electricity meters...

[backrowslea]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone can help.....

My house is 12 yrs old and has a bit of an odd meter/ water heating system. My electricity meter has 5 different rates that I have to give my elec company, my hot water is genereated solely by an immersion heater. I thought to myself, "fit a timer to the element and that way only use it at the cheap rate.... The timer didnt work as I now think that the meter only puts power to the immersion when it is on the cheap rate. Can anyone confirm this for me? Also is using this type of meter and tariff still the most economical way to heat my water using the immersion. With cash low a new boiler etc is out of the question, my concern is my combined elec and gas it at £130 a month without the gas heating on!!!!

Any advice greatly received!

 

[Steve]

It is cheaper to heat water using gas. Only use electric at lower rate, as this might be cheaper. The difference between the 2 rates is likely to be about 10-15 pence per unit, so well worth only using cheap rate.

As for 5 rates, not sure. Can you post a photo of the meter and surrounding area, the things connected to it? You may have a funny tarrif with space heat, water heat, general day, general night, but hard to tell without a photo.

Chances are, given that high cost, you are heating a tank of water every night, whether you need it or not. And yes, the immersion is probably only live during cheap hours.

 

[backrowslea]

Cheers Steve, I think the rate is heatwise....
Will try to get a pic later..

 

[Steve]

If your using gas for space heating, scrap the economy electric tarrifs because they are more expensive during the day - its not worth it unless you use a lot of electric at night (Storage heating)

 

[backrowslea]

We have a Baxi boiler for the central heating....
the elec is for the cooker (not Hob) and for the hot water...
bill for gas and elec combined is killing me!

 

[flameport]

It is very likely the boiler for the central heating can be used for the hot water as well.

Your best option is to scrap the electrical water heating, get a heating or plumbing company to convert the water heating to gas using the existing boiler, and get a standard single rate tariff for the electricity.

 

[Steve]

On any economy electric tarrif, the day rate is more than the single rate on a regular tarrif.

For example, eco7 the two rates might be 20p and 3p.
regular tarrif more like average 12p.

So if your not using mega amounts at night, scrap it.

It may be left over from when the house had all electric heating.