Switching to flat rate when smart meter was previously economy 7

JessieWannabe

Hi all, I hope you can help.

I moved into a 2 bed electric only flat in December that had storage heaters & economy 7. After the shock of my first month's bill being £300 😱 I replaced the storage heaters with infrared panels so no longer needed the econ 7 tariff.

I was on Octopus Flexible (with different day/night rates) anyway so switched to their Flexible single rate to save some money & in the hope that I could then switch to a cheaper provider (less than 20% of my usage is overnight now and my latest monthly bill was £65).

However, despite being offered what look like great deals on the Cheap Energy Club - when I try to secure them I am either rejected because I’m on econ 7 so not eligible for a single rate tariff or I just don’t hear anything back at all.

Is there anything I can do about this or anything I can ask Octopus to do?

Or, due to the smart meter / econ 7 set up, are my only options to either;

A) stay on Octopus Flexible and hope for the best when the price cap increases in July or

B) switch to another supplier and accept that means reverting back to an economy 7 tariff (if I can find a fixed one that’s likely to actually be cheaper based on my usage)?

Swipe

As you already have a smart meter, you'll just need to ask Octopus to update your supply's profile class on the national database from 2 (E7) to 1 (Single Rate)

https://www.elexon.co.uk/bsc/settlement/profiling/

JessieWannabe

Thanks a million, Swipe.

I have spoken to Octopus who have now started the process - unfortunately they advised that it will take 20 days so I guess it's now just a case of keeping my fingers crossed and hoping against hope that there are still some decent deals out there by the time it's done.

I really wish I had known all of this when I was buying the flat but you live and learn… 🤷

WiserMiser

Unfortunately you may have made matters worse. What type of Night Storage Heaters were they?

• Old style 'Box of Bricks' with two knobs but no display

• Modern High Heat Retention NSHs with an electronic display and a fan

Do you still have them?

Scot_39

Be interested in a little more info on the IR panels fitted - and how you have found living with them and the sort of differences in room ambient temperatures.

Were your savings in like for like months. You say recent which worries me (*)

as above post its easy to waste a lot of energy on older nsh - ax just badly controlled old NSH can lead to rooms too hot most of rhe dsy for your needs for instance ?

dimplex claim their latest hhrs are around 27% cheaper than old nsh and 47% cheaper than standard panel heaters (including off peak power rates). Both of which your £65 vs £300 beat handsdown if like for like but fear it probably wasnt.

(*) My main nsh heatings been off for several weeks now. So Apr-May should be closer to £55 looking at app figures for whole of Apr - versus having to run a frugal low temp (14/15 for most areas in 2 bed mid terrace) to keep winter bills below the £150-£160 region with nsh on e10 in winter months for heating.

Newbie_John

C) switch to flexible for summer and learn how to use storage heaters that you have (had) and move back to E7 for winter. It normally takes a day to switch E7 - same rate.

JessieWannabe

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81988860#Comment_81988860

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81988860#Comment_81988860

They were the old style storage heaters that you described & I have already got rid of them.

I did lots of research and infrared met my needs perfectly both in terms of initial outlay (cost was about half the price of new style storage heaters), how they operate and ongoing cost.

I live on my own and take a “heat the person not the house” approach so being able to get instant heat where I need it, when I need it works best for me with the added benefit of being able to set up routines so I can just tell Alexa I’m on my way home & 15 mins later walk into a warm flat.

I’m not sure how getting a solution that meets my needs can be construed as making matters worse but appreciate your concern 😊

JessieWannabe

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81988884#Comment_81988884

I have 2 large (900W) panels on the ceiling in my open plan kitchen, living, dining room, a 450W in the hall & a 700W in each bedroom.

I wasn’t doing a comparison of the costs so it wasn’t a like for like but for info the initial cost was for the month to mid Jan, the infrared panels were installed early Feb & that month’s bill was £135, March was £75 & April £65.

I live in a mid-floor, well insulated flat with big south facing windows so the flexibility the infrared heaters provide compared to the old storage heaters and the fact that each room has an individual thermostat so I won’t be overheating rooms like the storage heaters did means I’m pretty sure that, even heating to 20/21 degrees in the coldest of months, the cost won’t be anywhere near the first month’s bill I had.

JessieWannabe

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81989390#Comment_81989390

Not sure what there was to learn about how to use the storage heaters I had given there was just an input & output knob and no other controls but this option definitely wouldn’t have worked for me.

I’m not organised enough to remember to switch tariff every 6 months so there’s zero chance of me remembering to check the daily weather report and changing settings on each storage heater every single night… 😊

Reed_Richards

I live on my own and take a “heat the person not the house” approach

Unfortunately, that's a fallacy. You can't help heating the house (or the room) and unless you are right in front of the panel heater then most of its output will be doing just that. Think of the heater as a big light source (infra-red is just light your eyes can't see). Most of the light will miss you and heat the walls and the floor and the ceiling and the other objects in the room. The fact that your panel heaters are controlled by a room thermostat rather than a thermostat you carry round with you is a bit of a giveaway.

Newbie_John

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82013010#Comment_82013010

Your main point was to save money on heating.

With electric heating the cheapest options are heat pumps/air cons - 4x cheaper than any other. Then come storage heaters - charge at night for half price and release the heat during the day. Every other electric heater then costs more or less the same. You chose such panels so the only way to save money now is to heat less / or to choose a cheaper tarrif - but bills will sadly be higher than with storage heaters (unless you used them incorrectly - charged during the day at expensive rate somehow).