Economy 7 - get rid or retain

ocemeer

I have an economy 7 meter, however the only thing that is run off it is the backup heating for the hot water (normally done by lighting my range). I never use the economy 7. Is it worth having the meter removed (the heater rewired to normal electricity), they will do it for free, and then getting a much more competitive electricity price instead of the one i am currently on. Or am i being naive in the fact that if i am not on economy seven i can get a better rate for my electricity.

teachergirl

Hi there . We used to have economy 7 electricity and I chatted about it on these forums and some kind people advised me that it wasn't worth my while as I didn't use it enough to make the taraff worthwhile. I am with Eon and they read the thread and told me the same and swopped my taraff. They didn't need to change the meter so it cost me nothing and hopefully now I am saving money.;)

Magentasue

You will almost certainly be better off on a single rate tariff. Check your annual consumption and use a comparison site to check for best deals on Econ 7 and for combined kwh on a single rate tariff.

The_Pedant

I think it works out that you typically have to use something like 1/3rd of your electricity on the cheap rate to make it worthwhile?

It's been a while since I ran the numbers, but I think it was in that sort of area.

Swipe

I had economy 7 with npower. I switched to standard tariff and they came out and changed my old meters to a new single digital one free of charge. Much better, and it was also installed on the day I had my air source heat pumps fitted, which makes it easy to see how much i've used. A couple of weeks later I switched to British Gas websaver. Npower told me (obviously not true) that other providers would need a single meter for them to take me on standard tariff.

stewie_griffin

Swipe wrote: »

Npower told me (obviously not true) that other providers would need a single meter for them to take me on standard tariff.

Some others suppliers do require that you have a single rate meter to be on their strandard tariff (I think Southern are one) so it's not entirely a lie.

spiro

stewie_griffin wrote: »

Some others suppliers do require that you have a single rate meter to be on their strandard tariff (I think Southern are one) so it's not entirely a lie.

If they need to change the meter then either (a) they have a limitation on the billing system or (b) they want to make more money out of you by charging to change the meter.

spoony77

spiro wrote: »

If they need to change the meter then either (a) they have a limitation on the billing system or (b) they want to make more money out of you by charging to change the meter.

Im with Southern and i had to have my meter changed to go on the single rate - but it was totally free.

allan673

you should 100% get rid of e7 !!!!!!!!!!!

scottish power charged the in laws £52 to have a single rate digital meter fitted, as they wanted to get rid of e7 and go onto a standard domestic tariff. (this was 6 months ago)
the in laws are saving a fortune - they had electric storage heaters that came on at night which were costing a fortune to run.
i told them to get rid of e7, they already have gas ch so it was pointless having the storage heaters on when your asleep.