Electricity Meter??? Apologies if this question has been asked before.

amcg100

Wywth wrote: »

They are almost 100% efficient, like all forms of electrical direct heating.

Gas boilers can be as low as 60% efficient, especially older ones.

They are efficient only in that they convert 100% of electrical energy to heat. Unfortunately they are difficult to control and that's why they are so expensive to run. Gas is much much cheaper.

amcg100

Standard price is a very confusing term - there is nothing standard about it . It is usually the most expensive tariff you can be on with the exception of premium rate tariffs ( such as green ) or domestic deemed ( supply without a contract ) Monthly direct debit is always the cheapest way to pay for energy, and the difference between a pre pay meter and the cheapest direct debit tariff could amount to several hundred pounds per year.

Fire_Fox

If the house is neglected I'd be considering the insulation, could be a moneypit to heat.

JCD_Capulet

Nicolafine wrote: »

Thank you so much for that answer - why did I think that pre-payment was more?

Because it is, in a way. With a key/card payment meter installed you pay a daily standing charge for the privilege of paying for your fuel before you use it.

From_British_Gas_Website wrote:

http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/gas-and-electricity/tips-and-advice/prepayment-meters-guide.html

What do our prepayment services offer?
Here at British Gas, we’re dedicated to offering fair and competitive rates on all of our services. Our pay as you go service is charged at the same rate as those who receive bills, so you won’t be penalised for choosing this service.[2]
To help you understand how much you are paying for your gas and electricity our pre payment meters also comes with a daily standing charge and single unit rate as opposed to a tiered pricing structure.[3] A standing charge is a fixed amount that is applied to your gas and electricity meter daily.

It's one of my biggest bug bears about payment meters although I admit I enjoy the convenience of knowing I am in total control and I'll never have a monthly/quarterly bill arrive in the mail which I could be wrong or not budget for quite right.

Add to that, when I recently called British Gas who I have both gas and electricity with and enqired about the procedure if I wanted the meters removed so I could return to dry billing (trying to cut all my bills this year) I was told I would need to pay £60+ per meter for the conversion to a credit (dry billing) meter, but only once they run a credit check on me and if I met their criteria for credit.

The ruddy cheek of it. I've had both my payment meters for over seven years and not once have I sat in darkness in all that time due to not having enough funds on my meter. They still send paper bills quarterly to tell you what volume of power you've consumed, so you'd think they'd also know how well you keep your affairs - but they don't.

Sorry, I went off on a rant there :rotfl:

Payment meters certainly have their place and they very much are useful things - but OP be sure to study very well all the T&Cs of prepayment meters from whichever power company you are looking into.

HTH

Mozzanov

My friend has prepayment metres in his flat and costs a lot more than I pay with an online fixed rate tariff. You should make the electric company aware you've just moved in, in case there is debt on the metre due to the previous tenant (otherwise, you might end up paying a lot extra).

Just going OT a bit, you mention about putting your mark on the place and a LL. Do not let them use you for betterment (unless you happen to be in a HA property with right-to-buy). You might want to post in the renting section to get some advice.

SwanJon

amcg100 wrote: »

domestic deemed ( supply without a contract )

I don't think you'll find any tariff called 'domestic deemed' - all the suppliers I am aware of use their standard tariff for customers in a deemed contract.

JCD_Capulet wrote: »

Because it is, in a way. With a key/card payment meter installed you pay a daily standing charge for the privilege of paying for your fuel before you use it.

I think that's just muddying the waters - there are plenty of tariffs of quarterly bills and direct debits that have daily standing charges. FrugalMacdougal quotes examples from SP where the quarterly has a standing charge, and the PP is cheaper.

Wywth

amcg100 wrote: »

They are efficient only in that they convert 100% of electrical energy to heat. Unfortunately they are difficult to control and that's why they are so expensive to run. Gas is much much cheaper.

I have found them in the past very easy to control.

Remember the electricity ads and the 'easily turn on and offable'

The ones we had, had two dials. One for input (or load) which controlled how much the NSH warmed up and the other for output.

We found it best to keep the output on minimum and control the heat the best using the input dial. We could turn the output dial up if we needed more heat e.g. if we had opted for too low an input, or if on particularly cold evenings, late into the evening we required more heat output. The only thing to remember is to then return the output dial back to minimum before retiring to allow the NSH to operate optimally again.

More modern storage heaters may even nowadays have automated controls Some even have fan assistance I am led to believe.

Storage heaters also sometimes come with a built in convector heater for added control (but use of these is expensive as it uses the expensive day rate, if used at that time of day, to produce heat) I think we used this additional expensive source of heat once, perhaps twice, for a couple of hours maximum in over 3 years of living with NSHs.

(We now live in a GCH house and have on occasion used electrical heaters for supplementary heating here too)

Gas currently costs about 3.5p - 4.5p per kWh
Cheap rate electricity on E7 costs about 6p -7p per kWh

Once you take into account that a gas boiler may only be 60% efficient (especially unless it is very modern) then the cost of heating by gas compared to that using low rate electricity is very similar

Heating using electricity not at cheap rate is expensive, although some have found more modern electrical systems such as heat pumps cost effective to run. Such systems are rare, especially in rented accommodation, and are expensive to buy if you own the property.