Swap Electric Heaters for Modern Storage Heaters??

StuffTheCap

QrizB said:

SAC2334 said:

Changing meters from a single rate to an Eco 7 is classed as a none essential service so I think  the supplier will bill you for this and the new meter which will be a smart meter.

On the other hand, if the OP has a smart meter already (and about 50% of households do) it can be switched remotely from single-rate to E7with no need for a meter change.

Literally just had a brand new smart meter installed to the house 

EssexHebridean

Just had a look at the Creda site - I notice they actually say on there that the Dimplex does give better performance as the insulation inside is thicker - so that may be worth noting. 

Certainly going to be taking a look at Elnur too though - I’ve heard good things about theirs before. 

StuffTheCap

EssexHebridean said:

Just had a look at the Creda site - I notice they actually say on there that the Dimplex does give better performance as the insulation inside is thicker - so that may be worth noting. 

Certainly going to be taking a look at Elnur too though - I’ve heard good things about theirs before. 

So do you think it's worth the investment then? Should be about £3-4k total. As currently I can't see myself using the electric radiators in the house. It'll at least improve the energy rating of the house 🤷

macman

The calculation should be simple enough. What are you currently spending on heating an all-electric property on a single rate tariff? What E7 rates can you get in your region? What is your kWh consumption?
With that info you can calculate the payback time.
It could be as little as two to three years. Presumably you will also heat your hot water via an immersion heater running on E7?

[Deleted User]

wittynamegoeshere said:

I think I'm right in saying that the difference between peak and off-peak prices is not as great as it once was.  I remember a jingly 1980s ad for heat electric that had a line saying "With half price electricity".  I doubt it's half-price these days.

Less than half the price compared to day rate is available in every region and almost every circumstance - and in most of those less than half the price of the single rate also.

EssexHebridean

To be fair those rates aren’t typical - and I think are also for PAYG/prepay customers? Still definitely less than half price overnight though - I’m currently on 43.35p day 14.89p night. If we were in the position to run an EV then we could be paying substantially less for that overnight energy too! (Albeit for a slightly shorter time window, I believe). 

[Deleted User]

EssexHebridean said:

To be fair those rates aren’t typical - and I think are also for PAYG/prepay customers? Still definitely less than half price overnight though - I’m currently on 43.35p day 14.89p night. If we were in the position to run an EV then we could be paying substantially less for that overnight energy too! (Albeit for a slightly shorter time window, I believe). 

That's DD then cash then prepayment for each region.  

mmmmikey

E7 night rate electricity has consistently been less than half the cost of both E7 day rate and "regular vanilla single rate" for the 5 or 6 years I've been on E7 in the East Midlands. At the moment, I'm paying the rock-bottom bargain price of 6.9p/kWh which makes it even cheaper than gas.

But energy costs are regulated and who knows how things will pan out over the next few years? Will regulation break the link between electricity and gas costs? What will happen when the EPG comes to an end? Will the EPG even be affordable for the government and stay in its current form for the next two years as promised? I think that anyone thinking of changing their heating system (of which this thread is just one example) needs to (a) put their crystal ball into "political forecasting" mode, and (b) consider a range of different energy cost scenarios. Basing big spending decisions based on current volatile pricing seems inherently risky.

Having said that, there's a lot to be said for using night storage heaters to heat your house with off-peak electricity, whether that is using a legacy time of use tariff like E7 or one of any number of new TOU tariffs that will probaby hit the market in the next few years.

On a different tack, don't forget to factor in the cost of any wiring changes needed to swap the panel heaters for night storage heaters. It's not just a question of timers for the E7 supply, there are also considerations around capacity. It's quite possible that existing wiring may be able to support 1 or 2 NSHs in place of the existing panel heaters but that isn't guaranteed and you may well work done on the house wiring and or the distribution panel/consumer unit/fuse box. It's really a question of what you're starting from and a job for a qualified electrician to check out. Keep in mind that when the NSHs heat up overnight there's a very high load on the electrical circuits all at once.

littleteapot

Deleted_User said:

wittynamegoeshere said:

I think I'm right in saying that the difference between peak and off-peak prices is not as great as it once was.  I remember a jingly 1980s ad for heat electric that had a line saying "With half price electricity".  I doubt it's half-price these days.

Less than half the price compared to day rate is available in every region and almost every circumstance - and in most of those less than half the price of the single rate also.

EDF has been a bit of an anomaly over the past few years in terms of E7 pricing. Their night rate in most regions has consistently been  less than 50% of the day rate, and often much lower as seen in the deemed rate table above. Whereas with most other suppliers the night rate has been creeping up over the last 10 years as old nuclear and coal plants have been shut down, and is now as much as 80% of the day rate in some of the more extreme fixes I saw a few months ago.

Why is is that EDF is able to sell night rate electricity much cheaper than the other suppliers? Is there some anomaly whereby the retail division buys electricity directly from their generating division (mostly nuclear)? Although I dont think the market can actually work like that.

QrizB

littleteapot said:

Why is is that EDF is able to sell night rate electricity much cheaper than the other suppliers?

I honestly don't think they buy it any cheaper.

If their customers average out at the same 58/42 split that Ofgem use when setting the cap, it makes no difference to the calculations.