5 terminal meter - is conversion to 4 possible?

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Hi all,

I have an old 5 terminal meter for a single energy (electric) flat where we used to run night storage heaters.

As these were very old (70s) and possibly contained asbestos, we have removed them and plan on changing them to modern electric radiators with on-demand heat supply.

This has left us with 2 problems:

1) three storage heater sockets which only work at night
2) a dual tariff meter which we want to convert to single day tariff as this is much more economical. (We barely use nigh-time electricity).

I have had a Siemens technician come in today to swap my Economy 7 tariff to a smart meter. He had to leave as they cannot convert 5 terminal meters to 4 terminals. He couldn't answer any more questions...

I would like to know if:
  1. is it possible to convert a dual tariff 5-terminal meter to a standard tariff 4-terminal meter?
  2. If 1 is possible, will the currently defunct sockets for the old storage heaters become usable? We've currently got them covered with blanking plates and turned off at the mains.

This is something I would NOT attempt myself by any means but wanted to know if anyone has any experience as to what the best way to go ahead is or if any companies out there currently offer this service.


Thank you,


Diana
 
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I have an old 5 terminal meter for a single energy (electric) flat where we used to run night storage heaters.

As these were very old (70s) and possibly contained asbestos, we have removed them and plan on changing them to modern electric radiators with on-demand heat supply.

Do you like spending vast amounts of money to heat your home? Electricity for heating on a standard tariff is very, very expensive (e.g. three times the cost of gas). That's why Economy 7 and night storage heaters exist.

You have had a lucky escape re a smart meter. So rethink. There are plenty of reasons to exert your legal rights not to have one and it is virtually impossible to have one removed after being fitted. See some of the smart meter threads on these forums.
 
You can have a 4 wire meter installed. All that will happen is the old storage heater circuits won't work any more.
 
Do you like spending vast amounts of money to heat your home? Electricity for heating on a standard tariff is very, very expensive (e.g. three times the cost of gas). That's why Economy 7 and night storage heaters exist.

You have had a lucky escape re a smart meter. So rethink. There are plenty of reasons to exert your legal rights not to have one and it is virtually impossible to have one removed after being fitted. See some of the smart meter threads on these forums.

Thanks Winston1!

I have calculated the cost of running the storage heater vs cost of Economy 7 day rate and it will be cheaper for me to run normal electric heaters.

I only had one operational storage heater which we have already disposed of - the other one was not working, we've also removed it as it wasn't needed (hallway). Our immersion heater is not connected to the night tariff (runs at any time of the day I set the timer to and it doesn't have a booster). I am not concerned about immersion as I barely use it (we've got an electric power-shower).

Therefore, for 1 storage heater running 2 months/year, it's not worth it for me to pay the extra rate for the day electricity, considering I work from home quite often.

Furthermore, the 1 storage heater we had running always run out in the evenings, when we needed it the most.

So, my questions still stands - I don't need a smart meter, I only want to switch to a normal tariff (not Economy 7) meter. Is this possible?

If so, can I then switch my night out (termial 5) to be connected to the live ON constant supply?

Thanks!
 
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You can have a 4 wire meter installed. All that will happen is the old storage heater circuits won't work any more.
Thanks Flameport,

Is there a way of making them usable and connecting to the constantly on supply?
 
Yes, you will need an electrician to connect those circuits to the consumer unit, and get rid of the other one for the storage heaters.
Awesome!

I will contact some local electricians for a quote after I get the meter changed. Thanks!
 
Thanks Winston1!

Therefore, for 1 storage heater running 2 months/year, it's not worth it for me to pay the extra rate for the day electricity, considering I work from home quite often.

So, my questions still stands - I don't need a smart meter, I only want to switch to a normal tariff (not Economy 7) meter. Is this possible?

If so, can I then switch my night out (termial 5) to be connected to the live ON constant supply?

Thanks!

Wow, what part of the UK do you live that only has 2 months of winter?

Anyway you should be able to switch to a standard tariff without changing the meter. The suppliers just add the two readings together and charge the sum at day rates. They may try to flog you off a smart meter and may lie that this is the only way. Just resist.
 
Wow, what part of the UK do you live that only has 2 months of winter?

Anyway you should be able to switch to a standard tariff without changing the meter. The suppliers just add the two readings together and charge the sum at day rates. They may try to flog you off a smart meter and may lie that this is the only way. Just resist.

London - in a flat sandwiched between other flats with double glazing. We barely use heating. I guess we're very lucky!

I'll try that and get an electrician like @flameport suggested to connect the night circuits to the consumer unit. I'm not too bothered about submitting the readings manually and I have been reading some of the posts on the smart meters, so it makes sense to wait until there is more reliable information on them.

Thanks all for your help!

Diana
 
Hi all,

I have an old 5 terminal meter for a single energy (electric) flat where we used to run night storage heaters.

As these were very old (70s) and possibly contained asbestos, we have removed them and plan on changing them to modern electric radiators with on-demand heat supply.

This has left us with 2 problems:

1) three storage heater sockets which only work at night
2) a dual tariff meter which we want to convert to single day tariff as this is much more economical. (We barely use nigh-time electricity).

I have had a Siemens technician come in today to swap my Economy 7 tariff to a smart meter. He had to leave as they cannot convert 5 terminal meters to 4 terminals. He couldn't answer any more questions...

I would like to know if:
  1. is it possible to convert a dual tariff 5-terminal meter to a standard tariff 4-terminal meter?
  2. If 1 is possible, will the currently defunct sockets for the old storage heaters become usable? We've currently got them covered with blanking plates and turned off at the mains.

This is something I would NOT attempt myself by any means but wanted to know if anyone has any experience as to what the best way to go ahead is or if any companies out there currently offer this service.


Thank you,


Diana
Pictures please, then we can advise on how easy the conversion could be.
 
I have done this before, on conversions from night storage heaters to electric radiators, I usually leave the 5th wire terminated in a Henley block, the meter operator later changing the meter, though in a lot of cases they don’t, they change the tariff and then just meter both day and night readings at the same rate
 

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