Can you help me with my E7 meter please?

stephcyl

Hello all,
I am currently with Npower on E7 tarrif. I have a storage heater that heats up hot water, but am using much lower units during the night that am afraid the E7 makes no sense for me, unless ofcourse am not using the boiler correctly.
I have determined which meter is the day and night one with the help of this forum, but am still struggling to understand how E7 should be saving me money.
I am currently paying £37 (Elect £32; gas £5) on DD, am a single person living in a compact 1 bed flat. I only use gas for cooking. Am out of the house by 7am and back around 7pm.
During the day I only have freezer and frige on. Unfortunately The freezer has no fridge and the fridge has no freezer, so can't turn one off. They are both small though but am not sure of their rating. The fridge says max 15KW but am not sure what that means. I wash only at night. Microwave max 10 minutes a week. Hardly use oven(can't remember the last time), iron within the night rate. Have not heated my home yet (all radiators are off); but for some reasons it stays warm.
So the main problem is am not sure how the water is heated, as I always have hot water: I have never ran out of it. So am wondering if the water is heated whenever it wants to?
I use about 4-6 units of Electricity during the day, and at most 2 units at night: most nights just 1.
I really would like to increase my night usage and lower the day one, but am not sure how.
There is a switch close to the storage heater, and it's always on. There is also a timer close to(the one that shows 24 hours, where you select when you want hot water to come on and off; atleast it did in my former house). Now it's all in off position, but i still have hot water. The other day i travelled for a week and have the switch turned off. Came back and turned it on, I still have hot water even though it's during the day.
Can someone please advise on how to go about determining how to economise please? Or can I ask npower to take me out of E7 tarrif?
Thanks in advance

Broadwood

We've been on E7 since moving here in 1986. The first thing I did was fit a time switch to the electric immersion heater. We can press the 1 hour boost button any time of day, but basically it is set at GMT (winter time) to come on at 4am and go off at 7am. The reason we leave it set to winter time is because the E7 tariff is cheap rate from midnight to 7am in the winter but 1am til 8am when the clocks have changed to British Summer Time.

We also have a few panel heaters in bedrooms set on timers during the cold months to make use of the cheap rate hours. With this set-up we always use more cheap night units than expensive day units during all seasons of the year.

From what you describe I suspect that your water heater is on constantly and the timer is being bypassed maybe by a manual over-ride switch?

stephcyl

Thanks Broadwood.
I have checked the internet for timeswitch, and it looks like the time switch is what i have, with everything currently turned off but I still always have hot water. Looks like it doesnt work?
This is the link for the one i have: http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/TCTI24.html
from my understanding, when the tiny buttons are pushed in, it shoule be off and when pushed out , it should be on. But all mine is pushed in and I still have hot water any time i need it.

notbritishgas

Try having all of the buttons pushed out to see if that makes a difference.
Also I see from your link that it has a manual overide, make sure that is not operated as that would put it permanently on.

stephcyl

Thanks notbritishgas. I will push all of them out when I get home. Mine doesnt have the manual override. It has something like: On, Off, Timer; but am not sure how each operates. I will look more closely when I get home

Snowbelle

Do you have your washing machine/dishwasher (if you have one) on timers to run at night? You can also check with your supplier and they will tell you the percentage you use at night and also the amount you need to be using at night to make E7 worhwhile.

stephcyl

I don't have a timer, but i wake up to turn the washing machine on at night. I only wash one load per week on average max.
I have calculated using the standard rates, and E7 rates and my usage, and I currently pay more on E7 than I would if am using standard rates.
That's why I need to make sure am actually using it right before I request a transfer to standard rates.

nPower

Hi stephcyl,

If you can pop me over your account details to [EMAIL="forumresponse@npower.com"]forumresponse@npower.com[/EMAIL], I can get one of the team to look into this for you to make sure that you have the most suitable meter and tariff for the energy you are using.

Best wishes,

Adam

Snowbelle

stephcyl wrote: »

I don't have a timer, but i wake up to turn the washing machine on at night. I only wash one load per week on average max.
I have calculated using the standard rates, and E7 rates and my usage, and I currently pay more on E7 than I would if am using standard rates.
That's why I need to make sure am actually using it right before I request a transfer to standard rates.

Some suppliers won't allow you to change unless they change the meter. Most will charge for this and its approx £50.

stephcyl

Hi Adam,
I have sent you the email.
Thanks

nPower

Hi stephcyl,

I've just got your email and I'll get this looked into for you!

Thanks

Adam