Economy 7 should it be taken out?

moneysavingwannabe · 27 August 2008 at 3:07PM

Hi,

We have a two rate electricity meter. But we don't use much electricity at night and we have a combination boiler not storage heaters etc.

Should we have the meter swapped to a single rate meter??

We are with Scottish power fixed and I have enquired with them and they said it would be a good idea but I need to phone customer services to check if there is a cost.

Between 19 June and 12 August we used 53 night units and 238 day units.
Would this be a good thing to do? Bit confused!!

Also I think I signed up to the no standing charge but we seem to be being charged a standing charge!!Does anyone no if there is much difference??

Any help appreciated!!
(Oh we also had an Economy 7 control panel taken out when we had the new boiler fitted!)

Magentasue · 27 August 2008 at 3:22PM

At our last house, there were a couple of storage heaters and we were on Econ7. The elec board changed it over without a charge

I would have thought you'd be better off on a single rate. As for standing charge, I think I read that for most of us it makes little difference but, obviously for low use it's more of an issue. Someone will be along to do the maths!

moneysavingwannabe · 27 August 2008 at 3:26PM

Thankyou! I was thinking it would be best to take it out but I don't know much about it!!:o

notbritishgas · 27 August 2008 at 3:33PM

Normally to "win" on E7 you must use somewhere between 25%-35% of electric at night, this figure varies according to the pricing of your supplier. I notice you appear to be using less than 25%.
The only sure way is to obtain the standard tariff prices from Scottish power and then work out with a calculator which would be cheaper. I would guess however that a change to the standard tariff would benefit you.
An alternative of course is to buy timers so that things like washing machines, tumble driers, dishwashers come on in the cheap period.

moneysavingwannabe · 27 August 2008 at 3:38PM

Thankyou.

I have just spoken to Scottish Power, they said it would be around £53 to change the meter.

They also said that it wouldn't benefit us much as we do use some electricity between 11pm-7am. But this might be because I'm on the 6 wks holiday so am staying up later!! Haven't been with them for long.

I also asked about the standing charge which they said wouldn't make much difference either cos we are an average user??

Think the rates they quoted were 9.744 and 4.533 and alternatively 9.024??
Need to check what I signed up to!! Now even more confused. :eek:

boddy · 27 August 2008 at 4:24PM

Hi.
I have recently had my economy 7 meter changed to a single rate meter.

A few years ago I had night storage radiators. Then I got the gas in. Only realised recently I still had Economy 7 meter in. Im with NPower and they changed the meter without charge. Have not had my first bill yet but meter reader has just been today. I dont think they should be charging you. Just tell them you are moving suppliers and I bet they do it free then.

brysiewysie · 27 August 2008 at 4:31PM

EDF don't charge for meter exchanges (unless they've very recently changed). Eon do charge unless you're a 'vulnerable' type customer. Don't know about others. You could use this info to your advantage as boddy suggests?

Cardew · 27 August 2008 at 5:45PM

moneysavingwannabe wrote: »

Thankyou.

Think the rates they quoted were 9.744 and 4.533 and alternatively 9.024??

If those figures are correct you saved 67p by being on Economy 7.

Bear in mind that you may use a little more on E7 in the winter if you get up early.

The reason why E7 is a good tariff for you is that there is only a small difference of 0.72p in the day rates(approx 6.5%). On some tariffs the difference can be 2p.

spiro · 28 August 2008 at 6:19AM

If you have an E7 meter you dont need to get it changed to go onto a single rate tariff all you supplier has to do is add the day and night use together and charge you the single rate price. You only need the meter swapped if you want to go the other way.

brysiewysie · 28 August 2008 at 7:31AM

spiro wrote: »

If you have an E7 meter you dont need to get it changed to go onto a single rate tariff all you supplier has to do is add the day and night use together and charge you the single rate price. You only need the meter swapped if you want to go the other way.

Some suppliers can't do that. EDF for one can't add the 2 rates together, you have to get a meter exchanged

notbritishgas · 28 August 2008 at 8:56AM

Cardew wrote: »

If those figures are correct you saved 67p by being on Economy 7.

Bear in mind that you may use a little more on E7 in the winter if you get up early.

The reason why E7 is a good tariff for you is that there is only a small difference of 0.72p in the day rates(approx 6.5%). On some tariffs the difference can be 2p.

Yes those figures appear to be correct (East Mids?). However the daily standing charge for the standard tariff is 1.2p cheaper than the E7 tariff, this just about negates the 67p saving!!

Economy 7 should it be taken out?

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