Economy 7

peterstyles

If you use Economy 7 then it's essential that you check out how the system works and what the hours of cheap supply are.

I had a white meter installed three years ago and put in two storage heaters to provide background heating. E.on (who installed the meter) gave no advice on which seven hours applied and the installer simply told me to look on-line. This told me that the economy 7 hours were 01.00am to 08.00am and I set the clocks accordingly.

In late 2010, I got a standard letter from E.on telling me that the hours were 12.30am to 07.30am and I should change the timers over for BST. This was strange so I rang the helpline who told me that the letter was incorrect and confirmed that my original settings were the right ones. Being unsure of this, I checked the clock itself and found that the changeovers were at 12.05am and 07.05am (one hour different from the information provided by E.on).

I wote with a formal complaint and a claim for the wrong charging due to the incorrect settings of the timers based on their wrong information. This was rejected as they said there was no evidence of an overcharge (why would there be?) but they did alert me to the fact that the meter DOES NOT CHANGE with BST.

I referred the rejection of my claim to the Ombudsman who rejected it due to my inability to change the timers to coincide with BST!

The moral of this to to ensure that you know how your Economy 7 system works and what hours of supply are covered by the off-peak tarriff. I have now switched to nPower due to E.on's arrogance in dealing with my complaint.

spiro

In a street no 2 E7 meters are likely to be set to exactly the same time, this is to stop power spikes. The advise on here is always to check the meter itself.

Also if you have a 'white' meter this supplies a 2nd curcuit which is only active during the off peak times so will not impact the cost of your heating.

GlynD

It's the hot water supply you have to manage carefully. Make sure you only heat your storage tank during the cheap period. I have fallen foul of that myself when on white meter.