Official MSE Economy 7 Guide discussion

lstar337

JBerger wrote: »

Hi,

We moved into a rented flat recently which is on an economy 7 tariff. Having not had this tariff or storage heaters before we finally thought we had worked them out by turning the charge up and discharge down over night and then turning up the discharge when we got home in the evenings. Although definitely not the most efficient heaters (even with the discharge turned off they seem to emit heat) in the smaller rooms this has been working well and the rooms have been warm and toasty in the evenings. We’ve also always had ample hot water in the mornings.

Since last weekend however something seems to have changed. We have not had hot water in the mornings and the heaters, although hot at about 2/3am have lost almost all their heat by the time we wake up and are stone cold by the time we get home (discharge is definitely turned down). The landlord has suggested it could be that our electricity company, ISupply, have stopped providing the full 7 hours of E7 and therefore hot water and heaters are not getting as hot as they should. I’ve contacted isupply but have so far had no response.

Does anyone have any experience of this? Or can think of any other reasons why this may be happening. We are absolutely freezing at the moment and spending a fortune on electric heaters and using the immersion switch to heat up the water on the day rate so we can shower…

Are the heaters charging at all?

Have you checked the fuse box for your E7 supply?
If it has tripped out then your heaters will not take a charge and the water will not heat.

John_Pierpoint

Get to love your electricity meter or buy an Owl.

I can tell what is on in my house just from the Owl read out.

Richie-from-the-Boro

JBerger

iSupplyEnergy closed their ' 201411 'and started their ' 201412 ' on the 2nd Nov this year. Unless someone wants to enlighten me they don't appear to do gas and don't do E-tariffs at all. Their model including the additional charges is standard a fixed unit rate in pence per kWh plus a daily connection charge in pence per day.

JBerger

lstar337 wrote: »

Are the heaters charging at all?

Have you checked the fuse box for your E7 supply?
If it has tripped out then your heaters will not take a charge and the water will not heat.

Istar - the heaters are heating, I've noticed that if i get up at night for the loo at about 2am they feel very hot, but by morning they are luke warm and water is only luke warm... i'm at a loss as to why this is happening

JBerger

Richie, i'm not sure what you mean? We don't have gas, only electric, and we are on a fixed price tariff till 2014 which we pay by direct debit?

Richie-from-the-Boro

JBerger wrote: »

Richie, i'm not sure what you mean? We don't have gas, only electric, and we are on a fixed price tariff till 2014 which we pay by direct debit?

I mean its possible the room heaters and water heater is heating up during the day at day rate prices, not at night at night rate prices. Are you sure :

- you are on an E7 tariff with iSupplyEnergy?
- do iSupplyEnergy have an E7 night time tariff ?
- how long have you been supplied by iSupplyEnergy ?

The 'discharge' as you call it I]convection[/I is just a metal flap, like a tin lid on a tin to hold the heat in, the hot tin will still I]radiate[/I leak heat out at a much reduced rate. The heat inside the tin is stored in heavy dense engineering type bricks and when fully charged should be capable of storing 17 hours heat.

I think you should check you tariff contract and (1) verify 7 hours of non-core cheap delivery. (2) Post a picture here of the type of meter you have for example a time switched AMPY or an old mechanical type.

the heaters are heating, I've noticed that if i get up at night for the loo at about 2am they feel very hot, but by morning they are luke warm and water is only luke warm... i'm at a loss as to why this is happening

- you should be closing the damper fully when asleep, and whenever you are out of the flat .. .. are you ?
- do you have a timer on the water controller for your hot water ?

JBerger

The damper is definitely closed. Can't see a timer on the water heater.

Did a test last night to see how long the E7 was coming on for. It came on at just before 11pm, turned off at just before 1 and did not come back on again (i set my alarm to go off evey hour so I could check during the night) so it seems that for some reason we are not getting our full 7 hours and therefore storage heaters and water not heating up.

I need to double check the tariff with isupply (have tried but so far they have not got back to me) but I'm pretty sure we are on the correct E7 tariff as up until last weekend we were getting the full 7 hours and water and heaters were hot in the mornings. Not sure why this has changed now...? Very frustrating trying to get hold of isupply, the telephone number just goes to answerphone and I have used the online messaging service that they ask you to use to contact them and as I say no reply...:(

lstar337

JBerger wrote: »

The damper is definitely closed. Can't see a timer on the water heater.

Did a test last night to see how long the E7 was coming on for. It came on at just before 11pm, turned off at just before 1 and did not come back on again (i set my alarm to go off evey hour so I could check during the night) so it seems that for some reason we are not getting our full 7 hours and therefore storage heaters and water not heating up.

I need to double check the tariff with isupply (have tried but so far they have not got back to me) but I'm pretty sure we are on the correct E7 tariff as up until last weekend we were getting the full 7 hours and water and heaters were hot in the mornings. Not sure why this has changed now...? Very frustrating trying to get hold of isupply, the telephone number just goes to answerphone and I have used the online messaging service that they ask you to use to contact them and as I say no reply...:(

If your E7 timer is malfunctioning, it might be worth contacting your DNO.

Is it mechanical, electronic, or signal switched?

JBerger

I think it's electrical - well pretty positive it is, it has a digital display and no timer or switch you can move. What's a DNO?

lstar337

JBerger wrote: »

I think it's electrical - well pretty positive it is, it has a digital display and no timer or switch you can move.

The internal timer could be faulty.

JBerger wrote: »

What's a DNO?

http://www2.nationalgrid.com/uk/Our-company/electricity/Distribution-Network-Operator-Companies/

They are responsible for your meter.

See what your supplier says about your meter. Be careful though, if you say the meter is faulty and it turns out to be fine, you may be charged for whatever work is done.

It certainly sounds like (from your posts) the E7 switching is incorrect though. Make sure you make it clear to your supplier that you are not getting 7 hours of off-peak electric. See if you can get some compensation too, since your are effectively without heating.