Economy 7 providers usage

Emmartin

Hello, my first post so please be kind
Just moved into an end terrace Victorian cottage with SSE dual tariff and storage heaters. There is no gas in the village. My first bill for 40 days, Meter was read, was for £261!!! £170 of that was storage heaters.

We live like it’s the 1940’s so I have no heating downstairs except an open fire and paraffin stove. I have not turned on the Emersion heater. (We have no tumble dryer, fridge, T.V and I do 2 loads of washing a week). I’ve turned off all but the bedroom and bathroom heaters which are on as low as they will go just to take the chill off.

1. It seems almost impossible to find tariffs of other dual tariff suppliers though bulb has cheaper tariffs they want paying by direct debit and we want to pay the bill when we get it at the Post Office. Does anyone know who the cheapest tariff is with?
2. I’m tempted to get rid of economy 7 completely but have hopes of one day installing the slipper bath that was in a friends garden we’ve been given and actually having a bath!

I don’t have any money, just debt i’m Trying to reduce so installing LPG or an oil tank and central heating is not an option.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Robin9

Going back to when you moved in - did you ring the existing supplier and gie them meter readings ? If not part of this bill may be the previous occupiers but unless you can prove it you're stuck.

Not sure what you mean by dual - that usually refers to to gas and electric.

What is this bathroom heater ? An overhead infra red ?

When you say meter was read - by who ? It's very rare for a supplier to read these days - accurate bill rely on you.

Please post the meter readings and include the letters E, C or A etc against them.

Emmartin

Hi

Thanks for your response. Yes I rang and gave meter readings when I moved and the bill came after SSE came and read the meter. I’ve no reason to disbelieve the bill just an imperative need to find a cheaper tariff!
My tariff is generally referred to as economy 7

The bill says:
day energy 289 kWh at 21.31p
Night energy 40kwh at 12.68p
Stored heat energy 1634 kWh at 10.64p
Standing charge 40 days at 24.14p per day

None of the comparison sites recognise my Evergreen tariff with SSE for electricity only and most don’t ask if I’ve night storage heaters. I’ve now turned off 2 small storage heaters in hallways and a large one in the spare bedroom where I dried washing not quite as dry as needed when it came off the line. All heaters I was using were night storage heaters.
Thanks

matelodave

You don't have economy7 if you got three registers - its what called a complex metering arrangement and they are notoriously difficult to get swapped over to a normal system. That's why you cant find it on a comparison site.

There are a few of these legacy tariff around but you cant usually sign up to them any more and they are usually more expensive than bog standard E7

Although SSE should be able to offer you a standard single rate tariff it would still be difficult to swap suppliers without getting your metering (and some wiring) sorted out. Although SSE are obliged to offer you a single rate tariff if you ask, they are not obliged to change your metering which makes it more difficult to swap suppliers. They might do it for a fee or as part of a swap to smart meters.

It would not be a good idea to go to a single rate tariff with storage heaters.

Suppliers should have a dedicated team to help advise you what is possible, so your first port of call should be SSE to see what they have to say and then possibly the CAB to see if they have anyone who could advise you.

Emmartin

I was thinking of getting rid of the storage heaters. I can’t afford to use them. But what will hot water cost me in the future without economy 7? We both work all day home evenings and weekends only....

Robin9

Emmartin wrote: »

I was thinking of getting rid of the storage heaters. I can’t afford to use them. But what will hot water cost me in the future without economy 7? We both work all day home evenings and weekends only....

Experiment is my suggestion. Read your meters then turn the storage heaters off for a week- do you have sufficient hot water ? Read your meters again. What is the cost?