Economy 10 HELP!

Vicleft

We bought a house last year which has an Economy 10 meter on a tariff with EOn. Whilst we have electric central heating we do not have storage heaters.

Last winter our bills were almost £300 per month however we had a new baby and had the heating on pretty much 24 hours a day. This winter it just comes on in the morning for a few hours and again in the evening but our bill since beginning of December is just as high as last year....£555 for 2 months! We had a woodburner installed before winter and if we need more heat in the day then we light this.

I do all our laundry in off peak times (or at least what I believe to be off peak times). Our shower is electric which I know can be costly as we usually have to use this during peak times but our bills just seem astronomical!

Am I right in thinking that if we don't have storage heaters and don't work shifts which would allow us to benefit from the off peak rates then we are almost certainly better off switching to a standard tariff?

If so, how does it work i.e. do you just retain the E10 meter but all usage is calculated at the same rate?

All advice greatly received
Thank you!

molerat

What do you mean by "electric central heating". If just normal wall heaters then E10 is probably not right for you as you will be using heating at peak rate - you need to work out how many total units you have used in a year and put it into a comparison site to see how the sums add up on a single tariff. E10 is not totally accepted by many suppliers and many will insist on a new meter being installed, which may be chargeable, to go onto a single rate tariff. You may also have to have some wiring changed at your expense depending on how your meter / consumer unit is wired.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Is your 'electric Central heating' to radiators? and do you have a large buffer tank? i.e. a large tank of hot water that heats overnight on off-peak and supplies the radiators(not to be confused with any tank that supplies hot water to taps etc)

The first thing to check is that you know your timings for periods of cheaper electricity(for both GMT and BST) and are using these periods where you can.

Bear in mind that unless you have a large buffer tank, electric central heating is the most expensive method of heating.

You can work out if a 'normal' 24/7 tariff will be cheaper by adding up the consumption in kWh at the various rates and seeing how much that would cost on a normal tariff.

However £555 for 2 months in an all electric house in mid-winter is not excessive.

matelodave

There are some systems with electric hot water boilers and radiators which operate on the E10 tariff so you get a boost in the afternoon and evening.
Others may have a thermal store whereby a highly insulated tank is heated to a relatively high temperature and the central heating water is heated via a heat exchanger.

Going onto a single rate tariff could be a bad move if you need to run it during the day and in the evening, likewise E7 may not be acceptable if you require heating during the day or evening and you can't store enough energy during the off peak period to supply your daytime and evening heating and hot water requirements.

You really need to understand what sort of system you've got to try and maximise it's efficiency and to minimise your costs.

You might also have to get some wiring changed depending how your system has been configured especially if only the hot water and heating are connected to the low rate and everything else is wired to use peak rate electric.

Have you checked your meters (recording your consumption is always a good idea so you know what is using it and when) to establish that stuff like washing machines, electric showers, cooker etc can use the lower rate supply and have you confirmed the times that this is available so you can take the best advantage of it?

What sort of controls have you got on your heating, timers, thermostats, TRV's etc tweaking them a bit might help as will making sure that you don't waste hot water and only heat it during the off peak period. Halving the time you stand in the shower will halve the amount of hot water and electricity used. Have shallower baths and fewer of them.

Try to use the electric shower, cooker, dryer, dishwasher etc during the off-peak time (assuming that they've been wired that way). The other obvious way of saving leccy is by turning stuff off at the wall when it's not in use, turning off lights etc and not leaving stuff on standby. Changing your downlighters for LEDs can save a fair amount as well.

Try keeping a daily energy diary recording your meter readings and what you've been using- you can't reduce you consumption if you don't know what is using it and when

Vicleft

Thanks for all the replies.

I have already been through all our bills and in a year (well, 370 days but close enough) we used 10755 KWh at an average cost (inc VAT) of £129/month. This is less excessive than I first thought however it looks like the cheapest single rate deals could save us around £400 a year.

Based on the comments already made I don't want to attempt to switch without fully understanding how the system works which we are currently a long way from doing! Is there a simple way to figure it out? No-one we have shown the boiler to has ever seen anything like it before.

As far as I am aware the only water tank we have is the one for the hot water situated in our airing cupboard. The meter clicks over to the low rate and back to the high rate at set times so as far as we can work out, all electricity used during off peak times will be at the rate displayed on the meter.

Our boiler is a Heatrae Sadia Amptec which it seems can be fitted with or without a buffer tank so that isn't much help.

In terms of controls there is no mention of hot water. So where most controllers I have seen in the past on gas central heating systems have two sets of controls, one for water and one for heating, this only has one set. I have no idea when the water is heated up or indeed how to find out! However, we don't use much as only our little one has a bath and we do the washing up twice a day. I'm fairly sure our washing machine is a cold water fill model, our shower is electric and we don't have a dishwasher.

Really keen to get my head around this as soon as possible as I hate not understanding how something works, especially when it is something which costs me significant amounts of money!

Thanks again

molerat

http://www.heatraesadia.com/docs/Amptec_-_Issue_4_-_36005871.pdf

Cardew

How is that 10,755kWh split between the different charge rates?


You don't say where you live, but in my area(midlands) the cheapest 'normal' one rate 24/7 tariff would cost £1,194 pa(£99.50 monthly)


So it would appear that you will be better off on a 24/7 one rate tariff.


Actually 10,755kWh pa in an all electric CH house is commendably low consumption.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Good morning Vicleft

I can't see if you mentioned if the bills were charged to actual or estimated meter reads?

Great info from the guys on the thread already so thank you

Let me give you a bit of info about Economy 10. I'm sorry if you already know this.

Economy 10 meters are mainly designed for all electric properties with storage heaters and electric water immersion heaters. They give 10 hours of cheaper off peak electricity in every 24 hours for heating/hot water purposes. This is split into three periods at night, in the afternoon and during the evening.

Within these 10 hours, they'll be a number of hours where all electricity is charged at the cheaper rates.

To work, the meter will be wired into the heating/water heating circuits at the property. This lets the meter turn the storage heaters on when the off peak periods start and off again at the end.

With Economy 10, we've only the one tariff available. By changing the meter, you'll have access to more tariffs both with us and with the other suppliers.

Before changing the meter, I always recommend that customers ask a qualified electrician to check their set up first. This is because of the way Economy 10 meters are wired into the household circuits. Changing the meter might affect the heating/hot water and some remedial work may be needed before the meter exchange can go ahead.

We're currently charging £51.06 to change a meter. The cost of the electrician would also be down to you.

Let me know if I can help you further.

Thanks

Helena

macman

The real problem with E10 is that (I think) only EOn and EDF support it still. One tariff each, minimal choice: so E10 does not feature on any comp sites.
Your annual usage does seem extremely low.

footyguy

macman wrote: »

The real problem with E10 is that (I think) only EOn and EDF support it still. One tariff each, minimal choice: so E10 does not feature on any comp sites.
Your annual usage does seem extremely low.

There isn't just one form of E10.

E10 from supplier A may not be (usually is not) compatible with E10 from supplier B

I think that is the reason you will not find it on any comparison site. i.e there is nothing to compare it directly to.

Vicleft

Cardew wrote: »

How is that 10,755kWh split between the different charge rates?

The kWh are split as follows;

7494 Peak
3261 Off Peak

We are in the East Midlands

Apologies for slow reply - i thought i had set the site up to e-mail me if someone responded so when I had no e-mails I presumed there were no replies. Newbie error!

Thanks for the continued assistance.