Advice on E7 and strange request please

Cup-of-Tea

Hi

I have been with npower forever (although have recently been checking out benefits of switching) and the house is on E7 metering.

There are no NSHs or immersion heater as I believe the previous owner installed oil-fired CH with on-demand hot water. About 25% of my electricity consumption is at night.

I recently sent an actual meter reading to correct an estimated bill - something I have done regularly in the past. This has prompted a letter asking me to read the meter twice in one day - after 9am and before 9pm: "we'd like to check that we're billing your day and night units on the correct registers. If we can't confirm your readings, your future bills may be wrong and you could build up a debt". It also asks if I use storage radiators.

Can anyone advise what this is all about and if there is some hidden agenda here? - I am naturally suspicious and would appreciate any thoughts as to the best way to proceed!

Many thanks...

t0rt0ise

The company are wondering why you are on E7 when you appear to be using much more electricity during the day than at night. So they want to check that they have their day and night readings the right way round.

To make E7 worth having, you should use about 40% of your electricity at night. As you aren't then you are paying more. Anyone who doesn't have night storgae heaters should not usually be on E7.

Richie-from-the-Boro

If you have no storage of heat and water taking advantage of the cheap-rate during the night, you are on the wrong tariff and should not be on E7 / E10. However if you have no storage of heat and water during the night I fail to see how you are using 25% during the night.

ON an E7 meter you have two sets of readings one for the day rate [more expensive than standard rate] and one for the night rate [considerably cheaper than standard rate] their question [registers] is to decide which of your two rates is the day rate and by deduction the other is the night rate.

But their question is wrong - the whole setup is wrong you should not be on an E7 tariff.

Cup-of-Tea

Many thanks for your replies.

I've just checked the meter again and the readings are indeed correct - the top "register" is labelled "low" and the bottom "normal". Npower have also done physical readings themselves, so should know that the designation is correct.

I don't use much electricity, and the 25%-75% (150kWh-600kWh) split is probably because I programme the washing machine at night whenever I can. Apart from that, it would be fridge, freezer and electric blanket. Pretty much everything else is switched off.

Of course, whether this is the best deal for me is another matter altogether - and one I need to address.

Premier_2

Cup-of-Tea wrote: »

...Of course, whether this is the best deal for me is another matter altogether - and one I need to address.

Yes, just put the data into a comparison site a couple of times (once as a dual rate customer and then as a single rate customer) and see what is the best option for you.

We use between 20-25% low rate electricity (and that's not even trying to make the best out of the low rate) and have found in our case their would be little advantage in going to a single rate supply ... and on occasions have found a dual rate supply to be positively advantageous (do a search on my previous posts if you are interested in more details)

Note that if you decide to change to a single rate supply, not all suppliers will be prepared to supply this to you whilst you have a dual rate meter ... and some suppliers will charge you to change the meter.

[Deleted User]

very interesting to hear that Npower are querying the registers, unusual. your meter never gets a register mix up as it is an old style mechanical meter with its low and normal registers clear and obvious. What happens with this meter is that the timer controlling the switch periods can be miles out and you will be getting nice cheap units in the day. Have a look at the pointer on the timer dial and check if its on anywhere near the correct time.

Cardew

t0rt0ise wrote: »

To make E7 worth having, you should use about 40% of your electricity at night. As you aren't then you are paying more. Anyone who doesn't have night storgae heaters should not usually be on E7.

I think you will find that 40% is out of date in almost every area and, as Premier states above, at 20% to 25% is the 'break even' point.

The prices vary according to how much gas and electricity you use. However in my area(Midlands) on electricity only the break even point on low consumption can below 15%.

Entering typical gas and electricity consumption(from the same company) the break even point is typically around 20%.

Over the past few years the 'break even' point has varied but iirc has never been above 30%(on the cheapest tariff) and has been down to zero.

Cup-of-Tea

Thanks to everyone for their responses - very helpful.

I have now checked the meter at 0830 a.m. and 2130 p.m. It switches over from "low" to "normal" at 0830 a.m., so it seems to be working as it should.

On the day I checked, it had registered about 3 kWh on the "normal" register and no usage on the "low" register by the time I took the second reading at 2130 p.m. I was out of the house most of the time, so that seems to make sense to me.

I wonder what npower will make of that?? Is there any problem from their point of view with having an E7 meter if you don't have NSH?

macman

Your supplier neither knows nor cares what sort of heating you have. The choice of tariff is up to you.
But you need to base your choice on your actual annual kWh consumption split, not on a random 24 hour sample.

Terrylw1

76/24 is a more current thinking than the old 70/30 split, but the only true way is to put your readings into a comparison site.

Why? Because the 70/30 comes from the nationalised period and continued despite pricing differences per region. The later value is still flawed because the % has to differ per region if pricing differs.

You will find service people will look at kwh per register, not price per register. A comparison site goes the extra mile by seeing whether you are truly better off or not as E7 or single rate. However, don't just look at the cheapest, look at all of them and if E7 is cheapest, stick with it.

The supplier isn't looking at your pricing, they are purely looking at whether they are billing your readings the right way round.

What confuses me though is that you use 25% at night but the supplier is concerned about transposition. If the night register you checked matches the bill, there is no issue.

Does your bill match your meter? If so, is there something else they are looking at since it doesn't sound like they should even be investigating it (assuming the bill and meter match).