Economy 7 meter....

SarahNeedle1872

This is gonna sound like a stupid question, but we've been in our house for 5 months and today is the first day we've had to put the heating on...

Our meter has high and low readings. I assume low is the cheap period of 7 hrs, and high is the normal....
Now looking at the tenancy agreement we signed when we moved in, the 'low' reading has not changed!
I confirmed with Atlantic a couple of days ago that we are definately E7.... but does this mean my automatic switch is broken!?!

Help!

Edit - I have been checking it every ten mins since midnight tonight, and the indicator hasn't moved!

patwa_2

Not a stupid question at all. A lot of people do not understand that Economy 7 IS the meter type with two readings - they often think it's in fact the opposite - I did too until recently and I'm beginning to think this has set our household back quite a lot in incorrect cheapest energy supplier choices.

Anyway, if your low reading has not changed at all since you moved in, the switch may be broken, or, as some people have, the meter may have been 'locked'. Some landlords do this to avoid the hassle of changing the meter. Sorry, but I could not find any references on the legality of this, but effectively it becomes a standard meter with one tariff all day and night.

Are you billed on an E7 tariff or not? You'll know this by the readings on your bill - it'll clearly show High and Low readings rather than just one reading. Even if you pay fixed monthly charges, your bill will indicate energy usage for the different periods.

If not, you're on a fixed tariff package, your meter has been locked. You could check with the landlord and energy supplier to be sure.

Again, sorry I couldn't find references to help you, I'll keep looking if you like - shouldn't be too hard.

SarahNeedle1872

We've not seen a bill yet, the first contact we had was a 'late payment' letter in Jan. We paid the bill as it was £146 from 21st Aug - 21st Jan (which I didn't think was too bad).

The email I got back from Atalantic said:
"According to the information given to us by the local distribution company your meter is an Economy 7. Economy 7 has two meter readings, a Normal for day and a Low for the night. Your account bills on a Economy 7 tariff." so as far as they are concerned, it's an E7 meter and billed as E7. I am now worried that all the elec we've used since we moved in has been charged at the higher rate! The landlord did not say that the meter had been locked when we moved in, but then I guess it's not the kind of info they would give up freely (after all, it's not him paying the bill!).I take it that if it is locked, it can be unlocked again!?!

I will have to ring them later and find out if the meter has been locked... Thanx v much for the info, and if u find anything else u think would help, please post it.

SarahNeedle1872

patwa wrote:

Anyway, if your low reading has not changed at all since you moved in, the switch may be broken, or, as some people have, the meter may have been 'locked'.

Phoned the elec company today, they think the meter timer is broken as they have no record of the meter being 'locked'. They're coming out on the 5th March to fix it, run it for one calendar month to see what we used, then work out what saving, if any, we would have made.... So we may get some cash back or credit to our account :rotfl:

Thanks again!

patwa_2

Hi, good on ya for getting the ball rolling. Ask to see a bill showing your usage in Kwh or units rather than the monetary amount - if it should be two readings and if it is then the broken meter explanation would work, if not, then you're having an E7 meter but not being billed as such.

Hope it goes well, glad to help.