Economy 7 - Provided readings wrong way round I think!

andyb87

Hi All,

I'm wondering whether you can help... I have an economy 7 meter in a flat that my partner and I rent. We moved in back in June and the energy supplier was British Gas, a month later I switched to Southern-Electric (who we was with in the old home) because of the difference in bills I received before.

I have a big concern that all my meter readings since I moved have been given to the energy suppliers in an incorrect order (Day = Night & Night = Day).

I never had an E7 meter before til we moved in here, so just to confirm that I have this correct...
The meter displays the 2 readings as 1 & 2. My original thought until now was that 1 = Day & 2 = Night, but now I'm starting to think that 1 = Night & 2 = Day due to the differences between the readings (2 is always higher than 1).

Have I now got this correct or have I been right all the long?

If I've been wrong all this time, what should I do?

It would also be worth pointing out that I have been taking regular meter readings for 8 weeks now (once a week) so I have a fairly accurate record of my usage. I have also provided these to the supplier on the date of the readings.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Regards,

Andy

grahamc2003

Why not read both readings now, and both readings in two hours time? Then the one which has changed is your day rate.

Raksha

I think I've got a similar problem with my Scottish Power bill. This is compounded by the fact that I'm just in the process of changing suppliers to EDF, so about to supply them with my closing meter reading - as I was taking the readings, I noticed that the 'rate 1' amount, which is supposed to be the 'off peak/night' rate changed - at 17.54 hrs. The 'peak/day' rate hasn't changed in the last 2 and a half hours.

Have I benefitted by buying my daytime electricity at night rates, or paid over the odds by programming my high drain appliances (washing machine, tumble drier and dishwasher) to run over night?.......

andyb87

grahamc2003 wrote: »

Why not read both readings now, and both readings in two hours time? Then the one which has changed is your day rate.

Hi,

The higher reading = day reading as I've just done as you advised.

I've checked my bills and the two readings are definitely the wrong way around.

What should I do?

If I keep quiet up until the day I give the final reading, would I get away with it or should I just come clean and be prepared to pay a huge bill to make up the difference in charges per unit between day and night?

Cheers,

Andy

andyb87

Hi Again,

I've just got a new quarterly bill just now and I've worked out that it should be £176.65 for Standard and £8.78 for Night if I was to switch around the units. I'm very worried about this!


Img of bill: img52.imageshack.us/img52/1356/billz.jpg

[Deleted User]

Hi,

how come you are using so much more on the day rate, I would have thought night/day = 80/20%, 75/25%, 70/30% if using storage heating?

KimYeovil

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,

how come you are using so much more on the day rate, I would have thought night/day = 80/20%, 75/25%, 70/30% if using storage heating?

Where does the OP say they are using storage heating?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

KimYeovil wrote: »

Where does the OP say they are using storage heating?

I had presumed that as he was on E7 he was using electric storage heaters, I don't see the point of having E7 to do a couple of washes on the cheap, the main advantage is storage heating.

KimYeovil

[Deleted User] wrote:

I had presumed that as he was on E7 he was using electric storage heaters, I don't see the point of having E7 to do a couple of washes on the cheap, the main advantage is storage heating.

Yes, admittedly they don't say they do not either. E7 is also usable if you have gas heating and cooking - which is why there is no reason for suppliers to question or interfere when a householder takes an E7 supply - it is up to the householders themselves to decide. (Sorry conflating separate E7 threads here - that is more for this other thread.)

LittleMissAspie

You might be on E7 if the house used to have electric heating but GCH was later installed.

HappyMJ

andyb87 wrote: »

Hi Again,

I've just got a new quarterly bill just now and I've worked out that it should be £176.65 for Standard and £8.78 for Night if I was to switch around the units. I'm very worried about this!


Img of bill: http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/1356/billz.jpg

Depending on what your secondary day rate is you really need to consider changing suppliers or tariffs. That is an awful rate for day rate @ 21.08p and an awful rate for night rate @ 5.26p. You are using 83% of your electricity in the day and if you switched to a standard tariff that was not E7 you could get a tariff for a bit less.

I assume your primary tariff is 21.08p and with my supplier it's charged for the first 2kw per day and you have only used 1.8kwh during the day hours and the secondary tariff hasn't kicked in yet so the bill won't be £176.65 it will be a lot less depending on what your secondary rate is.

edit: had a look at southern's website and you'll be charged around 21p for 225 units per quarter then around 12-14p for the remainder and also around 5p for the night rate. Or a 24/7 rate would be around 11.5p for all kwh plus a daily standing charge of 7.25p.

So time for the calculator your bill should be around (225*21p)+(613*13p)+(167*5p)=£135.29 less discounts plus vat
Or on a 24/7 standard plan it would be (90days*7.25p)+(1005*11.5p)=£122.10 less discounts plus vat

You'll need to enter your exact figures to get the correct answer for your region.