Require advice on Economy 7

Natti_A

Hi all,

I am about to come to the end of my tariff with Scottish Power (Online Svr 12) and am starting to look around with 6 weeks left to run. In my rented property I have an E7 meter, and my calculations have found that I used approx 20% of my electricity at night and I cant push this any higher (I have gas central heating, so I'm not entirely sure why I have an E7 meter anyway)

I have rung a couple of companies today that say I HAVE to have an E7 tariff due to my meter, even though I dont use enough electricity at night to make it economical (I read that it needs to be >33% nightime use). I plan to live in this house for at least 1.5 - 2 more years, so I want to make my gas/elec bill as low as possible.

My options as I see it;

1) Suck it up and go for another E7 tariff on the lowest rate I can find (with cashback to ease the pain :rotfl:)

2) Pay the £92 quoted to change my meter to a standard meter (I would shop around to make sure I got the cheapest combination of tariff and installation cost) - also dependant on LL's opinion

3) Call every single elec/gas supplier and see whether any will add my low/high meter readings together and bill me without E7.

4) Something I havent thought of yet


Some guidance or advice would be much appreciated.

Cardew

BG, EON and SP(and others, OVO I believe is one) will add the consumption from the two meters and use the total on a single rate tariff.

The 33% 'break even' point largely doesn't apply these days(it did some while ago) in fact you might find that your 20% will put you 'in the black'. I was checking the other day for someone and the break even point was 5% on one tariff.

It is very easy to work out. Go to a comparison website and enter xxxxxkWh gas and xxxxkWh electricity(with 'no' to Economy 7). Note the price, and do the same exercise with say 20% on E7 and then 15% or 25% on E7. I suspect it will be very close in price.

Natti_A

Thanks for the quick reply. I rang Ovo and SP (my current provider) today, and both said it was not possible to add together the readings.

chubbster_1

When you choose a standard tariff all that happens is that you still give them the day and night readings, and they just charge you the same price for both. Having said that, mostly even at only 20% night usage, you'll find that the split E7 tariff will work out cheaper for you I think.

Cardew

Natti_A wrote: »

Thanks for the quick reply. I rang Ovo and SP (my current provider) today, and both said it was not possible to add together the readings.

Sorry for the misinformation about SP - they may have chnged their stance with the new accounting computer??

I had that arrangement with BG up to 2 years ago and EON until this last summer.

macman

Work out the saving for switching to non-E7, then calculate how long it will take you to recover the cost of a meter change.
Or tell SP that you are leaving because another supplier will switch you FOC, and see if their price suddenly tumbles...
A meter change is normally around £50.

Natti_A

I'm off to do some sums, and I will be back to update.

Thanks!