Confused about economy 7

pbfhpunk

We are currently on an Ecotricity Economy 7 tariff as we just took over the tariff from the previous tenants and never got round to changing it. Looking at a bill I can see we don't use it properly at all, and I don't think we will. Can we change to a normal tariff? or do yo uhave to have a new meter? TBH I don't even know if the meter we have is E7 and haven't got a key to check the meter and wouldn't know what I was looking for!

As I've said before we spend £1700pa on gas and electric for 2 of us in a 2 bedroom bungalow so need to cut costs!!

Thanks

Magentasue

E7 is only worth having if you use a good proportion (20%+ of your elec during off-peak hours). If you have storage heaters, that's a strong possibility. Without storage heating, it's far less likely to be the best option.

Do an online comparison. Put in your annual usage in kwh and find best deal. If with your present supplier, ask about a change. Some change the meter. Some just add the two readings and charge a single rate. If it's worth switching, do some phone ringing around. Your aim is to have the meters changed fo nothing.

This is assuming you DO have E7 - should be easy to find out from bill.

Get a key to check your meter and read it regularly - how else will you know what you are using and be able to make cut backs?

pbfhpunk

There's one storage heater in the house but we don't use it. If we paid a cheaper rate then am sure we'd get our electric down to about £30 a month rather than £56 but also some of this is covering back pay as they didn't bill us for about 9 months! Then even though the bills said they were debiting our account when I checked there was no DD set up.

So going from E7 to a regular tariff can only be done over the phone to see if we need a new meter?

Yes the bill says E7 that's when we first found out - so does that mean that chances are it is an E7 meter as surely otherwise it would've been picked up by the meter reader?

Magentasue

pbfhpunk wrote: »

So going from E7 to a regular tariff can only be done over the phone to see if we need a new meter?

Yes the bill says E7 that's when we first found out - so does that mean that chances are it is an E7 meter as surely otherwise it would've been picked up by the meter reader?

Yes, it'll be an E7 meter if the meter reader got peak and off-peak readings.

Can't see how you can switch from E7 without asking - either by phone, e-mail or letter.

Premier_2

pbfhpunk wrote: »

...If we paid a cheaper rate then am sure we'd get our electric down to about £30 a month rather than £56 but also some of this is covering back pay as they didn't bill us for about 9 months! ...

It's unlikely you'll make this type of saving purely by changing from an E7 tariff.

All suppliers charge differently, but a typical average oncost for E7 would be about 10% for daytime units but of course 7 hours of cheap night-time units at about 30% - 50% of daytime unit cost.

Then there's SP who charge less for all E7 units than they do for non-e7 units on standard tariff (depending on which region you live in)
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1207887

As you currently are on an E7 tariff, you will have a dual rate meter. Some suppliers will allow you to transfer to a non-E7 tariff and keep the same meter (they simly add the 2 readings together) whilst others will insist on changing the meter to a single rate one.

As Magentasue says, you need to contact your supplier to explore the options.