Electric meter set up

Dai777

Hi,

Can anyone tell me what the electric set up is in the photo? We are purchasing a flat and this is the set up. Not sure if it's Economy 7 or not?

Flat is electric only with storage heaters and immersion heater. Thanks.

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, it's a 5-terminal meter so it'll be two-rate.  It may not necessarily be on an Economy 7 tariff (it could be billed at single rate) but you can easily change that.

Remember to read both registers the day you take possession, don't let anyone do it for you, then register with the existing supplier.  Same for any water meter.

You may find it'll be cheaper to opt for single rate until October, then go for E7.  It doesn't need a meter change and most suppliers (except Ovo) will oblige.

When it's on E7 make sure the upper immersion heater (Boost) is left switched off, otherwise your hot water will be using the expensive day rate.

Dai777

Thanks, Gerry1,

Do you know what the breakers are for to the left where it says off peak? Would this be for the storage heaters and immersion heater? Sorry I am not familiar with anything but a normal set up.

Many thanks.

Gerry1

I'd expect that to be the case but you'd have to switch them off and see what stops working !

Make sure the shower uses stored hot water, avoid using an instantaneous electric shower.

Are the storage heaters the plain old Box of Bricks ones with two knobs, or modern High Heat Retention ones with menu screens?  It's important to know how best to operate them.

Dai777

Hi Gerry,

They are modern ones, Dimplex Quantum Rf HHR 2200w heaters with salus controls and main thermostat. Is this any good? They obviously store heat but how long will the heater produce heat before needing to be charged again (understanding that it will depend on temperature of the room and setting) but an example might help.

Thanks.

 

Gerry1

That's great news, that's about as good as it gets.  You won't be wasting heat and money overnight and at other times when it's not needed.

However, it's really important that you're 110% familiar with the principles of operation.  They're very clever but you need to make sure that the settings reflect your specific needs.  If they're just the defaults or have been customised by the previous owner they may not necessarily do so.

There are several threads on the forum about Dimplex Quantums that you'll find useful (best found using an external search engine).

Each Quantum should have two mains connections.  You seem to have a good system, but be aware that some have only one supply (24h) to avoid the hassle of installing a second circuit.  If you have this set-up it's critically important to make sure that each heater is charging up only when the E7 rate is in operation.

BellaBlondykeTheThird

Dai777 said:

Hi,

Can anyone tell me what the electric set up is in the photo? We are purchasing a flat and this is the set up. Not sure if it's Economy 7 or not?

Flat is electric only with storage heaters and immersion heater. Thanks.

The best news about the setup is that it's a smart meter. That means once you know how it's all setup (wired correctly for economy7) you can then either look for a good economy 7 fixed deal (a lot of companies now only offer fixes with smart meters so that's one hurdle sorted) or you can look at other smart only meter tariffs that may save you more money.

Gerry1

Basically you tell it how hot you want it to be and when, and then it looks after everything.  However, it can top up automatically at expensive daytime rates if there's a sudden cold snap and it's run out of oomph in the late afternoon or evening.

That's great for maintaining a consistent temperature (e.g. for a vulnerable person living alone), but you might wish to limit or prevent this feature (you can still trigger a manual boost if necessary).

Dai777

Hi,

The idea would be to set it up for an hour or so in the am and from 4-8pm in the evening. I was thinking of using Octopus agile tariff ( i am on tracker at the moment in our house) which i believe would be the best alternative if we can load shift the 7-9am and the 4-7.30pm use. So want the storage heaters to work through those hours.Does anyone have a better tariff or ideas?