Flow Energy - anyone switched?

BarefootLizzie

Struggled to find what the meter numbers were the online form was asking for. They are the ones on the current suppliers bills, not the ones on the meters like I thought.

Rang Flow for help, really patient, explained where to look at on the online bills of current supplier, waited on the phone while I completed the online application. Very good start!!

chris_yo

BarefootLizzie wrote: »

Struggled to find what the meter numbers were the online form was asking for. They are the ones on the current suppliers bills, not the ones on the meters like I thought.

Rang Flow for help, really patient, explained where to look at on the online bills of current supplier, waited on the phone while I completed the online application. Very good start!!

I gave them the current reading from the meter, but I don't think it matters. On the day your supply is switched, Flow will send an email asking for a new meter reading, and that reading is used as the "end of old provider / start of Flow" point.

LeifGR

tux900 wrote: »

According to their FAQs:

Q. Is the Flow boiler suitable for all houses?
A. The Flow boiler is an 18kw condensing boiler that requires a separate hot water tank. You'll need to be using roughly between 28,000 and 52,000 kWh of gas a year for the Flow boiler to be suitable.

Interestingly this text has now changed to:

Q. Is the Flow boiler suitable for all houses?
A. The Flow boiler is an 18kw condensing boiler that requires a separate hot water tank and it’s suitable for 3 – 5 bedroom houses. But we’re also working on a combi version, more powerful versions to heat even larger homes, and business models that would make the installation of the Flow boiler in much smaller homes economic.

CaptainHaddock_2

The technology that this boiler uses (scroll turbine) seems much better than the previous chp boilers with sterling piston technology. Scroll turbines, if they live up to their promises, should be both more reliable and have higher efficiency.

However, the basic issue with this type of boiler remains. They still have a ratio of power output between heat and electricity of somewhere from 1:20 to 1:5, so they produce fairly little electricity for each unit of heat - and only produce electricity while the heating is on.

The average household uses heating for only part of the year and only part of the day. That means that the time during which electricity is generated and can be sold back to the grid is quite limited. You would therefore want to sell maximum electricity during that time, but with the boiler's limited electricity output the gains from feed-in-tariffs will be small and struggle to pay back the investment in the boiler (for the average household).

Until the ratio between heat and electricity that these units produce changes, their attractiveness for average households will be limited.

Does anyone know if their electricity output, once the boiler is on and generating heat, is dependent on how hard the boiler is working? The specs on Flow's web site suggest that heat output can vary between 6.8 and 16.9 kW (non-condensing). If the electricity generated is proportional to the heat output, that would exacerbate the issues stated above.

topicalcat

The boiler has now been launched, have a look at their website, they are also relaunching their energy tarriff fixed to March 2016. The downside seems to be that the boiler is only for bigger houses. On offer now is a condensing, system boiler ie not combi, the combi comes next year. From what I can see the boiler will produce maximum electricity when the return temperature is low so when everything is up to temperature and ticking over the electrical output will drop back.

Take your point about modest electrical generation, but then a conventional boiler produces zero electricity. This is progress and of course what makes this viable is that electricity is about 13p a unit and gas 3.5p so, if 10kw of gas (35p) produces .5 kw of electrity (6.5p) that is better than your 1:20 because the electric is worth about 4 times per kw of gas and the ratio is now only about 1:5 on your worst case scenario. Worth looking at

If the house is suitable the deal gives a monthly rebate on your bill which could make your energy bill quite low. There is a lot to read on their website but basically you pay £1800 for installation and take on a finance deal to pay for the boiler but because Flow make money from the Feed in Tarriff they can rebate the cost of the finance such that after 5 years the boiler is paid for at no cost. They make a profit on using the boiler to generate and this covers the cost.
Looks like a safe way of getting a micro CHP boiler with Flow taking the risks. See what you think

paulaperfect

I'm considering swapping to Flo Energy. Could any LONG TERM users please let me know whether they are happy with the company? Thanks. (Interested in dual fuel deal. do not need a new boiler).

zaax

No problem at all. Been with them for a year, last week they dropped my monthly (dual fuel) payment to £45.

momist

Yep. I'vebeen with them since May 2013, over two years now. The web site works, which is more than can be said for some. When my fix ended, some time ago, they voluntarily offered to continue at the same tariff, and I couldn't see any reason to change. Martin's site keeps emailing me to say I'm paying too much, but when I do bother looking it only seems a little too much, and anyway the other tariffs offered are with companies I know I don't like.
I'm disappointed that I didn't qualify for the boiler trial. Yes, I could get one now, but it is still a big up front cost, and my house would find it impossible to qualify for the higher rate of FIT.
Many of the monthly accounts (on the web site) are over estimated, but what company doesn't do that? At least when I phoned and asked, they looked at my usage and reduced the monthly payment as a result. They make sure they're not out of pocket, but wouldn't you? Now in mid summer (not a good one yet), I'm slowly building up credit with them which will be depleted come the cold weather, or if we have further poor weather.
I would say I'm happy with Flow!

topicalcat

I have now been with Flow 18 months and following this years energy price cut I am paying less than when I started! Happy! They are very good at telling you whether you are on their cheapest tariff, the website works well for keying in meter readings and if I ever need to ring they are polite and efficient. I am waiting for them to relaunch the electricity generating boiler in the next couple of months, apparently they delayed the launch when the Europeen court ruled that UK rules on VAT for enegy saving products are wrong. This has rather spooked the whole energy saving sector. Watch out for news on the boiler end of September?

hillcats

I switched to Flow Energy some nine maybe ten months ago at a guess and it has been easy from day one - I just wish I'd done it before...