Warning! Economy 7

Archbishop

I had a new meter fitted by EDF in 2005 to convert to economy 7.

I seemed to be paying more, despite having the high usage appliances timed for during the night-after being assured by EDF everything was on cheap rate between 0030-0730 hours I put it down to the price increases.

In 2011 I was fitting an "OWL" electricity monitor at 0230 hrs in the morning and noticed the meter was charging on the high day rate. :question::doh:

Further lengthy investigation using a CCTV camera on the meter revealed that the cheap night rate switched at 2329 hrs and finished at 0829 hrs (9 hours). BUT! at 0129 hrs it switched back to the higher day tariff and reverted again to low tariff at 0329 hrs. Crafty !!!!!!s thought I-what a way to be charging full rate for 2 hours every night :wall::eek::mad::mad::mad:

Adjusting my appliance use to avoid this 2 hour window of the higher charge brought my bills back to expected figures.

There then followed a lengthy correspondence with EDF where they first claimed my meter was faulty and needed to be changed, I was offered £50 in compensation. Then they told me the meter was fine, I was still getting 7 hours of cheap electric but admitted 2 hours was at the higher rate.

It took a referral to the Ombudsman to get a realistic compensation...in July 2012 they paid me £524.62p.:j Shortly after this I converted to Co-op energy. :T

What a bunch of crooks-obviously not expecting anyone to sit up all night waiting to see when the meter switches-I certainly would have been none the wiser if I had not used one of my house CCTV cameras, even then it took many hours to get the full story...if you have economy 7 it might be an idea to check this out too!:beer:

Cardew

Welcome to the forum. Thanks for the warning.

Do you have a mechanical clock or teleswitch?

I am not sure why you think EDF are the 'crooks' in this situation. Exactly the same would have happened if BG or any other Utility company had been supplying you; in fact I don't see how they would know.

The 'old' regional supplier will set the times. By the way are you now back to a continuous 7 hours?

P.S.
Do you live in Scotland by any chance? They historically had loads of strange economy tariffs.

Nada666

Although annoying if not known about once you do know about it it is worth keeping and using. Cheap long showers last thing at night or in the morning, possibly a batch of baking in the morning, cooked breakfast cheaper than standard E7 set-ups.

An extra hour at night and in the morning at usable times is preferable to most E7 times.

Cardew

Nada666 wrote: »

Although annoying if not known about once you do know about it it is worth keeping and using. Cheap long showers last thing at night or in the morning, possibly a batch of baking in the morning, cooked breakfast cheaper than standard E7 set-ups.

An extra hour at night and in the morning at usable times is preferable to most E7 times.

However you have problems if you want to set your storage heaters and/or immersion heater for a full 7 hour charge overnight!

molerat

Quite normal in many regions, the sticker on my in-laws states the times, Scot Hydro area.

The storage heaters will only normally come on during the low rate period.

Archbishop

Pretty sure its mechanical, though quartz controlled I expect.

One has got to ask why, at 0130 till 0330 the night time cheap rate is made full price day rate for 2 hours...I can think of no logical reason other than to increase a consumers bill without them knowing...these meters must be set to spec laid down by the supplier EDF? That they first told me in writing there was continuous 7 hours cheap electric at night, they only changed their tune when faced with CCTV video evidence and over a year of robust complaining they then declared you are getting 7 hours cheaper electric-only its not continuous! Any suggestions for an "innocent" reason for this 2 hours at full price in the middle of the night would be much appreciated!:D

Cardew wrote: »

Welcome to the forum. Thanks for the warning.

Do you have a mechanical clock or teleswitch?

I am not sure why you think EDF are the 'crooks' in this situation. Exactly the same would have happened if BG or any other Utility company had been supplying you; in fact I don't see how they would know.

The 'old' regional supplier will set the times. By the way are you now back to a continuous 7 hours?

P.S.
Do you live in Scotland by any chance? They historically had loads of strange economy tariffs.

SwanJon

As above, the times on your meter are not set by your supplier, but by the local distribution company.
I'm sure there was a logical reason when the Electricity Board (as it was then) chose the times, but have no idea what it was - and each of the 14 boards made their own choice.
Some regions aren't even consistent in themselves.

It will not have been to increase customers bills, maybe something like balancing consumption, or trying to give customers some cheaper electricity at useful times?

It is this variation which can often confuse agents and customers alike if they haven't had much experience.

See if this helps

lstar337

To clarify for people who may be confused, Economy 7 gives you 7 hours of low rate electric, that is all.

If you check your contract you will find no reference to when these 7 hours will be, just that you get 7 hours. This is purposely done due to varying times which are a result of 1) The old electricity boards using whatever hours they wanted, and 2) Old time clock equipment being way out of sync.

None of the suppliers will ever be found in the wrong for this, because none of them will specify a time for when you will get those 7 hours.

Storage heaters 'should' be unaffected because they 'should' be on their own ring which switches with the time clock.

Storage heaters on 13A sockets with manual timers are improperly installed, and so don't count.

Archbishop

If in the beginning EDF had advised what these switching times were; then there would never have been a problem...I would have worked around this. Timers on the washing machine, immersion heater etc would have been adjusted accordingly.

But they did not advise of this, up until a few months before they settled they were still telling me low rate was continuous for 7 hours between 0030 and 0730.

The penny seemed to drop when the ombudsman became involved and I was then given compensation of £524.62p by EDF.

Still, thats enough of justifying myself, I came here to advise folk of what happened to me least it happens to them...and you will not know its happening unless you stay up all night with and eye on your meter or do as I did and leave a video camera on it to find exactly when the switching times are...but everyone seems fine with their providers so I wish you all the very best for the future.

2010

The only sure fire way to know when the econ7 hours are is to check your meter.
These hours were set by the original power companies.
My hours are 1am to 8am.
If I check the meter around 8am I can see and here the switch click over.

Buzby

I have come across this before - it is an install error in the timeclock and needs to be fixed. Most mechanical clocks have 4 'arms' that are set for 2 on and 2 off events. When used for E7, 2 are spurious BUT need to be located on the dial in the correct sequence to prevent the issue you are having.

A correct install would have the typical setup:
ON1 - 00:00
ON2 - 03:00
OFF1 - 08:30
OFF2 - 09:00

This ensures the unrequired activations take place where the are irrelevant. What you have is the ON2 & OFF2 activations reversed, causing a peak rate within the off peak segment.

This should have bee addressed by your supplier when the refund was authorised. Get on to them urgently.