Economy Seven - How does it work?

[voicey]

I'm about to move into a new flat that is heated using storage heaters. I am told that the supply is economy seven. The heaters have two cables connected to them - I assume one is for the cheap electricity and one for the daytime.

My question is how does economy seven work? Are there two separate circuits in the property? If I use electricity from the "day time" circuit at night will I be charged the cheap rate? Is the E7 circuit likely to be timed or are storage heaters programmed with the timings?

Apologies for the amount of questions but I've never lived in a place with this type of arrangement (used to good old gas central heating!).

Thanks for your comments in advance........

 

[plugwash]

modern economy 7 (not to be confused with the old white meter system) uses one dual rate meter with either a time clock or a teleswitch depending on age.

you get 7 hours of cheap time at night though the exact times can vary

there are three basic variations

1: a single feed just like a normal supply (used where there are no storage heaters or similar loads)
2: a single feed with a low current switch signal (often used with flats where the meter is a long distance away)
3: two seperate feeds (what is normally used with storage heaters)

all leccy used during the cheap period is cheap regardless of which feed you draw it from.

the house will almost certainly have a totally seperate CU for the off peak feeds to the storage heaters.

 

[Lectrician]

Re - The two flexes to the rads.

One will be the switched supply for night time 'heat charge' to warm the bricks in the rad. These will radiate heat during the day.

In the late evening (or late afternoon in the cold winter), you have a convector on the front of the rad to give a daytime boost using the standard leccy.

You are lucky, you have a dual version. Many rads only have the night supply!

 

[Lectrician]

You should also have either two elements in your H water cylinder, or one with a timer on it.

 

[voicey]

Many thanks for the quick responses. When I move I'll check out the timed supply and twin water heaters and will probably be back with more questions.

 

[voicey]

As promised I'm back with more questions!

How does the timed switched supply unit work with regard to the changes between GMT and BST? Where am I likely to find this unit, by the CU?

I'll stress that I'm not planning to fiddle with or touch anything remotely electrical but am just interested in how it works.

Once again- many thanks for all of your advice!

 

[paulh53]

Most E7 times don't take into account BST/GMT times, They just switch on & off an hour later in the summer

 

[voicey]

Does that mean I'll be paying for an hour's worth of peak time supply? I guess it must.

Are there alternatives in changing the switched unit to one that compensates for summer time?

 

[Igorian]

We've had so many power cuts in our village that the cheap rate cycle comes on half way through the day, which is nice

 

[paulh53]

We've had so many power cuts in our village that the cheap rate cycle comes on half way through the day, which is nice

Our one has a mechanical backup which keeps it going during powercuts

 

[pipme]

We've had so many power cuts in our village that the cheap rate cycle comes on half way through the day, which is nice

Yes !! Had the same way back in the 60's ... charging from 15-00 hrs, instead of overnight what a difference !! Had just missed out on the 'extra' 4 hr afternoon boost which was the SWEB off peak deal at the time ...
P

 

[Lectrician]

You dont get charged any different for the hour. You get roughly 8hrs through the time clock (and the time clock clicks the meter over), so no matter what time, it will give you 8hrs cheap.

You may have a teleswitch which is remotely controled by radio wave. This will click on at night, and may vary night to night. They may also click it on for a short time during the day. Again, whenever it clicks on, the meter will change over.

 

[crystal ball]

If you have a teleswitch it should change times from BST to GMT when required, the new ones are actually built into the meter, and the signal is AFAIK broadcast on the same wavelength as Radio 4 LW

 

[voicey]

Thanks for all the responses. No doubt i'll be back on other parts of the forum as the place needs a bit of work doing......