Expensive Economy 10 bill - should I change meters?

Jesca

Hi

I own and live in a 2 bed, first floor apartment which was built in 2012. I bought the apartment new and have lived here alone since.

I work during the day and am off at weekends.

When I moved in my Economy 10 Meter had already been installed and being a new homeowner, I didn't realise I could change from SSE.

Since moving in I have been paying on average between £110-£140 per month in electricity charges. I have used 4007 kWh on the standard rate and 4812 of the off peak rate in a 1 year period. I paid approximately £1170 for this over the year.

When the national average electricity spend for a 1 person, 2 bed apartment is £80 per month. I feel there is something not right.

I checked all my appliances, have installed a timer on my water boiler (which now heats half my tank during the off peak tariff) and am careful with switching off lights. Apart from living in the darkness and not eating, I am not sure what to do to get this cost down.

Should I get an electrician in to check everything? I have already had a PAT test?

I have set up a DD to SSE for £120 per month but I am now keen to look elsewhere. I understand I need to change my meter in the flat from Economy 10 to a single rate, ordinary meter but I am unsure how to do that or where to go for advice. USwitch said they couldn't help me because the Big 6 wouldn't be able to compare Economy 10. Does this mean I am getting the best deal then?

They've quoted me 17.4 pence per unit on the standard rate and 11.3 pence on the off peak rate, fixed over 12 months.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks,

Jess

lstar337

What type of heating do you have?

makeni555

Hi Jesca,

There are 3 big suppliers, SSE, E.ON and EDF that have E10 tariffs and some small suppliers may offer it but bill it as E7. The threshold for getting value out of Economy 10 is between 40%-50% has to be off peak.

But, the national average assumes that you have gas heating and hot water, whereas you use electric so you bill will naturally be higher.

We used to have SSE E10 but switched to a single rate meter (SSE do it for free) when we realized that the times were inconvenient, eg. having to wait until 8pm to put the dishwasher on. Then we switched to cheap single rate meter which is about 3p more than the off peak rate but about 6p cheaper than the peak rate.

Scottish Power does have an online tariff for a single rate meter with all units priced at around 12p regardless of time used (we switch over to it) and now our DD is down about £30pm. As we can put the dishwasher on when we want and also saved a lot because we weren't paying the poor value expensive day rate.

Hope that helps.

john1

Jesca wrote: »

Hi

They've quoted me 17.4 pence per unit on the standard rate and 11.3 pence on the off peak rate, fixed over 12 months.

Jess I'm on e on heatwise (eco 10)and my charges are off peak 8.28p standard 13.21p with a 24.75p standing charge Charges do vary depending your area

Richie-from-the-Boro

I think it would be helpful if the 'split' value of day and night was reported more accurately as 20-40% - not a starting point of 40-50%. All leccy companies are geographic as in the old leccy board regional county coverage and each charges a different 'split'. Last I checked .. .. a year or so ago it was SP that had the better 'split' by a high margin.

As for the O/P an all electric annual E7 cost is around £80+ on E7, you can add to that the extra 3 hours per day heating costs x 180 cold days x tariff per annum, plus [ + ] the 365 days x 3 hours water tariff costs - that is the difference between E7 and the luxury end of E7 which is of course called E10. The chance of getting a better E10 tariff switch elsewhere is unrealistic with just 3 competitors there is zero competition. One avenue to explore would be switching to the cheaper 7 hours night only E7 tariff.

footyguy

Jesca wrote: »

Hi

I own and live in a 2 bed, first floor apartment which was built in 2012. I bought the apartment new and have lived here alone since.

I work during the day and am off at weekends.

When I moved in my Economy 10 Meter had already been installed and being a new homeowner, I didn't realise I could change from SSE.

Since moving in I have been paying on average between £110-£140 per month in electricity charges. I have used 4007 kWh on the standard rate and 4812 of the off peak rate in a 1 year period. I paid approximately £1170 for this over the year.

When the national average electricity spend for a 1 person, 2 bed apartment is £80 per month. I feel there is something not right.

I checked all my appliances, have installed a timer on my water boiler (which now heats half my tank during the off peak tariff) and am careful with switching off lights. Apart from living in the darkness and not eating, I am not sure what to do to get this cost down.

Should I get an electrician in to check everything? I have already had a PAT test?

I have set up a DD to SSE for £120 per month but I am now keen to look elsewhere. I understand I need to change my meter in the flat from Economy 10 to a single rate, ordinary meter but I am unsure how to do that or where to go for advice. USwitch said they couldn't help me because the Big 6 wouldn't be able to compare Economy 10. Does this mean I am getting the best deal then?

They've quoted me 17.4 pence per unit on the standard rate and 11.3 pence on the off peak rate, fixed over 12 months.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks,

Jess

Expensive compared to what? All you can do is take the total annual anticipated energy consumption in kWh and bung that into a comparison site.

Unlikely you will save money when you are currently getting 10 hours per day at a discounted price.

It's not as simple as comparing unit prices - if it were, there would be no need for comparison sites.

But if you are still determined to switch, then you will first need to contact your existing supplier and pay them to change the meter for you.

matelodave

we are on a fixed tariff of 11p/kwh and we are all electric using about 8000kwh a year. So looking at your E10 it seems to be quite expensive, even on the low rate and your high rate is just taking the mickey. I would think that E7 might be better for you depending on what sort of heating & hot water system you've got.