Removing night storage heaters should I leave economy 7?

[wattjunior]

Hi there,

This is my first post but I am really a little bit confused and would really appreciate some advice. I live in a newish (90s) electricity only 1 bed flat with good insulation and am removing two horrendous old storage heaters that have been here since we moved and will replace them with three Dimplex panel heaters, 2KW and 1KW a piece plus a small .6KW heater to go in the bedroom but I suspect never to be used.

We are currently on economy 7 and once the storage heaters are gone, only one heating element of the immersion heater (our only source of hot water) would be on economy 7.

Is it still worth staying on economy 7 just for the immersion heater's sake (the main heating element is attached to the economy 7, there is a booster element on normal day rate) or is it time to ditch an antiquated electricity tariff, rewire the immersion heater elements and join the 21st century?

Thanks in advance!

John

PS as you can probably tell, I am not a qualified electrician and would get someone to do any electrical work professionally on my behalf

[Rorschach]

What is the day rate on E7 compared to days rates you could get on other tariffs? That's what it boils down to really, if the day rate is the same or very close then probably no point changing and you get the cheaper hot water and can do things like your washing at night when it's cheaper. I suspect though you will find the day rate much lower on a standard tariff with another supplier.

Also things to consider, what do you use the hot water for? Is it just for washing dishes, hands etc? Do you bathe or shower? Is the shower electric or run from the hot water cylinder? That could also make a big difference.

[wattjunior]

Thanks Rorschach, where we are rates are roughly 15p kwh day / 5p kwh as opposed to 10p standard rate.

Perhaps we should keep to economy 7 for a while and see how this is affected over a few months with the new heating system.
Apart from the immersion heater element we don't use any other electricity at night apart from charging the odd mobile phone. Could never get the hang of doing the washing at night and don't want to disturb the neighbours.


Thanks for your response you've given me a lot to think about.

Regards

[kellys_eye]

As above - my place is currently on a dual rate supply. We pay 18p/11p (rounded up) for domestic and E7 rates respectively but if we went to a single rate supply i.e. got rid of the E7 the rate would be a flat 14p.

For us - and I want to make this clear that it is for US - we have disconnected the storage heaters as our heating is all from a wood burner and our hot water has been changed to (bottled) gas via an instant hw heater. We have no requirement for E7 rates therefore will save money straight away as our main use, daily consumption, is ALL on the 'normal rate' and we'll benefit from a 4p/unit reduction. Over a year this will save us £200.

Changing SUPPLIER will potentially save us up to another £400 annually - something we couldn't do with our current E7 supply as it was under the control of SSE via their 'radio controlled' switching which no other provider would take on.

Write down your daily use - multiply it by 365 and then compare it to the cost at the existing (higher?) rate and the (potentially) lower rate.

It's the only sure way to find out.

Bear in mind that the replacement heaters will ALL be using this daily rate and if you rely on them much then you will probably lose out.

[big-all]

my washing machine is about 4 year old a 1600spin speed a mixed load cold fill used about a unit and a half on a 40% 1hr wash so think the saving are minimal to wash and dry a mixed load at about 1.5+1 for a dry so iff you think saving perhaps 10-12per load is worth it then fine i dont