British Gas Tariff for Dimplex Quantum Storage Heaters

[cycling_mike]

Look like British Gas have a new E7 tariff if they can control the charge period of Quantum Storage heaters.
https://www.britishgas.co.uk/energy/gas ... ariff.html

Indicative rates are 10p/Kwh off peak, 36p /Kwh on peak which is very competitive. You do need a Dimplex Hub and specific model of heater but this looks promising to me.

Strangely you do need a "conventional E7 meter" if you already have a smart E7 meter you do not qualify, the customer service guy said this was for a "technical reason that he did not undertand". Is this a peverse incentive to get a smart meter. You also need to be on the old accounts system, if you are on the new system this does not support it!

I am on a fixed tariff but hopefully other offerings will come on the market before my fix runs out.

[AGT]

Intelligent Octopus is I think 7.5 p per unit at night and 27.5p during the day so they need to sharpen their pencil!

[cycling_mike]

Trouble is Intelligent Octopus requires a EV...so not a realistic solution for many.

[AGT]

Forgot about that one little flaw- the EV. Sorry

[Tay]

Forgot about that one little flaw- the EV. Sorry

I never understood this, this is energy that they wouldn't ordinarily be selling, so they now make it like like they are doing EV drivers a favour when in fact its a new little market for them to scalp.

I'm on an EV tariff and don't have an EV, in fact British Gas have sent out loads of blurb saying you can use it for lots of things, not just EV's..which kinda of lets the cat our of the bag for me.

[ecogeorge]

What is the definition of an EV ??
Is not a battery toy car an EV
George

[nowty]

Forgot about that one little flaw- the EV. Sorry

I never understood this, this is energy that they wouldn't ordinarily be selling, so they now make it like like they are doing EV drivers a favour when in fact its a new little market for them to scalp.

I'm on an EV tariff and don't have an EV, in fact British Gas have sent out loads of blurb saying you can use it for lots of things, not just EV's..which kinda of lets the cat our of the bag for me.

Octopus allow the EV GO tariff without an EV, not officially but its not too difficult to get on it without one.

Intelligent Octopus (IO) is different though and require smart comms to your car or charger so they can turn off the charge at will as they use it to get extra income from the National Grid balancing services.

[cycling_mike]

Forgot about that one little flaw- the EV. Sorry

I never understood this, this is energy that they wouldn't ordinarily be selling, so they now make it like like they are doing EV drivers a favour when in fact its a new little market for them to scalp.

I'm on an EV tariff and don't have an EV, in fact British Gas have sent out loads of blurb saying you can use it for lots of things, not just EV's..which kinda of lets the cat our of the bag for me.

As I understand it if I move away from an Economy 7 tariff say EV Go tariff, the meter switching that controls my storage heaters on/off will be lost so will need to do that another way. Reading the forum most people seem to use a 13A programmable plug but this seems a bit dodgy for a large Storage Heater. Have I misundertood this?

Giving the supplier the ability to remotely switch heaters on and off when power is cheap seems like a good option to me, that seems to be the logic for many EV tariffs, but not sure how that works with a traditional E7 wired heaters.

[AGT]

My storage heaters are 850 watt or 1700ish watt so fine for a plug/smart socket.

You could utilise a smart plug/socket to switch a contactor for a larger load of required. Your call..

[Tay]

Forgot about that one little flaw- the EV. Sorry

I never understood this, this is energy that they wouldn't ordinarily be selling, so they now make it like like they are doing EV drivers a favour when in fact its a new little market for them to scalp.

I'm on an EV tariff and don't have an EV, in fact British Gas have sent out loads of blurb saying you can use it for lots of things, not just EV's..which kinda of lets the cat our of the bag for me.

As I understand it if I move away from an Economy 7 tariff say EV Go tariff, the meter switching that controls my storage heaters on/off will be lost so will need to do that another way. Reading the forum most people seem to use a 13A programmable plug but this seems a bit dodgy for a large Storage Heater. Have I misundertood this?

Giving the supplier the ability to remotely switch heaters on and off when power is cheap seems like a good option to me, that seems to be the logic for many EV tariffs, but not sure how that works with a traditional E7 wired heaters.

I've found a few of these units in my search for Storage Heaters, check the input power, most heaters do not draw that much at all, significantly less than your average kettle, but, over a longer period of time.

I draw 2.4KW off a regular 13A socket for my battery charging and thats well within its capabilities.

2400w/240v = 10A +10% = 11 amps

I know where you are coming from with the smart plug stuff, but the ones I have are rated at 3000w and 3200w respectively.

Then you have the "do I really trust this bit of kit" moment.. "I think", for the most part, many heaters will draw a lot less but over a longer period of time (5-7hrs), meaning that it would be well within the capabilities of most if not all smart plugs. Mine fit the bill but I cant speak for all the others out there.