Please help with prepayment meter and storage heaters!

ScarletAuror

Hello, I'm new here! I've been a reader for years but have never posted. I can't find anyone else with a similar question (but please direct me if I've completely missed the relevant info somewhere else) and I've always found these forums so useful

I moved into a new rented flat 4 months ago and it has a prepayment meter which I've never had before. It's with Scottish Power and the first thing I did was switch and fix to their cheapest tariff (they came out cheapest on several comparison sites). The flat is all electric and has storage heaters which, again, I've never had before. When I called to switch I was told I was on a 3 rate tariff; day, night and heat.

I really struggled with the storage heaters at first and had to do a good bit of internet reading. I keep both the wall switches on and have the input dial to how much I want it to heat up over night. But instead of an output dial the other one says Room Temp Boost. No boost, late boost, early boost with numbers 1-9. No matter where I put this to it is unbearably hot in the mornings and chilly by the time I'm home from work. Any ideas?

My flatmate is convinced that leaving this one heater on over night is what is guzzling the electricity. I topped up £40 on 12th and its down to £1 on the 22nd...how!? We don't leave lights or plugs on, the flat is 2 bed, fairly modern with decent insulation, double glazing and closed curtains.

I think this seems excessive and my flatmate would rather freeze than keep paying this much so to save me from cold nights does anyone have any suggestions?

xxemmax

The storage heaters you should only need to have one switch on.. One is for storage and the other is meant to be for instant heat. We have these in our house and we just keep on switch on (the one without the fuse bit beside it). The problem may be that the timers out? We have a timing box beside our meter that is controlled by Scottish Power which we had to get changed last year as the radiators were belting out heat in the middle of the night. Unfortunately now they are doing the same thing again and Scottish Power are refusing to do anything about it. We spend over £45 a week on electricity at the moment.

Richie-from-the-Boro

ScarletAuror wrote: »

Hello, I'm new here! I've been a reader for years but have never posted. I can't find anyone else with a similar question (but please direct me if I've completely missed the relevant info somewhere else) and I've always found these forums so useful

I moved into a new rented flat 4 months ago and it has a prepayment meter which I've never had before. It's with Scottish Power and the first thing I did was switch and fix to their cheapest tariff (they came out cheapest on several comparison sites). The flat is all electric and has storage heaters which, again, I've never had before. When I called to switch I was told I was on a 3 rate tariff; day, night and heat.

I really struggled with the storage heaters at first and had to do a good bit of internet reading. I keep both the wall switches on and have the input dial to how much I want it to heat up over night. But instead of an output dial the other one says Room Temp Boost. No boost, late boost, early boost with numbers 1-9. No matter where I put this to it is unbearably hot in the mornings and chilly by the time I'm home from work. Any ideas?

My flatmate is convinced that leaving this one heater on over night is what is guzzling the electricity. I topped up £40 on 12th and its down to £1 on the 22nd...how!? We don't leave lights or plugs on, the flat is 2 bed, fairly modern with decent insulation, double glazing and closed curtains.

I think this seems excessive and my flatmate would rather freeze than keep paying this much so to save me from cold nights does anyone have any suggestions?

- tell the group what brand and model number the storage heater is
- tell the group what electricity tariff you are on. example E7 or non E7
- tell the group what type of electricity meter you have or post a photograph here

The are are two types of electricity the expensive day rate, and the cheap night rate. Remember all your hot water is also heated by electricity and has costs. The starting point with storage heaters is :

- the cheapest possible 2 rate E7 [not 3 rate E10] tariff
- a direct debit credit account [not pre pay meter] paid monthly
- you supply 6 weekly meter reading via the internet direct to your e-account
- you store as much cheap night rate as you need and it will radiate until its empty
- if its """chilly by the time I'm home from work"" you have not stored enough
- or you have released too much by unnecessarily having the damper open
- keep the damper closed at all times ...................... you do not need it
- switch off the 13a supply to the supplementary [day rate] part of the night store heater
- don't use the expensive 13a supply to the supplementary [day rate] part of the night store heater unless you are desperate
- tell the group what brand and model number the storage heater is

pinkladyvenus

your storage heaters sound like ours regarding the settings, we have our room temp set to 5. Boost, turned to 1 at all times. We are in an all electric 2 bed flat on economy 7 and spend about £30 a week in winter.