Went to look at a job today where the customer wanted circuits to be arranged to take advantage of the off peak supply. I was not able to see the full set up because it was hidden behind kitchen units but the arrangement is something I have not come accross before as it has with 2 seperate meters.
As far as I can tell the off peak suppy is switched by a contactor via a timeswitch and has a seperate meter. This used to feed a CU for storage heaters, but I don't think it feeds anything at the moment.
The customer has been been on an off peak tariff for about 5 years, but has been paying for everything at the peak rate (all electric house), no suprise she is complaining her bills are too high.
She would benefit from having the whole installation on an economy 7 or 10 plan, but I can't see how this is possible with 2 seperate meters and an off paek supply that is only live for part of the day. Should / would the electricity company (Southern Electric) need to change the meter to a dual reading one? , T

Sounds like the precursor to Economy-7 etc with their dual rate meters - if I recall correctly a colleague of mine acquired the same kind of setup when he bought his first house - he seemed rather to like it because the tariffs where cheaper than economy 7 etc (I think the normal rate was the same as a for a single-rate supply and the off-peak was as cheap as chips) - that was a lot of years ago now though so things might have changed.

I suppose you could rig up a change-over relay, controlled by the off-peak supply, but I can see a number of problems with that approach.... Probably simpler just to ask for a meter swap.

- Andy.

Yes, the old system for supplying electric storage heaters just involved the installation of an extra meter with time switch and only supplied the heaters.
All other electrical systems of the house remained on the normal (full) tariff meter 24/7.
In those days you were not supposed to connect anything else to the off-peak meter.

I suggest you find out what the off-peak times are.
Some used to make cheap electricity available for 10, 12 or 15 hours per day.
Once the meters are changed the old legacy tariff will expire.

as said above the rate on the off peak is very cheap as it was for electric heating only, you may find your customer will be braking their terms and conditions if they power other things from that meter and it could be viewed as stealing electricity.

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Vince

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Thanks all, it seems that a meter change is the easiest option, other than reinstting the storage heaters to take advantage of a legacy tariff.
Southern Electric have apparently been out in the past and said there was no reason to change the meter, but I don't know what the customer was explaining to them.

If there are no storage heaters why would you want a two rate meter? The day rate of a two rate tarrif is higher than domestic so you need a fair night load to make it worth while.
I would get the second meter and time switch removed so the customer is not paying any standing charges. The old off peak circuits can then be converted to normal radial sockets.

--our topic poster says it is an all electric house, big bills,
but no off peak heating. how is it heated?
how is the water heated? one of the posters says it was just for n/stors
but in this situation my personal opinion would be to keep the 2 meters.
single rate is good at the moment, for lights, plugs, cooker etc.
then, as a minimum the off peak (correct term-restricted hours) would
supply the im heater-very cheap! for up to 12 hours depending on tarriff.
i still cant see how the house is heated, but even switching a couple of
convectors through plugs in the cheap period would benefit. and its
legal.

Regards.

Yes, a lot more needs to be found out before a decision is made.
Take a look at the bills.
I'd talk to the householder about it and I'd make sure I explained the consequences of discarding the old off-peak meter.
I would not want them coming back onto me when they discover the old tariff is not available any more ... and now they want to use it!

Yes I will look at the customers bills now, if they are on some special tariff they may want to do something else.
At the moment downstairs is electric underfloor heating and an open fire, not sure what they have upstairs. As the house is empty from 7 am
till 6pm, 6 days a week most of the heating would be at a cheaper rate as would the immersion.
Using the unit rates on Southern Electrics web site, only 15% of their usage has to be off peak to save money, but I was assuming they were on an economy 7 package at the moment but only using the higher peak rate element.