Question:
Hi
Wondering if anyone can advise me or has any experience of the following.
I live in 2-bed flat with electric only. Last winter we used peak rate heating to see us through the cold and paid dearly. We'll i'm about to have installed dimplex duoheat storage heaters in the hope this will be somewhat cheaper. It's just myself & husband living here. We're currently on southern electric E7 but dimplex said we should enquire into a tariff that would charge the storage heaters at the off peak rate in the afternoon which we did and they came back with two alternatives. They told me this + their current ex-vat prices:
E7 - 17.68 pence per day standing charge
Rate 1 - 3.98 pence per unit, everything for 7 hours at night is charged at this rate.
Rate 2 - 10.11 pence per unit, everything is charged at this rate.
I guess with this we are more likely to need peak rate heating as it could have run out (?)
Superdeal - 21.21 pence per day standing charge
Rate 1 - 3.46 pence per unit, only stored heat and hot water for 7 hours but two of these are in the afternoon and five are at night so the stoage heaters can top up with cheap heating.
Rate 2 - 10.08 pence per unit, all other electric (inc panel heaters etc) day rate for 17 hours.
Rate 3 - 5.54 pence per unit night rate, all other electric (inc panel heaters) for 7 hours at night.
Flexiheat - 21.21 pence per day standing charge
Rate 1 - 3.46 pence per unit, only stored heat and hot water for 7 hours but two of these are in the afternoon and five are at night so the stoage heaters can top up with cheap heating.
Rate 2 - 13.71 pence per unit. 7.30 am - 7.30 pm monday - friday = peak rate for all other electrical appliances.
rate 3 - 6.35 pence per unit. 7.30 pm - 7.30 am mon - fri + all hours at the weekend + all hours of christmas week = off peak rate for all other electrical appliances.
Hopefully that made some sense ?
We both work m-f and leave home at about 8 and return at about 5. I only ever run washer dryer in the eve/weekend simply because i am not here during the week.
Southern electric only say if you work m-f day the best is flexiheat and if someone is at home during the day the best is superdeal. Either way the idea is you get better heat from storage heaters having the two hours in the afternoon. They say if the meter is changed and we think we are no better off we can switch back to E7 after 1 year free of charge.
Does anyone have any ideas if this would be worth having when the storage heaters are installed ?
Thanks and sorry for the waffle !
Leonie
Answers:
Hi Leonie
Welcome to the forums.
I'm sure it won't be too long before some of our resident experts come along to give you some good advice.
Answers:
I do like the way the power companies get their pound of flesh, one way or the other !
"Yes sir, you can buy E7 electricity from us ever so cheap, BUT, we'll charge you more than the standard rate for anything outside E7"
Can you imagine Tesco trying that one ? "Yes sir, you can buy our Value range baked beans, BUT, that will be an 10p extra on your packet of Shredded Wheat"
Answers:
Can you imagine Tesco trying that one ? "Yes sir, you can buy our Value range baked beans, BUT, that will be an 10p extra on your packet of Shredded Wheat"
Surely a better comparison would be "Yes sir, you can buy our Value range baked beans, BUT, that will be an 10p extra on normal baked beans"... which is what they do...
Answers:
Hi,
Is there a website that can do this for you i.e. work out your approx usage and determine which tariff you should go for?
Thanks
Answers:
Hi,
Is there a website that can do this for you i.e. work out your approx usage and determine which tariff you should go for?
Thanks
Hi Sam, there is a sticky above which gives average use, and if you enter those (or your own figures) into a comparison site , Energyhelpline or UK Power, should give you a guide to cheapest provider for your area. Service rating is a factor.
Answers:
Only on E7 Lenny, and then not for heating. Seems by your figures, they got you all ways, what you gain gets grabbed back.
The cheapest E7 supplier is better than an expensive E10 provider.
You need your annual figures to put into a comparison site.
Ebico rates (Southern Electric, Eastern) are similar to the first set of figures you quote but WITHOUT the standing charge. Beneficial to low usage customers.
Answers:
You need to monitor and record your useage at the times of the day they quote if possible, and then do some arithmetic.
The problem is that what you use for heating in a mild October will be less than, say, January and more than the summer.
However why stick with Southern Electricity? Look at other companies and you moght get a cheaper E7 tariff. In another thread currently running someone is paying 2.5p with BG click energy.
P.S Welcome to the forum
Answers:
It's like mobile phones; if you know your usage pattern then you can work out what's cheapest for you. Otherwise you have to guess based on standing charge, E7 rate and non E7 rate. They make it complicated on purpose.
Click energy rates:
Answers:
As Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) has a perfect word for this confusopoly - a group of companies with similar products who intentionally confuse customers instead of competing on price. In otherwords there pricing schemes are so difficult to understand it's impossible to figure out which one is the best value for you.
Answers:
As Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) has a perfect word for this confusopoly - a group of companies with similar products who intentionally confuse customers instead of competing on price. In otherwords there pricing schemes are so difficult to understand it's impossible to figure out which one is the best value for you.
Lovely word, Mustrum, just had this ridiculous thought of spending a penny in public and being presented with a confusopoly of choices, and desperate to get the best value for money, the inevitable happened....
Answers:
This is why I keep a spreadsheet of my usage, so I can then do a proper comparison for myself based on the charging details.
Answers:
Am I missing something?
Superdeal - 21.21 pence per day standing charge
Rate 1 - 3.46 pence per unit, .
Rate 2 - 10.08 pence per unit,
Rate 3 - 5.54 pence per unit night rate
Flexiheat - 21.21 pence per day standing charge
Rate 1 - 3.46 pence per unit
Rate 2 - 13.71 pence per unit.
rate 3 - 6.35 pence per unit.
I can see there are differences between what the rates 2 and 3 charge on each, but as the rates 2 and 3 are both cheaper on superdeal than flexiheat, why would flexiheat EVER be a good option?
I can see you would get some extra usage on the rate 3 with flexiheat, but 13.71 is an evil price to pay!
Answers:
Hi
Thanks for the replies.
I've not done a 'usage' schedule yet simply because I haven't got the heaters in yet and even then will have no idea how much they will use on the coldest of days.
I don't think I can switch suppliers - simply because owing to a few factors ie. southern electric mucking up the changing of our meter, electrician wiring new immersion heater up to 24hrs for the last nine months, i now have an £800 bill to pay. Since i am DWD, the likelyhood of me finding this money so I can switch suplliers is remote.
They've told me I can pay over up to 3 years interest free so really i'm trying to decide on the best deal with them.
Cheers
Leonie
Answers:
I'll have a look at my Econ 7 usage when I go home tonight. It's the first week I've had the heating on, so I've no idea how many unit's I've been using yet.