White meter electricity

[JohnB]

We have have an ex-SeeBoard white meter, as supplied across London. Its a dual tariff meter, but unlike Economy 7, the night window is 9 hours, not 7, very useful for our storage radiators.

I've grown to hate EDF, but its hard to find companies that accept white meters, and those that do assume its the Scottish version. Can anyone recommend a supply company that does?

[PinkDalek]

The latest reply to your question here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/sho ... ?t=5825731 suggests Your only option is to learn to love EDF again ..., which I found when searching for the subject matter.

I haven't looked much further but https://community.bulb.co.uk/discussion ... my-9-meter mentions Economy 9, although maybe not in context as they only appear to offer single combined tariffs.

[JohnB]

Yes, not very helpful, was it. I have higher hopes of you lot

[ten0rman]

For a long time, ie 40 years over two addresses, I was on what was called a restricted hour tariff specifically for use with storage heaters. This was not a white meter tariff although the effect was more or less the same (it used two separate meters rather than the white meter with two dials in it). Now obviously this was an obsolete tariff, but as it actually was slightly cheaper than the white meter tariff I stuck with it for as long as possible. Over the years with consolidation and takeovers, I eventually ended up with EON.

However, early 2016, EON wrote to me, the gist of which was that they were ceasing the obsolete tariff and unless I chose a suitable white meter tariff, I would end up on the standard rate with all that it entailed in terms of costs. Naturally I chose the 7 hour tariff ***, even though four of the six heaters are strictly speaking eight hour units. I was converted December 2016 and placed on EON's standard 7 hour white meter tariff. January 2017 the Daily Telegraph organised a reverse auction to which I signed up. In March of that year, I transferred to Scottish Power on a much better 12 months fixed rate tariff. In March of this year, via the Daily Telegraph, I changed again, would you believe back to EON, again on a 12 month fixed rate tariff.

EON wasn't the cheapest for me, believe it or not, British Gas was, but for some reason they didn't quote for me, either because they didn't service my area, or because I'm electric only. There was another firm which I think was cheaper, but there were bad reports of their service so I declined their offer.

***
EON actually offered a standard period, ie no white meter, a 10 hour period (7 hours + 3 hours boost in the afternoon), and the standard 7 hour period. In fact, I suspect for reasons which are nothing to do with EON, I get a 2 hour + a 5 hour period with 2 hours off between the two periods.

So, in your case with a 9 hour period, I do wonder if this is a non-standard period because if it is, then you may have problems obtaining a reasonable quote. Certainly in my case, as soon as I mentioned that I was not on a white meter, all the companies I contacted hurriedly back tracked and were absolutely not interested. Therefore, It may pay you to go for either the 7 hour period or the 10 hour period.

In respect of white meter usage, I've only had 16 months so it's hardly representative. However, I have not had any problems with either EON of Scottish Power. I did have problems with EON before that.

Also, we now do all our clothes washing during the first cheap rate period - after all, why pay high rates when with a modicum of thought we can get it a lot cheaper? All we have to do is start the machine when the cheap rate starts.

HTH,

ten0rman

[BusyBumbleBee]

I used to have storage heaters but they have many disadvantages - not least that a deal of heat is wasted overnight and you have to predict the weather for the next day - and they are not very green as they waste electricity. They also free up wall space as they are usually fitted towards the ceiling rather than the floor.

So I have installed simple air conditioning units which are effectively 'air-to-air' air source heat pumps. These deliver 4 KW of heat for about 850 watt input and circulate the air as well so that your feet are as warm as your head which in turn means you can turn the temperature down. A win-win all round.

Roughly speaking a normal unit is twice the price of an overnight unit. So whichever way you look at it the running costs are lower - and you will be warmer.

Cost of installation is about £1500 per unit and they pay for themselves pretty quickly.