New house - How to find out what elec deal the house is on?

RickMoney

Hi,

We've just moved house to an older property and I've seen that there are two elec meters at the property. They are new digital meters having been replaced in 2012 (from stickers).

I'm thinking it might be Econ 7 from the fact there are two meter?

Any way I can be sure?

I cannot contact the previous owner as it was a auction buy.

Thanks,

Rick

undaunted

Try https://www.northernpowergrid.com/supplier/index.cfm

or
http://www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity/guides/who-supplies-my-electricity-and-gas/

to identify the supplier & then you can ask / arrange something with them or switch as you wish

[Deleted User]

See which meter moves in daytime / night by observing units used. eco 7 hours vary but in my area its 12.30 -7.30 GMT and 1.30 to 8.30 BST

Wywth

RickMoney wrote: »

Hi,

We've just moved house to an older property and I've seen that there are two elec meters at the property. They are new digital meters having been replaced in 2012 (from stickers).

I'm thinking it might be Econ 7 from the fact there are two meter?

Any way I can be sure?

I cannot contact the previous owner as it was a auction buy.

Thanks,

Rick

Unlikely to be E7 with 2 separate meters.

Sounds like a non-standard set up (e.g. E10 - the supplier should be able to confirm)

If non-standard, do not attempt to ever switch supplier as such attempts invariably end in tears. (at least not until you get them changed to a standard meter)

A qualified electrician should be able to help you further. I think it's standrad advice to get a qualified electrician to check out the electrics on any auction bought property as you've no idea what state it may be in
(similar with gas, water, etc)

macman

Modern E7 tariffs use a dual rate meter, not 2 meters.
And it's unlikely to be E7 unless the property has storage heaters and an immersion heater.

Wywth

macman wrote: »

...And it's unlikely to be E7 unless the property has storage heaters and an immersion heater.

Why do you say that? My house has neither storage heater nor an immersion heater. We have GCH. We have E7, and always have had.

My mate has a house with gas central heating, but there is an electric immersion heater which he doesn't tend to use as obviously he can heat his water by gas.

He too has E7. His immersion has a Horstmann timer attched to take advantage of the E7 rates. Again the house was built with it. I've checked his utility bills and he's no worse off on E7 that's for sure.

Edit: but as the OP has a two metered supply, it is likely that his property has, or at least had, storage heating.

macman

I would hazard a guess that 90% of properties with gas CH and DHW would be worse off on E7. Unless you are using typically 30% of your consumption on E7 cheaper rate, it's unlikely to pay. And achieving that without storage heaters and immersion heating is difficult, unless perhaps you are a shift worker and lead a nocturnal lifestyle.
Of course there are exceptions, but the general rule is that most people with gas CH ad DHW are better off on single rate tariffs.

Wywth

macman wrote: »

I would hazard a guess that 90% of properties with gas CH and DHW would be worse off on E7. Unless you are using typically 30% of your consumption on E7 cheaper rate, it's unlikely to pay. And achieving that without storage heaters and immersion heating is difficult, unless perhaps you are a shift worker and lead a nocturnal lifestyle.
Of course there are exceptions, but the general rule is that most people with gas CH ad DHW are better off on single rate tariffs.

I don't like guessing - I prefer to calculate or better still use a comparison site to calculate for me, (as it may be I'm better off on a completely different supplier tariff)

7/24 is 29.166%

Spooky, eh? :cool:

By the way, I also am led to believe 74.3% of statistics are made up, perhaps more when people admit to guessing them

macman

So my 30% benchmark works in your case,
But it would interesting to know how much better off you are on E7 on that percentage split. Just a few pounds? Where is the actual breakpoint if you run the same figures on single rate?

Wywth

macman wrote: »

So my 30% benchmark works in your case,
But it would interesting to know how much better off you are on E7 on that percentage split. Just a few pounds? Where is the actual breakpoint if you run the same figures on single rate?

I didn't say I was better off, I said I was no worse off.

The break point can vary from tariff to tariff (and region to region). On occassions it has even been known that (depending on region) you will always be better off on E7 compared to the suppliers equivient single rate tariff.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1207887

So as I said, you need to do your own calculations or better still let a comparison site help you.