Economy 7 hours SSE

lilac_dawn

I moved in the summer and couldn't get a fixed tariff. It's an all-electric apartment so has Economy 7 for storage heaters. Previously my supplier (Ovo - who are now linked to SSE) could tell me the hours of my Econ 7, so I could budget. They actually had I think 2 hours of low, then 2 hours of high, then the remaining 5 hours. SSE tell me they cannot give me these hours but they are sure that they are 7 hours straight. I have actually moved within the same development and my storage heater lights are coming on at the same time as they were in my old property but due to SSE being adamant that they only have 7 hours straight of low tariff, I'm not sure I trust them. My meter unfortunately is a digital one so no arrow indicating which tariff is being used at any time. Is there any way I can find this out? I also can't find out the tariff I'm currently on; I can see what it was in October but not now. SSE seem spectacularly unhelpful so trying to avoid a long wait on hold to ask them this, if there's another way I can find out. 

QrizB

lilac_dawn said:

 Is there any way I can find this out?

The lights on the storage heater are almost certainly correct, and SSE are probably wrong. This isn't unusual.

Gerry1

E7 times vary by region, not supplier.  If an E7 circuit has an indicator light then you can believe it.

Your meter should also show you the rate in use: post a photo of it and someone will tell you how to find out.

Your tariff will be shown on your bill.

lilac_dawn

So if it’s be region you it should be exactly the same as my previous home, as it’s the same postcode? I don’t trust the storage heaters as when I moved in I discovered that 2 of them weren’t wired up to economy 7 and were basically on all the time. I need to know though as the electrician installed timers for these heaters which I manually set myself. The last bill was Nov and the new one is generated until mid Feb. Other than charging me over £800 for 3 months I can’t see each rate. 

lilac_dawn

Should I be going by this?
https://www.redelectrical.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/economy-7-times.jpg

QrizB

lilac_dawn said:

So if it’s be region you it should be exactly the same as my previous home, as it’s the same postcode?

It should be but some E7 meters have a mechanical timeswitch which can drift out of synchronisation.

lilac_dawn said:

... though as the electrician installed timers for these heaters which I manually set myself.

In which case the lights on the storage heaters tell you nothing and I take back my statewment that they will be correct. You will need to stay up late to see your meter switch over from day to night, and then get up early to see it switch back.

lilac_dawn said:

The last bill was Nov and the new one is generated until mid Feb. Other than charging me over £800 for 3 months I can’t see each rate. 

It *will* be on your bill. your bill will look something like the one in this post and will have separate readings for the day and night rates on your meter.
If you don't have day and night rates, you don't have E7.

lilac_dawn

I absolutely do have Economy 7. I have had to live with it for over 15 years in my last place so am pretty good at using it correctly (70%/30% night/day usage etc). I have 4 storage heaters and 1 immersion. 2 come on at 22:30, as does the immersion. I think they are going off at 00:30, which is how it was at my last place and matches the map above. I called SSE to ask about times when the electrician came and sorted out the other heaters and that's when they told me I absolutely did not have 2 hours of low, 2 hours of high then back to low. Based on their bad information I reckon that's 168 hours where I have been using high rate as I was told it was low!

I don't have a current bill as they only produce one every 3 months so really wanted to know what he had changed to since November. 

QrizB

lilac_dawn said:

I have 4 storage heaters and 1 immersion. 2 come on at 22:30, as does the immersion. I think they are going off at 00:30, which is how it was at my last place and matches the map above.

So you already know the answer to your question; your E7 times are when your immersion heater switches on and off.

Gerry1

lilac_dawn said:

Should I be going by this?
https://www.redelectrical.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/economy-7-times.jpg

You've already been given the answer.  What counts is what the meter is actually doing, not what it's supposed to be doing or what someone tells you it should be doing.

Beware a local timer that's set incorrectly.  Storage and immersion heaters (the lower one, if there are two) should have their own E7 circuits switched by the meter.  Sometimes there's a cheapskate solution where a 24h circuit is used in conjunction with a local timer that's supposed to mimic the true E7 times.  If you programme it wrongly, or if the meter and/or the local timer drift so that synchronisatiation between them is lost, then you can have an expensive hidden problem.

ProDave

To "use" Economy 7 correctly, you don't have to do anything.  The immersion heater and storage heaters will only come on when it is at the cheap rate.  That is a switching function built into the dual rate meter.

What you can do in addition is use your big appliances like your washing machine during the cheap rate periods as well (if you don't mind the noise of a washing machine on at night) and for that just make sure you use them at the time the lights on the storage heaters are on, which you know is when the off peak times are.

MWT

ProDave said:

To "use" Economy 7 correctly, you don't have to do anything.  The immersion heater and storage heaters will only come on when it is at the cheap rate.  That is a switching function built into the dual rate meter.

Only if they have been wired correctly to the meter controlled circuit...