Economy 10 Help, Really want to change providers but feel trapped!

Rtype

I want to swap my electricity provider because I currently pay £96 a month for 2 people living in a flat, which I think is pretty expensive.

The problem is that I have apparently got economy 10, which is similar to economy 7. It switches the heaters on at roughly 2-4pm, 10pm-12am and 4am-7am, I say roughly because nobody at the electricity company can tell me the actual times (these are 'roughly' what I've noticed).

The bills are even more complicated with me having 4 different meters, 3 of them have the same unit price (which I can only assume is the economy tariff) and the other having a more expensive tariff. Again, the electricity provider can't tell me which meter is for what!!

This all put together makes it impossible for me to do any quotes to see how much cheaper I can get it.

If anybody can offer any advice, it would be 'greatly' appreciated as I just feel like I'm stuck in a corner!

Many thanks in advance.

vivatifosi

Rtype, I have economy 10. Currently paying more than you (£115), but to heat a three bed semi. Something isn't right. Have you got the settings right on your heaters? Are you using full price electricity somewhere?

There are not a lot of providers to switch to. Where I live, those that have switched have gone to E7.

Their saying they can't tell you what meter is for what is frankly bull****. If they don't know, how do they know what to bill you for? Ask to speak to someone higher up if they can't answer. ETA: I am with EOn and they know what my meters are for but I only have 3 inputs.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Rtype wrote: »

I want to swap my electricity provider because I currently pay £96 a month for 2 people living in a flat, which I think is pretty expensive.

The problem is that I have apparently got economy 10, which is similar to economy 7. It switches the heaters on at roughly 2-4pm, 10pm-12am and 4am-7am, I say roughly because nobody at the electricity company can tell me the actual times (these are 'roughly' what I've noticed).

The bills are even more complicated with me having 4 different meters, 3 of them have the same unit price (which I can only assume is the economy tariff) and the other having a more expensive tariff. Again, the electricity provider can't tell me which meter is for what!!

This all put together makes it impossible for me to do any quotes to see how much cheaper I can get it.

If anybody can offer any advice, it would be 'greatly' appreciated as I just feel like I'm stuck in a corner!

Many thanks in advance.

You are ........... trapped. E10 has so few suppliers there's no competition between them, even if you knew which counter was which it would not help you. You really have two options (1) stay put or (2) change to an E7 tariff. Read your meters between 0800 & 1200 the one that is moving [fridge washer oven etc] is your day rate tariff. You will of course lose the x3 hours daytime that E10 provides. Best of luck.

[Deleted User]

Also make sure that each register is getting read correctly, not transposed like they frequently do on eco 7.Do not rely on the supplier or especially meter readers to know if day is day and night is night. Determine yourself by watching the reads advancing for the day and night slot.Also do not rely on old 24 hr circular timer switches to change the rates at the published times.
I think only Npower can support E10, so maybe a switch to Eco 7 is the best answer. The suppliers will not know your individual meter set up so its a case of the occupier doing a bit of work to ensure day and night gets billed correctly.If the reads get transposed you will be paying the expensive day rates at the night rate tariff.

sgun

If you are with Npower try phoning their energy efficiency department (sorry don't have number to hand). They were the only ones that could tell me what each of my meters was doing, normal customer service are rubbish but they will give you the number to phone.

macman

Why 4 meters? E10 should involve 2 meters and 2 MPAN's.
Are you paying more than one standing charge?
Is this perhaps a property that has been converted into flats on the cheap and the wiring not properly redone to put each property on a separate supply? Have the neighbouring flats got their own metering?

Bark01

macman wrote: »

Why 4 meters? E10 should involve 2 meters and 2 MPAN's.
Are you paying more than one standing charge?
Is this perhaps a property that has been converted into flats on the cheap and the wiring not properly redone to put each property on a separate supply? Have the neighbouring flats got their own metering?

I’ve never heard of a 4 meter e10 set up but there are a number of E10 set ups that are not straight forward. E.on seem particular bad at making up new E10 variants.

OP,

You need to speak to your supplier and find out what tariff you are on; it’s likely to have a name other than E10 (like Heatwise). If you have an E10 variant then its gets worse for you as not only do you have to find another supplier who supports e10, you need to find one who also supports the variant of your e10.

EDF will support any meter type but may only let you bill on their Standard (variable) prices – all meters and registers will be billed the single rate version of their tariff. In some cases they’ll be able to totalise your meter and you’ll be able to sign up to one of their cheaper blue tariffs on the single rate price, but this isn’t open to all meter types.

misterbarlow

The hours in the OP add up to 7, not 10...
E10 is 'generally' 0000-0500, 1300-1600 & 2000-2200 (gmt)

You shouldn't have four meters for any tariff, that's just crazy!!!
Usually its one combined meter, or two meters, one for 24hr unrestricted and one for offpeak, sounds a very odd setup to me, and I install meters for a living, and have seen it all...

Are they communal, sounds like you could maybe be paying for someone elses meters too??

a photo (or several photos) would probably be the only way for myself or someone else to advise you...

SSE also support E10 btw...

Rtype

Thanks everyone for the advice, it's greatly appreciated.

It basically sounds like I'm !!!!!!ed!

In terms of my meter, I think I may have confused people. I have 1 digital meter with 4 rates, 3 rates being for the E10 periods and then the 4th being for the normal rate.

My home is a 2 bed, top floor flat with a large loft which is well insulated and boarded out. I have also installed double glazing this year so I am hoping this will make a big difference which I obviously won't be able to notice until I've been using the heaters for several months (to be able to compare with last year). It's not a converted house but a small block of 6 flats, 3 x 1 bed and 3 x 2 bed flats.

I have 1 large main heater and 2 smaller ones, I usually only turn the large one on only when needed and obviously only use the E10 power point for it (not the expensive turn on immediately switch).

I'm pretty conservative with turning them on and turn them off if my place is warm enough, and then close the booster.

The times that misterbarlow stated seem to be right.

My current provider is 'Spark Energy' who were unbelievably shocking when I first bought my place, they over charged me massively and they were SO useless that I had to threaten to take them to court before one of their managers sorted it out. They have become a lot better to be honest as I think they were on Watchdog last year so 'had' to sort themselves out.

I feel trapped though, It would just be nice to find a few companies that I can do some comparisons with to see if I'm being ripped off or not.

If I switch to E7, would it cost me anything or is it a simple case of the electricity company changing the times that my meter switches the heaters on??

Many thanks

SwanJon

Switching to E7 will probably need some level of re-wiring and a new meter. This will cost, but how much depends on how much work needs done.
Do you know an electrician?
If you are currently with Spark on E10, then there must be at least one other supplier that supports your setup - the one that put it in. This will be the 'host' supplier for your region. (The one that 20 years ago was the electricity board, what name is on the meter?) You could see what their tariffs are like.

Or, really make the E10 hours work for you.

Good luck.

Katie-Kat-Kins

Hope this helps, I have E10 used to be with Powergen now with npower. My meter has 5 rates, two are for all the general electrical sockets and appliances, peak rate and off peak rate. The next three are purely for the storage heaters, one for the 7 hours at night, one for the three hours in the afternoon and one for the peak rate boost.

I can't find many providers that support my meter but actually decided that switching to E7 wouldn't save me much as the rates aren't much lower and I would lose my afternoon heat rate and if I needed a boost would have to use higher rate power. The only way to compare is to phone up and ask for the rates no comparison tools will work unfortunately.

I really think that E10 needs to be looked at, electric heating is expensive to run and often installed in low cost housing but people are then locked into expensive tarriffs with no support to switch from comparison websites or similar.