Total Heating Control

Edithgrand

My son is keen on a rental flat he has viewed, It has gas central heating, but used to have electric heating. Discovered that the flat has two electricity meters, one being for Total Heating Control. Checked with the energy supplier and they are both active, the guy I spoke with said it can be expensive but didn’t have the prices.

Anyone know the tariffs, I can't seem to find it on googling.

Gerry1

It's THTC.

He should switch to single rate, which does not require a change of meters.

Restricted Meter Good Practice Guide

matelodave

TBH I'd avoid any place that had a two meter set up - they tend to be very expensive to run and not easy to swap suppliers. There are a lot of threads on this forum from people who are trapped with THTC or similar complex metering arrangements who are trapped as hostages to fortune with the suppliers

Be_Happy

Lots of scaremongering about complex meters, often from people who don't actually use them.
I'm on Comfortplus with Scottish Power - all electric, large combination storage heater, small storage heater, 2 wall fan heaters and coal effect electric fire.  Water heating by pulsacoil boiler.   Great benefit is 24 hour access to heating at cheap rate (if cold switch on the boost on the combination heater).  I am lucky in having a well insulated flat with a communal laundry, so no heavy electric use.

I'm also lucky in having locked into a 3 year fixed rate 15p standard rate and 9p cheap rate (incl VAT).  I know there'll be an increase in February when the fix ends, but it's been good so far.  My monthly DD is £40 - SP wanted to reduce it to £31 at last annual review, but I asked to keep at £40.

Some neighbours are paying over £100, main reasons being - they don't understand how to use storage heaters, they have had the storage heaters relocated and they are no longer connected into the cheap circuit, or they have switched to the 'magic clay' (latest advertising flyer for these came last week).

macman

Be_Happy said:

Lots of scaremongering about complex meters, often from people who don't actually use them.
I'm on Comfortplus with Scottish Power - all electric, large combination storage heater, small storage heater, 2 wall fan heaters and coal effect electric fire.  Water heating by pulsacoil boiler.   Great benefit is 24 hour access to heating at cheap rate (if cold switch on the boost on the combination heater).  I am lucky in having a well insulated flat with a communal laundry, so no heavy electric use.

I'm also lucky in having locked into a 3 year fixed rate 15p standard rate and 9p cheap rate (incl VAT).  I know there'll be an increase in February when the fix ends, but it's been good so far.  My monthly DD is £40 - SP wanted to reduce it to £31 at last annual review, but I asked to keep at £40.

Some neighbours are paying over £100, main reasons being - they don't understand how to use storage heaters, they have had the storage heaters relocated and they are no longer connected into the cheap circuit, or they have switched to the 'magic clay' (latest advertising flyer for these came last week).

You are missing the point. The OP's son is looking at a flat which already has gas CH. So his leccy usage will be minimal. No heating, no hot water. The lazy or clueless LL clearly has not reinstated single rate metering when he installed the gas CH, which would be the only economic way to power the property now. Anything on a dual metering basis would be completely uneconomic now.

Robin9

Is the only drawback that he will have two elec standing charges ?

Gerry1

Robin9 said:

Is the only drawback that he will have two elec standing charges ?

There won't be two standing charges if he switches to single rate. 

The Energy Market Investigation (Restricted Meters) Order 2016 requires suppliers with more than 50,000 customers to offer RHT customers single rate tariffs without a meter change and with only one standing charge, and this has been incorporated into licence term SLC22G.

It's not widely known about either by customers or the industry, and Bulb (see Item 3) got it wrong by raising two standing charges.

macman

Robin9 said:

Is the only drawback that he will have two elec standing charges ?

Only? If he is not heating or hot watering by electricity, then his leccy usage bill could be less than £250pa. An additional standing charge could add 50% to that.

Be_Happy

macman said:

Be_Happy said:

Lots of scaremongering about complex meters, often from people who don't actually use them.
I'm on Comfortplus with Scottish Power - all electric, large combination storage heater, small storage heater, 2 wall fan heaters and coal effect electric fire.  Water heating by pulsacoil boiler.   Great benefit is 24 hour access to heating at cheap rate (if cold switch on the boost on the combination heater).  I am lucky in having a well insulated flat with a communal laundry, so no heavy electric use.

I'm also lucky in having locked into a 3 year fixed rate 15p standard rate and 9p cheap rate (incl VAT).  I know there'll be an increase in February when the fix ends, but it's been good so far.  My monthly DD is £40 - SP wanted to reduce it to £31 at last annual review, but I asked to keep at £40.

Some neighbours are paying over £100, main reasons being - they don't understand how to use storage heaters, they have had the storage heaters relocated and they are no longer connected into the cheap circuit, or they have switched to the 'magic clay' (latest advertising flyer for these came last week).

You are missing the point. The OP's son is looking at a flat which already has gas CH. So his leccy usage will be minimal. No heating, no hot water. The lazy or clueless LL clearly has not reinstated single rate metering when he installed the gas CH, which would be the only economic way to power the property now. Anything on a dual metering basis would be completely uneconomic now.

Sorry should have quoted the post I was commenting on.  This was the previous one to mine, talking about avoiding 2 meter setups in general.