Electrical Question

[dollie65]

I have moved into a property that has storage heaters and an immersion heater which are both wired into an economy 7 meter which comes on at 1-30am to 7-30am. The immersion heater has two switches one wired into the economy7 meter the other not. if I use the other before 7-30am will it be on the cheaper rate electricity ?
Also I have bought a timed convector heater for my bedroom to use over night will this be on economy 7 or will I be paying the day rate as its not actually wired into the economy 7 meter?
tia from confused.co.uk

[murraymints]

things will neeed to be wired into economy 7 meter to get cheaper rates...if I were you I would get rid as I found the storage heaters ran out of steam at the times they were needed most..and ended up having to plug in additional heaters ..worked out more expensive....

[dollie65]

many thanks murraymints....I cant have the storage heaters taken out as its council property and to be honest its cheaper having them on as I am at home all day....I do have a fan heater for instant heat as a top up if I need it in the evenings....dont think I will use the convector heater all night in the bedroom though will put it on for 15 mins before I go to bed and 15 mins before I get up just to take the chill off the room...

[murraymints]

that's what I did Dollie..it was fil's house when I was caring for him...new owners ripped it out for conventional central heating..surprised your council has not modernised it though..

[dollie65]

no chance of the council doing that its bad enough trying to ge them to do repairs!lol...its sheltered housing and its all electric..at least my storage heaters are modern ones and they work!

[murraymints]

keep warm Dollie xx

[paul1763]

i was under the impression the government were trying to reduce everybody's carbon footprint, i assumed that's the reason for things like the nest scheme. i don't understand how the council can allow/ encourage the use of what i assume are electrical heaters that use a lot of power even f it is cheap rate.

[The Builder]

Usually, off-peak immersion cylinders have two heating elements. One can only come on during specified cheap rate times. The other can be switched at any time, but will incur the full rate. It sounds like you have this arrangement.

But ............ it depends entirely on which metering system you have. One of the systems has a "two-rate meter". This means the whole house goes over to cheap rate during specified times. This means that you don't have a separate meter with dedicated off-peak times. Very handy for running washing machines and the like overnight at reduced rate.

[dollie65]

just phoned the electric company and they said it doesnt matter what I use between the economy 7 hours its all cheaper electricity regardless...

[BRIGHT SPARK]

dollie.....just to confuse you more,you may have a 3 rate meter.This means you get cheap rate in the afternoons for a few hours.Is there any gas in the property?

[Dogsbody2]

If true, they are telling you that you have a 'two-rate' meter, as Builder described above. Have a look in the meter cupboard - it would be a single meter with two dials inside.