Npower-econ7-huge bill

dollydolittle_2

Have read all your replies but just about to rush out. I realise the next thing I need to do is check to see if the meter is stuck. I'm always in bed by 10 so I need to do it tomorrow a.m.

Thing is that I checked on the Eon website for our area and it says:

Electricity is supplied at a cheaper rate for 7 hours between 11.30pm and 8.30am

Erm... that's not seven hours, is it? Anyone explain this?

Cardew

dollydolittle wrote: »

Thing is that I checked on the Eon website for our area and it says:

Electricity is supplied at a cheaper rate for 7 hours between 11.30pm and 8.30am

Erm... that's not seven hours, is it? Anyone explain this?

If I said I was going out for an hour's walk between 1 pm and 6 pm, you wouldn't think I was going for a 5 hour walk;)

Seven hours in a 9 hour period!!!

needabargin_2

hi dollydolittle

when you move into an address that has an e7 meter you will automaticly in herit it as being billed on a e7 meter unless you request otherwise as they supplier can not change that meter unless you request it. what they will do when the meter is 'fixed' is probably backdate the account from when it was opened and bill as a e7 meter, if you are using the oil heaters still at night then i would say you probably are better still on e7 meter till your boiler is fixed as these can work out very very expensive if however you have the heating fixed and are not planning on using much in the night time cheap rate it may be best to get the meter changed
with regards to the time for e7 it comes on approx 1.30am till 8.30 in summer time then 0.30am till 7.30am

hope that makes some sense

mattcanary

Sometimes there will be an E7 meter in an address that was already being billed as a single rate meter for the previous billpayer. In this scenarion the new resident would also get billed on siblge rate prices, not E7 ones, wouldn't they?

Also with some suppliers it is physically impossible for them to bill an E7 meter on single rate prices by totalling the two indivisual readings. Southern for example are unable to do this. Other utility companies can and often do combine both readings (eg: Eon and British Gas). Not sure about NPower though

dollydolittle_2

Cardew wrote: »

If I said I was going out for an hour's walk between 1 pm and 6 pm, you wouldn't think I was going for a 5 hour walk;)

Seven hours in a 9 hour period!!!

Well, yes. But if you had to pay for that walk and it was going to cost you £4 per hour during 4 of those hours, but for one hour it would be £22 and no one told you which hour was the expensive hour, I expect you would consider you had been given insufficient information.

The more I find out about this, the more scandalous this whole E7 thing is.

They should be obliged to tell us when we telephone them about a new account that the house is on E7 and what that means, which they certainly did not do. If someone tells them, as we did when we gave them our opening reading, that there are two meter readings marked low and normal (and imo 'normal' should be marked 'high') but that only the normal works then they should tell you that that means it is broken and you are on E7 and so will be charged the high rate all the time and they should send out an engineer immediately. If they get meter readings and one has not changed at all, they should have an automatic system which questions if that meter is broken. And they should, very clearly tell you, both on the telephone when you first contact them and then in writing, exactly when your low hours will be, not that they will be roughly sometime between this hour and this hour (which they don't bother telling you anyway) but exactly. That would also make it very, very clear on the telephone at the initial contact that the customer is on E7.

I am going to sort out my bill, then I am going to complain to Npower, Eon, Consumer Focus and my MP about the lack of clear E7 information given by companies. It seems to me that the current situation discriminates against the members of our society who can't find out about these things, either because they have low literacy levels, physical problems, or simply don't have ready access to the internet, and also people like me who know nothing about E7. If it hadn't been for you lot I might well have ended up paying far too much or getting really stressed about this.

Anyway (deep breath, aaaaand relax )

tl;dr:
Got up at twenty to six and put the kettle on. The usage was recorded by the so called 'normal' meter. That should have been well within the low hour time limit, shouldn't it? So it seems that all our usage has been charged at the higher rate and therefore our bill should be recalculated downwards. Which is a relief. I'll get them to change the meter and then start my one woman campaign.

Oh and I'll update this thread to say what happens to my bill so anyone who finds themselves in the same situation knows what to expect.

Cheers guys!

Cardew

The reason they give a window for the 7 hours is the the times vary across the country, and you also have to factor in British Summer Time. - There are good technical reasons for this procedure.

As all your consumption is registered on your 'Normal' meter, I would think your best course of action is to get them to charge you for a normal 24/7 tariff backdated to the day you moved into the property; that would be more advantageous that trying to estimate how much you used at cheap rate times.

JimmyTheWig

dollydolittle wrote: »

So it seems that all our usage has been charged at the higher rate and therefore our bill should be recalculated downwards.

That's good news, then.
Remember what someone earlier said about them using a 70%/30% split to estimate what they think it should be.
From what you have said that is going to be more in your favour than if you have a "test period" and they calculate your current night-time usage and extrapolate backwards.

So if I were you I'd push for a 70%/30% split.

Am not sure that makes much sense to anyone other than me, so ask if you don't understand.

Premier_2

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Surely having an E7 meter doesn't mean you _have_ to have an E7 tarrif, does it? Don't you get the choice?

...

It varies by supplier.
A dual rate meter is intended for a dual rate tariff.
Some suppliers may agree to supply a single rate tariff even if you have a dual rate meter, but others won't.

I'm not sure of the nPower policy on this (or perhaps it varies by locations) as the responses posted to date are varied.

JimmyTheWig

I can't remember, but do you have to say what kind of meter you've got when you go onto comparrison websites?

Premier_2

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I can't remember, but do you have to say what kind of meter you've got when you go onto comparrison websites?

No. It only asks whether you are currently on an E7 tariff.
The comparison site gives like for like responses.
i.e. if you are on E7, you will only get E7 tariff alternatives
If you are on a single rate tariff, you will only get single tariff rate alternatives

It's up to you to recognise if you have previously come to an arrangement with your existing supplier to supply you on a single rate tariff when you have a dual rate meter, and realise that not all suppliers may agree to this arrangement.

The application to the supplier will ask for the meter reading or readings. That will inform them if done correctly (as will the MPAN) whether you have a single rate meter or dual rate meter. The supplier will only supply tariffs that they support based on the type of meter you have, irrespespective of the tariff you actually may request.

If in dount, it's best to check directly with the supplier whether they will support the tariff you would like with the type of meter you currently have.
You can, of course, always arrange to have the meter changed for which a charge may apply.