Heatwise and EON

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I hope some slightly more knowledgeable people can help.

We have the Heatwise system supplied by EON and have done ever since we moved into the house 11 years ago.

EON have advised us that we can't change suppliers as they are the only company that support the Heatwise system.

Firstly, before I start shopping around and making dozens of phone-calls - is this true?

Secondly, we pay £101 a month for combined gas/electricity (4 bed house, 2 adults + 1 toddler) and EON have just advised us that this is going up to £150 a month. We both work full-time so power is only ever really used on a morning and on an evening. It's not like we're home all day using power. Any advice, if we can't change suppliers, as to how to prevent this ridiculous increase?

Thanks in advance.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi cms-help

Other suppliers may support Heatwise meters but you would need to talk to them to see what they can offer. This is because this type of meter is somewhat of a hybrid set up. If I might explain.

Heatwise meters were designed specifically for all electric properties with storage heaters. They give 10 hours of cheaper off peak electricity for heating and water heating purposes during every 24 hour period.

To do this, they're wired directly into the heating/immersion heating circuits at individual properties.

Given this set up, I'm afraid, we only have the one tariff available and this is particularly tailored to Heatwise meters. You'll need to see if another supplier has a similar product and can bill to this.

As you've gas at the property, do you use this for heating/water heating? If you do, it may be an idea to see about replacing the Heatwise meter with a more conventional type. This will give you access to more products both with us and the other suppliers.

However, before doing this, I'd recommend asking a qualified approved electrician to check over your set up first. This is because of the wiring set up I mentioned above. Removing the Heatwise meter may have implications for other things and could require some remedial work.

We're currently charging £51.06 to change meters. The cost of the electrician would also be your responsibility.

In the meantime, during the off peak times, there are a number of hours at night where all electricity is charged at the cheaper rates. If you're able to use timers on any appliances and use more during these hours, this may help reduce costs a little.

With the Direct Debit, has the account been billed up to date to actual meter readings? If this is the case, monthly payments need to cover the ongoing usage otherwise the account will run into debt.

If not, let us have the latest meter readings. We'll be happy to re-bill accurately and re-assess the Direct Debit.

Also, is there an outstanding balance on the account? If there is, this will have been included in the new monthly payments and spread over a number of months up to the next review.

If you expect to be making significant changes soon, you may be interested in a new tool we've launched on our website. It's the Direct Debit Manager and gives you more control over the monthly payments.

This facility allows you to change the monthly payments by up to 20 per cent up or down, provided the account is billed up to the latest meter readings. Or, up to 5 per cent up or down without readings.

Before completing the change, though, we'll let you know how much we anticipate the account will be in debit/credit by the time of the annual review if the change is confirmed but the usage doesn't alter accordingly.

Hope this helps. Give me a shout if you need any more info as happy to help.

Malc

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E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Hi cms-help

Heatwise meters were designed specifically for all electric properties with storage heaters. They give 10 hours of cheaper off peak electricity for heating and water heating purposes during every 24 hour period.

To do this, they're wired directly into the heating/immersion heating circuits at individual properties.

As you've gas at the property, do you use this for heating/water heating? If you do, it may be an idea to see about replacing the Heatwise meter with a more conventional type. This will give you access to more products both with us and the other suppliers.

Malc

We live in a 13 year old property that we moved into when it was 2 years old.

The property does not have and never has had storage heaters. So if this is what Heatwise was 'created' for - why on earth is such a meter in our property?

Gas we have for the heating and cooker hob.

Electricity (Heatwise) heats the water overnight (on cheaper tarrifs) but that is the only benefit we have.

Our consumption has not changed and I am advised your bills went up 8% in January.

I have phoned every supplier a search produced and no one else seems to support Heatwise.

So basically we're stuck on an expensive tarrif that we can't change and from your comments it would seem an unsuitable meter was installed in our property when it was built. So I guess my question is were the meters ordered incorrectly by the builders or foisted upon the builders by an energy company?

retiredin2011

Is your house part of a scheme that was built 13 years ago?


If so do your neighbours have the same type of meter?


My sister lives in a house where all the houses had economy 7 meters as there was no gas when they were built, all the houses had NSH.


One year later gas was installed to the scheme and most owners installed gas central heating but still retained the economy 7 meters as at that time it seemingly was advantageous to keep them, but that was before de-nationalisation.


Now most are gone.

cms-help

retiredin2011 wrote: »

Is your house part of a scheme that was built 13 years ago?


If so do your neighbours have the same type of meter?


My sister lives in a house where all the houses had economy 7 meters as there was no gas when they were built, all the houses had NSH.


One year later gas was installed to the scheme and most owners installed gas central heating but still retained the economy 7 meters as at that time it seemingly was advantageous to keep them, but that was before de-nationalisation.


Now most are gone.

What do you mean 'scheme' - all the houses were built by Allison Homes?

Gas has been at the property since it was built.

Kid_Icarus

npower and EDF also provide Economy 10 tariffs. You will need to phone them to get their Economy 10 pricing though as E10 tariffs are not on switching websites (and often not even on their websites, either).

Unfortunately, Economy 10 is in its death throes. A shame as it was a really good idea - 10 hours of off-peak electricity (5 at night to charge up your storage heaters and hot water) and 5 hours during the day to top-up your hot water and storage heaters in the evening). Perfect for flats that only have electric heating. It never took off as it was made far more complicated than it needed to be (2 MPANs per meter!) - some E10 meters have no less than FOUR readings.

OP, you say you have gas and gas central heating. Are you Sure your gas boiler cannot heat your hot water? Does your hot water tank have inlet/outlet pipes that go to the boiler? It would be a little strange (but not impossible) to have a gas central heating system that did not also heat your water.

In any case, I would ditch Economy 10/heatwise as you are MASSIVELY paying over the odds for your electricity if all you are doing is heating your hot water using E10 and don't have storage heaters. The day rate on E10 is eye wateringly expensive.

Depending on how much electricity you use at night (check your bills) would determine which tariff would be best. This will require a meter change but will definitely save you money.

cms-help

Kid_Icarus wrote: »

npower and EDF also provide Economy 10 tariffs. You will need to phone them to get their Economy 10 pricing though as E10 tariffs are not on switching websites (and often not even on their websites, either).

Unfortunately, Economy 10 is in its death throes. A shame as it was a really good idea - 10 hours of off-peak electricity (5 at night to charge up your storage heaters and hot water) and 5 hours during the day to top-up your hot water and storage heaters in the evening). Perfect for flats that only have electric heating. It never took off as it was made far more complicated than it needed to be (2 MPANs per meter!) - some E10 meters have no less than FOUR readings.

OP, you say you have gas and gas central heating. Are you Sure your gas boiler cannot heat your hot water? Does your hot water tank have inlet/outlet pipes that go to the boiler? It would be a little strange (but not impossible) to have a gas central heating system that did not also heat your water.

In any case, I would ditch Economy 10/heatwise as you are MASSIVELY paying over the odds for your electricity if all you are doing is heating your hot water using E10 and don't have storage heaters. The day rate on E10 is eye wateringly expensive.

Depending on how much electricity you use at night (check your bills) would determine which tariff would be best. This will require a meter change but will definitely save you money.

Phoned NPOWER - they denied doing E10 plans!

The gas cannot heat the hot water with the current piping in the house. It would need to be re-piped, which is what EON suggested. EON said they would change the meter for free but we would need to organise for the hot water to be switched over to being heated by the gas. I am not sure what a realistic price would be for that work but know we're not in a position to do it at the moment.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

cms-help wrote: »

We live in a 13 year old property that we moved into when it was 2 years old.

The property does not have and never has had storage heaters. So if this is what Heatwise was 'created' for - why on earth is such a meter in our property?

Gas we have for the heating and cooker hob.

Electricity (Heatwise) heats the water overnight (on cheaper tarrifs) but that is the only benefit we have.

Our consumption has not changed and I am advised your bills went up 8% in January.

I have phoned every supplier a search produced and no one else seems to support Heatwise.

So basically we're stuck on an expensive tarrif that we can't change and from your comments it would seem an unsuitable meter was installed in our property when it was built. So I guess my question is were the meters ordered incorrectly by the builders or foisted upon the builders by an energy company?

Hi cms-help

On new builds and property developments, the builder/developer responsible for the site will contact us and request the type of meter they require.

Provided it's available, we'll fit the meter as requested. Any work needed beyond the meter, like fitting storage heaters or other types of heating set ups, will be the responsibility of the builder/developer.

Malc