On Oct 20, 3:46*pm, "John" wrote:
I can confirm that the day rate on your meter is billed between 7.30 am and
12.30 pm. *The night rate is billed between 12.30 pm, and 7.30am.

Standard E7 times (Day & Night). Typically 12p Day and 5p Night inc
VAT.

The heat boost
- register 3... 8.00am and 10.00am.
- register 4... 2pm and 7.00pm
- register 5... 8pm and 10.00pm."

Sounds like E10, but too many hours :-)

Could be an unusual hybrid...

If the heaters are Storage-Heater AND Panel-Heater...
Overnight (12:30-7:30)
- bulk charge of storage heaters
- eg, 5p/kWhr with multiple heaters taking 75kWhr
Boost rate at reg3-4-5
- panel heaters operate
- eg, 7p/kWhr with multiple panel heaters taking just 5kWhr for each
of the periods

If the heaters are Storage-Heater only...
Overnight (12:30-7:30)
- bulk charge of storage heaters
- eg, 5p/kWhr with multiple heaters taking 75kWhr
Boost rate at reg3-4-5
- recharge of storage heaters
- eg, 7p/kWhr with multiple heaters taking 15kWhr for each of the
periods

There may be radio control or timer control of the boost period.
Whether boost occurs may be via a switch on the heater or thermostat.

DNO timeswitch does not have a dial, it is a 6"x6"x6" black box
containing a radio receiver & contactor.

Do you think she will have the ability to control the time that the circuit
is live so she can reduce the higher tariff boost times? The reply from
N-Power seems to imply a complex metering arrangement.

It sounds unusual, typically you have E7 or E10 - not a hybrid.
I take it this is an electric storage heater and not electric wet
central heating?

You really need to know what type of heaters they are a) night storage
only or b) night storage with daytime panel heater, how the boost heat
is controlled re a thermostat somewhere, local to heater thermostat,
timer, boost button, wall mounted occupancy PIR frost/background/
comfort stat (Dimplex PX9700) and so on. You also need to get a
picture of the meter cupboard if possible.

What IS important is that heating is on a discount rate.
I say that because some flats/houses had electric storage heaters or
water thermal store fitted without an E7 or E10 rate. Some had no wet
thermal store and just ran a 9kW electric boiler on peak rate, on
demand, which resulted in some eye-watering bills.

If the place is well insulated electric isn't so bad - 5p/unit at 100%
efficiency compared to 3.5p/unit for gas plus maintenance of £100/yr
plus replacement depreciation of £350/yr. If the place is not well
insulated (CWI, Loft, ideally new build 2006) then things can be
ridiculous.

Running a 24kWhr storage heater (largest 3.3kW unit) for 120 days at
100% charge costs £140. Realise you are unlikely to require 100%
charge for Nov+Dec+Jan+Feb, typically 30% less.

Just as a baseline on "what you can expect" re running costs. How warm
you are depends on how well insulated and how well oversized /
correctly-sized / undersized the heaters are.