1£ Coin electricity meter

Navas1992

Hi all  
I've just rented a bedsit I like a lot but the only drawback i found is that the electricity is  paid through  and old 1£  Coin electricity meter . LL  said its quite economic and i wont be paying a lot. Heating is central  for heaters and hot water. So energy i will be using will be pretty much microwave , oven , fridge, 2  bulbs  and laptop . 
The meter is set at rate B I was trying to made sense of that and i think it gives you 8 units per coin. Any experience and thoughts? Ive attached the picture of the meter . 

Thank you .

tehone

1) Keep a little supply of £1 coins handy
2) You'll be paying at £1 for 8 units at the meter, but actually charged a different rate over time by the electricity company (which will be less than £1 for 8 units). Every now and then they will come and read the meter, empty the coins out, and you'll at that stage find out how much you've overpaid for the units you have used (they give you the money back). I once got back £300
3) You can probably find out from the electric company what the actual real rate per unit is, and when the next reading/collection is due

Penguin_

Reminds me of the old Buy as You View tv my Nanny used to have, £1 would give her 8 hours of TV & as tehone says above it got emptied she got a load of £1 coins back. 

stewie_griffin

tehone said:

1) Keep a little supply of £1 coins handy
2) You'll be paying at £1 for 8 units at the meter, but actually charged a different rate over time by the electricity company (which will be less than £1 for 8 units). Every now and then they will come and read the meter, empty the coins out, and you'll at that stage find out how much you've overpaid for the units you have used (they give you the money back). I once got back £300
3) You can probably find out from the electric company what the actual real rate per unit is, and when the next reading/collection is due

This will be a private sub meter, so the only person emptying the coins will be the landlord. The landlord will pay the supplier directly for the main meter.

Navas1992

stewie_griffin said:

tehone said:

1) Keep a little supply of £1 coins handy
2) You'll be paying at £1 for 8 units at the meter, but actually charged a different rate over time by the electricity company (which will be less than £1 for 8 units). Every now and then they will come and read the meter, empty the coins out, and you'll at that stage find out how much you've overpaid for the units you have used (they give you the money back). I once got back £300
3) You can probably find out from the electric company what the actual real rate per unit is, and when the next reading/collection is due

This will be a private sub meter, so the only person emptying the coins will be the landlord. The landlord will pay the supplier directly for the main meter.

Yeah that's  it . Have you ever had experience with that stewie ? What's  the frequency you need to put the coins in?

tim_p

tehone said:

1) Keep a little supply of £1 coins handy
2) You'll be paying at £1 for 8 units at the meter, but actually charged a different rate over time by the electricity company (which will be less than £1 for 8 units). Every now and then they will come and read the meter, empty the coins out, and you'll at that stage find out how much you've overpaid for the units you have used (they give you the money back). I once got back £300
3) You can probably find out from the electric company what the actual real rate per unit is, and when the next reading/collection is due

Surely this is the landlord reselling the electric at a charge he’s set - the Utility company will have no idea what that’s set at, although I think there are restrictions on making a profit.
if it’s electric and 12.5p per unit it’s not a rip off.  

rp1974

As it goes 12.5p per unit and presuming no standing charge is pretty good price wise at present,area dependent of course.
Looking at that meter the A rate is 4 times more than the B rate,50p per unit!.
Keeping a quantity of £1 coins is likely to get real old real quick though.

Mister_G

tehone said:

1) Keep a little supply of £1 coins handy
2) You'll be paying at £1 for 8 units at the meter, but actually charged a different rate over time by the electricity company (which will be less than £1 for 8 units). Every now and then they will come and read the meter, empty the coins out, and you'll at that stage find out how much you've overpaid for the units you have used (they give you the money back). I once got back £300
3) You can probably find out from the electric company what the actual real rate per unit is, and when the next reading/collection is due

No, this is a landlord's private meter.  One clue is the 6mm or 10mm T&E cable feeding the meter (certainly not installed by the REC).  As others have said, the 12p/unit rate isn't too bad at all for a landlord supply.

Talldave

Don't forget no standing charge either, so a bargain. One wonders if the landlord is actually making a loss on the deal?

RelievedSheff

Blimey that takes me back. I remember having one of those in the house we lived in when I was a young child

I thought they were a thing of the past now!

Gerry1

It seems to be set at 6.0 units for £1, i.e. 16.67p/kWh.  Assuming you're not paying a standing charge, that's not too unreasonable.

It's very easy to check the rate.  Wait until the lights go out, then read the meter.  Insert £1, wait for the lights to go off again, read the meter again and see how many kWh have been clocked up.  The photo shows a reading of 17288.65kWh.