e.on HeatWise - lock in to high tarriffs

mikewill34

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

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 fail to see how one physical meter with a single serial number can be considered as "two individual bits of equipment".

I served a apprenticeship as an electrician (back in 1975). I am no longer working as an electrician, but my theory training still holds true.


As far as I can see (in simple terms) the meter consists of :-

• input terminals; supply and neutral from the grid
• fixed output terminal; normal + E7 useage
• HeatWise (timed) output terminal; timer switches on a relay to energise this during the HeatWise periods
• boost button to manually turn on the HeatWise output.
• metering counters (x5)

My mother in law's first bill shows TWO Electricity Supply Numbers, which I am guessing is how e.on get away with pretending that this is two supplies, hoping that most peolple will not notice the double standing charge, because the first one is hidden.
When entering meter readings on line they are all recorded against the ONE meter serial number.

If the meter were to be replaced then the timer and relay section would need to be replicated externally, but due to the relatively high consumption of the storage heaters (SH) it is vital that the "On" time of the relay is precisely syncronised with the times the (new) meter changes to the E7 period, otherwise high bills may result. Unsynchronised switching would make the end user worse off as the SH would be consuming electicity at the day rate.

Feel free to feed any or all of my comments back to senior management, whilst I agreed that one single whinge isn't going to change much you never know.

Consumerist

mikewill34 wrote: »

. . . whilst I agreed that one single whinge isn't going to change much you never know.

I think perhaps you should consider copying this complaint to <Consumer Direct> who, at least, will register it and feed it into their database. Yours might be just a single whinge but there could be many more that you don't know about.

I don't know whether you have made a formal (written) complaint to Eon but if not, you might want to consider it and Consumer Direct should be able to advise you how best to do it.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

mikewill34 wrote: »

I fail to see how one physical meter with a single serial number can be considered as "two individual bits of equipment".

Hi Mike

The standing charge or primary unit charge is meant to cover the cost of having the meter at the property. This includes things like the cost of reading the meter, maintaining it and connecting to the grid.

Heatwise consists of the meter plus a separate unit, often containing the boost facility. This will be next to the actual meter. It's the upkeep of this unit that the standing charge relates to.

I've already passed your comments on about this Mike and will make sure it's considered by those best placed to influence these things.

Malc

mikewill34

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

The standing charge or primary unit charge is meant to cover the cost of having the meter at the property. This includes things like the cost of reading the meter, maintaining it and connecting to the grid.

Heatwise consists of the meter plus a separate unit, often containing the boost facility. This will be next to the actual meter. It's the upkeep of this unit that the standing charge relates to.

There is no "seperate unit" at my mother in law's house everything is AFAIK handled inside the meter (boost button is on it). It is difficult for you (e.on) to justify the EXTRA standing charge on this integral feature of the meter.

stewie_griffin

mikewill34 wrote: »

I fail to see how one physical meter with a single serial number can be considered as "two individual bits of equipment".

My Heatwise meter is definitely one unit. When Heatwise meters were first introduced they were 2 entirely separate meters (different serial numbers etc) as Malc says however the more modern ones are just one meter.

I guess some of the older style set ups will still be out there so E.ON have never bothered removing the standing charge from the tariff.

Going back to your original post it looks like your mother in law has an Economy 7 Heatwise meter (i.e. has a day and night rate as well as the heatwise part). The storage heaters are connected to the heatwise part so I'd imagine very little is being used on the night rate. This is the case with me so I switched on to the Unrestricted version of Heatwise. Ask E.ON to do this for your mother in laws account as it will work out cheaper.

mikewill34

stewie_griffin wrote: »

Going back to your original post it looks like your mother in law has an Economy 7 Heatwise meter (i.e. has a day and night rate as well as the heatwise part). The storage heaters are connected to the heatwise part so I'd imagine very little is being used on the night rate. This is the case with me so I switched on to the Unrestricted version of Heatwise. Ask E.ON to do this for your mother in laws account as it will work out cheaper.

Malc,
Can you (are you allowed to) comment on the unrestricted version of HeatWise Stewie is refering to.
My Mother-in-Law's setup is a single meter with a single serial number.

McAzrael

While we are on Heatwise, what is the boost button? I too have just one meter with a boost button on it. I've also got a button in my kitchen for hot water, but I seem to have hot water whether I press it or not, and if I use all the hot water (say for a bath) there is always more there half an hour or so later whatever time of the day. Is my water being heated on the Heatwise tariff? What does the button in my kitchen do?

stewie_griffin

to clarify I do still pay a standing charge but the primary day rate and secondary day rate are lower as you don't get cheaper prices overnight. These were my prices taken from my last bill (ex VAT) however they came down slightly on Monday

Normal primary units 24.07p each
Normal secondary units 12.67p each
Boost units 16.04p each
Afternoon units 7.14p each
Night/ Evening units 7.14p each
Standing Charge 11.27p per day

mikewill34

stewie_griffin wrote: »

to clarify I do still pay a standing charge but the primary day rate and secondary day rate are lower as you don't get cheaper prices overnight. These were my prices taken from my last bill (ex VAT) however they came down slightly on Monday

Normal primary units 24.07p each
Normal secondary units 12.67p each
Boost units 16.04p each
Afternoon units 7.14p each
Night/ Evening units 7.14p each
Standing Charge 11.27p per day

My Mother-in-Law has the same prices for the HeatWise section, but your tarrifs for the normal section are a lot lower

Her tarrif is (inc vat @ 5%)
Normal primary units 31.92p each
Normal secondary units 16.18p each
Normal Night 6.21p each

If she had the same day rates as you, she would have saved £20 in the last two months.

stewie_griffin

Mike I've had my new unit prices through the post today and thought you might find them useful. Rather confusingly these prices are including VAT so the decrease is more than it seems at first.

Normal primary units 23.657p each
Normal secondary units 12.453p each
Boost units 15.593p each
Afternoon units 6.941p each
Night/ Evening units 6.941p each
Standing Charge 10.952p per day