changing from economy 7

steve_2012

hi, my son has moved into a new rented property today and ive took his meter readings.
it seems like the electric is on economy 7, i dont really understand why it would be as there is gas central heating in the property.
i am likely going to sign him up with eon v15 but will that be straight forward with the current meter being economy 7.
the current supplier we know for sure is southern electric.
there certainly seems to be 2 tariffs on the meter but only one total units, ive not used economy 7 for 20 years so not really sure how it now works, the meter definitely states midnight to 7am and 7am to midnight rates.
but as ive already said it seems odd to have economy 7 in this bungalow, there was just an elderly lady living alone, with a previous warm air system which would i understand cost a lot too run on economy 7.
any advice helpful.
thanks

[Deleted User]

The meter may well give that time 12 to 7 but the switchover times are controlled by a timerswitch either built into the meter , radioteleswitch or analogue 24 hour timerclock next to the meter. If its the latter, check the pointer at the bottom to see if its anywhere near the correct time. Most of them are askew and the cheap 7 hrs can be anywhere in the 24 hrs.
Sounds like you have a digital meter. This will have the low and norm and Total (T ) and maybe a display of 88888s. Look for the active rate ( to determine the day/night reads ) which is usually shown by a blinking curser under r1 /r2/T or a flashing reading or the meter may default to show the active rate as you view it. Some say "rate now " and some the only way to tell night from day is to see which register advances in the day.
with gas central heating in there is no need to have eco seven unless you are diligent in making good use of the half price electric by use of timers. The amount you need to use seems to be around the 30% of total to make eco7 pay. If you re not going to do that you need to get the supplier to bill you single rate tariff ( if they can ) or get the meter changed for a single rate meter which could be free but they may charge approx £60/70

steve_2012

thanks sacsquacco,
the meter reads as follows: the reading changes every 5 to 10 seconds ish.

12:02 which was the correct time
31 01 15 todays date
888888888
13912.45 kwh
76150.36 kwh
90062.82 kwh total

so i am assuming 13912.45 is the night rate, looking at the photos i took it looks like it states rate 1 to the below left but i will pop around and double check.
then it seems i can submit this too southern energy and tell them i want too change suppliers, then contact eon.

CashStrapped

The flat may have been converted from an e7 set-up. Some energy companies, rather than replace the meter, just ask you to add the night and day together. Some energy companies struggle with this concept however. So the previous occupents may have been on a normal tariff (not e7) and just added the two readings together.

[Deleted User]

steve_2012 wrote: »

thanks sacsquacco,
the meter reads as follows: the reading changes every 5 to 10 seconds ish.

12:02 which was the correct time
31 01 15 todays date
888888888
13912.45 kwh
76150.36 kwh
90062.82 kwh total

so i am assuming 13912.45 is the night rate, looking at the photos i took it looks like it states rate 1 to the below left but i will pop around and double check.
then it seems i can submit this too southern energy and tell them i want too change suppliers, then contact eon.

Yes prob the lower reading is night, there may be a tiny blinking curser under the reading to show the active rate. Really old meters can go" round the clock " past 100000 and start again so can never be 100% that the lower is night. With night storage users the night rate is almost always highest number
Cashstrapped is correct. Lots of eco 7 are being billed single rate rather than change meters

steve_2012

i will speak to southern monday and see what the tariff is.
eon have said they can combine rather than change the meter as cashstrapped has said.
thanks guys.