hi advice from anyone in old croft houses please

boubou20

hi so i rent a listed cottage (ie landlord says works can not be done) with ancient storage heaters and single glazing and draughty doors (and not sure if the economy switch works as the heaters still work with the separate control panel turned off). My green energy supplier (i only have electric here) says rather ambiguously i have 2 meters- one for the day use and one for other use (ie the storage heaters on econ 10?? i think not 7- and yet all summer with no heating on that metre is still going round, so is the washing machine on that meter too- and if so if i use it in the day is it as cheap to use as the cheap night rate??....i am so confused, i can not get a smart meter here- no-one here has one, other energy providers take one listen that i have 2 meters and say they "can not help with a set up like that". I am currently apparently spending much more than an average family on energy (and i  am one person)- i dont use the heating unless there are icicles in the house, i dont take hot showers daily, i only launder clothes once a week, the only thing i use regular is lighting, and the fridge freezer. So living so cold and dirty how can i save money on my energy bills cos im exhausted trying to find a way to save. help!

comeandgo

Do you have your immersion heater on all the time?

Gerry1

Lots of similar threads on this forum.  Search for terms including E10, Economy 10, THTC, "Comfort Plus White Meter (and similar DTS experiences)".

BTW, this should be in 'Energy', not 'LPG, Heating Oil, Solid and Other Fuels'.

greatcrested

Well how many meters DO you have?

And how many meters show on your bills?

And what do your bills show as the charge per Kw for each meter?

And when you called, what dis the supplier say your product(s) is? Economy 7? 10? neither?

What happens to the meter(s) if you turn all electrics off? Still turning ot not?

If you turn the storage heaters, washing machine, etc etc on/off, what do the meter(s) do?

But whatever, I suspect the reality is you are living in an old property, probably with draughts, limitedor no insulation and you have 4 choices:

* accept you live in a cold property and get used to it

* turn everything up to max, buy additional electric heaters, and spend a fortune heating the property and the air around it

* add insulation where you can and/or get the LL todo so

* move

boubou20

haha thanks great crested!! i know- i got free thermals and a mini heater from the local charity last winter (heater packed up but the energy lightbulbs and efficient kettle they also supplied still going. So there is an econlmy 7 box in the kitchen it is says it is for water heater but the box is off and i can still get hot water  so i think when the place has a few renovation works (prior to it being listed i think) i assume they bypassed the box. My energy co- green energy say they dont do econ 7 or 10 but that is what  it would be called if they did!! They say i have a cheap rate and a standard rate metre so my bill has 2 readings- one is like 15p pkwh and the other 9p per kwh. On top of that i am charged 2 standing charges!! next time i put the washer on ill go check which metre is whirring. My immersion heater (the water boiler?) does not seem to be on all the time- i hear it when it is going and it is often quiet- i dont know how to change its timer- guess it just reheats when temp falls or water is used?? I guess the pay off for cheap rent is to put up with it (i dont want to rock the boat and get a rent hike!! ) Not the end of the world i s'pose!

Gerry1

It's all a bit muddled !  What's the energy company, is it www.greenenergyuk.com or www.green.energy?

Both offer Economy 7 although it sounds like you'd need a meter change.

Photo of the 'Economy 7 box in the kitchen', please.

boubou20

yes its green energy uk.com      here is the box thingy. ive used storage heaters in a flat before and it was just a timer on the heater. these heaters dont have a timer just an input and output dial- so i use them by switching on at their wall switch last thing at night and remember to turn off first thing in morn and the heater is hot all day - not really how to use them i s'pose....

Gerry1

It seems that your landlord is a cheapskate because he hasn't installed a separate switched circuit for the main (lower) immersion heater.  Instead, it's shadowing the off peak switching times.  It's most important that the clock time is accurate and that it is slaved precisely to the off peak times (or perhaps allows a few minutes grace in case it's a teleswitch and it varies slightly).  If not, you'll be paying peak rate.  Beware that power cuts can send it adrift, so check frequently.

Never use the boost unless you messed up and run out of hot water because it'll be at expensive peak rate.  The switch should normally be left on.  You could always try setting it to  come on later during the night if you don't use much hot water, but above all you must look at the meter and see when it changes over and that the timer matches it.

You also need to sort your tariff out, it seems to be E10 or similar and will just get prohibitively expensive.  You might be better off getting the meters changed to E7 (with a single standing charge and the ability to switch to the best tariff on the market, but check with the landlord) and you might find that one of more of the the storage heaters needs to be a bit beefier to cope with the reduced hours.

boubou20

thats the thing gerry- i dont think it is a functional box- the lights dont come on when i switch it on at the wall. its never been switched on in the 7 years i been here.

gwynlas

You can improve draught proofing of your single glazed windows with a cling film like  product they used to sell in DIY shops but now probably on line. Where you do not need clear vision you could use bubblewrap attached to frame with double sided tape. You also need a door curtain over your main door as well as draught excluders elsewhere. Though if you have already survived there seven years  you obviously know all the tricks.

Gerry1

boubou20 said:

thats the thing gerry- i dont think it is a functional box- the lights dont come on when i switch it on at the wall. its never been switched on in the 7 years i been here.

With luck the immersion heaters may now be wired optimally, i.e. connected to an off peak circuit that's switched by the meter, making the wallbox unit redundant.  You can check that by switching off the storage heaters and seeing whether the off peak meter starts recording usage (e.g. red light starts flashing rapidly) by the immersion heater when the cheap rate kicks in.  If there's a second immersion heater (usually halfway up the tank) make sure it's switched off because it's likely to be connected to the expensive daytime circuit.

You really must make sure that you understand how the storage and immersion heaters are connected, otherwise you'll be wasting lots of money if you operate them at the expensive rate.

Realistically you need to agree a move to E7 because these old legacy tariffs are only going to get prohibitively expensive.