Storage heaters.

[BeatriceBean]

We have moved into a house with storage heating and I have previously only have gas. I think I need some advice....

Input - Do I set this and leave this for the winter... or do I change this each day? It's currently on the lowest setting as we don't currently need heating.

Output - Do I set this at say "9 o clock" and leave it, and then say turn it up to full if I'm freezing?

We've had a quote today from a Southern Electric guy looking to replace them (they look 1000 years old) and he has suggested XLS which are automatic. Does that mean I just leave them?

I felt a right idiot when he came around..

He has quoted us £1250 to put in 2 lots of 3.4kw heaters, remove existing and move one of them across the room.

Does that sound about right? Should I get other quotes? I really could easily be taken for a mug so I thought going with whatever the nice Southern Electric man says would be a good idea.. they should know really shouldn't they? Or is that risky?!

Thankyou

Also meant to ask -

He has suggested we move from Economy 7 to Super Deal... is that a good idea? Presumably it helps but will it cost me more?

due to the curious way the electricity industry is organised, if you are in the old Southern Electric area (back from when it used to be Southern Electricity Board) then they will generally be the most expensive supplier of electricity.

However if you live in, e.g. the old Seeboard or Easten Electricity Board areas, then Southern Electric will be cheaper than the former regional electricity company for that area.

I don't like storage heaters, and have little experience of them. A couple of things I do know:

because the heat leaks out of them slowly, they are particularly suitable for people who are at home all day. If you are out working, then by the time you get in they will be running down.

If you can get a tariff that, as well as the overnight hours, gives you a couple of hours in the evening to "top-up" then you can have a bit of extra time to warm them up after they have gone cold. If the tariff applies to all the electricity you use at night (not just that going to the storage heaters) then you can take advantage of it to run room heaters, tumble driers etc (but preferably not while you are asleep, as appliances very occasionally catch fire when unattended)

The Contracting arm of Southern Electric (who would do the installation and any rewiring) has a good reputation, but it is just like an electrical contractor; you are not obliged to use it just because you buy your electricity from SSE.

I'd recommend you go to an energy comparison website, like the ones offered by Martin on www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity to see what's the cheapest tariff in your area

I couldn't find Superdeal on the SSE tariff pages www.southern-electric.co.uk/