Storage heaters - Can the night time rate be out of sync?

Good luck Icebreaker - just keep persevering.

Thank you for relaying that story Sparklefizz. What a nightmare for your daughter.

I’m getting my battlegear ready now!

I know it sounds like a conspiracy theory but I often feel the energy people, Broadband people, pension people, etc etc benefit greatly from keeping us poor souls confused!

Icebreaker My daughter has night storage heaters and she has had terrible trouble with her smart meter and EDF over the last 12-18 months. They are all out at work all day yet EDF said they were using £500 worth of electricity per month back in the summer heatwave. It has taken her months of phone calls, and I'm not sure of the full story, but in the end EDF had taken £3,000 and were still insisting this is what she had used.

She hadn't!!!!!!!!!

Finally they have found out what was wrong and have refunded her with just £50 for her inconvenience - she says their mistake has actually cost her £500 in interest because she didn't have enough money to pay her credit card because of EDF helping themselves to so much of her hard-earned money.

So my advice would be to really fight Scottish Power if you think things are wrong.

Update………Thank you for all the information everyone. Apologies for the slow reply.

I wrote to Scottish Power with my concerns. They came back after several days with a generic reply, which confirmed my rates, and also held a surprise. They moved the goalposts! I have a split night rate!

Quote
“Based on Your current Tariff , Day rate is 44.770p per KWH and Night Rate is 11.142p per KWH and the standing charge per day is 40.730p

Also you've a split 7 Hour low rate from 22.30 - 00.30 and 02.30 - 07.30 “

So my overnight cheap rate doesn’t go for the whole night, but for a couple of hours returns to the expensive rate.

I did some research on how the Dimplex Storage Heaters work. My ones are at least 12 years old, so they aren’t sophisticated. I wanted to understand why the electrician (mentioned in my original post) was so convinced they ‘just know” when to come on.

Manuals and fitting instructions online did not provide the answer.

Eventually I rang Dimplex themselves, and got a very helpful man called Mark in Customer Services. He confirmed that they don’t have any kind of internal clock. The secret of how they work is that when they were originally fitted, they are wired up to a special cable, and so should only work when the night rate kicks in. I felt better on discovering this fact.

I am still left wondering however, if the system is compatible with the smart meter that was fitted in my flat by the previous resident. I will continue to monitor the usage.

Thanks again for your comments.

I can’t add anything practical, but my last phone call to Scottish Power had me holding on for 2hours 10minutes before they cut me off - mid query!

We have them and it is the energy provider who sets the overnight times. Ours is from 2310 to 0710. I always know when it comes on as the heater switch light in the wall comes on. I do my dishwasher, washing machine and even sometimes take a bath while it is on cheap rate. Hope this is of some use to you.

I don’t know personally but A friend has storage heaters and as far as I know she has to set them. She always uses dishwasher and washing machine at night too.
Not sure if this helps but maybe ask a neighbour or the landlord.

Thank you for the suggestions.

You need to look at your meter and see how many units you are being charged for day and night rates. If it’s a smart meter check the time of dayon the meter is correct.

Of course they don't 'just know'.
The off-peak times are set by the energy provider, so everything within those times is charged at off-peak eg your washing machine etc, not only the storage heaters.

As your bill and usage don't match, query it with your energy provider.
They should be able to tell you what times are being charged at off-peak or at full rate.