Any THTC Advice Please?

Carlrt

Hello,
Can I ask for some help with the above please?
  
My family and I live in the Outer Hebrides. Our house is a relatively small 3-bed semi, all electric, 3 storage heaters downstairs, (these are over 20 years old I have to say), a panel heater in each of the bedrooms, electric towel rail in the bathroom & hot water is on an immersion heater.

We're on the Total Heating Total Control (THTC) rate which is only offered by SSE so we're locked. On Saturday SSE sent an email to say they're increasing our DD to £296 per month from £240!  At our 'annual review' last October the DD was dropped from £260 to £240!)

I would like to know whether it would be cheaper for us to switch to a single meter, perhaps on Economy 7 or 10? 

Our annual usage (according to our latest bill):
10,708Wh Cheap Rate
5,932kWh Standard Rate

We're currently on the SSE 1 year THTC tariff which charges at:
13.44p per kWh Cheap Rate
20.39p per kWh Normal Rate 
25.91p per day Standing Charge

SSE themselves state ".......energy used on the normal meter costs more than our standard rate".

(Incidently, yes we've taken advantage of all available insulation initiatives, apart from under floor as there isn't enought space!)

Thanks for any assistance

Gerry1

Carlrt said:

We're currently on the SSE 1 year THTC tariff which charges at:

13.44p per kWh Cheap Rate
20.39p per kWh Normal Rate 
25.91p per day Standing Charge

You're being well and truly ripped off.  A quick search shows that Neon Reef would charge 12.974p per kWh at all times with a Standing Charge of 19.95p per day.  Others may have more suitable tariffs.

matelodave

I would have though that almost any other tariff would be cheaper than that, although a quick calculate suggest that your DD should only be around £230 if your consumption figures are correct  - unless you are paying back some arrears as well. TBH it's always best if you do your own calculations to see what your DD should be and then to monitor it throughout the year to make sure that it's on target to pay off your annual bill. IMO too many suppliers bounce it up and down like a yo-yo because they don't actually smooth your payments out across the whole 12 months but review it it based on flawed info.  You should be the arbiter of what you pay, not them. However it does depend on you taking charge, sending in regular readings and checking that your consumption and direct debits are working properly.

My Symbio single rate tariff is only 11.5p/kwh with 15p a day which would work out at £1955 for your 17,000kwh plus £55 s/c = £2010/12 = £167,50 a month. and Gerry's Neon Reef would only be around £190/mo

Just saving 1/p/kwh off your cheap rate would save you £100 a year and a penny off your peak rate would save you another £60/year and if you could use less you'd save even more

You really do need to do your sums because your cheap rate is already more than a lot of other supplier's standard rate and your peak rate is just a rip-off, as is your standing charge.
Do some comparisons across the market for both standard rate, e7 and even e10 because at your costs it would be worth spending a couple of hundred to get the wiring rearranged.

However, if you decide to go for E7 or E10 make sure that your storage heaters have the capacity to keep your place warm enough as they may not store sufficient energy during the reduced off-peak periods and you could end up using more peak rate leccy.

Carlrt

matelodave said:

.........suggest that your DD should only be around £230 if your consumption figures are correct  

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated. We were paying £240 previously but SSE wanted to put it up to £295 from next month as apparently we owe SSE £500+. Seems very odd as we received a £363 refund last October as we were in credit!
 

matelodave

The very worst time in the year to get a refund or a reduction in your DD is around October, you should have a healthy credit at that time of the year to go into winter. Taking the credit means that you'll end up a long way in arrears by the end of March.

We use 70% of our energy between November and March and the other 30% in the seven months between April and October so our DD should be EAC (Estimated Annual Consumption)/12 even though we'll use twice that  both in in December and  in January so ideally we need to be in credit by at least twice our DD amount in October.  If not we''ll be 2-3 times our DD in arrears come the end of March which is the situation you appear to be in because you took the credit and accepted a reduced DD which made it worse

Carlrt

matelodave said:

The very worst time in the year to get a refund or a reduction in your DD is around October

I spoke to SSE this morning & was told that they're legally obliged now to pay out any credit balance over £5 each year. Sounds an odd plan to me though 

matelodave

I don't allow them to change my DD and refuse to accept refunds or DD changes if I know that my account is on target to balance at the end of my contract.

I've had the argument with both SSE and Scottish power when I was with them because they bounced the DD up and down, just based on the previous three months consumption which isn't the way a level DD should operate.I've managed to persuade them to leave things as they are and its always worked out

I keep my own spreadsheet which has my own estimated monthly consumption profile so I can see when I should be in credit or debit and by how much.
It's based on 10 years worth of monthly meter readings so it's now pretty accurate and I can anticipate whether my consumption is over or under my average for the month. Even if they insisted on refunding me, I'd know that it would come back and bite me in the future and so I'd save it in anticipation.

I've now been with eight different companies over the past ten years and always try to go with the cheapest but that does means that I've also been with three that have gone bust so I feel I need to keep on top of my energy bills, ready for the next one. We use 7000kwh or leccy a year so even just 1p/kw makes £70/pa (£6/mo) difference which in my view is worth the hassle.

Richie-from-the-Boro

THTC is expensive you get 1 hour extra (than E7) in your 8 hours overnight on E10 from your two meters. Some of your monthly cost is arrears, and where you live is usually electric heating. Calc both your meters in kWh, then do comparison sites for single meter best E7 tariff to suit you.  E10 is the worst in the world for stored heat and water with no supplier competition, no advantage, and all suppliers are trying to get rid of the tariff.

Always calculate use in kWh per annum. Usually +/- you will use the same kWh per annum every year and if you pay for your average annual cost by 12 equal DD deductions you will avoid both a debt to pay and of course a rebate saved over the summer months. Best of luck.

matelodave

https://i.postimg.cc/gcM655nS/consumption-v-direct-debit.jpg

Have a look here which shows how a direct debit should work - for some of the year you'll be in credit and some you'll be in arrears but it should balance out if your estimate was pretty accurate and your DD was set at the right level - it all goes wrong when the DD is set too low or the supplier starts faffing around with it. 

You can see that your period of maximum arrears is around the end of March when energy companies want to ramp up your DD and maximum credit is October when they want to reduce them or people think they've got some spare cash to try and access

If your  DD had not been reduced and you hadn't taken the credit you'd have stayed on target for a small credit after about 12 months as you'd only have a debit of around £100 which would have evaporated by around July as you'd be using less energy in the summer to balance it out.

Fyne

I am with SSE on THTC and have 2 meters, the THTC meter is on the cheaper rate 24 hours a day, so not as 
Richie-from-the-Boro stated 'THTC is expensive you get 1 hour extra (than E7) in your 8 hours overnight on E10 from your two meters.' I agree it is expensive though !!
My rates on the SSE 1 yr Fixed v3 THTC tariff are:
12.32p per kWh Cheap Rate
17.86p per kWh Normal Rate 
24.58p per day Standing Charge
My usage is 78% THTC and 22% standard and last year I averaged 14.26p a KW. I could save a bit by changing to a single rate, but would need to change meters. SSE refunded me 500 plus last October and I owe them about that now, so waiting on the bill and increase in DD like OP has just has, will challenge it.
Suggest you contact SSE and find out if your THTC meter is 24 hours and get on a cheaper tariff and then assess whether you want to change meters.

Gerry1

Fyne said:

I could save a bit by changing to a single rate, but would need to change meters.

Are you absolutely sure about that?  I have an E7 meter but I'm with Neon Reef who don't have an E7 tariff but they happily apply the same rate to both registers.  That flummoxes many comparison sites; a workaround is to say that you don't have an E7 meter, but that flummoxes those which require a full address and look up your meter on the national database.

Fyne said:

My rates on the SSE 1 yr Fixed v3 THTC tariff are: 12.32p per kWh Cheap Rate 17.86p per kWh Normal Rate 24.58p per day Standing Charge.

Those rates are hideous.  Every one is more expensive than my single rate with Neon Reef, so you're getting absolutely no benefit from THTC.  I'm paying 12.11343p/per kWh, Standing Charge 13.2825p/day.