Dual Tariff Meter Wrong Time

dickieg

Watching Alan Titmarsh this afternoon there was an article about meter clocks being the wrong time could cost you money, so anyhow here is my scenario. Im with Scottish Power and am on the dual electric tariff, checked the clock and its 10 mins fast. I don't know what times the different tariffs start but for eg if its 2300hrs till 0600hrs for the night tariff that means if I put the washer on at 2300hrs on my clock it would be 2310hrs on the meter, meaning I lose 10 mins cheap rate that night, at the same time if I put the washer on in the morning and it finishes at 0600hrs on my clock that means it will be 0610hrs on their meter meaning I have been charged at an extra 10 mins at the higher rate tariff. Obviousley I now know the meters wrong I wont do either, but ive had this tariff for the last 12 months so in theory I have either lost 365 days at 10mins which equals 3650 mins or I could of been overcharged at the higher tariff by the same amount. As anyone got any thoughts on this ie is it worth me putting in a claim if so how or should I just let it ride. Thanx in advance

victor2

You still got 7 hours cheaper rate, just not over the times you thought. You could have gained if you had put something like a heater on an 10:50pm, believing you would have 10 minutes at the higher rate when in reality, it would have been at the lower rate.
Your overcharging theory would only stand true if you had been running an appliance every night which finished at 6am real time, or 10 minutes into the more expensive rate meter time.

From Scottish Power's website:

The actual times of the off-peak period vary, but you'll always receive at least 7 hours in each period of 24 hours at the cheaper rate. Suppliers don't hold any information on the exact times of your meter, so the best way to establish the off-peak period is to look at your meter around the times shown below. Please note that the times on the meter are always set to GMT and don't change when the clocks go forward or back.

So I doubt if you'd have any chance at all in gaining by complaining to them.

espresso

Most suppliers would not be interested if your timeswitch was 10 hours out, so they will simply laugh at you if you report it being 10 minutes out! They don't change them for BST/GMT.

Give Alan Titchmarch a miss tomorrow.

cattie

When you have a meter charging at day/night rate, it is always more prudent to time things like washing machines etc. to come on a good while after the cheap rate kicks in.

I usually set my washing machine to come on 1 hr after the cheap rate kicks in, that way, if there is any delay in timings or something happens to affect the timing of the clock, I hope to still be qualifying for the cheaper rate.

Personally I couldn't be doing with all the fuss of trying to claim anything back as I'd take the attitude that any electricity I was using in the early mornings, 10 mins extra of it would have been at the cheaper rate due to their clock being 10 mins out in it's timings anyway.

Bark01

ToU meters tend to have a randomisation element built into them, but it will be consistent from meter to meter. I.e. yours will always be 10 minutes fast but your neighbours may always be 2 minutes slow. The suppliers have no control of this randomisation and you will each get the same number of allocated hours so it won’t make a material difference.

I’ve been lead to believe this is some sort of legacy safeguard to even out the flow of energy during the period where the off-peak rate comes in and heating systems turn on.

Cardew

My clock is 20 mins slow - so I get an extra 20 mins cheap rate in the morning - when it is of more use to me than losing 20 mins in the middle of the night.


Several people have reported on MSE that their clock is several hours slow, so they get their cheap rate during the day.

matelodave

The way I look at it is that you should be taking advantage of the time slip rather than whinging about it and expecting compensation.
The only way you can control your costs is to know what you use, when you use it and how you are being billed and that means checking your meters & bills carefully and regularly. If you don't, then you've got no one else to blame but yourself if it's wrong.

lstar337

Cardew wrote: »

My clock is 20 mins slow - so I get an extra 20 mins cheap rate in the morning - when it is of more use to me than losing 20 mins in the middle of the night.


Several people have reported on MSE that their clock is several hours slow, so they get their cheap rate during the day.

Our work clock is almost completely transposed, so we get all of our cheap rate during business hours.

Which is good for us because E7 just wouldn't pay for us as the building is now. It used to have Night Store, but now has ASHP's.

dickieg

Its not me whinging but I am trying to help other people who have been over paying, Which, themselves have done a report on it and also there is this http://www.itv.com/news/update/2014-02-20/which-says-electricity-meter-clocks-showing-wrong-time/
Hope this helps someone