Electricity rip off!! Help!!

rosiesq

Hi Long winded, but please read! (Just to say, people in towns and cities will wonder why people still have storage heaters. .this is Devon, where a huge percentage of us only have access to electricity.  This heaters are being promoted by the Government/Energy companies ECO3 scheme!)
I can't believe I'm the only person being caught out by this. I had storage heaters fitted in December, was told by the installers that they were all set up correctly. Turns out they weren't synchronised with the meter, so charging at the wrong time, part peak rate. . cost a lot extra. Realised and sorted that out. Then over the past few weeks my readings didn't seem right,  couldn't figure it out, until, checking that the meter was switching low rate to peak rate when it should,  realised that the meter time doesn't change, so since the clocks went forward, have been paying for an extra hour a day at peak rate!! Why is this not made obvious? I've now checked with 5 other households on the estate who also had no idea, and have the same issue. Am I right in believing that if you have a smart meter this wouldn't happen? But a huge number of households do not have smart meters,  and how many people would know enough to think about this? It isn't easy to reset the timings on a storage heater, the information isn't given in the user handbook! So what can be done? Sorry to ramble, but I'm convinced that this must be happening to thousands,  unless someone can point out where I'm going wrong?
Thank you. 

Reed_Richards

I think we are becoming too sophisticated.  In the old days you would never have thought that an electricity meter could react to the change to and from BST and the electro-mechanical timer controlling your storage heaters wouldn't react either so there wasn't a problem.  Now your new storage heaters are too clever for your old meter.

I would be surprised if your storage heaters need 7 hours to fully charge so isn't the simplest thing to do to set the charging period to six hours so it is cheap rate whether it's summer or winter?    

J_B

When we had storage heaters (1984!) the meter worked like yours and I knew about it - thought it was a 'known fact' but maybe not?

They were also wired to the meter somehow so that they *only* worked during cheap rate.

Obviously, time moves on, but shouldn't yours have been wired like this?

Reed_Richards

Have a look at this https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6270353/economy-7-hours#latest
Also you might get more help if the title of the thread was something like "Setting the optimum charging time for storage heaters" than complaining about a "rip-off" which turns out to be something that everybody knew about once but is now being forgotten.

Carrot007

Yes some meters adjust to BST and some are always GMT (UTC). Even smart meters can be set up either way. At least electronic meters rtherefore only ever get an hour out from what you may expect unlike mechanical timers that could end up anywhere.

danrv

Reed_Richards said:

In the old days you would never have thought that an electricity meter could react to the change to and from BST and the electro-mechanical timer controlling your storage heaters wouldn't react either so there wasn't a problem.    

My Economy 10 timer is about seven hours out but the warm air heater only charges during off peak as it’s wired into the switched circuit.
Sounds like the OP has Quantum or Elnur HHR storage heaters that are operating on a single 24hr supply.

dunstonh

  realised that the meter time doesn't change, so since the clocks went forward, have been paying for an extra hour a day at peak rate!! Why is this not made obvious? 

Our meter has a sticker on front of it saying GMT.  Whilst we are on Economy 7, we don't use it for heating. The devices we have are on a timer that also stays at GMT.  So, the charging remains synchronised all year around.  

Turns out they weren't synchronised with the meter, so charging at the wrong time, part peak rate.

The other thing to be careful of is that the meter clock can go out of sync as well.    We are currently getting our off peak rates from about 4.30am to 1.30pm  Every few months, the meter clock slips about 20 minutes.   So, we need to change the clock on the devices to match.     When I do the monthly meter reading, I check the clock as well to see if it has moved.

Am I right in believing that if you have a smart meter this wouldn't happen? 

It depends on whether the systems are using a timer or switched circuit.  Timers would not benefit from a smart meter.

So what can be done? 

Why does anything need to be done?  Forget about BST and just leave them on GMT.

Reed_Richards

dunstonh said:
Timers would not benefit from a smart meter.

Unless the timers are also "smart" and BST-aware.  The important thing is that the timers on the storage heaters are equally as dumb or equally as smart as the timer on the meter.

rosiesq

Thank you all. I accept what you all say, but this doesn't alter the fact that this information isn't being given when these heaters are installed. Also making it so that they charge for less hours isn't feasible because these 'clever heaters do a constant cycle on and off to check how much electricity to take. Also I didn't 'think' that they would adapt, we were told that they were correctly set, and that we would have no need to change them. The point about then being too clever is correct in a way, as if the heaters didn't automatically change to BST there wouldn't be an issue. As for dismissibg A RIP-Off....which everybody knew about once, the fact is that the majority don't know this now. Surely this should be pointed out to people, or put in the instructions for the heaters? But why would it,  the electricity companies are making yet more money from people who have no other heating option! I now have a list of over twenty people who had no idea about this, and whose heaters are set incorrectly. Thank you all.x

Reed_Richards

It seems to me that the greatest rip-off may be that you were induced to have storage heaters installed just at a time when the savings you get from using Economy 7 are diminishing.  If you shop around you ought to be able to find a supplier of single-rate electricity for 15p per kWh or less.  Is that what you are paying for your day rate and how much is the Economy 7 rate?       

rp1974

Not really a rip off,no.
Basic lack of knowledge and or understanding on the part of many users,and also many installers etc,etc yes.
There's an entire internet full of information as to how best to operate and optimise the use of storage heaters,some helpful,some not so.
Shouldn't people be checking that meters,time clocks etc are synchronised?,and getting something done to remedy that if it's not the case.