your billing to E7 and get 7 hours at night only - nothing during the day. If however your heating system is the panel type [ no storage ] then the E7 is no use to you at all. Try an SP with an E10 tariff.

Terrylw1

Have a read if this thread as you need to identify which type of E10 metering you have.

Its incorrect that you can't switch but as Richie says, some were old regional metering set ups so other suppliers were unaware of them when the market deregulated.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4138615

If you have a single MPAN E10, its easy as these existed in every region, just with different off peak patterns. So, any ex regional broad supplier would be able to handle them. You can also switch to E7 and back again by changing the meter only.

If your are dual MPAN, some suppliers just don't want your business and we can blame Ofgem for allowing this as its unfair to customers.

Whilst dual MPAN are more difficult, various suppliers inherited those in their old regions at deregulation e.g. Eon had then in the Powergen region, Npower had something similar in the Northern Electric area, Hydro, Scottish Power, some of the southern suppliers, etc.

So, there are options but sometimes suppliers tell their sales staff to avoid them.

All suppliers can certainly register them as its a licence requirement.