Electricity tarifs when changing provider

Marksfish

I have won my ombudsman case against e-On for their rubbish service and part of the deal is to be able to move to a new provider with no penalties. My provider of choice was Scottish Power, but I have hit a brick wall.

The electricity meter we have has 4 different rates, but Scottish Power class it as a Economy 7 meter. With e-On, I am on a single tariff (they take both readings to make the bill with the same rate). Scottish Power have said that the Grid state my meter is a Economy 7 meter and I have to have a Economy 7 tariff. They also seem to think I will have difficulties finding a supplier that will do the same as e-On.

I don't really want Economy 7 as we have no electric intensive devices to benefit from the lower night rate, but increased day rate.

We have solar panels, so am considering maybe going down the E7 route as during the day we mostly have free electricity, so it may be a benefit to me to not use the expensive rate. Does that make sense?

Would appreciate any input please.

Thanks

Mark

lstar337

If you don't want E7, just do what should have been done a long time ago, and get the meter changed. Scottish Power should be able to arrange it, though there may be a fee.

If you want to try E7, sign up and see how it goes. Take regular reads, and if it isn't working for you then ask Scottish Power to switch you to a single rate meter.

dogshome

As you have found, some suppliers will charge Standard meter rates for an ECO7 meter by adding the day & Night readings together, others will not and insist the customer has a new meter - I'm afraid that it's a commercial decision that the suppliers are entirely free to make

Your present ECO7 meter is registered as such on the Elec meter Data Base
for your area, and your 'Add Together' arrangement with Eon is just a note they make on your account.
However if you Switch supplier or sell the house, any new supplier must refer back to the Data Base and open the account to the type of meter on it's Register.

So far as the mix of Solar panels/ Meter type is concerned, hopefully another respondant has the experience to advise

Marksfish

Hi Istar. We take monthly readings anyway and submit to e-On already to keep on top of our payments. Changing the meter has never been mentioned to me when I have queried in the past.

I have just spoken to Flow Energy and they have said a fixed tariff is not a problem with a dual meter, so, unlucky SP..

A couple more to check with, then the switch is on

lstar337

Marksfish wrote: »

Hi Istar. We take monthly readings anyway and submit to e-On already to keep on top of our payments. Changing the meter has never been mentioned to me when I have queried in the past.

I have just spoken to Flow Energy and they have said a fixed tariff is not a problem with a dual meter, so, unlucky SP..

A couple more to check with, then the switch is on

The fixed tariff with flow will still be a dual rate E7 tariff though, is that what you want?

I'm sure Scottish Power will also offer a fixed dual rate E7 tariff, they just won't do single rate with a dual rate meter.

Marksfish

Flow have said I can have a single rate.

Cardew

Correct! Scottish Power do not aggregate off peak and peak meter readings and treat as one total on a single rate tariff. E-on and British Gas do aggregate readings and I believe a couple of other companies do the same.


I am with Scottish Power on an E7 tariff but have Gas CH and it is marginally advantageous for me to have E7. It really depends on the pattern of use in the household.


Living in the Midlands we get off-peak rates to 07:30 in winter(GMT) and 08:30 in summer(BST) - my clock is 20 mins slow so I get an extra 20 mins in the morning; we have an electric shower in the en-suite that helps.


The break even point - i.e proportion of off-peak consumption - varies by company/area and tariff and can be as low as 20% and as high as 40%+. Mine is approx. 25%.


You can calculate the difference by using a comparison website and firstly getting a cost for non-E7 consumption(using kWh) and then the same consumption at various percentages of E7 consumption.


You might be surprised at the smallish difference in cost.


Using www.energyhelpline.co.uk for 16,500kWh gas 3,300kWh electricity for my area the cheapest with a non E7 tariff was £1,098 with First Utility(which apparently is a good firm to avoid) Scottish Power is £1,153


On E7 at 10% off-peak the cheapest was £1,145(Ovo) and at 20% £1,127. Scottish power were £1,159 i.e. £6 more than a non E7 tariff. At 25%(my consumption) Scottish Power are £1,148 -ie. £5 cheaper than a non-E7 tariff.

GingerBob_3

dogshome wrote: »

As you have found, some suppliers will charge Standard meter rates for an ECO7 meter by adding the day & Night readings together, others will not and insist the customer has a new meter - I'm afraid that it's a commercial decision that the suppliers are entirely free to make

Or put another way, it's a scam, which the supplier in question is able to inflict on you due to lax regulation in the industry. There is no technical reason whatsoever why two readings can't be aggregated. A new meter is not needed.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

GingerBob wrote: »

Or put another way, it's a scam, which the supplier in question is able to inflict on you due to lax regulation in the industry. There is no technical reason whatsoever why two readings can't be aggregated. A new meter is not needed.

Well, there is the technical reason that some suppliers have the most awful IT systems. But of course the consumer shouldn't have to pay for that!