SSE THTC Monopoly

kennyfraser

Better to keep it simple by comparing energy-only tariffs ...

That's certainly all sound advice in normal circumstances, though in this context of Total Heating Total Control metering and tariff, this the first time in over a decade that any company has offered an alternative dual-price tariff to SSE's monopolised pricing, and without a requirement to change the meter.  Many companies and comparison sites only offer limited options of Economy 7 or 10 and just won't consider a legacy tariff like THTC. The potential real advantage here, if the company lives up to their promise, is that the off-peak rate will apply to all of the radio-controlled Total Control hours of usage - so more than the usual 7 hours under Economy 7. But Iet's wait and see...

Sailbad

Kenny, mind if I ask which company ofered you THTC metering at E7 rates? I am in a similar position.

kennyfraser

Kenny, mind if I ask which company ofered you THTC metering at E7 rates?

@Sailbad I'm going to reserve judgement at the moment until the switch goes through with no problems and we're up and running - but will certainly post after that.

Fyne

kennyfraser said:

Kenny, mind if I ask which company ofered you THTC metering at E7 rates?

@Sailbad I'm going to reserve judgement at the moment until the switch goes through with no problems and we're up and running - but will certainly post after that.

Any update on your switch away from SSE THTC ?

kennyfraser

@Fyne One of the meters wasn't transferred to the new supplier it should have been during the switch.  I still need to see a correct bill so still reserving judgement.  Will post up experience here once all sorted out.

Fyne

Update - have changed supplier to EDF. I called their Complex Meter Team on 03330096980 and they understood the THTC setup and have accepted my 2 meters, only paying one standing charge. 

David_in_Moray

I only pay one daily standing charge with SSE THTC but it's the unit charge for each of the two meters (Standard and THTC) that's been crippling me since 1997!  Furthermore, my £250 pcm Direct Debit was increased in mid-fixed 12 month tarrif term this summer to £382 pcm and I can't change it back on-line, don't get a response on the phone number quoted, get referred back to the same number by Customer Services Complaints Team etc etc...sound similar to any of you!?

Morayjag

I find SSE impossible to contact. Last year they increased my Direct Debit from £153 to £172 per month because I was £8.01 in debit for my Sept payment. One year on I am £480 in credit. I have been with SSE for years on this THTC and now want out. I know this is a ancient Tarriff but SSE keep saying I am on the cheapest Evergreen one. Is Economy 10 a option. No one at SSE will give me any clue and other companies will not look at this ancient creaking setup

kennyfraser

The company with which we managed to escape SSE's high THTC unit rates was Utility Warehouse, so I can recommend them (no referral bonus) with the few caveats outlined here.  Ours is a property in the rural West of Scotland.  After recommending them to a local friend, they also received a similar deal on electricity.

Good news is that their agreed unit rates are very reasonable compared with SSE - under 19p peak, under 8p off-peak.  The off-peak rate is less than half of what we were expecting to pay by continuing with SSE.  As off-peak forms a high proportion of overall use for storage heating, this was a good saving. The main good news though was that they were prepared to take on the Total Control off-peak meter (radio-controlled) without a change of meter / timings. A change (probably to Economy 7 or 10) would have meant fixed timings for off-peak charging of the storage heating, missing the afternoon boost really needed for the older-style heaters in Winter.  It was the meter-fitting engineer that helpfully emphasised this, as he swapped out the peak rate meter for a Smart Meter, which is another plus - UW offered this for free, no electrician work was needed and a £50 discount was applied to the next bill.  UW were co-operative with scheduling my neighbour's and our Smart Meter installation appointments on the same day, as this was an island with few overnight accommodation choices available and could have been months before an engineer's next visit. 

Bad news was that the supplier switch didn't go smoothly at all and I had several long and frustrating back-and-forth calls with both SSE and UW.  At one point I resorted to holding two phones opposite each other so their operators could explain to each other what the issue was - unbelievable! One meter hadn't switched over with the other, hence the billing has been staggered.  I am none the wiser as to which company was really at fault, however did claim £25-30 successfully from each company for failing Ofgem's guaranteed standards for switching. SSE were certainly harder to contact and some of their communication was confusing and inaccurate - at one point a letter stated they were about to abandon the switch. 

More caveats... Our deal was combined with a home phone and broadband deal which wasn't the cheapest on the market but acceptable if it helped win the electric deal. UW are currently still applying two standing charges (one per meter) but this is a relatively minor additional charge compared to the unit savings. The Smart Meter digital display seems poor quality and ours is faulty. They seem to set the direct debit amount on the high side.  This is a variable-rate tariff, not fixed-term.  However I expect all of these to be negotiable in future.

Overall I'm not sure that many of the UW operators actually understood THTC, maybe don't have a 'Complex Meter Team', but they did take us on and I'd have to say I'm happy with the result based on the reduced off-peak unit charge for heating and the fact we no longer ever need to deal with SSE.  Now just need to find more efficient storage heaters...?

David_in_Moray

I replaced my storage heaters and panel heaters in March 2014 following an OFGEM report the previous year advising THTC customers that their tariff was still the most economical for all electric households.  I contacted Dimplex with room sizes and usage and they recommended the mix we have today, 3 Quantum heaters in the main living areas, and 4 Monteray Convectors in the bedrooms and sun lounge, all of which have 24hr - 4 session programmable timers.  These allow waking background heating of generally18C, supplemented by a couple of Dyson AM05 fan heaters; all running off the THTC heating metering (as is the dual immersion water heating).  Accepting that the bungalow is effectively 'open plan' this lot consumes an average of 14000 kWh per year, plus a further 6000 kWh for all the other standard meter appliances.  Other than moving from NE Scotland to SW England (>5C warmer on average) I seem destined to be stuck with SSE and pay through the nose accordingly, as will everyone else when the country goes 'green'...please keep us up to date Kenny!