Bill is economy 7 but normal meter

carthorse

My daughter has been in her house 8 years. Her ex husband sorted all the bills he left 5 years ago and my daughter continued with the direct debit of £55.
Her bill always seems to be an estimate but in January it was read. She had a bill saying they owed her £580 but would carry it forward. Then she got a letter to say it had been read incorrectly and could she take two readings 2 hours apart. The bill says she is on economy 7 but I dont know why as she doesnt have night storage heaters. Anyway we go to take the readings and it is not an economy 7 meter it only has one set of digital numbers. We took the readings and it went up 5 numbers in 2 hours.
Asked her ex but he has no idea about it.

wakeupalarm

Check if the meter serial number is the same on the current bill and on the meter. Then check previous bills incase its changed at some point. Its possible that they may have mixed up the reading with a neighbours meter.

Richie-from-the-Boro

carthorse wrote: »

My daughter has been in her house 8 years. Her ex husband sorted all the bills he left 5 years ago and my daughter continued with the direct debit of £55.

Her bill always seems to be an estimate but in January it was read. She had a bill saying they owed her £580 but would carry it forward. Then she got a letter to say it had been read incorrectly and could she take two readings 2 hours apart. The bill says she is on economy 7 but I don't know why as she doesn't have night storage heaters. Anyway we go to take the readings and it is not an economy 7 meter it only has one set of digital numbers. We took the readings and it went up 5 numbers in 2 hours.
Asked her ex but he has no idea about it.

- what's the name on the front of the digital meter ?
- it may have four sets of numbers if you press the blue cycle button
- regardless, if you have no E7 rads & water and an E7 tariff, you'll be paying at least 100% more than you need to
- and may have been doing so for up to 8 years

Get a grip on the account, who is it with ? what is the name of the tariff ? do you have gas ? how do you heat the space and the water ? The cheapest tariff's all have common denominators of :

- direct debit
- paid monthly
- you supply monthly meter reads
- the cheapest tariff for you needs
- an e-account on line so you can supply reads and check details

macman

She's not read her meter in 8 years? Has there been a meter change in that time?

carthorse

Ok Found out it is the correct meter but you have to press a button to get the second reading. It looks like they have been charging night rate for the daytime use and vice versa and I dont know how long for.
They definately read the meter last year but they may have charged round the wrong way then. In fact they may always have charged around the wrong way.
The reading they said they took this year seems to be made up as only one of the two lots of numbers are correct and that is the night use(which they are charging day rate for). Luckily the actual day rate reading is much lower than they say. Still worriex about how much the bill is going to be if they find they have done this for 8 years.
Alsshould not be on economy7 as dont have storage heaters or use electric much after 12. They are going to change the meter over. I am at present taking the two readings for 2 hours. Then have to phone them.

carthorse

Update. They had reading round the wrong way so the bill were cheaper than they should be. They dont back date correction so it is £872 in credit and they are giving me £722 back and leaving £150 in credit. WOW thought I was going to get a bill. Changing to single tariff next week as shouldnt be on economy 7

marmitepotato

I am on economy 7 and I don't have any heaters. I do make use of my cheap electric as I do all my dish washing and clothes washing during the night. Also if I am up early enough I will do all my ironing and vacuuming whilst on the night rate. I am an early bird tho so getting up to do these chores is never hard for me.

£700 back is lovely tho OP.

victor2

marmitepotato wrote: »

I am on economy 7 and I don't have any heaters. I do make use of my cheap electric as I do all my dish washing and clothes washing during the night. Also if I am up early enough I will do all my ironing and vacuuming whilst on the night rate. I am an early bird tho so getting up to do these chores is never hard for me.

£700 back is lovely tho OP.

So long as you are using about 30% or more of your electricity at the night rate, you should be benefitting.
Put your total annual kWh (day and night added together) into a comparison site to see what they come up with as good deals. If the annual predicted cost for that is more than you are currently paying, then maybe it suits your lifestyle, even without storage heaters.

Cardew

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

-
- regardless, if you have no E7 rads & water and an E7 tariff, you'll be paying at least 100% more than you need to
- and may have been doing so for up to 8 years

100%? is that a typo? - 10%?

Actually, like 'marmitepotato' in the post above, it is possible to make E7 pay even with gas CH.

With some tariffs, in particular Scottish power, you can 'break even' at around 20%. That figure can be reached quite easily if you get up early - timed appliances, electric shower etc.

[Deleted User]

Very common mess up day and night transposed, I am finding them constantly for British Gas , and EDF and Scot Power ( I work for G4S ) usually when day and night is mixed and there are no night storage heaters involved, the bill is quite a lot less, that is, they have been undercharging you. The day units , of which you will be using the most, are priced at the cheap night rate, and the odd night rate unit you use will be billed at the high rate. Personally I have no faith at all in British Gas, or any of the other suppliers calculating the mess up correctly , let alone telling night from day on the meter. The meter readers get it wrong and a lot of the occupiers havent the faintest idea either of anything to do with electric meters