Modern quantum storage heaters

coffeehound

tubzy2001 wrote: »

Hello, no changes were made and I enquires about the storage heaters charging up for 10 hours and was told they shouldn’t need to charge up after 5 hours 12-5am.
I also asked Co-Op about them giving me and economy 7 meter and was told they don’t want me losing my afternoon and evening cheap rate. Not really cheap though is it

Do the housing association have a helpline for maintenance problems? Also do they have support advisors? It would be worth asking if they could send someone electrical out to check how your meter and timeswitch are working, so you know when the storage heaters and hot water immersion heater are being switched on.

If the SHs and immersion are still being switched on outside Economy7 times then hopefully the HA would agree to pay for the electrics to be changed so that they switch on at the correct E7 times. This shouldn't be a big job.

Although your SHs might be a bit smaller than they should be for E7, at least you can actually then use them, as you will be confident you are only paying the off-peak rate.

Is your immersion heater also controlled by the E10 timeswitch? If so it will probably be costing more in afternoon electricity too, so another reason to get the timing corrected.

[Edit -- written before seeing Gerry1's post above]

Gerry1

coffeehound wrote: »

Is your immersion heater also controlled by the E10 timeswitch? If so it will probably be costing more in afternoon electricity too, so another reason to get the timing corrected.

Even worse, it might be on 24/7 if there's a 'peak time' switch that's been left in the wrong position !:eek:

Robin9

From your earlier post in 2017

"Hello there, I live alone in a small 2 bed bungalow which I moved to end of sept 16. I switched to Co Op energy 14th November. Beginning of this week I rang them to see if I had been awarded the warm home discount scheme which I had, I gave meter readings, rate 1 and 2 as I have economy 7. I was told I've used £455 on rate 1 and £83 rate 2 in under 8 weeks. I was told my economy 7 rate 2 is during 12-5pm and 8-10pm. I use my tumble dryer during those times anyway and my heating would be 3 hours of that cheaper rate. I have an electric boiler which comes on 2 hours in the morning and 4.30-10pm. I do not have the heating on the full 6 hours especially last minty when it was mild. I can't see how I have used so much electric. I can't do anything til 14th Feb when my quarterly bill will be produced. Any advice will be gratefully received, many thanks"

As suggested do contact your HA and see if they can check these times out.

On a slightly different aspect - what happened in Nov 18 when your fix ran out ? Did you simply let it roll over or did you take a new fixed rate?

Simplycito

tubzy2001 wrote: »

Hello, I live alone in a 2 bed bungalow and have the modern storage heaters which are supposed to be cheap but my electric bills are so high. I am with CO OP energy and between November last year and May this year I used £951. May to August with no storage heaters on I used £159. I’m in huge arrears and the £85 I pay a month does not cover the Usage let alone the debt. I have an economy 10 meter but I’m on an economy 7 tarrif, Co Op have said I can leave and switch but other suppliers have quoted me £300+ more a year.
Can anyone give me some advice please and also any form of portable heating which would be cheaper to run and give me enough heat for the winter as I really don’t want to use the storage heaters this winter and see that my bill will be lower.

Many thanks

All electrical heaters cost the same to run based on the heat they produce. that's beacuse they are all 100% efficient (almost), something often said on this site.

Heat pumps may be a cheaper electrical option to heat the property, but that is because they don't produce the heat, just pump/concentrate it to where you want it.

So if you want to stay with electrical heaters, the only option is to find the best electrical tariff for you.

Another thing often stated on this site is not to attempt to swap supplier when you have E10. That's because only the legacy supplier is obligated to support this type of metering, and many others do not ... as you have found the Co-op don't appear to.
Unfortunately, those legacy suppliers only have one tariff for your metering.

However, as someone seems to have already switched you from the legacy supplier, your options are very limited indeed as the legacy supplier is under no obligation to re-accept you as a customer with your existing metering/onto their appropriate tariff.

Best you can do is ask them

Otherwise it's a case of changing the meters, possibly the wiring, and even possibly the heating appliances you already have. All that will cost money.

Simplycito

Robin9 wrote: »

From your earlier post in 2017

...

Thanks, I hadn't noticed that until now.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5585558/electricity-advice-please

Seems the advice given 2 years ago to the OP was as I expressed above, " something often said on this site."

Gerry1

Oh dear, what a sorry tale ! Piecing the two threads together the saga looks like:-

• OP moves into a property with wet electric CH radiators on E10

• OP makes a bad decision to switch to Co Op E7. This proves disastrous because the wet radiator system has to stay on E10 switching times which are then prohibitively expensive with peak time usage. Two oil filled electric radiators further compound the problem, especially if they cannot plug in to the cheap rate supply.

• OP changes over to modern storage heaters (perhaps badly advised by a commission hungry sales person) but still stays with E10 switching times which remain prohibitively expensive with peak time usage.

The OP urgently needs to have the whole installation checked out and reviewed by an independent expert to make sure that the storage heaters are switched correctly on E7 timings. Probably best to arrange this via Citizens Advice. A grant may even be available to clear the debt which would then set the OP free to switch to a more competitive E7 tariff.

Presumably gas is not available? If it were, it might be worth considering a gas boiler (assuming the wet radiators are still in situ), but obviously this may be difficult because of the upfront capital investment required.

tubzy2001

Gerry1 wrote: »

You need accurate, up go date facts, but with all due respect you only seem to have a handful of fog ! It's like driving with a blindfold. There may well be a basic problem that's easily detectable, and with accurate info available you can make experiment and see the effects.

You're clearly online and computer literate, but you seem to rely on 'a lady at CO OP energy' rather than an online account. Why?? That's the first thing you need to sort out.

Secondly, can you access your meter daily? Check the times when each register is in use: the meter and / or the radio teleswitch will usually show this, or you can switch on a kettle, oven or whatever and note which reading is ticking over. Check that the number on the meter is the same as shown on the bill. Above all, you need to sort out this strange question of E10 and E7, I don't understand how you can it can be fish and fowl at the same time. You may well be paying for peak time storage heater electricity which is a real No No.

Do the neighbours have the same heaters working successfully on E7, i.e. with no afternoon boost? As previously asked, are you on the Priority Services Register? If so, you should be able to get your metering and timing checked.

I’ve had a lady from the complaints team dealing with the issue for over a year now. I do have an online account but every thought that I don’t understand what I need obtain? I was told by a different supplier that I need a years worth of readings to be given a quote to switch

tubzy2001

Robin9 wrote: »

From your earlier post in 2017

"Hello there, I live alone in a small 2 bed bungalow which I moved to end of sept 16. I switched to Co Op energy 14th November. Beginning of this week I rang them to see if I had been awarded the warm home discount scheme which I had, I gave meter readings, rate 1 and 2 as I have economy 7. I was told I've used £455 on rate 1 and £83 rate 2 in under 8 weeks. I was told my economy 7 rate 2 is during 12-5pm and 8-10pm. I use my tumble dryer during those times anyway and my heating would be 3 hours of that cheaper rate. I have an electric boiler which comes on 2 hours in the morning and 4.30-10pm. I do not have the heating on the full 6 hours especially last winter when it was mild. I can't see how I have used so much electric. I can't do anything til 14th Feb when my quarterly bill will be produced. Any advice will be gratefully received, many thanks"

As suggested do contact your HA and see if they can check these times out.

On a slightly different aspect - what happened in Nov 18 when your fix ran out ? Did you simply let it roll over or did you take a new fixed rate?

How did you find that? I couldn’t

tubzy2001

Gerry1 wrote: »

Oh dear, what a sorry tale ! Piecing the two threads together the saga looks like:-

• OP moves into a property with wet electric CH radiators on E10

• OP makes a bad decision to switch to Co Op E7. This proves disastrous because the wet radiator system has to stay on E10 switching times which are then prohibitively expensive with peak time usage. Two oil filled electric radiators further compound the problem, especially if they cannot plug in to the cheap rate supply.

• OP changes over to modern storage heaters (perhaps badly advised by a commission hungry sales person) but still stays with E10 switching times which remain prohibitively expensive with peak time usage.

The OP urgently needs to have the whole installation checked out and reviewed by an independent expert to make sure that the storage heaters are switched correctly on E7 timings. Probably best to arrange this via Citizens Advice. A grant may even be available to clear the debt which would then set the OP free to switch to a more competitive E7 tariff.

Presumably gas is not available? If it were, it might be worth considering a gas boiler (assuming the wet radiators are still in situ), but obviously this may be difficult because of the upfront capital investment required.

I didn’t even know originally I was on economy 10. Wasn’t told this by the HA and I’ve not even heard of it before. Only heard of economy 7

Robin9

Gerry1 wrote: »

...................................

Presumably gas is not available? If it were, it might be worth considering a gas boiler (assuming the wet radiators are still in situ), but obviously this may be difficult because of the upfront capital investment required.

Trouble is with this sort of well meaning advice together with instal a heat pump, instal solar, insulate loft, instal double glazing etc is

a) Property belongs to a HA and not theirs to do anything with
b) OP is on Benefits (receives Warm House Discount)
c) OP has limited capital
d) OP already in debt - borrowing probably not an option
e) Gas in flats/sheltered accommodation is not available