Economy 7 not fully connected

tommysaky

Hi three,

I moved to a new home with economy 7 energy tariff and and also economy 7 digital meter.

My distribution board has only the boiler connected to the low/off peak rate circuit and according to the landlord is the only appliance connected to this rate. I would like to connect all other circuits to the low rate too (Lights, Sockets, Cooker, A/C heaters, etc) so I can use them as well with off peak.

Does anyone know if this is possible? As I am getting confusing mix quotes from electricians.

Any advice much appreciated,

Thanks,

Tom

Tom99

I thought it was normal for all elec during the E7 period to be charged at the lower rate and the only reason for a dedicated E7 circuit was to make the timing of appliances on the E7 cicuit easier, typically storage heaters.

You may not have a E7 circuit but if you do I would be surprised if the boiler was on it as that would mean no boiler during the day.

Robin9

Is this a new build or new to you?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

are you sure you have an E7 meter, there should be two readings, day/normal and night/low.

Have a read of this.

impvan

So, to be clear, you have an E7 tariff, a two-rate meter, and NO storage heaters?

Tom999 sums it up well: E7 meters fitted in the last 20 years at least, will measure ALL night-time electricity usage at the 'night' rate.

When you say 'only the boiler is on low rate' - do you really mean the hot water cylinder with immersion heater, or an actual boiler with flames in it?

tommysaky

Hi There,

Sorry If I was not clear,

Yes I do have a dual meter reader. The building is from the 1930'.

The issue I am having on the distribution board, is that the circuit breakers are all connected on the high/on peak slots.

While on the low /off peaks slots, only x1 circuit breaker is connected and is the one for the hot water cylinder with immersion heater.

Piety I cannot attach a photo to see how it looks like as I am new user

EachPenny

impvan wrote: »

When you say 'only the boiler is on low rate' - do you really mean the hot water cylinder with immersion heater, or an actual boiler with flames in it?

I'd think the most likely scenario based on the OP's information is the 'boiler' is an electric one... hopefully with no flames inside

Edit: Or maybe not in light of the OP's further post!

tommysaky wrote: »

Does anyone know if this is possible? As I am getting confusing mix quotes from electricians.

Anything is possible, subject to being on the correct tariff and having the necessary rewiring done by a professional electricial.

However, if only the boiler is powered through the off-peak supply it suggests that the set-up is not 'standard' E7 where the meter only records consumption during the different time periods, and instead you have a switching metering arrangement which turns the supply on and off at different times. Simply connecting other circuits to the 'E7' supply would not work and it may be you will need a meter replacement as well.

Whatever you do will cost quite a bit and unless the landlord is willing to cover the cost then the first thing you need to consider is whether you will be living there long enough to recover the cost of the work by saving money on your electricity use.

A key factor in this is whether the electricity company will charge you for meter replacement.

If you do have an electric boiler then another thing to be aware of is some of them operate using a 3-phase supply. If this is the case with yours then the costs and complexity of the work are also likely to increase.

A photo of your metering arrangement would help us give you a better idea.

tommysaky

Thanks for your response penny,

As far as I am aware, I have a Electronic meter with single display, is not a 2-rate meter with mechanical timeswitch.

Which kind of meter I would need to install?

One of the recommendations I had was to install Smart Meter but I dont see how the new meter would change anything?

And yes I cannot load photos as new user (

anna42hmr

tommysaky wrote: »

Thanks for your response penny,

As far as I am aware, I have a Electronic meter with single display, is not a 2-rate meter with mechanical timeswitch.

Which kind of meter I would need to install?

One of the recommendations I had was to install Smart Meter but I dont see how the new meter would change anything?

And yes I cannot load photos as new user (

Do you mean that there is only one display screen if so that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a one rate meter. They also don’t have to be mechanical meters to be two rate

You may find that it shows day readings during day, a night reading during eco 7 hours. Is there a button on the meter if so you may find that will be the button you can press to obtain night/day/total readings for exampe

If you google economy 7 meters and select images does yours resemble any.

For example I’m on a two rate meter that looks like the one in post 14 of this thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3703783 And just press the blue button at the side to cycle between readings as only one display screen

tommysaky

Anna,

yes I have the same one of post 14 on your link.

Digital that will show you time, and by pressing the button you get get the R1 and R2 readings.

molerat

tommysaky wrote: »

Hi There,

Sorry If I was not clear,

Yes I do have a dual meter reader. The building is from the 1930'.

The issue I am having on the distribution board, is that the circuit breakers are all connected on the high/on peak slots.

While on the low /off peaks slots, only x1 circuit breaker is connected and is the one for the hot water cylinder with immersion heater.

Piety I cannot attach a photo to see how it looks like as I am new user

That is the normal way for it to be connected. It means that the water heater only comes on during off peak hours without having its own timer but all other consumption will also be at off peak rates during those hours.