Storage heat ... or not?! Help!!!

spike18

Hi,

I'm in a rented property with electricity only, not gas. I have electric radiators, not storage heaters, but have been with a main supplier for 4 years on an economy type tariff, which they initially put me on and have assured me is the best tariff for me.

Thing is, on my electric bill I have a day reading, night reading and storage heat reading and have been paying for storage heat and a standing charge for that for the last 4 years in good faith. I told the company I have electric radiators and a hot water tank, and they insisted they were storage heaters because of the meter I was on.

Because of a sharp increase in electricity and possible mix up of day and night readings, I have raised a complaint with the company and on speaking to a neighbour today they said I should not even be paying a storage heat charge as I have electric radiators, not storage heaters.

Need to contact the provider to raise this tomorrow. Any advice you can give me or tips to deal with this?

Thanks in advance

Richie-from-the-Boro

HiYa spike18,

I'm assuming you mean panel / wall electric radiators like these not electric flow boiler wet heating like this.

If you have an E7 or E10 tariff that's all they know, and all they care about. Its up to you to change your tariff, you probobly should have done this 4 years ago when you moved into the property. Only then when you change your tariff will they possibly need to change your meter. If you have put your meter readings in each month it will be easy to persuade your supplier which are the correct readings. If you have not updated your readings for 4 years, why not ?

- what tariff are you on - what's the name of the tariff ?

BTW 'economy type tariff' as you have written it means an electric AGA type an underfloor [thermal block] type or a night store type heating system. It does not mean its economical for anyone who does not have a night store type heating system.

spike18

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. It's an E10 tariff that they put me on and have told me is the best tariff for me. It was the only option offered and when I checked I'm getting the best deal they said yes. Because of that and their advice I didn't realise that there was a better tariff or even that there was one available without storage heat. I told them I had electric radiators and that's still the tariff they put me on and so I took to be 'right'.

I've taken a set of meter readings today, which aren't far off their estimated readings, and have given them readings in between but no readings have come from them at all and the meter has therefore not been checked by them for 4 years in total.

The name of the tariff I'm on is 'E10 energy plan 15'. Sorry if I haven't made much sense. I just told my supplier what I had heating wise and trusted their judgement re the tariff they put me on and assured me is the best tariff for me

spike18

PS. The radiators I have are wall mounted and look almost the same as the single depth radiators most people have in their homes who have both gas and electric. Looks wise you would be very easily fooled!

Cardew

spike18 wrote: »

PS. The radiators I have are wall mounted and look almost the same as the single depth radiators most people have in their homes who have both gas and electric. Looks wise you would be very easily fooled!

Do the radiators have(water) pipes connected, or just electrical wires?

How do you control the heat the radiators emit?

spike18

Hi,

The radiators have water pipes with taps at the bottom of them to either side. You bleed them at the top as you would a normal radiator if they have air in them and gurgle. The only difference is they have an electric cable just below them (that goes back into the wall) which can't always be seen clearly at first glance.

To control the radiators I can turn the thermostat/valve/thing on top of the taps to I,II, III, IIII, night, or off. A few of the radiators are turned off in the rooms I don't use. I have a thermostat on the wall in the hallway and my understanding of this all is that the flat is set to a constant temperature of 18. I think somehow it checks the temperature 5 times a day. If it's a bad winter the radiators might kick in for 30 mins or so to bring the flat temperature to 18, though that doesn't happen too often. In the summer months the heating doesn't come on at all. If I want to put the heating on myself I just turn the thermostat up until the heating kicks in and turn it down when I'm warm enough (back to 18) where it cuts out. The heating is instant and not 'stored' ... so why have I got an economy 10 meter in the first place. I don't have stored heat do I?! So confused and had no idea there were other meters available. Just trusted my provider that I was on the best deal and been paying in good faith.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

so are your radiators like this?



If so, sounds as if you are on best tariff with your supplier.

Your heating system will be wired through the storage heating circuit (cheaper rate) so that is why it will show as storage heating, though I think it is called control circuit.

The structure of the 10 off peak hours is as follows;

• 3 hours in the afternoon
• 2 hours in the evening
• 5 hours over night

Cardew

spike18 wrote: »

Hi,

The radiators have water pipes with taps at the bottom of them to either side. You bleed them at the top as you would a normal radiator if they have air in them and gurgle. The only difference is they have an electric cable just below them (that goes back into the wall) which can't always be seen clearly at first glance.

To control the radiators I can turn the thermostat/valve/thing on top of the taps to I,II, III, IIII, night, or off. A few of the radiators are turned off in the rooms I don't use. I have a thermostat on the wall in the hallway and my understanding of this all is that the flat is set to a constant temperature of 18. I think somehow it checks the temperature 5 times a day. If it's a bad winter the radiators might kick in for 30 mins or so to bring the flat temperature to 18, though that doesn't happen too often. In the summer months the heating doesn't come on at all. If I want to put the heating on myself I just turn the thermostat up until the heating kicks in and turn it down when I'm warm enough (back to 18) where it cuts out. The heating is instant and not 'stored' ... so why have I got an economy 10 meter in the first place. I don't have stored heat do I?! So confused and had no idea there were other meters available. Just trusted my provider that I was on the best deal and been paying in good faith.

An Economy 10(E10) is a specialised tariff that is not widely available. IMO it is highly probable that your heating system would have been designed to take advantage of that E10 tariff.

Therefore I suspect you do have a thermal store - a tank of water that is heated by off-peak electricity during the hours shown above.

That hot water is pumped to the radiators when heat is demanded.

Richie-from-the-Boro

- if its 'flow boiler wet heating', and by the description you give it is 'flow boiler wet heating'
- they come .. .. with and without storage
- the more expensive 'with PartL storage' can usually work well with the cheaper E7 tariff
- the cheaper 'without storage' really needs the more expensive E10 tariff to even function at all

You need to clarify as Cardew suggests whether there is any storage capacity.