Multi rate electricity v one rate tariff

Are you sure it's an Economy 10 meter rather than Economy 7? I ask because my meter was incorrectly registered as E10, presumably when the house was completed in 1991 rather than when its first owners sold in 2003 or when we, as 3rd owners, bought in 2007. Only found out when I tried to switch from BG to Scottish Power. Took months back and forward with BG mainly (switch had to be reversed) before BG discovered the error on the main meter database and got it corrected.

For E7 there are a few suppliers that will accept E7 meter reads (R1 and R2, day and night) on a single rate tariff. From my personal experience BG, Sainsburys energy and my current supplier Affect Energy, I'm certain there are others. On the comparison sites don't say you have an E7 meter while getting an online quote, but then phone and check before comitting.

I have for years spreadsheeted my electricity consumption, and have always found that, with no storage heaters, a single rate tariff is cheaper than an E7 tariff.

Polgara61 wrote: »

My mother-in-law is 87 in sheltered housing and has economy 10 wet radiators on a multi rate tariff. SSE have offered her the option to change to a one rate tariff without the need to change meter. Does anyone know of any other companies who are offering this so I can compare prices.

All suppliers with over 50,000 domestic customers must offer you a single rate tariff. The Energy Market Investigation (Restricted Meters) Order 2016

Be very careful. If you've got an electric wet central heating system and check what sort it is and when it heat's. Some have a big storage tank which stores hea which gets circulated when it's required (a Thermal Store), others just heat on demand so you could find that you are not going to get the benefit of the off peak rates in the afternoon or you may run out of heat altogether depending on how it's configured.

Some heating systems are designed to work with E10 and you might find that just getting off-peak leccy between midnight and 7am isn't actually when you want it and it may be necessary to get some wiring changed to allow the heating to operate correctly.

You really need to do your sums to see if a single rate would be more beneficial that either an E7 or E10 tariff as all the leccy will be charged at peak rates and wet electric heating systems flogging away all day on a peak rate could work out to be very expensive.

All these grand schemes dreamed up by governments can have severe unintended consequences if you aren't careful because they dont suit everybody

Joules17 wrote: »

If you have a dual rate and swap to a single tariff does that mean that the power will run to all units at all times? Currently the power supplied by EON to my "controlled unit" goes off during E10 peak hours - we want to remove the storage heaters for electric one and only heat as necessary as it is not a cold house. If I swap to a single rate - will the power to that controlled unit still go off during the peak times or will it run alongside the normal unit allowing me to have sockets in use and heating at the same time!!

It depends how it's wired and switched. I suspect that you may have to get the meter replaced or the wiring changed.

If it's the meter that does the switching either via teleswitching or via a external-time switch to a contactor so you only get power to certain circuits during off peak times then you'll need it to be rewired and probably have a meter change as well.

Without more knowledge of your actual setup it's not a question that can be answered easily