Switching to single tarrif with storage heaters

therocpd

I'm currently on an economy 10 meter and tariff* and hate it for 2 reasons
1. is I can't easily compare tarifs or move
2. I'm on storage heaters but I work a 9-5 job, by the time I include commuting I am not home between 8am-6pm.

I get the same 'heat' from turning my heaters on for the afternoon offpeak hours in the evening as leaving them running all night.

Even then I run out of heat between 9-10pm.

I live in a tower block so its not really been cold much and I didn't even use heating until December and even then I've only had it on a couple of times.

My question is, is it better for my life style, to go to a single tarrif, and only put the heating on for 4-6 hours in the evening rather than put it on off peak for 10 hours and potentially put an hour or 2 of boost on later on.

*(I'm planning to ask them to replace the meter with an economy 7 meter but currently there seems to be an issue with the meter they need to investigate as I am using about 3500 kwh a month- they seem to think its the meter)

Jonesya

One thing, some E10 tariffs include a block in the evening to address that issue of running out of heat, having a 5 night hours, 3 afternoon, 2 evening structure.

If you can minimise your usage between 4Pm and 7Pm then it might be worth looking at the Octopus Agile tariff.

It uses half hourly pricing which reflects the actual cost of supplying the electricity at a given date and time. Generally this means it's cheap overnight, in the afternoon's and evenings but the downside is it's very expensive 4pm to 7pm, because in reality it is very expensive but most tariffs spread this over the rest of the day.

Richie-from-the-Boro

therocpod.

Economy 7 gives you 7 hours off-peak electricity in a single block overnight.
Economy 10 gives you 10 hours off-peak electricity in three blocks throughout the day and night. But you pay for the extra hours.

Usually in England + Wales
00:00 – 05:00 (5hrs)
13:00 – 16:00 (3hrs)
20:00 – 22:00 (2hrs)

"out of heat by ........ " Yes they are and always were underspecified in HA LA stock. I've been E7 since '82 and never run out of heat and used (on average) 8500kWh per year with annual bills running at about £1kpa although they are about to increase about £2 per week from the end of January this for both comfortable heat and 150 litres of bubbling hot water a year.

At no time have I ever used the [boost] damper-flap. At this time of the year I charge them to full. Of course they are never used in the summer. The flap-open is bad convection, the flap-closed is good radiation.

Example for you:

Last whole 12 month CAC Day 2,667 kWh Night 5,842 kWh = 8509kW annaual use. I average £3.22 (23.3 kWh) per DAY - Figures include VAT at 5%. Area Code 15

Below from Dec 18th 2019 statement/pdf

Account number : xxxxxxxxxxx

current day rate: 16.243p
current night rate: 7.723p
current standing charge: 37.570

current annual day use: 2616kWh
current annual night use: 5911kWh
current annual Kwh use: 8527kWh


You 1st need to:

- get an online account NOW
- put 8 weekly meter readings in
- know the exact name of your tariff
- know your MPAN number
- comparison sites for best tariff

I have never used boost/damper in 40+ years of NS, keep the damper flap closed and they give out good radiated heat, use the boost/flap and they warm your ceilings and seagulls with bad convected heat.

I use 60% of all kW at cheap night tariff and 40% of all kW at expensive day rate. I use an annual total of 8500kW per annum. I'm happy at 21C is with 365 days of hot angry water. These are the things you need to know and control yourself.

A brick is a brick, each brick will hold 1.48kWh of cheap heat and depending on insulation will release it over the next 17 hours. NSH tin comes in 4 varieties up to a 16 bricker 16 x 1.48kW = 23.8kWh of stored heat
- equivalent to a 1.4kW heater permanently supply of 'cheap electrical background heat' 24 not 17 hours per day.

If its out of heat by say 5 8 10pm then its because you have under-specified the tin storage needs and need more bricks or you have the damper/boost open in which case it is not good-radiative but bad-convective.

All NS heater users need an expensive to run 'on demand' electric heat occasionally.

Placement of a NSH should where aesthetically possible should be direct-line to your self, the benefit of radiated direct heat is much the same as [felt] IR heat. Keeping the living area at say 15°C is from my point of view medically unsafe and socially unreasonable, (2018-19 GOV recommends 18-19°C it was raised to 21°C in 2019)!it's you choice.

Best of luck.

Gerry1

Why not try it and see for yourself? Just switch the heaters on and off at the proposed times, read the registers each time and do the sums.

Rely on facts, not other people's opinions !

therocpd

Hi Gerry1,
I don't have access to my meters like that. I live in a block of flats, on each floor is a meter cupboard which only the caretaker has access to, so its a pain to get access as he is always running around doing things around the building.

Gerry1

I'd argue that I had the right to monitor my energy usage - to make sure the bills were affordable, global warming etc, etc. Ask to borrow the key overnight for a few nights.

If push comes to shove, it's probably a standard key and widely available to buy online...

t0rt0ise

I wonder if you are being charged from the right meter if they are investigating usage. Your caretaker needs to help you work out which is really your meter and go from there.