Help/Advice

soblivion

I am struggling with understanding if I am on the best tariffs for my situation and wondered if somebody could please help me. Up until 3 weeks ago we only had electricity at the house with storage heaters and an electric emersion heater for the hot water. We are on standard economy 10 for that.
We now have gas fitted to the house with a boiler that heats the water and central heating radiators, the big emersion tank has been taken out. We are on a standard gas tariff for this.
I tried to explain this to the company I am with and to ask do I still need the economy 10 tariff when I have no storage heaters to heat in those 10 hours now and should I just not be on a standard electric tariff now and I swear nobody I talked to answered this question. I am paying £140 a month for electric and £120 for gas (as there is no history to compare this may not be enough for the gas)
I have this niggle that this economy 10 may not be what I need now.
If anybody could advise I would be very grateful.
Thank you.

[Deleted User]

If you're not using most of your electricity overnight (which if you don't have storage heaters any more I guess will be true), then you're most likely to be better off on a single rate tariff.

QrizB

It does depend, in large part, on which supplier you have and the specific details of your tariff.

For example, Octopus's current fixed rate tariffs deal only needs you to use 10% of your electricity during the off-peak period for it to be cheaper.

Can you give us this information?

soblivion

Thank you both for your advice. I am with SSE.

Economy 10 is standard 56.15 pence per KW and off peak 43.51. standing charge 39.02 per day.

Standard tariff is 52.90 and standing charge is 38.94

My husband had a stroke, so we are home most of the day. Through the hours of 12-5am or 1am- 5am BST we only use a landing light and maybe 1 television for a short part of that.

pochase

I am very sure that you also keep for  example your fridge freezer running at night, plus most likely your internet router, maybe your Sky box and very likely other small electric consumers you don't think off.

Next question is what time during the day is your E10 day time? That can be used for washing machine, dishwasher or tumble drier.

What are the current rates?

TheBanker

soblivion said:

Thank you both for your advice. I am with SSE.

Economy 10 is standard 56.15 pence per KW and off peak 43.51. standing charge 39.02 per day.

Standard tariff is 52.90 and standing charge is 38.94

My husband had a stroke, so we are home most of the day. Through the hours of 12-5am or 1am- 5am BST we only use a landing light and maybe 1 television for a short part of that.

Do you get some cheap hours in the afternoon as well? And do you take advantage of them by doing your washing, vacuuming etc?

My suggestion would be, at the start of a typical day, read both meters. At exactly the same time the next day, read them again. If you do things like run the washer every few days then you might want to read the meters over a week rather than a day. The aim is to understand your typical consumption during peak and off-peak hours.

Then you can calculate how much it's costing you on the Economy 10 tariff vs how much it would cost on the standard tariff. My gut feeling is that now you have gas heating, the standard tariff will work out cheaper, but Economy 10 might be cheaper if you can take advantage of the lower rate to run your energy heavy appliances during the afternoon. 

As it gets colder and you start to run the central heating, you should also take regular gas meter readings. This will give you an idea of whether your direct debit is reasonable. I remember when my grandad first had central heating fitted, it took him a while to get used to the best settings for his house. 

soblivion

pochase, thank you and yes you are so right, all of the above, I never even thought about any of that.

The E10 hours are 12-5am, 1pm-4pm and 8pm-10pm.

soblivion

TheBanker, Thank you. Yes, I try to use the washing machine in those afternoon hours and the dryer, but I'll not use the dryer this year now. Too worried to use it. Of course, the oven is the one that I use on full rate hours. Our son is back living with us now, his main consumption for electric is between 5pm-10pm for xbox, tv, phone charging etc. Great suggestion on working out consumption, thank you for that.
SSE did say to take a reading for the gas every month. 
I was going to just have the heating come on at 16 degrees, but I feel that whilst I could cope with that, my husband is obviously sat or lying down a lot and takes warfarin, so I think that's a rubbish idea on my part.

Thank you for all the advice received, I really appreciate it.

TheBanker

soblivion said:

SSE did say to take a reading for the gas every month. 
I was going to just have the heating come on at 16 degrees, but I feel that whilst I could cope with that, my husband is obviously sat or lying down a lot and takes warfarin, so I think that's a rubbish idea on my part.

Thank you for all the advice received, I really appreciate it.

I know you didn't ask for advice about the gas, but I will give some anyway

Given your husband's condition, I think making sure he's warm enough ought to be the priority. If you are used to paying for electric heating, you will probably find gas cheaper, even if you have it at a higher temperature. To be honest 16 sounds low for someone who's not mobile. 

What I would do is, when it starts to feel chilly, put the heating on at about 20 then adjust it up or down until you find a level you're comfortable with. Keep a close eye on the meter (more often than monthly) so you can keep track of how much you're spending. If your usage is high, then look at whether you can turn off radiators in unused rooms (not much point heating the bedroom all day if you're sat downstairs, just turn the heating in that room on in the evening so it's warm by bed time). 

As I said, I think you'll make a saving compared to electrical heating, so try not to worry too much. Also remember that the government support that's expected to be announced later this week will help to manage bills through this winter. 

macman

If you are no longer using electricity for heating or hot water, then it is very unlikely that E10 would be cheaper. Those two items will account for up to 80% of your total usage.
The other advantage of going to single rate is that you will be able to have a choice of suppliers, if switching ever becomes relevant again. Only the legacy suppliers such as SSE will support E10.
Bear in mind that switching to single rate will involve re-metering and some electrical work at your expense.
If you need to replace the oven/hob in the future, switch to gas, as it's a third of the cost to run.

soblivion

Thank you very much to you all, I am taking on board everything you have said, and you have been extremely helpful.