THTC Entral Heating - Cost of Runing

[sorethumb]

Our son lives in a 2 Bed Council Bungalow. With Scottish Hydro "Total Heating with Total Control" Yet he finds that he can put in £25 and it will only last a week to 10 days. THis is with every thing switched off and only 1 (3KW Nightstore) switched on Low. House is always freezing and he basically can't affrod to keep it warm.

He has had:
the raditators Checked - OK
the hotwater turned down and checked - (ok)
Loft was insualated last Year
New Front Door and Windows Cheked - OK
Checked with Electric Company and Traif is Correct (alledgedly)
Every Light Bulb is Low Voltage
Everything is switch off at the sockets.

The thing that got us was he was staying with us over christmas and had switched off all the lights/ tv/Computers etc so all that was on was the heating and it took nearly £50 a month to keep that house "Cold" cause it wasn;t warm in there even with the 1 heater on.

He has a neighbour with a bigger council house that has the heating on all the time and she only put £20 in the meter every 2 Weeks. And she is cooking and catering for a family of 3-4.... It doesn;t make sense


What can we do.

Total heating with Total control - Where is the Control? We cannot set the radiators to Timed. We cannot control the hot water to come on and off when we want... seems to me its Total Heating with ZERO Control.


Two things -
1) How do we reduce the electrical spend
2) How do we get the council house to feel warm (well not cold)


Meter is a credit Meter (token) and as far as we are aware there is not outstanding debit on the meter ( he has been in the house 2 Year) and we knew the previous occupier

 

[ELZ4742]

is this a credit meter? first thing to check is that there isnt any debt left on the meter from the previous occupant.

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[OwainDIYer]

First thing is to check the tariff again and get the prepayment meter taken out and replaced with an ordinary meter (which are usually called credit meters - where you pay after use) and a monthly budget payment paid for through direct debit, as this will almost always produce a significant reduction in cost.

In terms of actually using electricity, you need to read the high and low rates on the meter weekly and record the consumption in kWh

THTC and similar are usually 'legacy' tariffs tied to particular supplier areas, and so are often not as competitive as standard peak/offpeak tariffs.

 

[Beelzebub666]

Tell him to get a job.

 

[sorethumb]

Tell him to get a job.

Well I guess that might be a solution but his current employer might be ****ed at him moonlighting. He only work about 40 - 45 hrs a week on backshift as a Supermarket Duty Manager. But being 22 he pay all his bills and council rent etc himself.

He can;'t afford a car or to learn to drive, his house is always cold unless he lights the solid fuel stove. Basically he'd be better off as a social scrounger then at least they'd pay the Council Tax and the Rent, plus he would get a job seekers allowance etc.

 

[sorethumb]

First thing is to check the tariff again and get the prepayment meter taken out and replaced with an ordinary meter (which are usually called credit meters - where you pay after use) and a monthly budget payment paid for through direct debit, as this will almost always produce a significant reduction in cost.

In terms of actually using electricity, you need to read the high and low rates on the meter weekly and record the consumption in kWh

THTC and similar are usually 'legacy' tariffs tied to particular supplier areas, and so are often not as competitive as standard peak/offpeak tariffs.

THe reason for the prepayment meter is so he doesn;t get a scary bill at the end of the month because he is poor at budgeting

 

[1john]

The heater will be going flat out trying to heat the flat, if he leaves it on long enough to warm the place then it isn't going to use as much energy maintaining that temperature.

 

[mointainwalker]

Th

e heater will be going flat out trying to heat the flat, if he leaves it on long enough to warm the place then it isn't going to use as much energy maintaining that temperature.

Possibly not John, but since the daytime leccy is three times the price of cheap-rate , that doesn't seem too sensible.

 

[sorethumb]

But the heater is wired to the THTC outlet not a Socket on the wall