Are you, like me, paying a higher Tariff on economy seven!!!!!!!!!

terryrichards

Are you, like me, paying a higher Tariff on economy seven!!!!!!!!!

I consider myself one of the shrewdest money savers around (mainly because of this site). So when a friend told me that his electricity bill was high because they put him on the economy seven tariff by mistake, alarm bells started ringing in my head. Naively I thought that I was on the same rate as everyone else during the day and a better rate at night. We now use very little Electricity during the night so it turns out I have been paying over the odds for years.

Does anyone have previous experience of whether I can get any money back. I feel the rates should be see through and if they know I should be on a different tariff they shoulf tell me.

I am with Altlantic who so far have been very unhelpful.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Regards

Terry Richards

wills34

all companies work this the same unfortunately you can't claim the money back. All i can recommend is going through your annual kWh for day and night rates and working out the costs against the standard rates.

Mizz_Pink

Someone on here worked out we use 12% of our daily leccy at night, our provider said its best to use a minimum of 20% at night and they recommend E7 for people who have swimming pools/hot tubs, storage heaters or who do lots of washing and drying at night. They are changing our meter over for free to take us off E7, our service charge has come down and we are on a flat rate day and night of just over 9p per unit.

I hadnt thought of claiming money back cos I dont think i'd stand a chance I would of agreed to have E7 at some point.

Cardew

Economy 7 tariffs with all companies have always charged higher rates for daytime electricity.

However some companies had a much better deal for E7 customers than others - the much derided BG's rates for E7 were one of the best.

To further complicate matters the regional differences in prices are not uniform e.g. Company X might have a better deal for their E7 customers in, say, the Midlands than the South West. With Company Y is could be vice-versa.

Every time the tariffs change the advantages/disadvantages can alter.

Break even points can thus vary hugely across the country - 15%-40% of night usage

Without night storage heating it is difficult to get E7 to pay(not impossible - depends on region/company)

I can't think you have any chance of getting any refund, or frankly justification for getting one. Where do you stop with that principle? some people might not realise that they get a cheaper tariff for payment by Direct debit - should they get a retrospective refund? etc etc.

full-time-mum

wills34 wrote: »

all companies work this the same unfortunately you can't claim the money back. All i can recommend is going through your annual kWh for day and night rates and working out the costs against the standard rates.

Thats easy if you have an Economy 7 meter already but we don't have a meter which separates day and night units.
So how do you work out whether you would be better off or not on economy 7? I thought about taking readings when I went to bed and got up in the morning but, to be honest, I never remember what with getting the children to school etc etc etc.

I reckon I'm probably best as I am as we have an electric cooker so even if I wash and dishwash at night, I assume am still going to be using a large amount of electricity on daytime tariff.

Edit: quick search on google suggests that E7 is mainly for people with night storage units.

I'm wondering whether E7 is a bit of a con and that only a few households will actually be better off on it but that by calling it Economy, many are fooled into switching - or is that too cynical?

Quentin

All you could do is take a meter reading each night and morning.

Do your washing etc during the night and see the useage for yourself.

full-time-mum

Quentin wrote: »

All you could do is take a meter reading each night and morning.

Do your washing etc during the night and see the useage for yourself.

I hoped there would be some sort of on-line ready reckoner calculator thingy but I can't find one

wills34

it is only for big off peak users 12 - 7 during the night or for e7 storage heaters really which store the heat during these all. The vast majority without storage heaters are better of on standard generally

terryrichards

Thanks for all your replies. I obviously know what I've got to do to sort the problem and of course I will try it on, to try and get some money back or even talk to the OF(whatever) to see if they can force the companies to come clean when you are on the wrong tariff.

Thanks Again

Regards

Terry

meggles

i'm on economy 7-

can i get the elec company to switch me to a regular meter?

wills34

yes speak to your supplier they will arrange a meter change for free i believe. Any queries over splits of usages between day and night your supplier's customer service should be able to advise if you speak to someone helpful they may even work out whether it would be beneficial for you to be on standard or e7