Moved into a storage heater flat. What tariff.

anewloginapparently

Hi all, 

We've just moved into a 2 bed upper flat (a 4 in a block style for Scottish viewers) that has storage heaters, an immersion heater that only seems to heat the sink, & an electric shower (no bath).

As it's summer we've not had to have the heating on this week. 

We've no idea what our predicted usage will be or how much heat we'll need to run come autumn & winter.

For now, are we best on a single tariff, or should we be signing to an economy 7 tariff?

My partner is part time so will be in the house during the day most days & we don't run any appliances at night generally, but I guess that might change come winter with the storage heaters.

We have two meters it seems too.

BarelySentientAI

anewloginapparently said:

We have two meters it seems too.

Then you might be on one of the strange old tariffs for electric heating - do you know what you're on now?

anewloginapparently

BarelySentientAI said:

anewloginapparently said:

We have two meters it seems too.

Then you might be on one of the strange old tariffs for electric heating - do you know what you're on now?

No I've got a letter from Scottish Power telling me to call them to sign up but lines are only open 9-5 Monday to Friday when I'm at work which isn't very helpful.

LinLui

Your partner is part time and in the house most of the time. Can't they call? Or could you call during your lunch?

MP1995

anewloginapparently said:

BarelySentientAI said:

anewloginapparently said:

We have two meters it seems too.

Then you might be on one of the strange old tariffs for electric heating - do you know what you're on now?

No I've got a letter from Scottish Power telling me to call them to sign up but lines are only open 9-5 Monday to Friday when I'm at work which isn't very helpful.

Another energy supplier living in the past

If you are jn communication or can be with the seller they might be able to tell you in the house has historically been on an unusual tariff.

Scot_39

anewloginapparently said:

Hi all, 

We've just moved into a 2 bed upper flat (a 4 in a block style for Scottish viewers) that has storage heaters, an immersion heater that only seems to heat the sink, & an electric shower (no bath).

As it's summer we've not had to have the heating on this week. 

We've no idea what our predicted usage will be or how much heat we'll need to run come autumn & winter.

For now, are we best on a single tariff, or should we be signing to an economy 7 tariff?

My partner is part time so will be in the house during the day most days & we don't run any appliances at night generally, but I guess that might change come winter with the storage heaters.

We have two meters it seems too.

With 2 meters and storage heaters and hw immersion sounds like you maybe should be on e7 or one of the many SP legacy heating tariffs.

See 
https://www.scottishpower.co.uk/energy-efficiency/energy-efficiency-toolkit/electric-heating

E7 was around 80% of such multirate home systems nationally according to Ofgem report c2020.

For future ref if you want to switch many suppliers will default to meter type when you try to sign up too

But you need to register with SP first and have your own account.

SP should be able to tell you what the old meter setup at address was.

With NSH and HW in winter e7 multirate is likely going to be cheaper.  And that will dominate annual mix too in many cases.

Even in summer - hw if can heat most of it off peak - inc showering for 2 - is probably in many cases enough to make e7 cheaper than SR as well.  But others have proposed going smart and switching e7 to SR billing for summer months so it's not a given.

But if your used to GCH electric is a good bit more expensive.  

Ultimately you only need to use 40% on night rate (sometimes as little as low 30s depending on rates) - for e7 to be cheaper than sr at many suppliers.  

I have a varient of e7 but its e10 so 10 hrs off peak inc midday off peak slots -  often end up showering at peak rate but when shower at off peak do still hit c50% use off peak summer some weeks , ave 75%+ annually and in a cold snap in deep winter can hit over 90% off peak via nsh.

If nsh are relatively modern with thermostatic regulation - they can be a decent choice for an all electric flat / home.

Mines are older - but the e10 helps paper over the weaknesses which is why I have resisted e7s cheaper rates.


Werent you told by previous owners as part of handover documents if buying or letting agents / council / HA if renting what the tariff was ?

Even vanilla e7 tariffs aren't always implemented the same in more modern homes vs older ones.

The 2 meters might mean an interesting older style wiring and billing setup.  With some e7 / multirate the off peak rate applies to whole house.  With sone legacy systems and twin meters only the restricted (normally heating) circuits are charged at off peak.   Some as above we  link have day / night and e.g. comfort for heating only.

Photographs of meter cabinet and consumer units might help us help you understand how your system will operate.