Losing Economy 7 Meter...dodgy practice?

theboylard

Morning all,

friend of mine who has massive electric bills (seriously - 2 bed semi and DD setup for £170!!!!! p/m) has told me about his meter being changed.

As Economy 7 is the cheapest electric rate at the moment (ours is a quarter of the standard rate) I questioned him over this, as his usage (lights everywhere, jacuzzi maintained at bath type temps) means any reduction is a godsend.

He had a letter last week, about 3 weeks after they changed his meter, advising him they are increasing his DD to £229 :shocked:.
He phoned and questioned this and have agreed to drop to £200.

Now then, he is a good friend and I've been moaning at him for months/years about his shocking energy usage, he lives on his own and the plasma tv is left on "for the cats"!! I switched him a couple of years ago which reduced his bills and in light of what's gone on recently he has finally agreed to empty the spa!!!

But my big issue is about the meter change - it was done on the basis of a phone conversation (they rang him) with the advisor telling him about benefit/features that the meter change would give, she kept saying that it's your decision. My friend eventually said ok, naively believing that this was all for the good.

So, can someone please confirm my belief or shoot me down?
If you are on an Economy 7 plan, is it better to keep the meter or change it? My cynical feeling is that this was almost like an engineered call to get even more cash?

If I am wrong, then we'll stop here and just look at switching again to help control his costs, but if I'm right, what's the process for complaint and what rights does he have to get his E7 meter back?

Ta in advance,

Magentasue

I think the rule of thumb is that you need to be using at least 25% of your electricity during the cheaper period to benefit. Most econ7 cheap periods are something like 1am-8am but they vary. Also, with some you need to be using more than 25% to break even.

Depending on his cats' viewing habits, I would have thought he was using more than 75% of his electricity at the more expensive rate and it will work out cheaper at single rate.

Does he have storage heaters? Immersion heater? It sounds as if you feel his high bills are a result of other things. Econ7 is of most benefit when you use a lot of units over night for things like storage heaters.

Premier_2

Remember, that during the cheap 7 hour period the unit rate may be only 25% of the cost of a standard unit, but the rate during the remaining 17 hours is typically about 10% more than a non-E7 standard rate.

As Magentasue says, about 25% usage during the cheap rate is a good rule of thumb - less than this and you're better off on a standard rate, more than this you're better off on E7

But that's only a rule of thumb and prices do vary - the only good way to find out for sure is to look at the previous usage over the previous 12 months and calculate what the cost would be on both rates.

If it turns out cheaper that a non-E7 rate is in fact cheaper, it would be worth running the figures through a comparison site again as their may be a cheaper supplier now he is on a non E7 tariff.