worth switching to 'no daily charge' tarif for summer only?

[Deleted User]

I got a smart meter recently, and notice that without the heating I'm using less than 20p a day (sometimes as low as 10p) on hot water (I have a combi boiler). This is less than the daily standing charge for the gas supply.


What's to stop me switching to a 'no standing charge' provider for the 6 months of the year when I don't use as much gas, then switching back when winter comes?

JimmyTheWig

I wondered that, too.
Don't know if you'd have to keep with the same supplier or not if it's just for 6 months.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

The majority of the better tariffs out there have early exit fees, which limits you somewhat.

JimmyTheWig

But could you not save more with this plan than you could by being on the very best tariff?

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

I don't know. You'd have to cost it out. It really doesn't take much usage with ebico before it starts becoming very uneconomical, so you'd have to be disciplined about turning the heating on, and woe-betide you if the switch back takes longer than you thought.

It would be interesting to see someone try it, though.

JimmyTheWig

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

woe-betide you if the switch back takes longer than you thought.

That's a good point. Makes it quite risky.

spiro

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

I don't know. You'd have to cost it out. It really doesn't take much usage with ebico before it starts becoming very uneconomical, so you'd have to be disciplined about turning the heating on, and woe-betide you if the switch back takes longer than you thought.

It would be interesting to see someone try it, though.

Bear in mind that from November faster switching comes into effect which means it will only take 2 weeks plus 2 working days from when you agree to switch to the switch date.

Pincher

The supplier will really love you for making them go to and for, just to save you a few quid.

A guy that does accounts told me that they have to be really careful with returns, because people will order 10 units of whatever, just to get a 5% discount, then return 9 units, hoping to get full price refunds on the 9!

Check out recent reports of Scottish Power ignoring closing readings from Ovo, and over-estimating the final bill. Get ready for hassle.

Spend the time on finding a cheaper holiday instead. It probably saves the same amount of money, but brings less hassle.

oldwiring

I may be confused, but think the new rules do not permit "no standing charge" tariffs.

matelodave

The rules allow a standing charge of zero.


My calculations based on my tariff with FU v Ebico means that I'd have to use less than 4kwh of electricity a day for it to work out.

I can only get it that low when I'm on holiday and we've shut everything down including the fridge. Just the, freezer Sky box, router and a couple of surveillance cameras use 3.5kw.

My summer average is about 8kwh a day but we are all electric so that includes water heating, washing, cooking, TV and everything else that uses leccy

Haven't done gas as I don't use it

silverwhistle

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

You'd have to cost it out. It really doesn't take much usage with ebico before it starts becoming very uneconomical, .

True, and you need to have particular circumstances. I changed to Ebico but then from March to October I don't use gas as I cook by electric, and more importantly, have PV solar panels and a unit that diverts spare power to an immersion. I still export far too much. :-)

This summer I'm putting in a woodburner (piles of free wood already cut and split in the garden) so will keep my gas consumption down in the winter. It's also a cavity-wall insulated and DG terraced house.

For me therefore the tariff works, but you need to do your calculations carefully.