EDF, Hooray!

QrizB

GibbsRule_No3. said:

I think the saving would be my HA money, not mine. Not even sure if the HA are actually getting it either. Am I right that before the Smart Meter was installed in May, no export would have been capable anyway? I am pleased with the new roof and insulation.

Savings on your electricity bill will your savings, unless the HA pay your bill (which would be unusual).

Before the smart meter was installed you would have been exporting surplus electricity but it would not have been metered, so no-one could have been paid for it. Now you have a smart meter, you (or your HA) could apply for export payments if you wished.

Glad to know that everything is working out for you.

GibbsRule_No3. said:

I have a question about Dimplex Quantum NSH as the HA want to instal these in the next month or two. Has anyone used them and if so how noisy is the fan?

This sounds like a question for @EssexHebridean or one of the other Quantum users. I expect they will be along shortly!

GibbsRule_No3.

Seems I said Hooray! Too soon. Get my bill today, saying we have taken your DD for £59 it will be the same next month!!!  Yet when I log in it tells me my DD is the £75 that I want to pay, little further down it then tells me my DD for £59 next month will taken around or near 6th October.  I am waiting a call back, from a “very busy” call centre.  They wouldn’t be busy if they’d just do as I ask, take the money.  My SMART meter tells me I am using £54/55 roughly a month during the summer, so £59 will be no way near enough when I use my Storage heaters.  Luckily as an OAP I will receive £500 in December so it won’t be a hardship to pay the extra money when they review in February but I’d rather know I am paying enough to cover the monthly bill and not have it rise from £59 to what could be £150 a month next year.

Scot_39

GibbsRule_No3. said:

At last EDF have agreed to take more money.  I have been paying £110 and even though I am only £170 in credit during the Summer months, they told me they wanted to take just £59 going forward. I tried twice before to change it to a higher amount but they refused, saying I would be paying too much, so what?  I’d rather pay now than have it yo-yo next February. My newly installed Smart Meter tells me I use £54 a month so £5 would not pay my heating, all electric house. Still not sure £75 will be enough but at least it should not jump astronomically next February. I like to budget monthly so I know what comes in and goes out, I don’t want that budget to take a hit of finding and extra £40-£50 going forward. If it is really in credit in July 2024 then give me a refund. I’ll treat it as I do my OAP fuel money as a treat.

It's very user dependent on just how much heat your going to be using, but if your summer bills are £54, I would guess your annualised plan could easily be approaching £100.

But given you have amassed £170 - you dont say over how long, they might simply be planning on running that down. 170 pa is roughly 15pm - so take 15 from credit and add to 75, that's effectively 90.

Take 15 from 110 to stop amassing credit in first place assuming just over the year and its 95. 

Its perhaps not a stupidly low number given July electric unit rates c10% lower than last winter's epg rate.  So £110 would be c£100 anyway without dropping to reduce credit.

And if have an online access you can generally easily increase dd - and with many suppliers if in credit drop it by 10%+ too.

And if tired of arguing just pretend it's still £110, or £100 at new rates and leave the £35/£25 difference in current account, or put it in a little saver account if can be bothered and earn yourself a little interest.

Many suppliers are accused by forumites of hording peoples cash by setting annualised DDs too high and not returning credit.  Yours appears not to want to risk doing so.

Reading later posts.

Given changes to insulation and the solar panels reading the later posts in thread - there's clearly a lot of changes to your net bills likely over the period.  Remember the supplier can read smart export numbers too. 

Do you know the terms put on the panels by HA ? 

Have they the HA registered them for credit in your name or in theirs etc,  or advised you to ?

As many with solar pv arrays are net exporters in summer which makes me curious why even at £54 - for a small home - low occupency etc - bill seems still relatively high  - my summer bills similar without.

AND if you are getting the credit - you might also want to look at rates and if poor switch to a better rate - one poster recently was advised could get c15p per unit iirc Octopus fixed export or some such rather than c4p at own supplier.  But that rate only for their own customers.  So need to weigh up both import and export rates.

And edf have some legacy multirate tariffs others do not for all electric homes like e10, eco2020 iirc etc.

So it's something you might want to discuss with ha re panels and ha / someone like citizens advice re best way forward to minimise bills.

It's not always a simple decision for experienced, let alone the rest of us.

GibbsRule_No3.

Scot_39 the smart meter is showing the £54/55 usage per month now, so even allowing for the £170 I am in credit I know I will be using my NSH’s come October until April, possibly. Lights will be on in the evening. I really don’t want a massive jump in February when they do a review. I have a budget that won’t really let me yo-yo. Yes, I could put the money away each month but even though I am on money savings website, I’ll admit I don’t want the faff of doing that, when EDF can take the money now. Log in this morning and it does say they are now due to take the £75 from next month, so I will see how it goes. It said the DD was based on 5500kwh but did not break down the day/night rates. I’d expect most to be night with the E7 and NSH’s. At least both rates have gone down a little from October, of course the standing charge has risen. Government need to sort that out, for people who are being economical with their usage, not fair to raise every time, as you cannot avoid paying it.

Scot_39

I am still a little confused re the basis and operation of your solar panels.

Do you get the benefit at all - reduced import units - and any excess export payments.

Have your late spring summer early autumn bills dropped since fitted ?  Or at least the day unit rate component of those bills ? 

GibbsRule_No3.

Scot_39 I have no idea what the SPs are doing, very little by the looks of it. Nice to have a new roof with insulation, I think that made the biggest difference. They want to install new Quantum Dimplex NSHs but there is mention of a fan and that they can be boosted by the day rate cost if the storage runs out. I find my old NSHs keep the heat all day and evening and do not want a fan that could be noisy. I don't think I will have a choice over the installation though as it is a Government order to HAs if property is under E rating.  I know my neighbours complain but they don't run the NSHs due to cost. My priorities are different to theirs.

Gerry1

GibbsRule_No3. said:

Scot_39 I have no idea what the SPs are doing, very little by the looks of it. Nice to have a new roof with insulation, I think that made the biggest difference. They want to install new Quantum Dimplex NSHs but there is mention of a fan and that they can be boosted by the day rate cost if the storage runs out. I find my old NSHs keep the heat all day and evening and do not want a fan that could be noisy. I don't think I will have a choice over the installation though as it is a Government order to HAs if property is under E rating.  I know my neighbours complain but they don't run the NSHs due to cost. My priorities are different to theirs.

Many people would be over the moon to be promised Dimplex Quantum heaters without the significant capital and installation costs !

They should cost you less to run because they won't be wasting heat through the night.  Possibly only modest savings if someone's usually at home all day, but every little helps.

You can program the boost heater not to operate automatically, so that need not be a problem, but it's nice to have instant heat available on request if needed unexpectedly.  Also nice that you can come back to a warm home if you've been away, you can tell it to provide only frost protection during your absence.

If you're worried that they won't retain sufficient heat through the evening, just find out the storage capacity (in kWh) of each of your existing NSHs; if the equivalent for the Quantum is, say 90% or more, then that should be fine.

In due course, please return and tell us how it's going !