Three tariff electric meter

lochmalony

Hi There

Our house is 100% electric, always has been and always will be due to its location away from mains gas infrastructure.

We have three electric tariffs on two supplies, day, night and a control rate. This makes it very difficult for us to use any comparison sites to get competitive comparisons.

Should I consider changing the set up to Economy 7 which gives only two rates but more choices on the comparison web sites?
I believe Economy 7 would also result in having only one electrical supply to the property, therefor only one standing charge?

or,

Should I stick with my Comfort plus white meter set up and be restricted with supplier choice?

We have monitored our usage over many years and note the last annual readings (October 2018 to October 2019) as:

Rate 1 (Day) - 3254 Kwh
Rate 2 (Night) - 2869 Kwh
Rate 3 (Control) - 8392 Kwh

Any help would be greatly appreciated as we feel restricted in our choices currently.

Many thanks

[Deleted User]

Three of the lowest Eco 7 tariffs available to me in my area are these two fixed tariffs
Yorkshire Energy -Day 14.15p/kwh Night 9.44p/kwh..+ 16p a day standing charge
Symbio energy -Day 12.98 Night 9.41p/kwh + 22p a day standing charge
Variable tariff Bulb Day 14.51 Night 8.24 p/kwh + 19p a day standing charge..
Time to get the calculator out and see if its worth giving up being locked in to only two or three suppliers who can support your complex tariff

Gerry1

It depends how your room heating will cope with E7: I assume your white meter makes the low rate available for longer, perhaps with an afternoon boost which you won't get with E7.

You can probably make savings with lower rates and more competition, but these may be offset by the capital costs of changes needed to make sure you don't have chilly evenings, or the additional running costs of having to top up at peak rate.

Similar considerations may apply to hot water if the tank is too small or poorly insulated.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.



From your user name you live in Scotland??


Unfortunately Scotland has many properties like your yours with variations of the Comfort plus White meter set up and as you say, it restricts your choice.


The first thing to sort out is the internal wiring in the house compatible with changing to a conventional Economy 7 supply.


Most new houses in UK built in the last 30+ years with E7 have day rate electricity for 17 hours and 7 hours night rate electricity. During this 7 hours all electricity to the house -heating/hot water/sockets lights etc are at night rate charges.


With many Scottish legacy set-ups it takes wiring changes to make the heating/hot water(Control) compatible with E7. It is very probable that any energy company will not change meters without charge unless you get a Smart meter.



If these changes are needed/possible it is a simple case of arthmetic to compare timings and costs. Be aware that the some Economy 7 rates are much higher than they used to be - so careful selection is required.


In time it is probable that the introduction of smart meters will see the introduction of 'Time of Use' tariffs - e.g, say, a very high charge between 07:30am to 09:00am.

athol49

@Lochmally - I'm on a three rate tariff as well, from SSE - day, night and Off-peak. Which supplier do you have?

My off-peak fires up the storage radiators, which have an option to 'boost', if needed, at day rate. Is your 'control' the same. My Night rate seems to run from 23:30 - 06:00, while the off-peak runs for 3 separate periods (I think) each day, switched on by radio signal. Not sure if I could get a 'smart' meter, although it would be nice.
I note that your total usage is 14,500 KWh, which seems to be close to mine, while MSE 'estimate' 7200!! I
f you are allowed to switch to standard 'Economy 7', could you let me know

slowrace

lochmalony wrote: »

Hi There

Our house is 100% electric, always has been and always will be due to its location away from mains gas infrastructure.

We have three electric tariffs on two supplies, day, night and a control rate. This makes it very difficult for us to use any comparison sites to get competitive comparisons.

Should I consider changing the set up to Economy 7 which gives only two rates but more choices on the comparison web sites?
I believe Economy 7 would also result in having only one electrical supply to the property, therefor only one standing charge?

or,

Should I stick with my Comfort plus white meter set up and be restricted with supplier choice?

We have monitored our usage over many years and note the last annual readings (October 2018 to October 2019) as:

Rate 1 (Day) - 3254 Kwh
Rate 2 (Night) - 2869 Kwh
Rate 3 (Control) - 8392 Kwh

Any help would be greatly appreciated as we feel restricted in our choices currently.

Many thanks

Whilst you are currently consuming in excess of 14,500 kWh pa of electricity, I would suggest that the imposition of a second standing charge is the least of your worries.

Economy 7 provides users with 7 hours of cheap electricity every day.

Ignoring what you use for space heating, then you are effectively on Economy 8.5. Why would you want to give that up?

As for your space heating, that is effectively Economy 24 (i.e. it provides you with 24 hours per day of a discounted rate electricity) for the cost of an additional standing charge. You use well over 50% of your electricity in this regard. Why would you want to give that up?

Of course, it may be the numbers look favourable for you to switch. If so, contact your supplier and discuss the options. It may well be possible, but may need some expenditure of your own too to make everything suitable.

Also, this may be a once in a lifetime decision for you. Once you come off the legacy metering, many suppliers are no longer prepared to allow you back if you later change your mind as it's not usually profitable for the supplier to support this type of metering/tariff, but are obliged to by the regulator for their existing customers.

Kernel_Sanders

I expect most people only opened this thread to see if Three were really now supplying energy...

slowrace

athol49 wrote: »

@Lochmally - I'm on a three rate tariff as well, from SSE - day, night and Off-peak. Which supplier do you have?

Comfort Plus White Meter tariff is a legacy tariff provided by Scottish Power

athol49 wrote: »

Not sure if I could get a 'smart' meter, although it would be nice.
...

I'm not sure of where each of the suppliers are with providing their customers who have legacy metering with smart meters currently, but all customers should have been offered a smart meter by the end of 2024.