Economy 7 timer stopped will I have large repair bill

Be_Happy

Just a quick question. Today I discovered that the time clock which switches between day rate and night rate has stopped (unfortunately on day rate). I take regular readings, so know this happened about 2 weeks ago, around the time I had a new, more modern, fuse box fitted.

Electrician who fitted fuse box says new box had nothing to do with this and I should contact Scottish Power who own the time clock and meter.

Luckily this is summer and I'm only using around 8 units a night, for immersion heater, dishwasher, washing machine, etc, so difference between cost of day and night rate units is not too bad.

Query is, though, when I phone Scottish Power tomorrow morning and they send round someone to repair this, will I be faced with large bill for callout labour?

Cardew

No the meter is not your responsibility.

On the face of it your electrician is correct as the fuse box is on 'your' side of the meter.

Cagey

If it happened just after the electrician changed the fuse box it may have been caused by him. Did he move the meter or did he just fit 2 new meter tails. Did he fit a new fuseboard for the heating or do you not have heating.

Be_Happy

Thanks for the info. After several phone calls being redirected, I've now contacted Npower, my supplier rather than Scottish Power, who I thought were responsible for the meter. Npower were helpful and have booked a repair visit, although this won't be for 2 weeks yet. However as regards rate being charged, they will apportion the charge between day and night rate if the repairer confirms the fault.

As regards the new fuse box. The electrician fitted a complete new fuse box, but didn't move the meter. When he was explaining all the switches in the new box, I asked about the storage heaters, but he said his new fuse box had nothing to do with them.

I've realised this morning that the storage heaters switch on at the same time as the night rate starts, so they must be connected to this time switch and probably aren't working - I can check this out tonight, two of the heater sockets have lights which go when they are operating. At the moment all the heater sockets are switched off for summer.

Cagey

There is a small wire that goes from the meter to the time switch. my concern was that if he had moved the meter he may have left it out by mistake or if he had done away with the heating board he may have thought the switch wire was not required.

Be_Happy

Thanks. I'm sure this must have something to do with the work he did, although he denies this. I take regular meter readings and can judge that the night rate stopped working around two weeks ago when he was here. I'll not know until repairer comes out on 31 July.

Hope it's not the electrician's fault as I've had good word done by him in the past and had planned to use him for any future work, so don't want to get involved in any dispute.

Switched on storage heater last night to see if pilot light on socket lit up. It didn't, so storage heaters must be out of operation as well.

I was confused by fact that time clock at meter had stopped at 10 pm, when electrician was here in morning, but perhaps clock has battery back up which kept it going for several hours. If so, I'll have to make sure any battery is replaced when repair work is done.

Thanks again for info.

Terrylw1

Hi,

He shouldn't have touched the wire between the 2 since that would be a tampering issue. Sometimes these things just happen but it's definately worth monitoring if the meter engineer who changes it doesn't find a fault on the timewitch. There's a good chance the electrician has wired the fuse box up wrong. The meter engineer will spot this if you ask a few questions.

Dids he fit 2 sets of tails? Sometimes they think they can attach 1 (I've seen that before, thinking their own timeclock will do) be aware that this is dangerous issue if so.

Up to Npower to apportion your day/night units by working out your actual spend prior to the fault.

Very good that you take readings, most people don't and get landed with tricky bills when these things happen.

Be_Happy

Just a quick update. Guy came and replaced time clock. Said he couldn't see any obvious fault, but these clocks did break down every so often.

Npower said that power used would be apportioned between day and night rate while clock was out of action. Haven't had a bill yet, so don't know if this will happen, but luckily it's summer, so we haven't been using storage heaters which could really have upped the consumption.

Terrylw1

Be happy - thats good news, the wiring issue would have been worse!

You will get an amended bill, but you'll be in a queue with all the others because timeswitches get investigation, worked out for billing, then passed somewhere else to get you the bill out. Then it will probably have a final check before posting.

Keep paying something to avoid a big bill later as you may be waiting a few months for the amended one...

You'll probably end up in credit anyway which is good news for once!!!