BG Dual Rate Electricity Meter So Can't Switch Supplier!!

Snowbelle

Terrylw1 wrote: »

Its good that they are doing this free of charge.

However, you must ensure you have no off peak load wired or the engineer can't do the job.

I don't see why you need to wait 28 days as they can book a meter change as soon as today's date passes your switch date.

Thanks for your reply, please can you tell me how I check to see if I have any off peak load wired?

Terrylw1

Snowbelle wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, please can you tell me how I check to see if I have any off peak load wired?

Have you got anything wired to the off peak circuit in your consumer unit? If there is nothing, you will be fine.

Storage heating is the usual type of appliance you would see wired to the off peak circuit.

Snowbelle

Terrylw1 wrote: »

Have you got anything wired to the off peak circuit in your consumer unit? If there is nothing, you will be fine.

Storage heating is the usual type of appliance you would see wired to the off peak circuit.

No nothing - no storage heaters here so hopefully should be OK.

Would just like to say many thanks for the help you and others have given me answering my questions.

Chrishazle

Terrylw1 wrote: »

So, you have 2 meters?

Do you have 2 MPAN's? If so, they shouldn't be giving out standard rates on those and should be removing the off peak meter if its no longer connected to the heating.

E7 meters are just 1 meter.

The other possibility is a more complex meter so how many readings do you have? More than 2?

Users on here are trying to trace your meter based on a data item called Meter Timeswitch Class (MTC) which is possible but you need to answer what I am asking here as well or they may only find 1 half of the problem.

I have 1 meter - large black thing in the box by the front door. It has a button I press to scroll from meter 1 to meter 2 then other things - I give BG the readings of meter 1 and meter 2, they work out how much electricity I've used by adding together the "delta" of both - then charge me at single rate!

Interestingly, we have 3 phase power at this house! When first built the house had electric central heating. Across the road a house has one massive "storage heater" type thing then radiators like a "normal" central heating system, but we have old power points with blanking plates all round the house - I've fitted sockets to quite a few of them! I guess these would have been wired to 2off peak" systems!

A further wrinkle - having been told by SP that failure of my electric switch cancelled my gas switch, over the weekend i've had an email from SP asking for my gas and electric meter readings so the switch can proceed!! They originally said electric switch 19th gas 20th, I asked to delay that to after 31st to avoid £30 per fuel early cancellation charge from BG, they said thay could do that - it's turning into an absolute fiasco!

Terrylw1

As long as its one meter and has 2 registers it will be E7.

So, Bgas by adding them together have done it without ensuring the meter is allowed to be operate this way in the industry data. So, a purely internal decision and no other supplier has to honour it.

SP are known as one that won't honour this for some reason.

So, if you really need standard rates instead of E7, you are left with 2 options:

1 - move to a supplier that will do it. Not sure who does. I know Eon does but I know Npower will only do it if your meter is allowed to.

2 - get Bgas to change that meter. As long as you have no off peak load, this will make this problem go away for ever.

In terms of checking if your meter can work on PC1 & 2, your supplier can check that. If they tell you your Standard Settlement Configuration (SSC) for your meter, I can check it for you. The SSC is not individual to a customer, its for the metet settings, so its not used in switching and cannot identify you.

The only thing that worries me is this 3 phase issue. A 3 phase supply is fine, its from a previous need and you probably don't need it if your consumption is for a normal domestic customer. It could be a problem though if the meter itself is 3 phase as these are supposed to be for businesses. It can mean that your SSC is business only which will cause problems in switching but Bgas's Meter Operator can hopefully adjust it. Its not possible in all cases in which case a meter change to a single phase meter is needed as long as your power needs only require that.

Are you sure it says 2 meters? It should be the same meter with 2 registers.

Do you have more registers & readings? It could be you have an old complex meter and this might have confused SP. The SSC will prove this.

Terrylw1

When I checked your MTC of 22 for your region (old Seeboard), this is the description.

22 01/04/1996 SEEB 01/04/1996 9 hr W.M. TN CR N N 2

So, providing this is correct, you have a 9 hr weekend meter with 2 recording registers.

Is that the only MPAN on your bill? If so, its just a 9 hr meter.

To be honest, I can't recall a 9 hr meter that can operate as a standard meter.

Do you have anything wired to your off peak circuit? If not, you could change it to a single rate 1 register meter.

If you have storage heaters wired to the off peak circuit in your consumer unit, you should be very sure that a standard rate is right for you or you will be losing 9 hers of off peak rates.

Chrishazle

Terry, there is only 1 MPAN on my electricity bills. I do not know what is wired to the "off peak" circuit. We have 3 boxes of circuit breakers, 1 for each phase. We have a number of blanked off power points round the house where I suspect there used to be storage heaters. The wiring behind the blanking plates is still live, so I've fitted 3 pin sockets to some of them. There are no longer any storage heaters here - the previous owner had gas central heating installed in about 2003/4 (first owner was self builder 1989-2003, second owner single lady 2003-7 then us).

As for the meter, I think your description of "2 registers" is correct. All I know is I press a button on the front to scroll through readings for meter 1, meter 2 then some other stuff.

BG told me yesterday it would cost £63.75 to have the meter changed.

Electricity changeover has been aborted, gas changeover is to be reversed as an incorrect transfer, so one way or another I've found myself stuck with BG and have pre-registered for their online variable November 2013 deal. I've also registered interest in a smart meter - maybe that's a way to get this meter changed to something acceptable to others, I have a year to find out!

Terrylw1

I'm not sure on the smart meter debate on all the types of meter settings out there. Smart wasn't even discussing these area last year but I am out of touch with this nowadays. You could ask the Bgas rep on here if they are fitting E9 ones. If not, either they are awaiting an industry decision on whether they will be continued or they are not going to happen.

If your power needs are for a standard domestic, you could easily change to a single phase meter if the 3 phase one is ever an issue.

I think you could get out of that fee for a meter change. Raise a complaint and ask why they are adding your units together giving you the illusion that's it the correct way when they know they should change your meter...because you can't switch.

This area of the industry is a bit grey and its been seen on here that the suppliers don't agree with each other over compliance policies.

You could, after 8 weeks, refer your complaint to the ombudsman...costing the supplier £350 for just a referral regardless of outcome. Faced with this, I'm sure they will just change your meter free of charge.

Since there is no storage heating, you shouldn't have anything wired solely to the off peak circuit so could have the meter changed. The engineer will identify any load and abort as well as tell your supplier so it would come to light if you were unsure.

P.S. I asked the mod to remove your MPAN detail as it can be misused.

scoobers

Sorry to resurrect this thread.
I am trying to switch my supply from British gas to Scottish Power.
The switch failed as SP say they do not support my meter and advised me to get my meter changed by BG. How can I check that the Meter Time Switch Code on the database is correct? They are saying it is 658. Is there anyway I can tell from looking at the meter?
Thanks

Terrylw1

scoobers wrote: »

Sorry to resurrect this thread.
I am trying to switch my supply from British gas to Scottish Power.
The switch failed as SP say they do not support my meter and advised me to get my meter changed by BG. How can I check that the Meter Time Switch Code on the database is correct? They are saying it is 658. Is there anyway I can tell from looking at the meter?
Thanks

If your MTC is between 500-799, its classed as Related. This means it is part of a 2 MPAN arrangement for a complex tariff meter or 2 meters operating separately to offer peak and off peak supplies. The complex tariff meter may offer more than this and can be made up of 1 meter as opposed to the 2 seperate meters.

Checking if your combination is correct relies on accessing your Standard Settlement Configuration (SSC) which your supplier receives from their Meter Operator agent when you switch or when your meter is changed.

Your distributor can also tell you this as the supply always sends it to them whenever a meter change at your property means a change to the SSC.

The SSC is view of how the meter works but the MTC adds its payment options (some SSC's allow interchangeable payment types hence MTC's are required to cover them) plus the Profile Class (PC) explains if you have an off peak circuit (there are some exceptions to this).

So, if you get the PC, SSC & MTC you have the data required to make this check. You then need the Grid Supply Point (GSP) reference which is just a letter denoting your old electricity board region which can be found using the distribution maps on Energylinx's website as you can click on the region to find post codes. You also then need to check your billing tariff matches against this combination e.g. the combination says your meter is a 3 rate credit meter, hence your tariff must also be.

The combination is not easy for a consumer to check as it requires comparing tables of data items on the Elexon website. This means loading them into a database and creating links between them, if you know how. I do and I have a database I built to make this check. So, if you PM me these data items, I can easily tell you what your meter should be. The data items are generic to all meters operating in that way in your region, so they don't identify you and are not used to perform any switching.

You also need to check you have 2 MPAN's for that range of MTC.