SP - Three Rate Meter

HWA01 · 11 September 2017 at 1:23PM

I moved into my flat 10 years ago and have been on SP all of this time. I have a three rate meter, which I understand to be for, heating, electricity day and electricity night. I don't have storage, its an electric combi-boiler that provides domestic hot water - and
powers 'wet' radiator systems. My bills have recently gone up and as before when I have looked into switching hardly any other suppliers supply this type of meter. EDF gave me a price but it was more than SP and E-on are getting back to me. I recently tried to get SP to change the meter to a two rate meter, they failed to turn up the first time and the second time, my dad was waiting in, the engineer said it was already the correct meter in place. SP don't seem to have a clue about my system and I have talked to a about a dozen of their staff unsuccessfully. Does anyone know if I can actually get the meter changed and/or whether installing a new heating system would allow me to switch suppliers? I currently pay a frankly ridiculous £70 a month for a 1 bed flat in Glasgow for my electricity and my heating is never on, summer or winter. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I currently have a Redring Dualheat DH9U boiler installed for info.

Thanks in advance

molerat · 11 September 2017 at 2:25PM

You probably have the most expensive forms of heating known to man (apart from one that uses £10 notes for fuel). The problem is that you need to power the heating system at all times which makes any tariff expensive and the tariff you are on is probably one of the most economical. You can be switched to a single rate tariff under The Energy Markets Investigation (Restricted Meters) Order 2016 which came into force on 1st September which will be at no cost to yourself with no change of metering. You need to find your total annual kWh used across all 3 rates and see if a single rate would be more economical. Another alternative is to have E7 or E10 metering installed which may involve some wiring changes which will be at your cost (which it seems you have already tried to do). If you feel you have been misinformed by your supplier you need to raise a formal complaint using their complaints procedure.

HWA01 · 11 September 2017 at 4:01PM

Thanks for getting back to me, agreed on the burning £10 notes, my brother has a 2 bed house and pays less, its heartbreaking. SP didn't seem to have a clue when there guy came to my house. If I go back to them, asking for a meter change I simply ask for a E7 or E10? You also refer to wiring changes, I am happy to pay for this to get done, do SP do it or do I get an electrician to do us?

If I was to get a new heating system put in, long term I wonder if this would save me money, what should I insist it has?

House_Martin · 11 September 2017 at 4:03PM

Eco 7 meters, (digital meters anyway), will mostly show three rates..Day , Night and a "t " which means total . If that is what you have you need only to read rates 1 ( r1 is day rate mostly) and rate 2 (r2) night rate.Do not submit the total reading even if the supplier is adding them together and billing single rate only.
£70 a month is nt too bad.You have no gas bills presumably. Your heating system has nothing to do with SP or any supplier. SP can total the two reads together but that is about it.
If you are all electric then Eco7 is needed

HWA01 · 11 September 2017 at 4:48PM

£70 a month for a 1 bed flat is a lot of money compared to what others I know are paying. Martin, its not a digital meter (SP say my area isn't eligible), so not sure I can do what you have suggested? I have reviewed my bill again and the cost is detailed below: -

Meter number: 2112P03755
Standard Online - Monthly Direct Debit
19 Jul 2017 Customer read: 1793
16 Aug 2017 Estimated read: 1862
Electricity units used 69 = 69 kWh

Standard Online - Monthly Direct Debit
19 Jul 2017 Customer read: 8411
16 Aug 2017 Estimated read: 8480
Electricity units used 69 = 69 kWh

Standard rate 138 kWh x 14.286p £19.71
Standing Charge 28 days x 28.970p £8.11

Standard Online - Monthly Direct Debit
19 Jul 2017 Customer read: 13900
16 Aug 2017 Estimated read: 13969.8
Electricity units used 69.8 = 69.8 kWh
Heating rate 69.8 kWh x 9.148p £6.39

Total electricity costs £34.21

The electricity used day and night is exactly the same at 69kWh used, to give a total of 138kWh, that doesn't make sense does it or am I missing something?

molerat · 11 September 2017 at 5:40PM

It does not make sense because it is an estimated reading - a guess at the reads, whenever you get an estimated bill you need to check and submit correct readings. Also where does £70 come from, you have put £34.21 ?

matelodave · 11 September 2017 at 6:11PM

If you accept estimated readings then you've no idea of how much energy you are using or when you use it. You must do your own meter readings and get bills or statements corrected.

DO NOT ACCEPT ESTIMATED READINGS get them corrected immediately.

Start keeping your own records rather than relying on random estimates from your supplier. When you know what you actually use then and at which rate then you'll be able to decide whethet an E7 tariff would work for you.

I suspect that it wouldn't because you only get the off peak rate between around midnight and seven in the morning and your heating system would be working during the peak rate times. Even E.10 may not depending on when you get your off peak allowance and when you want heat or hot water.

Until you know what you use and when you use it you can't really decide which tariff would suit you best

HWA01 · 11 September 2017 at 6:29PM

I dont accept estimated readings, this got sent to me when I was on holiday, I have submitted meter reads today with actual reads and submit them regularly, below is a previous bill with actual reads.

Meter number: 2112P03755
Standard Online - Monthly Direct Debit
29 May 2017 Customer read: 8192
19 Jul 2017 Customer read: 8411
Electricity units used 219 = 219 kWh
Standard Online - Monthly Direct Debit
29 May 2017 Customer read: 1748
19 Jul 2017 Customer read: 1793
Electricity units used 45 = 45 kWh
Standard rate 264 kWh x 14.286p £37.72
Standing Charge 51 days x 28.970p £14.77
Standard Online - Monthly Direct Debit
29 May 2017 Customer read: 13605
19 Jul 2017 Customer read: 13900
Electricity units used 295 = 295 kWh
Heating rate 295 kWh x 9.148p £26.99
Total electricity costs £79.48

The £70 is my monthly direct debit, the bill I showed was a shorter period of time. How do I work out whether E7 or E10 is best and when I do I simply get SP to change my meter setup?

frugalmacdugal · 12 September 2017 at 4:29AM

Hi,

you will need to find out the E7 and E10 rates for your area, then calculate,

51 days x the standing charge,

264 standard units x the day rate,

295 heating x the night rate,

and compare against your 29 May - 19 July bill above, remember the vat,

though you would be better doing it using an annual consumption.

wavelets · 12 September 2017 at 9:51AM

^^^

Whilst that may give an indication, it may give a wholly innacurate indication especially as you say you don't have NSH.

For example, you would be totally ignoring the consumption used at night as recorded by the meter (although that may differ from the 7 hours chaep rate applicable to E7 in your region)
But then again, you say you don't use any heating, yet the meter suggests otherwise :cool:

On the tariff you currently have, all heating, no matter when used, will be recorded as heating by the meter.

E7 is totally different. It does not distinguish heating from any other usage; it simply charges you the reduced rate for the whole consumption used dururing the 7 hours of cheap rate. It is very difficult to compare to your current tariff.

Perhaps if you were to obtain an OWL type monitor, and ensure it records all consumption, but set it to E7, that should indicate you are using at the appropriate periods.
But you really need this data for a whole year for it to be valuable.

HWA01 · 12 September 2017 at 10:33AM

Appreciate all the feedback, what does NSH mean wavelets? The heating i think will be for my hot water I would assume but I haven't had the heating on since May this year, I am quite anal about ensuring my consumption is as low as possible, so heating is never on. An OWL meter I assume is one of these, on the OWL website (not allowed to post links). From what is being said there its not clear what is the correct next step. Would a completely new boiler system help at all, it may be worth the investment considering my monthly costs? My boiler I think is from 1999. Is there anyone else I could speak to, to help? Is it worth getting my meter checked to see if its working properly?

On the back of my latest meter reads my DD is now up to £75 a month

Standard Online - Monthly Direct Debit
16 Aug 2017 Estimated read: 8521.5
11 Sep 2017 Customer read: 8631
Electricity units used 109.5 = 109.5 kWh
Standard Online - Monthly Direct Debit
16 Aug 2017 Estimated read: 1814.6
11 Sep 2017 Customer read: 1836
Electricity units used 21.4 = 21.4 kWh
Standard rate 130.9 kWh x 14.286p £18.70
Standing Charge 26 days x 28.970p £7.53
Standard Online - Monthly Direct Debit
16 Aug 2017 Estimated read: 14019.5
11 Sep 2017 Customer read: 14138
Electricity units used 118.5 = 118.5 kWh
Heating rate 118.5 kWh x 9.148p £10.84

SP - Three Rate Meter

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