Economy 7 or Single Rate?

GasAttacK77

I understand what you're saying Gerry and I've always thought an E7 tariff was best if you have NSH. However, based on the current tariffs available I'd have to get to about 60% night usage to see a financial benefit.

If I managed to work out the exact off peak hours and set the Quatums to charge accordingly would that improve my night usage from 50% to 60%+? Maybe, maybe not. It would no doubt help, but we do use a lot of electricity during the day on other things, so I'm not convinced I could get my night usage over 60%. The charging times are not likely to be out by more than 1-2 hours. Hopefully less.

I appreciate it's not really using the clever modern storage heaters how they're intended but they were provided and installed for free, so they haven't even cost as much as a cheap panel heater from Argos. They are already set to warm the various rooms of the house to our desired temp at times that suit our daily routine, and they work very well.

I'm certainly not ruling out returning to E7 in the future. I will defintely keep a close eye on my bills over the next 12 months and see how they compare. If I do go with OFTM SR I'll certainly be checking both E7 and SR tariffs again this time next year.  

It's a great pity they weren't wired correctly when installed because then I'd know for sure whether an E7 or SR tariff would be best.

Gerry1

Scot_39 said:

00:00 to 07:00 are not quantum default AFAIK.

Probably set by the installer, e.g. if they're the default times for the area.  He won't have been there to confirm the actual switching times.

Gerry1

GasAttacK77 said:

If I managed to work out the exact off peak hours and set the Quatums to charge accordingly would that improve my night usage from 50% to 60%+? Maybe, maybe not. It would no doubt help, but we do use a lot of electricity during the day on other things, so I'm not convinced I could get my night usage over 60%. The charging times are not likely to be out by more than 1-2 hours.

Establish the actual switching times, program the Quantums accordingly, set the immersion heater to off-peak only.  If you do a whole of the market search on all the accredited comparison sites you should be able to find an E7 tariff that works.

Qyburn

If you're going onto single rate, but keeping the Quantums because that's what you've got, then set them to charge up as late as possible before you're up.

GasAttacK77

For some bizarre reason the national database has us down as a SR house even though that's never been the case. 

Another option I'm considering is switching to Home Energy SR tariff, which I don't think is a fixed term. That would give me a low SR of 19.42p/kWh over the summer but leave me free to switch to an E7 tariff in October or November when the heaters go back on.

Are you free to switch between SR and E7 as often as you like?

I assume it's quite straight forward if you have a smart meter?

Gerry1

GasAttacK77 said:

For some bizarre reason the national database has us down as a SR house even though that's never been the case.
Another option I'm considering is switching to Home Energy SR tariff, which I don't think is a fixed term. That would give me a low SR of 19.42p/kWh over the summer but leave me free to switch to an E7 tariff in October or November when the heaters go back on.
Are you free to switch between SR and E7 as often as you like?
I assume it's quite straight forward if you have a smart meter?

Some comparison sites try to be helpful by checking whether you're on E7, and they may look up your annual consumption as well.  This 'keep it simple' approach can be useful for people who are unsure of their consumption and whether they have or need E7.  They get a quotation based on what type of tariff they currently have (single / two rate) and their existing annual consumption and peak/off peak split.

However, offering like-for-like can backfire if it doesn't allow any 'what if' calculations.  Therefore, make sure you use a few 'dumb' comparison sites where you can ask for single rate or E7 and try various night percentages.

You can often switch tariffs almost instantly within the same supplier, otherwise it's five days. You have to wait 28 days to switch suppliers again.

GasAttacK77

Are you free to leave Home Energy at any time after 28 days?

It looks to me like you're not tied down to a fixed term with them. Is that correct?

Gerry1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6602800/economy-7-or-single-rate

GasAttacK77 said:

Are you free to leave Home Energy at any time after 28 days?
It looks to me like you're not tied down to a fixed term with them. Is that correct?

Read the Tariff Specific Terms and Conditions. Starts about halfway down the page.

RedFraggle

GasAttacK77 said:

I've checked my charge times as suggested by Scot.

00.00 to 07.00 - Period 1
07.00 to 07.00 - Period 2
07.00 to 07.00 - Period 3
07.00 to 07.00 - Period 4

It sound like that confirms a single live feed.

It's annoying, and no doubt costing me money, but I don't think it's worth paying £2k to have it corrected, plus additional decorating costs.

Sounds like I might have to try and work out when the night read on my meter starts and stops ticking over. Does anyone have an idea what those times are likely to be? I'm guessing 23:00 to 01.00 Start and 06.00 to 08.00 finish. Does that sound about right? I know I'll have to check my meter to be sure but it would give me an idea of when to start.

I set my Quantum NSH to come on for 4 periods during the day at a temp of 21. Will the heaters automatically store enough heat overnight to maintain that temp at those times? 

06.30 to 09.30
11.30 to 14.00
16.00 to 18.30
20.00 to 23.00 

That's the 2 downstairs NSH, the upstairs heater is set to different times to also pump out heat during the night.

Were they set for the heating periods before or have you just been manually turning them on? 

They work by "deciding" how much electric they need to store based on the heating need. So if the heating times were not set, then they wouldn't be taking a charge correctly which would explain the excessive fan usage.

If they are now set then over a few days they will "learn" how much charge to take.

On later models you can scroll through and see the charge taken each night. I can also see it via my octopus app as the usage makes it obvious.

At the moment, with the weather a bit warmer, mine are charging every 2nd to 3rd night and storing enough heat to keep the flat at 21C from 8am til 10 pm.

GasAttacK77

The heating periods were set a few years ago. There may have been minor adjustments since.

We turn the heaters off around this time of year and put them back on in October. They seem to remember the heating periods.

It's actually just one of the three Quatums that seems to regularly use the fan. The 2 downstairs are set to a temp of 21 for 11 hours each day and rarely use the fan. However, the one that uses the fan more often is upstairs and is set to a temp of 21 for 18 hours each day. 

I'm not sure of the age of our Quatums, the model is QM070RF, Series G7.