Told I've got the wrong meter when changing supplier

Threewheeler

I hope what happened to me has not happened to others who have not taken up a challenge to the letter I had today.:mad::mad::mad:
As my existing contract for electric was due to review I took advice:money: and found the best deal for electric, agreed in June, change over from British gas to Npower effective 18th July.
Then, today I got a letter from Npower:eek:, stating that i've been put on to standard electricity prices because I have the wrong type of meter fitted.
Turns out that in July 08 we had a knock on the door, no appointment but an official with correct ID etc from Bgas had come to change the meter.
We allowed this to happen:) and all was well, that is until N power found out that the meter did not comply with their metering requirements.
After 28 minutes on the phone to complain, a new (old type) meter will be fitted by Npower and prices for all electric from start date will be at the new fixed contract rate.
:rotfl:What a farce, why did BGas change the meter in the first place, was it to stop me changing supplier in the future?
I am angry at the bother this has caused, hopefully a little pressure on the new supplier with whom I have a contract letter worked for me.

eurmalian

Do you know what the difference between the old meter and new one is? As without that it's pretty much impossible to say anything about this.

spiro

Threewheeler wrote: »

Then, today I got a letter from Npower:eek:, stating that i've been put on to standard electricity prices because I have the wrong type of meter fitted.
Turns out that in July 08 we had a knock on the door, no appointment but an official with correct ID etc from Bgas had come to change the meter.
We allowed this to happen:) and all was well, that is until N power found out that the meter did not comply with their metering requirements.

Unless you wanted to be on an Economy 7 tariff and BG fitted a standard credit meter or prepayment instead of credit then the above does not make sense to me. All elec meters have to be certified so the meter BG fitted would be a suitable meter.

What exactly have NPower said is 'wrong' with it?

Threewheeler

Eurmalain,and Spiro.
Thanks for reply.
The Meter originally fitted in our house was a standard Economy seven type, the one fitted in 08 was supposed to be the same and I am now told that it is a white meter. As a BG employee you will know what that means. We have never had a off peak storage heating or anything of that nature, we are very careful about using the advantage of off peak, using it to heat water off peak, with oil boiler to top up and heating. I have been told that it is supposed to be fitted where there is a seperate connection for storage heating switching? Do you understand this?
Spiro, only normal supply and payment by bill, no prepayment.

macman

It's very rare to be able to make an E7 tariff pay unless you have night storage heating (or lead a very nocturnal lifestyle). You pay a premium price for your 17 hours a day of non-cheap rate electricity.

Pincher

That's why Frankenstein had to work late:

He was using Economy 7 electricity to create life.

davidgmmafan

It IS possible to bill somebody with an economy seven meter as if it were a single rate meter. However its NPower's policy to change the meter to prevent !!!! ups like this. If you have an economy 10 meter or an off peak meter you may be in deeper doo doo.

Depending what tariff you had opted for the difference between single rate and economy seven might not be great but it almost certainly won't be in your favour unless you have trouble sleeping, or work wierd shifts or something.

I think from what's been said my guess would be BG were billing it as a single rate even though there was an E7 meter there. Like for like meter exchange occurred so the chap took out E7 and fitted E7. I could be wrong but I'm just trying to read between the lines.

I think white meter is a way some people refer to Economy 7 but I could be wrong as I doubt its a technical term.

spiro

In some areas for E7 they used 2 meters rather than one. The second meter only meters the overnight heating/hot water curcuit and was referred to as a 'white meter' because typically they were white while most other meters were black.

Typically a supplier will replace the 2 meters with one modern E7 meter.

So do you still have 2 meters or 1? Is the meter single rate or 2 rate?

Premier_2

Threewheeler wrote: »

Eurmalain,and Spiro.
Thanks for reply.
The Meter originally fitted in our house was a standard Economy seven type, the one fitted in 08 was supposed to be the same and I am now told that it is a white meter. As a BG employee you will know what that means. We have never had a off peak storage heating or anything of that nature, we are very careful about using the advantage of off peak, using it to heat water off peak, with oil boiler to top up and heating. I have been told that it is supposed to be fitted where there is a seperate connection for storage heating switching? Do you understand this?
Spiro, only normal supply and payment by bill, no prepayment.

Sorry, this doesn't make any sense.

If nPower can supply you on their standard tariff, then they should be able to supply you on any other of their E7 tariffs.

Or did you request a single rate tariff? In which case if nPower will not bill you whilst on a 2 rate meter then they will swap it for a single rate one foC

Do not be mislead. E7 is not just for storage heaters. Breakeven typically occurs between about 20% and 25% overnight usage (although it can vary from < 0% to >40%). Considering 7/24 is about 29% you can often save money on E7
That's because the cheap rate is often less than 50% of the daytime rate and the daytime rate often less than 10% more than the equivilent single rate. (and I've known instances where the daytime rate is less than the equivilent single rate price, hence the <0% figure above)