Economy 10, smart meters, and useless suppliers!

OldWilliam

I've built a retirement home in the north of Scotland, and although I had to pay over £2,000 to have my electricity main put in, I had difficulty getting a meter fitted. It took three months of arguing because my chosen supplier, nPower, said they couldn't supply electricity there. Long story short... Scottish Hydro undertook to fit the meter, at which time nPower confessed they'd got it wrong and took over the supply!

Only a few months since then, my heating contractor has fitted my ground source heat pump and advised (far too late) that I should have asked for an Economy 10 supply! I'm aware that only a few suppliers will supply on this tariff and that users can't switch online (at the moment). Now the actual questions!

Given the background, I'm obviously unwilling to change the almost-new meter unless there's a distinct advantage. Can anyone advise: (a) how much a meter change will cost? (b) Which suppliers are still installing Economy 10 meters and supplying the tariff? (c) Given that smart meters are imminent, can anyone say if - in the circumstances - any supplier will install one now to make the time-variable tariff viable?

peat

Scottish Hydro do E10 but if I were you I'd get the GSHP running first so you get an idea of power consumption/requirements through different periods of the day and night, before changing tariff.

HappyMJ

Another thing......E10 tends to be more expensive than many of the cheapest online standard rates available.

spiro

HappyMJ wrote: »

Another thing......E10 tends to be more expensive than many of the cheapest online standard rates available.

It used to be the case that E10 was 10-15% more expensive than E7 tariffs.
I agree that you need to know your consumption profile (by hour) before you decide on the metering configuration you want. As you have already said very few suppliers offer E10 tariffs so that puts you at a disadvantage in terms of getting the best prices.