Boiler and duel fuel question - clueless

[maxmillie]

We recently moved to a new house, built in 2003, which has a "Systemate 2000 Fully Integrated Thermal Store" boiler. We are on a British Gas duel fuel tariff. The gas meter has one reading. The electricity meter has 2 reading which say "High" and "Low" on the meter and the bill has 2 separate breakdowns for "Day" and "Night".

Am I correct in thinkng this is some sort of storage heater type system and that we are on Economy 7? 10? whatever it is called? (doesn't say anywhere on the bill).

I have only has standard gas/electricity before. If that is the case should I be doing anything differently. And how do I evaluate how good a deal I am on with British Gas - I normally use u Switch etc to get the best tariff.

sorry tank - not boiler. The boiler appears to be a standard-looking Potterton Promax HE Plus. The water tank is a huge rectangular thing - not like any hot water tanks I've seen before.

Sounds like economy 7 - you have a meter reading for nighttime and one for daytime.

Whether you make any use of that depends on how you use electricity. We have those meters too but our useage is pretty much the same day and night (or slightly more day loaded) and there isn't much we can do to push things into the might time. So we went for a tarrif that didn't include economy 7.

As for evaluating if you are on a good tarrif - I have not idea - those things baffle my brain - far too many choices.

hmmm from my googling it appears to be a thermal store (is this the same as a storage tank?) heated by a conventional gas boiler

so why the 2 tariffs on the electricity - no reason? Can I get rid?

thanks I think you're right - we must be on an economy 7 tariff - which I am assuming is slightly cheaper at night and slightly more expensive during the day.

On the one had I work from home 3 days a week so probably not the best usage. on the other, we tend to put the dishwasher and tumble drier on at night?

dunno - anyone know what hours it operate at?

If I switch to non-economy 7 do you just ignore the "night/low" meter reading?

might help.

I think you need to give both meter readings which are added together for the total if not used separately. Don't think it is worth having the meter changed unless you need to - that is an expensive job. (We had ours replaced for free when the old one stopped recording (which apparently they never do !)).

yes, you might have a 2-rate meter but not be on a 2-rate tariff. Have a look at your electricity bill.

A thermal store is heated up (usually by your boiler but might be by mains electricity or solar power or a log-burner as well) and then passes this heat out as required.

They are not very common (or very cheap)

It might be that the thermal store has electrical heating and it might be that it is on a night-timer. Look for the name of the installer on a label on the boiler and/or store and ask him to come and explain it to you, with diagrams and operating instructions, and see if it needs servicing. He will charge foe his time.

Also look at the instruction pack that the vendor left you (if any)

oops, you say the bill has 2 separate breakdowns for "Day" and "Night" so you are on a 2-rate tariff.

Unless the night usage is very small, keep it. You will probably find night rate is about half the price of day rate.