Double reading electric meter

zoenix

Hi,

first post so forgive me if it's in the wrong place.

I moved house 3 months ago into a rented property. The electric meter shows 3 readings, 1, 2 and total. When giving the readings on my online account I have to enter the 1 & 2 readings. I have just heard that this means I have economy 7 electricity... I might be wrong but i thought this meant storage heaters, which I don't have. My central heating is gas and uses regular radiators. Also, I'm with Eon on the energyplan tariff which doesn't mention anything about economy 7. I switched to them when I moved in because I don't like British Gas and they didn't mention anything would change from using my old meter which had one reading. Should i have made any changes or checked with them about this?

Can anyone advise me on this?

HappyMJ

You have an E7 meter. You need to make sure the supplier is charging you a cheaper rate for all units if it works out cheaper. It doesn't always. In my area with scottishpower it's actually cheaper to stay on E7 even if no units are used at night. Generally though you should use 25% or more at night to save money compared to a normal standard tariff. It's easy to do with storage heating and hot water but quite hard if you don't use them.

zoenix

Thank you HappyMJ that's really, really helpful. Do they count night time as midnight - 6 am or on a different basis?
I can usually do my washing and drying over night so that should help!

HappyMJ

zoenix wrote: »

Thank you HappyMJ that's really, really helpful. Do they count night time as midnight - 6 am or on a different basis?
I can usually do my washing and drying over night so that should help!

Depends on your region. It's usually 7 hours sometime between 11pm and 8am but some regions have a couple of hours earlier in the night in winter. It also depends if you have a teleswitch or not. If you have a timer you may be able to figure it out or ring the supplier but they aren't very good at answering the question as it's up to the region you are in. As a last resort you will have to watch the meter as it switches over at midnight (according to it's clock - mines 20 minutes out) and see if the rate changes.

E.ON_Company_Rep_Chris

Hi Zoenix

HappyMJ is right having an Economy 7 meter doesn't necessarily mean you'll be on an Economy 7 tariff.

Our E.ON Energy plan comes in both an E7 and standard version but it will clearly state Economy 7 on your bill and your online account if you're being billed this way.

Owing to the higher rates you’d pay for daytime use to offset the cheaper night-time rates, you'd need to use around 40% of your electricity at night for E7 to be of benefit. This is normally achieved by people with electric storage heaters.

As you have gas central heating and there's no reference to E7 on your bill, it sounds like you're being billed as a 1 rate or unrestricted customer. This means that we'll still take both sets of readings from your meter but you'll pay the same price for your electricity no matter when you use it.

This should be the cheapest option for you but worth double-checking your bills just in case. Also, as you have an online account with us already, it’s worth looking at switching to an online plan too as you’ll get some extra discounts!

Electricity bills can be confusing, so if you’re not sure just give us a call, our advisor will do a quick comparison between standard, E7 and any other available tariffs that may better suit your needs.

Switching times are often midnight to 7am but again as MJ says it does vary, our advisors can check this for you too! If you're not on E7 prices, then it doesn't matter so much.

Hope this helps a little, if need any more info just let me know

Amanda

zoenix

Hi Amanda,

thank you, that's great. Would you be able to advise me on which tariff's are online/best for me? We have a new baby so the heating is on pretty much 24/7 as well as the washing machine, so any savings we can make would be brilliant!

"This should be the cheapest option for you but worth double-checking your bills just in case" - I switched over from BG to Eon when we moved in and am currently in dispute over an inaccurate electricity meter reading so I can't check my bill until this is sorted. Are you able to advise how I would do this once the issue is resolved?

Thanks again.

HappyMJ

zoenix wrote: »

Hi Amanda,

thank you, that's great. Would you be able to advise me on which tariff's are online/best for me? We have a new baby so the heating is on pretty much 24/7 as well as the washing machine, so any savings we can make would be brilliant!

"This should be the cheapest option for you but worth double-checking your bills just in case" - I switched over from BG to Eon when we moved in and am currently in dispute over an inaccurate electricity meter reading so I can't check my bill until this is sorted. Are you able to advise how I would do this once the issue is resolved?

Thanks again.

Amanda can only really tell you about E-On tariffs. You would be better off going onto a comparison website and using your own figures. The comparison sites work best with annual kWh figures. You can try E7 tariffs (using your night percentage if you know it-use 25% if you don't) and Standard tariffs to see which is better. Ignore the savings figure they present and just write down the annual amounts and manually compare.

zoenix

I wouldn't ask her to give me anyone else's, I just hoped she could advise on which were the online tariff's for Eon.
I am having a look now for the best rates using your advise, it's now much easier now I know i'm looking for!

E.ON_Company_Rep_Chris

zoenix wrote: »

Hi Amanda,

thank you, that's great. Would you be able to advise me on which tariff's are online/best for me? We have a new baby so the heating is on pretty much 24/7 as well as the washing machine, so any savings we can make would be brilliant!

zoenix wrote: »

"This should be the cheapest option for you but worth double-checking your bills just in case" - I switched over from BG to Eon when we moved in and am currently in dispute over an inaccurate electricity meter reading so I can't check my bill until this is sorted. Are you able to advise how I would do this once the issue is resolved?

Thanks again.

Morning

Sorry I couldn't get back to you last night.

I'm not allowed to recommend products on the forum but you can see a full list of available tariffs using the Switch Now option of your online account.

The list of plans that you see will help clarify what sort of prices you're on with us. If it's Economy 7, then the ones you're offered will be too. There's been some system problems this week, so if you get any error messages our chaps are already on the case.

Alternatively, do use a comparison site but make sure that you select the option to compare the whole of the market or E.ON products won't be on the list.

The problem with your change of supply reading should be sorted within 28 days and we'll send you a new bill. All will become much clearer then I'm sure

When the bill comes-if you're not on E7, both readings will be on there but they'll both be labelled as normal rather than day and night.

See how you go Z, let me know how either way

macman

No one can help you with your rates without knowing your annual kWh consumption and your region-if you put that info into any comp sites (2 minutes work) you will get the results you need.
Have you looked at your bill or other paperwork and determined if you are on a E7 tariff or not?
Without storage heating or an immersion heater, it's unlikely that E7 is going to be the best tariff-typically you need to be using 33% on cheap rate to make it pay. All your peak rate usage is charged at a premium rate.
PS: you don't need CH on 24/7 with a baby.

zoenix

Hi again,

Sorry for any confusion, I know you can't reccomend products on the forum, I was just confused over which tariffs were online and which were not. I can see how I might have worded it better! I think I've worked it out now so thanks.
Macman, yeah, it's not on all the time but it sure feels like it! Holding on for summer!
Thanks everyone for your great replies, I really appreciate it.