Comfort plus white meter tariff - I don't have storage heaters.

Calum

I have just moved into a new flat and I am slightly baffled by the heating system.

I am with Scottish Power and have 3 rate meter. I called Scottish power and they say its a Comfort plus white meter heating system. Apparently SP are the only people that provide a tariff for this type of meter so if I wanted to change I would have to pay to have the meter changed.

The confusion:

I do not have storage heaters in the flat but normal radiators that as far as I can see work of the gas central heating.

I also have a 7 day immersion heater that i assume heats the water.

So is it possible that I have gas central heating but the water is heated using electric. If this is the case will I be gaining any benefit from being on the Comfort plus white meter tariff on SP (It cost £54 to put a normal Eco7 meter in)?

Thanks!

Cardew

Do you own or rent the flat?

What do you mean by a 7 day immersion heater?

With an immersion heater you obviously have a hot water tank. However surely your gas boiler heats that tank, or you have a combi boiler that heats water on demand and doesn't need a tank.

Generally there is no point in you having other than a 'normal' 24/7 electricity tariff. On comfort plus you pay a premium for all your electricity outside of the cheap rate times.

pooch

Calum wrote: »

I have just moved into a new flat and I am slightly baffled by the heating system.

I am with Scottish Power and have 3 rate meter. I called Scottish power and they say its a Comfort plus white meter heating system. Apparently SP are the only people that provide a tariff for this type of meter so if I wanted to change I would have to pay to have the meter changed.

The confusion:

I do not have storage heaters in the flat but normal radiators that as far as I can see work of the gas central heating.

I also have a 7 day immersion heater that i assume heats the water.

So is it possible that I have gas central heating but the water is heated using electric. If this is the case will I be gaining any benefit from being on the Comfort plus white meter tariff on SP (It cost £54 to put a normal Eco7 meter in)?

Thanks!

It's certainly possible for an immersion heater to be fitted despite having gas central heating installed.

Whilst some properties were originally constructed this way, (for use in case of boiler breakdown, as an alternative during the summer instead of using the gas boiler) my guess is that yours is a left over from when someone did half a job getting the gas GCH installed.

(Comfort plus would have been installed because the property was heated by electricity)

Calum

Cardew wrote: »

Do you own or rent the flat?

What do you mean by a 7 day immersion heater?

Found a '7 day electronic immersion timer' in the hall cupboard but I have no idea if its still in use.

Scottish_Power

Calum We can change the meter but it depends if the hot water is still only wired in to the electric meter or if you have a separate electric immersion circuit (for emergency) and hot water via the gas boiler? We would not want to leave you with no hot water. I suspect that in the long run you would be cheaper to have the meter changed to 1-rate assuming there are no problems if we do that. The other thing to bear in mind is that you can't change supplier while you have the comfortplus white meter because its only supported by ScottishPower and has a second supply number which (for domestic customers) are not supported by other suppliers If you want any specific help with this, please e-mail details to [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] thanks David

Calum

Thanks for the replies folks!

I have an Ideal Mini C28 combi boiler - would this heat the water on demand. The water is only ever lukewarm and the clothes are stone cold after the washing machine has finished.

I am not even sure the immersion timer does anything. I suspect, as mentioned, this has been left over after a half baked conversion to GCH.

Cardew

That combi boiler heats water on demand, although it is possible(but not probable) for it to feed the Hot water tank.

I assume you do have a hot water tank?

That timer is/was to enable you to control timings - over a 7 day period - immersion heater. However we haven't established if you even have a hot water tank - let alone an immersion heater.

If you turn on the hot water the combi boiler should immediately fire up.

Calum

Cardew wrote: »

That combi boiler heats water on demand, although it is possible(but not probable) for it to feed the Hot water tank.

I assume you do have a hot water tank?

That timer is/was to enable you to control timings - over a 7 day period - immersion heater. However we haven't established if you even have a hot water tank - let alone an immersion heater.

If you turn on the hot water the combi boiler should immediately fire up.

Looked into a small hatch in the roof and I can see something that may very well be a water tank, can't get any closer for a look as there is no access.

rogerblack

Calum wrote: »

Looked into a small hatch in the roof and I can see something that may very well be a water tank, can't get any closer for a look as there is no access.

Turn off the boiler electricity.
Turn on the hot tap.
If you get hot water, you have a hot water tank.

Terrylw1

scottishpower_company_representative wrote: »

Calum We can change the meter but it depends if the hot water is still only wired in to the electric meter or if you have a separate electric immersion circuit (for emergency) and hot water via the gas boiler? We would not want to leave you with no hot water. I suspect that in the long run you would be cheaper to have the meter changed to 1-rate assuming there are no problems if we do that. The other thing to bear in mind is that you can't change supplier while you have the comfortplus white meter because its only supported by ScottishPower and has a second supply number which (for domestic customers) are not supported by other suppliers If you want any specific help with this, please e-mail details to [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] thanks David

That's incorrect David.

Dual MPAN metering exists all over the country.

You are misadvising this customer that a dual MPAN meter can't be supplied by any other supplier. I suggest you alter this.

Comfort Plus is supported by at least one other supplier that I know of.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

scottishpower_company_representative wrote: »

The other thing to bear in mind is that you can't change supplier while you have the comfortplus white meter because its only supported by ScottishPower and has a second supply number which (for domestic customers) are not supported by other suppliers.

Terrylw1 wrote: »

That's incorrect David.

Dual MPAN metering exists all over the country.

You are misadvising this customer that a dual MPAN meter can't be supplied by any other supplier. I suggest you alter this.

Comfort Plus is supported by at least one other supplier that I know of.

there is Comfort Plus White Meter which is three rate, and Comfort Plus Control which is two rate, if that makes any difference, OP has White Meter.

I read it as SP rep advising OP that as he has CPWM, he couldn't swap.