"Off-Peak" Electricity Tariff

PoorPauly

Hello All,

My house is all-electric with no gas supply. I have 2 separate electricity meters - one 'standard' and one 'off-peak'. The off-peak one only supplies the underfloor heating and the immersion heater. It only works for 8 hours overnight and a further 3 hours in the afternoon.

Npower have just informed me that the 'off-peak' price is increasing by 16.5% (standard by 9.7%). The off-peak is by far the largest proportion of my bill and this is crippling for me.

I have been told that no other suppliers will supply me on this tariff so I can't switch.

Does anyone have any advice, or further info about the situation with 'legacy' tariffs?

Be very grateful for any suggestions, since if I have no possibility of switching, imposing a price rise of 16.5% (when they announce 9-ish%) seems completely unfair. I will definitely be one of those struggling to keep warm this winter!

Thanks,

Paul

Ids61

Hi swopped last year to a standard electric tariff, with no difference in price between tariffs. So OVO energy charge me about 9.35 per kilowatt hour for peak and off peak.It is was considerably cheaper than I was being offered by SSE for economy 10/7. Just switched online. check what you will be paying per kilowatt hour.

PoorPauly

Thanks - that's very interesting. So did you have two meters like me? Do OVO supply to both your meters or did you have to have meter(s) changed?

Npower are now charging me (incl VAT) 9.47 for off-peak and 17.21 for standard.

Pineapple88

What type of meter do you have? Do you have two mpan's or two meters on one mpan? NPower will be able to tell you.

Some suppliers can support one address with two mpans - Scottish Power and Eon definately can- but this does not mean they can support your meter. Unfortunately your meter may be one that is only supported by EON, this is likely to be the case if you are in their traditional supply area. What part of the country are you in?

If your meter is one that can only be supported by EON then the only solution is to see if you can switch to another sort of meter which will allow you access to different suppliers and tariff. Whether you can do this will depend on the type of heating system you have. If you cannot switch to another type of meter then unfortunately the only solution is to change your heating system.

EDIT- I think I know the sort of meter you have but can't for the life of me remember what it is called. If it is the one I am thinking of then I don't think it can be supported by any supplier other than EON.

macman

Underfloor heating was never designed to work with E7 or E10 tariffs. Assuming you want the heat in the day or evening, the only benefit you are getting is with the 3 daytime cheaper hours.
You are presumably running the u/f heating overnight and hoping it will last into the day, which it won't, since there is no stored heat to speak of.
Switch off the u/f heating and install NSH's?

Kitchen_Sink

What advice do you want that nPower have not already given you?

i.e. you are on a legacy tariff that no other supplier will support, so you can't switch supplier.

Short of getting a professional in to advise and install a new electrical installation as necessary, or otherwise moving home, you are stuck with the legacy tariff your are on from nPower.

(it's usually quite cheap anyway if you use it as intended, despite any recent price rise advice)

PoorPauly

macman wrote: »

Underfloor heating was never designed to work with E7 or E10 tariffs. Assuming you want the heat in the day or evening, the only benefit you are getting is with the 3 daytime cheaper hours.
You are presumably running the u/f heating overnight and hoping it will last into the day, which it won't, since there is no stored heat to speak of.
Switch off the u/f heating and install NSH's?

Nonsense - the underfloor heating works very well. It most certainly does last into the day and has a huge amount of stored heat - the entire concrete floor block is, in effect, a huge storage heater!!

PoorPauly

Pineapple88 wrote: »

What type of meter do you have? Do you have two mpan's or two meters on one mpan? NPower will be able to tell you.

Some suppliers can support one address with two mpans - Scottish Power and Eon definately can- but this does not mean they can support your meter. Unfortunately your meter may be one that is only supported by EON, this is likely to be the case if you are in their traditional supply area. What part of the country are you in?

If your meter is one that can only be supported by EON then the only solution is to see if you can switch to another sort of meter which will allow you access to different suppliers and tariff. Whether you can do this will depend on the type of heating system you have. If you cannot switch to another type of meter then unfortunately the only solution is to change your heating system.

EDIT- I think I know the sort of meter you have but can't for the life of me remember what it is called. If it is the one I am thinking of then I don't think it can be supported by any supplier other than EON.

I have TWO completely separate meters - each has it's own supply number. One ('off-peak') is connected through a (sealed) timer device and is only 'live' for 8 hours at night + 3 hours in the afternoon. It is only connected to the heating and water heater. The other ('standard') supplies all other electricity and is 'live' 24/7).

So in effect, I have 2 completely separate meters each supplying a different circuit in the house.

Thanks.

PS - Kitchen Sink - I didn't say Npower told me I couldn't switch. I just haven't been able to find another supplier, and was wondering if anyone else had. (see the very helpful reply from IDS61 above)

Nada666

<scratches head> If it is so wonderful why did you start the thread? One minute moaning about 'crippling' costs and that you'll be 'struggling'. Next minute you're rolling around your floor posing for a lounge-music cover photo.

PoorPauly

Nada666 wrote: »

<scratches head> If it is so wonderful why did you start the thread? One minute moaning about 'crippling' costs and that you'll be 'struggling'. Next minute you're rolling around your floor posing for a lounge-music cover photo.

Oh come on - I just said that, technically, it works fine as a method of heating - It is the cost of the electricity that I am 'struggling' with.

Not TOO difficult for you to understand is it??

Pincher

Try out heat pumps? If you can get a COP of 3, then you pay 12p per kWh for electricity, but 4p per kWh in heat. This assumes you have a wet UFH system.

If it works, I think you should change the meters, so you have a single rate meter.