Economy seven - clock with day and night times set still valid?

samt99

My mum has a farm house with storage heaters which are on economy seven. She has a clock for the economy seven which comes on twice, once during the day and once during the night. The electricity board came a couple of years ago and replaced the clock with a newer version. However, a man came round to check their meters last week and said that the clock was illegal and she should not have it and took it away, which meant they would have no heating during the day it would just click on at night. They spoke to their electrician about it and he said they couldnt just take the clock away and has replaced it for them. They are pensioners and will suffer badly if they lose their daytime heating (I dont know why but their heaters need topping up twice a day? but they might need to check this) he also said that his father had the same system, so I am gathering this is an old tariff maybe for farmhouses or older properties.

Can anyone advise me who is correct, is it now illegal to have a clock for economy seven during the day, is this an old style account, and can they take it away.

I will ring their electricity company to discuss this but I can imagine half the staff I initially talk to wont have a clue what I am talking about and want to get a few facts before I ring them.

Thanks

Neil_Jones

Who is your energy provider?
Economy 7 is traditionally overnight (usually for 7 hours between 10pm and 8am, most typically midnight to 7am) and typically heats a brick inside storage heaters that gradually release said heat throughout the day.

The older Economy 10 package would typically run 3 hours in the afternoon (1pm - 4pm), 2 hours in the evening (8pm - 10pm) and 5 hours overnight (Midnight - 5am). It's most probable, since it sounds like storage heaters of some sort are in use, that this is an Economy 10 package.

jd87

samt99 wrote: »

a man came round to check their meters last week and said that the clock was illegal and she should not have it and took it away

Something is not right here. Is this really what happened? Who was this "man"?

Richie-from-the-Boro

samt99 wrote: »

My mum has a farm house with storage heaters which are on economy seven. She has a clock for the economy seven which comes on twice, once during the day and once during the night. The electricity board came a couple of years ago and replaced the clock with a newer version. However, a man came round to check their meters last week and said that the clock was illegal and she should not have it and took it away, which meant they would have no heating during the day it would just click on at night. They spoke to their electrician about it and he said they couldn't just take the clock away and has replaced it for them. They are pensioners and will suffer badly if they lose their daytime heating (I don't know why but their heaters need topping up twice a day? but they might need to check this) he also said that his father had the same system, so I am gathering this is an old tariff maybe for farmhouses or older properties.

Can anyone advise me who is correct, is it now illegal to have a clock for economy seven during the day, is this an old style account, and can they take it away.

I will ring their electricity company to discuss this but I can imagine half the staff I initially talk to wont have a clue what I am talking about and want to get a few facts before I ring them.

Thanks

Night only [ once ] is E7 tariff
Day & night [ twice ] is E10 tariff

Get in touch with your mums supplier immediately, as an emergency, if they are old / retired / hard up they have double protection, but only if the supplier knows their circumstances, they are not allowed by law to 'switch off the heating' under the circumstances you state.

Get hold of a bill and :

- what account
- what account number
- what region do you live in
- what meter number is on the bill - record it
- what was the meter number on the new one they installed - record it
- how the heck are your supplier going to know your usage since the last bill if your mums electrician replaced an unknown meter with unknown numbers ?
- what specific tariff was you mum on
- - does you mum live in Scotland ?

You have given inadequate information, but I make the assumption that if the ' man who came round ' was a legit sub-contractor for your supplier you had an E10 meter but an E7 account, normally the company supplying your mum would never completely take out the supply without communicating with the bill payer - I agree with the other poster something is very very wrong here.

I don't blame your mums sparkie for putting in a replacement meter, its cold and almost winter .. .. get in touch and make sure they know the account is that of a pensioner.