Struggling to use comparison sites for Eco 7

whatsthenews

Just moved into a flat (all electric) which has a wet underfloor heating system
It has an eco 7 timer in the cupboard where the hot water tank  and all the (complicated looking ) pipes, manifolds and pump for the UF heating live. The letting agent informed us that the heating was Eco 7 and that we had to ring the building management company to come and read the meters for the electricity and water.

A bill just arrived for "the occupier". It's for 1 month up to Jan 18th  which is before we moved in, but it's not an Eco 7 tariff, and it's not even a good price standard tariff ! Not that we'll be paying it, but curious to know how the property ended up on a non Eco 7 tariff?
 SSE are the supplier and they don't seem to offer Eco 7 to new customers and on their website they're talking about getting your timer/meter reset to accept Eco 7 after changes they're making re Eco 7. It says call them. So we will!
We're also going to speak to the letting agent tomorrow as he lives in the block

I've tried without success to use MSE and Uswitch etc sites to get some Eco 7 rates. I think it must be because I'm entering SSE and standard as the tariff (ie not an eco 7 tariff)  and they don't  ask  anywhere if you have an eco 7 meter, or even if they do, they still just spit out regular electricity tariffs .

Difficult to know how costly the system is going to be and there doesn't seem to be a smart meter. If the meter is outside and we're on the 3 rd floor of a block, not sure if a smart meter would work? Do they use some sort of radio frequency?
The flats were built 2015 and are triple glazed, presumably with decent insulation. It certainly warms up quickly, seems to stay warm and no drafts or cold/hot spots like you get with rad's. There's 2 thermostats. One in the LR and one in the bedroom.
Any thoughts please?

Robin9

It doesn't matter what tariff you put in - the figure you want is the bottom line cost - ignore the savings figure.

Your challenge is estimating the annual consumption - it will be very high
 
To the question you are asked - Have you an E7 meter ? answer YES

but for your set up E7 is probably not the best  anyway - wet underfloor supplied by an electric boiler is expensive .
Sort yourself the best tariff you can.

Did you do the usual thing of reading your meter when you moved in ?  Is the bill you have based on ACTUAL readings ?

Rosie1001

Best rates I could find for economy 7 were with EDF 
ring a few suppliers ... British Gas offered a good econ 7 rate as well 

whatsthenews

Robin9 said:

It doesn't matter what tariff you put in - the figure you want is the bottom line cost - ignore the savings figure.

Your challenge is estimating the annual consumption - it will be very high
 
To the question you are asked - Have you an E7 meter ? answer YES

but for your set up E7 is probably not the best  anyway - wet underfloor supplied by an electric boiler is expensive .
Sort yourself the best tariff you can.

Did you do the usual thing of reading your meter when you moved in ?  Is the bill you have based on ACTUAL readings ?

We can't read the meter. Apparently it's outside somewhere. The letting agent told us to ring the management company who are Zenith and they'll read the meter.
The bill is based on 2 estimated readings and is just one unit rate of 17p. No Eco 7. It's £55 (presumably its loosely based on previous usage if they've been the supplier for a while)
It's not an electric boiler. It's a huge hot water tank heated by cheap rate electricity overnight which then circulates through the UF heating as required ie when the temperature drops below the set temp'. We've had an electric boiler with radiators years ago in a new build flat we bought as an investment. It was excruciatingly expensive even with nobody living there .Around £150 a month back in 2006 with the thermostat set on 16c.
I'll go back and  check on the comparison site again. Was that on the MSE one?

whatsthenews

Rosie1001 said:

Best rates I could find for economy 7 were with EDF 
ring a few suppliers ... British Gas offered a good econ 7 rate as well 

Hi Rosie.I think we also need to check if we can change supplier. Hence why we want to speak to the letting agent today.

Robin9

whatsthenews said:

Robin9 said:

We can't read the meter. Apparently it's outside somewhere. The letting agent told us to ring the management company who are Zenith and they'll read the meter.

Find out where the meter is, get a key to the cupboard - for safety purpose's you need to be able to switch your supply off.

Never rely on anyone else reading the meter.

frugalmacdugal

whatsthenews said:
The bill is based on 2 estimated readings and is just one unit rate of 17p. No Eco 7.

It's not an electric boiler. It's a huge hot water tank heated by cheap rate electricity overnight which then circulates through the UF heating as required,

Hi,

but you don't have a cheap rate, only 17p, no Eco 7.

niktheguru

Definintely contact zenith ASAP, find out where the cupboard is, find your meter and take readings. (especially if it isn't a smart meter). You definitely don't want to be running a all electric property on "estimates", you may then get a big shock in a few months with your bill, which isn't pleasant. Once you've got accurate readings, then proceed with a switch, to avoid your causing problems for yourself. (Ensure the management company/letting agent has given you opening readings from when the "letting survey" was done, that will give you an idea of what the reading actually was near to when you moved in. Otherwise you may end up paying for the previous tenants usage (or the usage when the flat was vacant!) 

whatsthenews

OK. Bearing in mind that ATM  we're just going on what we've been told.
  We've spoken to SSE who say they can't see that the property has an Eco 7 meter. They're asking for a meter number.
Spoken to the letting agent who lives in the block and (although he pointed out the fixed Eco 7 timer in the cupboard) says he doesn't know if he has Eco 7 ,although his partner says she thinks they do!
He says the meters are outside the block under metal covers. The metal covers are the size of the ones for water meters. I doubt very much that the electricity meters are underground He again states that the only people who can access the electricity meters are Zenith. The only way to contact Zenith utilities is via email, so we've emailed them AGAIN.
No opening readings were provided to us.
There's a consumer unit in the cupboard where the electricity can be switched off. 
Onward and upwards.

whatsthenews

frugalmacdugal said:

whatsthenews said:
The bill is based on 2 estimated readings and is just one unit rate of 17p. No Eco 7.

It's not an electric boiler. It's a huge hot water tank heated by cheap rate electricity overnight which then circulates through the UF heating as required,

Hi,

but you don't have a cheap rate, only 17p, no Eco 7.

Aware of that, but the system is designed to be used with Eco 7, hence the thermal store (water tank),the fixed (Summer or Winter) Eco 7 timer and the Boost switch/timer.It's not an electric boiler. Electric boilers work just like a gas boiler ie when the temp drops they fire up, heat cold water coming in from the mains and pump it around the heating system. Completely different system to a thermal store system. 

whatsthenews

niktheguru said:

Definintely contact zenith ASAP, find out where the cupboard is, find your meter and take readings. (especially if it isn't a smart meter). You definitely don't want to be running a all electric property on "estimates", you may then get a big shock in a few months with your bill, which isn't pleasant. Once you've got accurate readings, then proceed with a switch, to avoid your causing problems for yourself. (Ensure the management company/letting agent has given you opening readings from when the "letting survey" was done, that will give you an idea of what the reading actually was near to when you moved in. Otherwise you may end up paying for the previous tenants usage (or the usage when the flat was vacant!) 

Thanks nik. We're not putting the account into our name until we get a meter reading and meter number and further info regarding eco 7. We now have  a contact name for the person at Zenith who's responsible for the block of flats.
SSE told us that they haven't had a meter reading since September last year.
Meanwhile I'm to the letting forum. IMO it shouldn't be a new tenants responsibility to contact the Property management company to get a move in meter reading.