e.on HeatWise - lock in to high tarriffs

mikewill34

Hi All,

My mother-in-law has just moved into sheltered housing in Leicestershire. The bungalow, which has no gas, is fitted with storage heaters and has a HeatWise meter.

Due to the meter(ing) she has been put onto what I consider a very extortionate tariff by e.on :-

Standard Day units
· First 900 kwh per year 31.920p per unit
· Rest at 16.181p per unit
· Effective standing charge of 38.808p per day
Standard Night units
· 6.206p per unit
HeatWise Boost
· 16.824p per unit
HeatWise Evening/Night
· 7.497p per unit
HeatWise Afternoon
· 7.497p per unit
HeatWise Standing Charge
· 11.830p per day

She has two electricity supply numbers (I think one for standard, the other for HeatWise)

My questions are:-
1. How are e.on getting away with charging her two standing charges (first via two tier day units) totalling 50.638p per day?
2. What can be done about the monopoly situation created by the metering of her house? This as far as I can see by this forum will prevent her changing suppliers.

Her storage heaters and water heater are connected to the HeatWise tail of the meter.

HappyMJ

She can pay £50 and change it for an E7 or a standard meter then shop around for the best E7 or standard tariffs. I have never seen a usage profile on Heatwise where it would be cheaper than using E7 or standard electricity.

It is an extortionate tariff and the only way to resolve it is to change the meter.

Consumerist

HappyMJ wrote: »

She can pay £50 and change it for an E7 or a standard meter then shop around for the best E7 or standard tariffs.

For sheltered accommodation, your mother-in-law may need to get the ok from the administrators before changing the meter. .

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi mikewill34

Just thought I would pop on and give you bit of info about your mother-in-law's metering set up.

Unfortunately, we only have the one tariff for Heatwise meters as they're something of a specialist arrangement.

Heatwise meters are specifically designed for all electric properties with storage heaters.

They allow up to 10 hours of cheaper rate electricity for heating and water heating purposes during each 24 hour period. This is split into three time periods during the night, afternoon and evening.

Heatwise will automatically turn your mother-in-laws storage heaters on during the off peak hours and then switch them off again when it finishes. Heat will be released gradually throughout the day.

During the night period, other appliances like washing machines, tumble dryers etc can be used at the same off peak rates.

These meters were installed at the request of the property builder/developer and will have been wired directly into the heating/water heating circuits at your mother-in-law's property.

As such, they're a bit of a hybrid set up which restricts the tariffs we're able to offer.

Other suppliers may be able to support these meters. Heatwise, though, doesn't appear on the comparison sites. Therefore, I'm afraid you'll need to contact the other suppliers directly to see what tariffs they're able to offer.

It's also possible to replace the meter with a more conventional single rate or Economy 7 type. This will open up a range of different tariffs, both with us and the other suppliers.

However, as I mentioned above, the meter will be wired directly into the heating/water heating circuits and removing it may have implications for these services.

For this reason, I always advise customers contemplating removing Heatwise meters to have an independent approved electrician check over the set up first.

It may also be necessary to carry out some remedial electrical work to make sure there are no problems with the heating once the Heatwise meter has been removed.

The cost of the electrician would be down to the customer. We are also currently charging £51.06 to change a meter.

Sorry I'm not able to offer any better alternatives mikewill34 but hope the above is of some interest.

Malc

Consumerist

It may be a viable option for your mother-in-law to see if she is able to modify her patterns of energy usage to fit the tariff times if it isn't possible, or is too expensive, to change the meter.

stewie_griffin

Npower used to offer a Heatwise tariff too not sure if they still do though or whether it's competitive.

I actually have a Heatwise meter myself and although it's a bit frustrating not to have a choice of tariffs it suits my lifestyle well. If I had it replaced with an E7 meter then I'm sure I'd end up using more.

Parchie

Hi Everyone,

Just want to warn you about the con that is Eon's Heatwise plan - we moved into a house that has 4 storage rads, we're a small family so at first we thought - keep them turned down to a minimum to start with and see how we go.....

We received a letter from Eon about 2 weeks after we moved in ... saying "Blah Blah welcome to Eon". I then ring them up with the readings for when we moved in - I give them the current readings and that's when I'm in for a shock - nearly £200!!! Eon are absolutely clueless when it comes to understanding anything to do with utilities and even their own tarrifs - the advisors are rude and unhelpful and they just simply transfer you from one department to another. I've done some research to see how I go about moving to another supplier ..... As we're on Heatwise (meters and tariffs completely "unique" to Eon....) we thought we were unable to move.

That's what they want you to think. However, I rang them up and asked to have my meter changed (they will inquire as to why you want to do this and really try to put you off) - be very insistent! They will however charge you £51.06... a bargin to escape them really.
Anyway our meter has been changed to an Economy 7 meter - the day after this was complete I moved to another supplier on a good Economy 7 tariff. The rates and customer service are so much better -we've saved a significant amount of money (well over a 1/3 of what we used to pay a month) partly due to the fact we can choose a competitive plan

The icing on the cake is that we are not with Eon anymore - they are a truely shocking company and rip their customers off whilst being rude and obnoxious if you "dare" to challenge them.

In short do what ever you can to move from this abismal company.

mikewill34

Thanks Malc.

My main gripe is that she has TWO standing charges ammounting to 50.638 p per day.

If the 1st disguised standing charge (difference between 1st 900KW and the other day units / 365) was abolished it would be a reasonable tarrif.

So far in 78 days (from 09/12/2011 to 25/02/2012) she has used a total of 4,153 KWH giving rise of charges amounting to £388.67

Thanks for the heads up on the cost to change the meter.
I already knew that re-work by an electrician would be required to convert her existing circuitry to E7 as the current system is using the timeswitch in the meter. Would an E7 meter have the ability to switch the Heating independantly? Or would the electrican need to install a sepearate timer (and heavy duty relay)?

Regards
Mike Williams

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Hi mikewill34

Just thought I would pop on and give you bit of info about your mother-in-law's metering set up.

Unfortunately, we only have the one tariff for Heatwise meters as they're something of a specialist arrangement.

Heatwise meters are specifically designed for all electric properties with storage heaters.

They allow up to 10 hours of cheaper rate electricity for heating and water heating purposes during each 24 hour period. This is split into three time periods during the night, afternoon and evening.

Heatwise will automatically turn your mother-in-laws storage heaters on during the off peak hours and then switch them off again when it finishes. Heat will be released gradually throughout the day.

During the night period, other appliances like washing machines, tumble dryers etc can be used at the same off peak rates.

These meters were installed at the request of the property builder/developer and will have been wired directly into the heating/water heating circuits at your mother-in-law's property.

As such, they're a bit of a hybrid set up which restricts the tariffs we're able to offer.

Other suppliers may be able to support these meters. Heatwise, though, doesn't appear on the comparison sites. Therefore, I'm afraid you'll need to contact the other suppliers directly to see what tariffs they're able to offer.

It's also possible to replace the meter with a more conventional single rate or Economy 7 type. This will open up a range of different tariffs, both with us and the other suppliers.

However, as I mentioned above, the meter will be wired directly into the heating/water heating circuits and removing it may have implications for these services.

For this reason, I always advise customers contemplating removing Heatwise meters to have an independent approved electrician check over the set up first.

It may also be necessary to carry out some remedial electrical work to make sure there are no problems with the heating once the Heatwise meter has been removed.

The cost of the electrician would be down to the customer. We are also currently charging £51.06 to change a meter.

Sorry I'm not able to offer any better alternatives mikewill34 but hope the above is of some interest.

Malc

mikewill34

HappyMJ wrote: »

She can pay £50 and change it for an E7 or a standard meter then shop around for the best E7 or standard tariffs. I have never seen a usage profile on Heatwise where it would be cheaper than using E7 or standard electricity.

It is an extortionate tariff and the only way to resolve it is to change the meter.

It is not simply a matter of changing the meter as I already knew and Malc has quite clearly indicated.

Without remedial action the storage heaters would be consuming electricity at the normal day rate which would be very expensive.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi Mike

Fully take your point about the two charges - daily standing charge for the Heatwise meter and then a primary charge for the first 900 kWh of electricity used through the Economy 7 meter.

This is of no comfort, but these set ups consist of two individual bits of equipment - the Economy 7 meter and the Heatwise unit. Hence, the two charges.

I fed this back to our management team following your earlier post and will happily do so again. Can't promise things will change but the more feedback I supply the better the chances.

On the other question, Heatwise meters are wired into the heating/immersion circuitry so the storage heaters/water heating are automatically turned on and off during the set times.

Once a property reverts to a conventional set up like Economy 7, the automatic switching facility won't be available. What you'll have is 7 hours of off peak usage. This covers all usage, both the heating/water heating and all other electrical appliances.

To make the most of the off peak rates, you'll need to make sure, wherever possible, that your appliances are being used during this period.

I'm not particularly technical Mike and wouldn't pretend to know the intricacies of the set up. This is why I always recommend customers seek professional advice before making a decision.

Hope this is of some use. Give me a shout if I can help further as happy to do so.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Parchie wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

Just want to warn you about the con that is Eon's Heatwise plan - we moved into a house that has 4 storage rads, we're a small family so at first we thought - keep them turned down to a minimum to start with and see how we go.....

We received a letter from Eon about 2 weeks after we moved in ... saying "Blah Blah welcome to Eon". I then ring them up with the readings for when we moved in - I give them the current readings and that's when I'm in for a shock - nearly £200!!! Eon are absolutely clueless when it comes to understanding anything to do with utilities and even their own tarrifs - the advisors are rude and unhelpful and they just simply transfer you from one department to another. I've done some research to see how I go about moving to another supplier ..... As we're on Heatwise (meters and tariffs completely "unique" to Eon....) we thought we were unable to move.

That's what they want you to think. However, I rang them up and asked to have my meter changed (they will inquire as to why you want to do this and really try to put you off) - be very insistent! They will however charge you £51.06... a bargin to escape them really.
Anyway our meter has been changed to an Economy 7 meter - the day after this was complete I moved to another supplier on a good Economy 7 tariff. The rates and customer service are so much better -we've saved a significant amount of money (well over a 1/3 of what we used to pay a month) partly due to the fact we can choose a competitive plan

The icing on the cake is that we are not with Eon anymore - they are a truely shocking company and rip their customers off whilst being rude and obnoxious if you "dare" to challenge them.

In short do what ever you can to move from this abismal company.

Hi Parchie

I'm sorry you found our agents rude and unhelpful. This is certainly not acceptable and I hope you raised this with the agent's managers at the time.

Much of the info I posted earlier on this thread is relevant here. I would just stress, though, there may be implications for the heating/water heating at properties when a Heatwise meter is removed.

Therefore, our agents were right in making you aware of the implications. I'm sorry you thought this was being obstructive but we do need to make customers aware of such things and, to be honest, I would be more concerned if they hadn't raised the possible implications with you.

Hopefully, all is ok now the meter has been changed.

Malc