Economy 7 - have I been tricked?

gingergirl21

Hmmm - call me suspicious but just wondering if we have just been shafted by EON.

Got a bill from them two weeks ago - our electricity figures were all mixed up as we had an old meter in the house when we moved in and the suppier back then had given the readings in the wrong order. There were storage heaters in the house when we moved in however we quickly got central heating put in.

The messed up figures got sorted easily enough and EON helpfully suggested that we get a new meter as the old one was not much use now the heaters had gone. We readily agreed, and they have fitted an economy 7 meter. I just assumed at the time that this was the most modern type of meter as no explanation was made about it.

Having now read a couple of posts in this site and some info on USwitch, it looks as though we would have to be using 20% of our energy at night.

OK, so we can set the dishwasher and washing machine onto time delay, however my husband works from home 3 days a week and in winter he will be needing some light, not to mention the amount he uses on his computer etc during the day.

I can't help thinking that perhaps this type of meter is going to benefit EON more than us, and that is why they were so helpful.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

jd87

Well I don't quite understand the issue with the meter type being changed, but it doesn't matter anyway. It's sounds like maybe you had an old economy 7 meter, and then they just replaced it with a new economy 7 meter. Anyway, the important thing is that if you are on an economy 7 tariff but you don't want to be, just call Eon up and tell them and they will switch you onto standard rate. The meter type doesn't matter.

Yeah it's bad that you have been paying extra from being on E7 unnecessarily, but unfortunately they will just say that it's up to you to decide the best tariff for your needs.

Fluffi

An economy 7 meter will just allow EON to monitor your day and night usage, as jd84 quite rightly says and you can have a "normal" tariff if you want.

I have an E7 meter and when I first moved to my flat, I switched to from an E7 tariff onto a standard dual fuel rate with EON (because my flat doesn't have night storage heaters so I didnt think E7 would be any good) Anyway after a few months EON noticed that I'm using 40% of my units at night and switched me automatically to E7 tariff to save me money!

(I can see from the meter readings I've taken myself that I'm using at lot of my electricity at night ... often run a dehumidifer at night which I didn't have when I first moved in - so they aren't ripping me off!)

To be honest I think having an E7 meter will just help you to save money if it fits your lifestyle so I wouldn't say you've been tricked at all. Potentially you'd be worse off if you just had a standard meter because you wouldn't have the option of cheaper electricity at night. If you are worried then just ring up EON and ask to move to a standard electricity rate.

Premier_2

Not tricked at all. You appear to have been on E7. EON replaced your meter with another suitable for E7 tariff.

You could have a case of being 'tricked' if they replaced it with a meter not capable of being used with E7 when you have not yet apparently asked to change from this tariff.

spiro

As I work in the industry the issue is not the meter type you have but the tariff. If you have a single rate meter you can only be on a 24/7 tariff (single rate), if you have a E7(2 reading) meter you can be on either a E7 (higher daytime charge, lower overnight charge for heating) tariff or a 24/7 tariff (they just add the 2 lot of consumption together). If you have no electricity heating then it is unlikely that an E7 tariff is for you.

astralbee

Yeah I think this has already been said, but I was in the same situation. When I bought this house, there were two meters for electricity and the vendor explained to me that the house was on Economy7. I thought I was getting a good deal because I leave my PC on overnight sometimes and was promised a lower night rate. We tried setting the washer off at midnight too. Then somebody explained to me that you get a lower night rate but a HIGHER daytime rate.

The rate was designed for storage heaters, and if you don't have them it is completely useless and costing you money. Call your electricity supplier and tell them you want off it - they will send an engineer round to swap the meter for a single rate one and it shouldnt cost you a penny.

A cautionary word - if you then decide to use USwitch or similar to get a cheap rate, check first that you are in credit with your present supplier. I racked up some arrears because of the higher daytime rate on E7 and when I switched I got hit with a huge bill.

jd87

astralbee wrote: »

Call your electricity supplier and tell them you want off it - they will send an engineer round to swap the meter for a single rate one and it shouldnt cost you a penny.

Don't even need to have an engineer round. Just ask to be taken of economy 7, you keep the same meter and they just add the day and night readings together to get a total reading.