British Gas refuse to swap meter

paulb76

Have been spending a fortune on energy because of being on economy 7 when its not needed.
British Gas have just told me they will not swap the meter.
How on earth do i compare and switch now?
Its pointless comparing E7 as i do not want it and i cannot compare normal rates as i cant switch to one whilst having an E7 meter!
This site claims that they should swap it for free.
Advice?

victor2

A lot of suppliers will let you use a single rate tariff even if you have an Economy 7 meter. They just add the two usage figures recorded together.Just ask BG if they will do that. If not switch to somebody who will. I know an E.On customer on a single rate tariff with an E7 meter.
On uSwitch you can say you have an E7 meter, but ask it to only show you the single rate tariffs. Just add your day and night annual usage figures together to get the total kWh used over a year.

Lady321986

They don't have to change the meter for free. They can charge for the job because your meter is currently working has it should and is fit for the purpose of the original install for the property.

You can however request to be put on single rate billing. That way you'll keep your meter, give you two readings as normal. However on billing the two readings will be added together and charged at one single unit rate price.

CashStrapped

Just to check.....

Why do you say you do not want/need an E7 tariff? What is your current heating set-up?

Depending on your set-up E7 can be the cheapest tariff available!

As others have said, you do not need a new meter to be on E7. Many companies jsut add the two together to make one reading.

macman

If you have really 'spent a fortune' on E7, then would not investing about £60 to pay for your own meter change be a sensible solution?
No supplier has to swap a meter FOC, though some will do in return for your business.

[Deleted User]

I know for a fact that BG will just total the two reads and bill you single rate , but thats no good as BG rates are too high anyway. You will have to bite the bullet and pay out for the wiring changes to enable a normal single rate meter to be installed. A meter fitter can only change a like for like meter when he changes it, eco 7 for eco 7. Hes not qualified to fit the standard meter, from an eco 7 meter. I take it you have gas central heating in now ( if you have`nt , stick with eco 7 ) and the storage heaters have long gone. you would have to achieve about 30% of the total units used on the night rate to break even. If your timerswitch was nt set at the correct time then you could beat that. The old 24 hr circular timers are all over the place and the cheap 7 hrs could be anywhere in the 24 hrs

MeterMan

ring them up, claim one of the dials is sticking, They will quickly send someone out to change it.

dogshome

EDF will charge 'Standard' meter tariffs by adding the Day & Night readings together, they also say that they will swap the meter for free.

If you go down this route, use the web-chat facility and print the conversations out as confirmation of their agreement.

My daughter with ECO7 has just swapped from BG to EDF on the say so that they would charge 'Totalised rates from day one, and change the meter over time
1st Bill was charged at Day & Night rates, but a quick letter of complaint enclosing a print out of the web-chat, resulted in a re-issued bill and £25 compensation.

It remains to be seen if they follow through and swap the meter

Rubidium

sacsquacco wrote: »

I know for a fact that BG will just total the two reads and bill you single rate , but thats no good as BG rates are too high anyway. You will have to bite the bullet and pay out for the wiring changes to enable a normal single rate meter to be installed. A meter fitter can only change a like for like meter when he changes it, eco 7 for eco 7. Hes not qualified to fit the standard meter, from an eco 7 meter. I take it you have gas central heating in now ( if you have`nt , stick with eco 7 ) and the storage heaters have long gone. you would have to achieve about 30% of the total units used on the night rate to break even. If your timerswitch was nt set at the correct time then you could beat that. The old 24 hr circular timers are all over the place and the cheap 7 hrs could be anywhere in the 24 hrs

Sorry to correct you but this is simply fiction and not based on fact.

If a meter is replaced due to reaching the end of it's certified life, then yes like for like is what they do but it has nothing to do with not being qualified, they do what their job sheet tells them to do.

My E7 meter was changed for a standard single rate meter on my request at no cost. Millions of homes were fitted with E7 meters, even those with gas central heating installed when built. Whole house E7 has been common for decades and in most cases no rewiring is necessary to change to single rate metering.

[Deleted User]

Espresso, can you be bothered to let the OP know which supplier changed e7 to standard at no cost as he has requested .The fact is, that BG will total the two and bill single.

Rubidium

sacsquacco wrote: »

Espresso, can you be bothered to let the OP know which supplier changed e7 to standard at no cost as he has requested .The fact is, that BG will total the two and bill single.

You think that I am another user, you are wrong, I am not and have never posted using any other ID on here. The forum admin can see the full facts and can easily discount your silly theory instantly.

Ignore my posts if you want but I was correcting your inaccurate post regarding "meter fitters being unqualified to swap a meter from E7 to single rate" and "You will have to bite the bullet and pay out for the wiring changes to enable a normal single rate meter to be installed"

My meter was changed to single rate many years ago and has been changed again since then and I would assume that the various suppliers will have changed their policy on this with the fairly recent introduction of many smaller companies.

The OP needs to leave BG due to their excessive prices and can research who will change meters at no cost now themselves.

Yes BG will add the readings together as will a few other suppliers e.g. eON but the fact is that most of your post was factually incorrect and misleading to anyone gullible enough to believe it..