SSE THTC Price Hike - Alternatives?

molerat

You are responsible for supplying the tails from the meter to the consumer unit(s). If you had 2 CUs with 2 sets of tails and have had E7 installed then I would have expected the meter fitter to have connected those. If it is more complex than that, 2 CUs and a single rate meter for instance, then it is up to you to provide a junction block for them to connect to. Not a major job for an electrician but you may have to get the DNO back to re-connect.

GrumpyHector

Changing from THTC is a bit more complicated than just swapping meters and joining meter tails.
There are 2 consumer units, each with a meter. The 'standard rate' meter and consumer unit is for your cooker, lights and sockets. The 'other rate' meter is for the THTC consumer unit and it has 3 supplies and main switches: (1) Storage heaters (2) Off-peak hot water heating (which does not seem to be at exactly the same time as the storage heater charging) (3) Panel heaters, bathroom heater, 'focal point' fire, hot water boost and electric shower.
There is therefore more to do in order that the panel heaters, shower etc are connected to the new supply arrangement.
No other suppliers will take on the THTC tariff probably for the same reason that SSE (originally Scottish Hydro-Electric) no longer supply it to new customers: Non-standard meters with radio-controlled switching for storage heater charging (altered depending on the weather); large 3-section consumer units; IF it suits you then it's 'too good' (from the supplier’s viewpoint) though less so following recent price increases.
It is certainly not ideal for everyone but I would suggest careful analysis of electricity use and costs prior to changing from the THTC tariff. You cannot change back!

Richard_L_King

THTC wasn't too bad when energy prices were more reasonable. But now it has gone beyond a joke.

With the latest price increases coming into force on 1st April 2019, I'll be paying practically the same for THTC heating control energy (which is supposed to be 'cheap') - 15.05p per unit - as I am for 'normal' energy on another supply provided by iSupply - 15.8p per unit. And the THTC rate for standard energy will be a staggering 23.44p per unit!

The building in which we have the THTC supply is only used for visitor accommodation and storage, so most of the time during the winter the heating is kept on at its lowest level just to preserve the fabric of the building - typically the temperature is around 10C - 13C.

I'm interested in switching that building away from THTC, if only to stick it to SSE! However if I went for a 'straight' supply or an E7 supply, I'd presumably have to go over there every day to turn the storage heaters off during the day so they're not continuously drawing power?

That illustrates the only benefit of THTC that I can see, namely that the storage heaters' power intake is automatically regulated to a degree. Other than that, it seems a nonsense at these prices.

matelodave

You could get your supply changed to an ordinary E7 contract so you get the benefit of lower cost ;eccy overnight for the storage heaters/hot water but you'd have to get the circuits reconfigured by an electrician to suit the new arrangement.

The alternative of going to a single rate supply could be envisagesd if you used a time switch(s) to control the heaters but you wouldn't get the benefit of the off peak rate overnight.

As said, you really need to do your sums including the cost of reconfiring the wiring to see whether it it's worthwhile.

Richard_L_King

Thanks for reply

I don't really see why the rewiring should be particularly pricey. Presumably one could leave the two THTC consumer units in place and fit a suitable connector block on the meter cabinet. Live cable from new meter into one side of the connector clock, and the four live cables from the consumer units into the other side. A couple of hours work max.

My uncertainty is more to do with ensuring the storage heaters are not just drawing power 24 hours.Can you get E7 meters that have separate tails for night and daytime, or would timers be needed? Adding timers would push up the wiring costs, but a suitable timer installed beside the FCU for each heater would be pretty simple.

molerat

E7 meters do have 2 tails so you need either a split or 2 separate consumer units for on and off peak supplied equipment.

Thomas_Edison

I'm pretty sure that with the new rules suppliers can't say no any more and have to put you on an accommodation tariff which is normally just their single tariff, so you don't benefit from any off peak hours.

It sounds like your storage heaters are dynamically controlled and this shouldn't change when you swap suppliers, but unfortunately there are often problems

wavelets

Thomas_Edison wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that with the new rules suppliers can't say no any more and have to put you on an accommodation tariff which is normally just their single tariff, so you don't benefit from any off peak hours.

It sounds like your storage heaters are dynamically controlled and this shouldn't change when you swap suppliers, but unfortunately there are often problems

Only the legacy supplier is obligated to support this type of metering.

Yes, you can ask the legacy supplier to charge you at full rate for all the electricity you consume if you wan't, but this is a money saving website ...

Richard_L_King

Yes indeed, this is a money saving website, and the point is that SSE's THTC technology and tariffs are no longer saving money: indeed the exorbitant price for the 'standard' energy (and the high daily standing charge) is likely to completely outweigh the now minuscule saving on the heating control energy.

In my mind, this is nothing more than cynical profiteering by SSE, precisely because there is no competition whatsoever. I suspect that SSE are really trying to force people to give up on THTC because it was never really very successful, and there must be an ongoing cost to them in providing the radio control etc.

Anyway, molerat seems to have provided the technical answer I needed, so thanks for that.

Assuming he's correct, and the E7 meter has two tails, and the off-peak tail only delivers power during the cheap-rate period, and the DNO doesn't object to installing a connector block in the meter cabinet,then it should be pretty trivial to switch from THTC to E7 with the sort of minor rewiring I described before. But of course I'd have to get a qualified sparky to verify this and do the work.

Of course this also assumes that E7 tariffs do still offer a genuine cheap off-peak rate, and haven't done the same thing as THTC - ie, make the off peak rate pretty much the same as a standard supply, and the daytime rate through the roof.

moremore

I have been trying to SSE email for price rise use email address before and got to them but now it been bounced back to me. Been hanging on the phone listen to music with some voice says staff busy with other customers.
I prefer to email as hearing not too great, does anyone have usable email address for them please. Many thanks. Many thanks.