So confused about getting off prepaid meter

nice2nettles

I've been sitting here for hours surrounded by paperwork, electricity websites and disgruntled cats while trying to heat the room with candles, and I'm just about at the end of my tether. I'm trying to find out how to ditch my prepayment meter once and for all, but the more I read, the more confused I'm getting. I'm praying that someone here might be able to help me!

I've been living in a rented farm cottage with a Scottish Hydro Electric (SSE) prepayment meter for the last 3 1/2 years. The house has a combination of storage heaters, combination storage/convector heaters, and a couple of just convector heaters. Last winter I switched on 3 of the storage heaters and was paying over £35 a week. I can't afford to do that this year, so I'm not using the house heaters at all.

I've received the letter about the price rises, and apparently the tariff is pretty high. On my Standard THTC tariff I will be paying:

Standing charge (pence per day): 27.41
Standard Energy (pence per kWh): 19.43
Heating Control Energy (pence per kWh): 10.34

At the moment I've resorted to using a halogen heater a couple of times in the evening, and a fan heater during the 10 minutes it takes me to have a shower every second night (I have a bath the other nights when I'm not washing my hair). I know these are charged at the more expensive rate, but they're only used for very short periods of time.

I want to get rid of the prepayment meter if I can (I'm trying to make sense of my options before I phone the letting agent to ask permission), and switch to some other tariff where I can get some of the better deals.

First of all, SSE charge £52 to have a credit meter installed. So I'm looking around at other suppliers who don't charge to switch from prepaid to credit meters. I'm having trouble comparing prepayment tariffs though - my 'Standard THTC' tariff doesn't show up on any of the websites.
As far as I know I have no reason to fail a credit check, but I need to know that if for some reason I was turned down for a credit meter, I'm not going to be stuck on some other prepayment tariff that might be more expensive than the one I'm already on.

I've just done a quote on the SSE website to see how much their 'Standard Energy' electricity would cost me, based on my use over the last year (9893 kWh - which they estimate will cost me £1288.92), and it's come back with £1649.74!!! It asks if I have an Economy 7 meter - I don't even know if I do. Is Standard THTC the same as Economy 7? It wants me to input my kWh usage for day and night, none of my paperwork states the separate figures for day and night.

It's doing my head in! I can't make a decision and contact the letting agent to ask permission without first knowing what the actual cheapest option is that's available to me. Some of these costs seem ridiculously high - I'm a single person who works full time, I'm not eating electricity 24/7.

macman

PPM's cost the same as Standard tariff-so about 6% more than an online discount tariff.
You must know if you have E7, because it will have dual registers. There would be no point in having night storage heaters if you're not on E7, as the night rate would be no cheaper.
Ask your supplier what your usage on each rate is. If no separate rates, you are not on E7 and your storage heaters are a waste of money.
If you are on E7, you need to use the NSH's fully and stop topping up on peak rate with convectors/fan heaters/halogen heaters, etc, because that costing you about 250% more per kWh.
Not al suppliers charge for a meter change, but if they do, £60 is typical.
Edit: if you are on THTC tariff, some info on this thread:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/240098

Nada666

£35 per week is not a crazy price for a cottage over winter. £150 per month over four months. The question is how warm was the house? How isolated vs open plan are the areas covered by each storage heater? Did you try turning a couple down low and only having one on high? Do they have variable input and output controls?

If you find it difficult to budget for winter putting money aside over summer then it will make sense to spend the £52 to change to a credit meter. The limited number of options for SSE THTC means the price will not change much but it will be easier to balance your bills over the year through direct debits.

nice2nettles

macman wrote: »

PPM's cost the same as Standard tariff-so about 6% more than an online discount tariff.
You must know if you have E7, because it will have dual registers. There would be no point in having night storage heaters if you're not on E7, as the night rate would be no cheaper.
Ask your supplier what your usage on each rate is. If no separate rates, you are not on E7 and your storage heaters are a waste of money.
If you are on E7, you need to use the NSH's fully and stop topping up on peak rate with convectors/fan heaters/halogen heaters, etc, because that costing you about 250% more per kWh.
Not al suppliers charge for a meter change, but if they do, £60 is typical.

Right, it is an Economy 7 meter. I've been out and it's currently being charged at 2 different rates. The display has: "9338.69 kw" at rate 1 (currently 19.32p per kWh), and "30709.05 kw" at rate 4 (10.12p per kWh).

What do these figures mean? When are they taken from? Are they the total kws used in a year? My bills don't give me separate figures for day and night usage, only total kws used in a year. Where am I supposed to get accurate figures to use on price comparison sites - do I have to ring SSE?

It still works out cheaper for me to use the expensive heat on the higher rate for short bursts, than it would be for me to put the storage heaters on. The sad fact is that I just don't have enough coming in to pay for them, and the second I switch them on the energy goes through the roof. I think on the THTC tariff, the only thing I'm getting on the cheaper rate is my hot water at night - everything else is on the high rate. It doesn't seem like I'm getting the best deal for the way I use my energy.

nice2nettles

Nada666 wrote: »

If you find it difficult to budget for winter putting money aside over summer then it will make sense to spend the £52 to change to a credit meter. The limited number of options for SSE THTC means the price will not change much but it will be easier to balance your bills over the year through direct debits.

It's not so much a question of budgeting as it is of being skint all the year round! I normally do manage to save up through the summer to help pay for the winter, but it just hasn't happened this year. There's never anything left at the end of the month, and I frequently have to use my overdraft just to make ends meet.

Do you mean that because I'm currently on THTC, I have to stay on that however I chose to pay? That there's no option of me switching to a different tariff?

SwanJon

As above, you really need to look into how THTC works - it's not as simple as E7. Have you spoken to SSE about how to get the best out of it?
I also think that other suppliers may not be able to take you on on that metering setup.

macman

No, the meter kWh figures are the total since the meter was installed. The biling is calculated on the difference betwen the opening and closing reads in the billing period.
Any sort of dual rate tariff (and I don't pretend to fully understand the subtleties of THTC, hopefully someone else can assist on that) is dependent on you using the cheap night rate supply. Which means using your NSH's and immersion heater at night. If you don't heat by that method, and keep topping up by peak rate heating, it's almost certainly not going to be more economic than a single rate tariff.
£5 a day in a cold winter is not a lot to spend on heating at current prices.

SwanJon

SSE's_Website wrote:

Total Heating, Total Control meters, or THTC for short, are great for your home if it has electric central heating and you’re at home most of the day. They’re only available in certain areas of Scotland.
To make the most of this meter, storage heating needs to account for at least 60% of the way you heat your home - it has to be the way you heat the main parts of your home. The main way of heating your water will also need to be done electrically, which will again be on your low price. All your other electrical usage will then be recorded on a different meter.
You'll get between five and twelve hours a day from your storage heating. We find out the best times to put it on for you by regularly checking the weather forecast. This means that you’ll have heat when you need it most, without having to worry.

http://www.hydro.co.uk/GasAndElectricity/YourMeter/DifferentMeterTypes/

There's also a few posts elsewhere on this forum with people's experiences.

subostar

Hi Nice2Nettles the THTC tariff can be quite confusing if you call Scottish Hydro and ask for a break down off how it works they can explain and send you out a booklet on the best way to run it . They can also check to make sure that a THTC meter is suitable for your needs by working out if your using enough in the cheap rate for it to be benefiting you. Also it may be worth your while asking if you are entitled to the Warm Home Discount. Try having a look at the energysavingtrust website or give them a call on 0300 123 1234 as there may be grants your landlord is entitled to, to improve the heating you have.

Hope this helps

chanz4

Your usage will go up with credit meters, and likely to land you with a big debt as your not aware so much of your usage.