Eco7 meter switches at wrong times

lizardking

Hi All,

I moved in to a flat 3 weeks ago with a friend and we were informed that the house was on Economy 7 and that the storage heaters would come on automatically overnight to use the cheep electricity, through various reasons myself and my flatmate have rarely been in the flat and it was only a few nights ago I realised that the Storage Heaters had started heating up about 7 in the evening. I then checked the meters and the one I was informed by e-on as being the overnight meter had moved up 60kw and the expensive meter had gone up by 700 since we moved in.

When I spoke to E-on when I first moved in I was told the eco7 times were 2200-2230 and then 0100-0600, I had a quick look and we have 2 meters but I presume these are configured by the power company to switch at certain times, I also can see no timers for the storage heaters so should these also be controlled by the power company as to when they come on?

I went around the house and turned everything off and did some tests to see what was happening, I checked at various times through out the evening and night and everything including the heating was on the expensive meter, the following day some time after 0900 everything in the house had switched over to the other meter but the storage heaters were now off.

At the moment doing some quick calculations it looks like my bill will be over £200 for this month alone due to the storage heaters heating up at the wrong time and the cheep rates not fitting in with any of the times I was advised.

I presume someone from the electricity company will have to visit but are they responsible for ensuring that the storage heaters only come on with the correct meter?

Thanks

dunloadin

If you have two meters you won't be on Eco7....not with the times you mention either.

A picture may help if possible, but you probably have a radio telemeter that records the heating consumption and controlls when the heating is switched on and off.

Some tariffs will allow for more time to be given when the weather is really cold (at the discretion of the supplier/DNO); the teleswitching is preset to recieve the normal and additional switching, so even if it's not your supplier doing the switching it will still happen. i.e. Scottish Power's Comfort Plus does this, but if you've managed to change to another supplier the switching still occurs....which can be a bonus to you IF the billing is correct.

Of course it could well be that you've mistaken the clock/timer for your Eco7 meter as an additional meter...in which case the clock needs resetting (lost/gained time) or replacing (it's knacked).

If you have two meters you'll find one is for the general supply to the property (sockets/lights/cooker etc) and the other is for the heating. It sounds from what your saying that the meter recording the heating usage is being billed at the wrong price...not unusual when two-meter systems get changed to a supplier that would normally not touch them with a bargepole.

lizardking

Thanks for the reply Dunloadin, I've spoken to my supplier and they are sending someone out to have a look as they agree things are not right. There is no Teleswitcher and we definitely have two meters, they are nearly identical apart from the serial and readings but when I signed up with e-on they said this was a fairly normal setup.

I did some testing at the time and everything in the house switches between the meters at set times, so plugs/lighting/water heating (I can't check the storage heaters as I have no way of changing their timing) transfer between the meters which I find interesting as the only other boxes in the cupboard are the breakers. It's a few weeks before an engineer will come out and if I learn anything that may be of use to others I'll update the thread.

Cheers

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi lizardking

Sounds as though you may have some form of restricted hour set up. As dunloadin says, this will almost certainly be different from a standard Economy 7 meter.

Restricted hour meters tend to be found in all electric properties with storage heaters and can be a bit of a hybrid arrangement.

Switching times vary depending on the type of meter fitted and the region you're in.

You're doing exactly the right thing in talking to us and arranging for an engineer to check this out.

Once we can establish the actual set up at your property, we will be able to let you know the switching times. Also, make sure the tariff you are on is suitable for the type of meter you have.

Hope this helps a little lizardking.

Malc