Landlord won't agree to Energy 7 meter

Jmoo

Having spoke to another tenant they said they also have a storage heater but do not use them due to costs. Although she seems to suggest she's prepaid which seems a different meter too!

lstar337

CashStrapped wrote: »

The only caveat may be that in your tenancy agreement it states you can't change the tariff or meter.

Doesn't matter if it does, it isn't enforceable.

It would be classed as an unreasonable term in the tenancy.

Jmoo

Would they be on any commission or gain from keeping us all on the same meter?

CashStrapped

Exactly Istar337, it was really an attempt to make it clear to the agents more than anything, as I doubt it will saying anything in the contract.

I have heard of contracts been awarded to specific suppliers for a whole complex before. This results in the tenant being unable to switch. I do not know much about them or the legalities, but have read about them.

That is clearly not the case here though
.

Jmoo

Right I've looked in my fusebox and it turns out it is a "Crabtree Starbreaker". I don't know much about it, but it looks like it has time controls on it for all of the appliances including my towel rail and storage heater. I don't know much more about it - would this help me? Presumably it's why the storage heater is only blowing air out at the moment?

Richie-from-the-Boro

The starbreaker [crabtree] is just one of hundreds of bog standard MCB's, a brand .. .. like all others. It in this case will have a dual 100a tariff only one of which [not both] can be switched live at a time. The MCB is the responsibility of the householder / agent and nothing to do with the electricity meter or its tariff. There should be at least x2 sets of red switches x2 for the main and x2 others for the dual / multi and split load, both should be switched down [on]. The meter and the tariff decide when the cheap rate is switched on not the starbreaker. So whet is your actual tariff name and with which supplier, go onto your supplier and your e-account and find out exactly what your :

- tariff name is
- discounts
- direct debit amount
- leaving penalties
- etc are and let us know

Put a pic of the meter and the MCB here so we can see what you have.

Jmoo

Hi all,

This is the meter and the Starbreaker: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B_utf2lKoF2-MUU5WlVMTXFEQ0U&usp=sharing

I am on a standard SSE plan paying 13.7p per kWh. I believe the advantage is that there's no contract length, but it's a bog standard deal. I was recommended £26 a month was average for a studio flat, but they've upped it to £40 a month as I had an £85 bill.

I left the offpeak switch on for my storage heater last night and woke up to find it was pushing some air out despite minimum input/output. I think my £85 bill would be because, as some of you point out, I was probably using the fan aspect of the combi heater.

molerat

It looks like you are wired correctly for E7 so fitting a new meter and ensuring the heater timer is set correctly should not be a problem. Is there a similar timer for the water heater ?

[Deleted User]

Jmoo wrote: »

Having spoke to another tenant they said they also have a storage heater but do not use them due to costs. Although she seems to suggest she's prepaid which seems a different meter too!

The other tenant is stupid enough both to have expensive standard tariff prepay and heat at the expensive day rate, prob 18p/kwhr or more
Please check the actual timer switch to see what time the cheap 7 hours starts and stops to make best use of it.With the old 24 hr circular timer switches the cheap rate could be anywhere in the 24 hrs. even the digital ones can drift a couple of hours, only Radio teleswitch timers are spot on.

Jmoo

Is there any guidance on how I can find out when this timer comes on? I don't really want to be poking about in the electricity box! This is the only one it seems.

Who is best for me to be with for energy if I can't have an E7? I liked SSE's customer support but...