Should I keep my E7 meter?

mwddrwg

Hi all,

We moved into our house around 4 years ago. It has an Economy 7 meter but the radiators have long since gone and the central heating/hot water uses oil now. When I was discussing swithcing to nPower the other week the guy on the phone thought it might be cheaper for us to change the meter to a normal one as we only use the dishwasher and (occasionally) the washing machine overnight so only use about 25% (if that) of our usage at night.

Has anyone any experience of changing their meters and how much did it cost to do? Can your supplier cover it?

Thanks in advance for any info

TimBear

The problem with Economy 7 is that whilst you get cheap over night electricity, you pay a premium for what's used in the day. Therefore if you mostly use electricity in the day, which you do, then it will be cheaper to be on a standard tariff.

mwddrwg

Thanks! If i ask my supplier to change the meter will they charge me? Or do I have to go somewhere else to ask?

macman

Unlikely that E7 will pay if only 25% of your usage is on night rate. You usually need 33% or more.
You don't necessarily need a meter change-some suppliers will just combine the 2 readings, so ask.
If not, some suppliers will charge for a meter change, some won't.

Cardew

You don't have to change your meter.

Many firms - BG, EON and others will change you to a 'normal' 24/7 tariff keeping the same E7 meter. All they do is add the consumption on day time and night time cheap rate and treat it as one reading. e.g 1,000kWh on day meter and 500kWh night meter is treated as 1,500kWh.

To stay on an Economy 7 tariff or not obviously depends on several factors - consumption, area you live, company/tariff, etc and it changes from one month to the next.

P.S.
Unless you have a Combi, I would have thought that using an immersion heater on off-peak would be cheaper than oil.

mwddrwg

Thanks, Cardew

The boiler doesn't have an immersion heater that works any more so not an option unfortunately. Will contact EON to ask if it would be any cheaper to switch to a normal tariff.

macman

The immersion heater is not in the boiler, it's in the hot water tank! Replacing an immersion element (if that is all the fault is) is not a complex or expensive job at all.
Eon can't tell you that, it will purely depend on your consumption split as already advised.

Premier_2

mwddrwg wrote: »

Hi all,

We moved into our house around 4 years ago. It has an Economy 7 meter but the radiators have long since gone and the central heating/hot water uses oil now. When I was discussing swithcing to nPower the other week the guy on the phone thought it might be cheaper for us to change the meter to a normal one as we only use the dishwasher and (occasionally) the washing machine overnight so only use about 25% (if that) of our usage at night.

Has anyone any experience of changing their meters and how much did it cost to do? Can your supplier cover it?

Thanks in advance for any info

I would suggest that you first consult a comparison site to discover for yourself whether you would save money on a single rate.

Only if you do then consider the options. Some suppliers do not require a change of meter, others do and may well charge.

But first is to avoid the uncertainty and discover for your own usage and area what is cheapest.

e.g. We use just under 25% overnight usage and save money on E7. In fact with our previous supplier we would have saved money no matter low little low rate electricity we used.

Premier_2

macman wrote: »

The immersion heater is not in the boiler, it's in the hot water tank! Replacing an immersion element (if that is all the fault is) is not a complex or expensive job at all.
Eon can't tell you that, it will purely depend on your consumption split as already advised.

Whilst I agree it is not a complex job to do oneself, if the OP is not confident to undertake the task (and thinking it is part of the boiler suggests to me they may be best leaving it to the professionals), it could prove expensive if it is a side entry immersion that fits at the bottom of the tank.
This is because they will be paying a couple of hours labour for a plumber to drink his tea watching the water gradually drain from the tank before he can even start. Bills of £350+ inc VAT are not unusual around here, for fitting what is a sub £20 part.

If it's a top entry, then yes, the total bill should be under £100

spike7451

TimBear wrote: »

The problem with Economy 7 is that whilst you get cheap over night electricity, you pay a premium for what's used in the day. Therefore if you mostly use electricity in the day, which you do, then it will be cheaper to be on a standard tariff.

I had my E-7 heating ripped out in Jan 2010 & the gas installed,due to work I couldn't take the time off to get the electric company (NIE) out to remove the meter.What the gas fitters didn't advise me was the E-7 meter had to be removed.
The was also a 12p a day surcharge for having the E-7,something I was unaware of until I called the NIE to get the meter removed.

Premier_2

spike7451 wrote: »

I had my E-7 heating ripped out in Jan 2010 & the gas installed,due to work I couldn't take the time off to get the electric company (NIE) out to remove the meter.What the gas fitters didn't advise me was I was paying 12p a day surcharge for the E-7,nor did they mention the E-7 had to be removed.
As I did not know about the 12p,it was about 6 months before I got the NIE to change the pre pay meter & remove the E-7 meter,so I was effectivly throwing away 12p a day x 6 months...:mad:

Why would a gas fitter have any idea what electricity tariff you opted for, let alone one you chose that had a 12p per day additional standing charge.

You don't necessarily need to have the E7 meter removed for all the reasons mentioned above. Again it's not the gas fitters job, no more than it is the butchers or chemists to advise you.

Use a comparison site and discover for yourself.

We, like many others, have gas central heating and still take advantage of the benefits for cheap (30%-50% of the normal rate) electricity E7 allows us. I'm not suggesting it'll work for everyone with gas, but it works for us. A comparison site is the way to find out.