Can someone explain the "Total control" tarrif to me please?

[ProDave]

First the background: A loft conversion i'm working on is giving me grief, due to a lack of understanding between me and the customer.

Basically we removed the old hot water tank (which was heated by off peak electric) to make way for the stairs for the loft conversion. In the loft is a new airing cupboard that the owner told me would house a "boiler" I questioned if he was converting the whole house to central heating, but he said no, the boiler will just do the hot water and he will stick with storage heaters for space heating. Strange I thought but accepted what he said so provisioned for an FCU on the new ring final to power the "boiler"

Went to carry on the final fixing today. Oh dear. The "boiler" turns out to be a megaflow mains pressure directly heated water tank. So there's no provision for an off peak feed for the immersion heater.

Ah, my immediate thought was I'll just have to fit a time switch for the immersion so it comes on at night while it's on the cheap rate. So I go and have a look at the metering and I don't think that will work.

This house is on "total control" something I've never really understood.

There are 3 CU's: an "off peak" a "total control" and a "normal"

The off peak and the total control are fed from two separate outputs of a radio telemeter. The normal CU is fed from a separate meter.

So it looks to me like only things connected to the "off peak" and the "total control" meter get the cheap rate? Is that how it works?

If so, connecting the new ring final for the loft to the normal CU won't ever get the cheap rate, so I can't power the immersion from that, not even with a time switch.

What's to stop me connecting the new ring final to the "total control" CU? would that get the cheap rate all the time or just at night? That seems to be just used for non storage panel heaters at the moment.

Or do I have to break the bad news to the customer that I have to trash part of his nearly finished loft conversion to run another off peak feed for the immersion (or run it on the surface in trunking)?

So that's a long winded way of saying can someone explain exactly how total control works, i.e which CU's get the cheap rate and when, and at what times are they energised (i'm thinking the "total control CU is on all the time and the off peak one just comes on at night)

 

[PBC_1966]

I can't say I've ever heard of it, but a quick search seems to suggest that it's a uniquely Scottish tariff:

http://www.scarf.org.uk/factsheets/523.pdf

 

[ProDave]

I don't think "total control" is unique to Scotland. I'm sure I heard of it years ago when I lived darn sarf. I think it was invented to counter the criticism that storage heaters were by their very nature, not very controlable.

That tarrif sheet does seem to confirm it operated the way I thought, in that the "total control" CU gets the cheap rate 24 hours a day, and the off peak CU gets the cheap rate for a variable overnight period, while the standard CU gets the peak rate all the time.

So it looks like the way out of my dilemma is to connect the new loft ring final to the Total Control CU then everything on that ring will get the cheap rate.

I think this is drastically going to alter the CU changes I need to make as part of this job. Currently there is a shower on the standard CU, but according to that description, it's okay to connect the shower to the total control CU. But to do that I need to replace the total control CU with a new one as it's a wylex rewirable and of course no RCD at present.

What's to stop anyone with a total control installation connecting the ring finals to the total control CU and getting the cheap rate on everything? do they police it, if so how?

 

[PBC_1966]

I don't think "total control" is unique to Scotland.

Maybe not, I was just going on the fact that I'd never heard of it before and that all the references popping up on a quick search were from Scottish Hydro or from other Scotland-oriented sites.

What's to stop anyone with a total control installation connecting the ring finals to the total control CU and getting the cheap rate on everything? do they police it, if so how?

Good question, but then there have been similar situations over the years - The "White Meter" tariff which was intended to feed only heating/water appliances, or back in the earlier part of the 20th century the higher tariff for lighting.

 

[ProDave]

Well I think I have decided the new loft ring final is going on the total control CU (I might label it water heater ) and fit a timer and boost control for the immersion heater. And likewise the shower will be moved over to the total control CU.

That seems to be the best way out of this little faux pas.

Yes the old "white meter" tariff had two seperate meters so only those circuits on the off peak fuse box got the cheap rate. It was the more modern economy 7 that had a combined dual rate meter and gave the whole house the cheap rate at night. The overnight cheap period reduced with that to 7 hours, previously on the white meter it was 8. I recall people complaining that their storage heaters were not storing as much charge, and even recall the likes of Dimplex claiming to have "re designed" their heaters to work on the shorter charge period. (I suspect a lot of that was just BS)

This "total control" is therefore a step backwards in not giving the cheap rate to the whole house at night.

Certainly if my house had total control, I would have a dedicated "high load" ring for things like washing machine, dishwasher, tumble dryer etc on the total control CU.

 

[batty]

Reading the thread below I don't think you will be able to do what you want with what you have.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=316290

 

[ProDave]

Reading the thread below I don't think you will be able to do what you want with what you have. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=316290

I disagree.

That thread confirms the total control CU gets cheap rate 24/7, so putting my new loft ring final on the total control CU gets the cheap rate for the immersion, that will have an overnight timer for the bottom main tank heater, and a boost timer for the upper half tank heater.

The only "naughty" thing with that is the loft sockets will also be on the cheap rate all the time, but like I say who polices that? who's going to find out this is my work around the little faux pas to ensure the water is heated at the cheap rate as you are entitled to with total control?

Of course a forum like that is not going to suggest to anyone that you get an electrician in to swap some of your sockets over to the the cheap rate CU to save your washing machine or tumble dryer costs are they?

That thread does also confirm it's a uniquely Scottish tariff and one no longer available to new customers (but I'll still swear I had heard of Total Control before I moved to Scotland)