New Economy 7 meter, but different hours. Can I get the old hours back?

geeooff

Hi

Siemens have replace my old economy 7 meter, on behalf of First Utility.

The old meter was set at 11:30-1:30 & 3:30-8:30. That was great, as in summer it came on at 10:30

The engineer said the old meter timings would remain on his new meter. If not immediately, they would be set remotely on a day or two. But the new meter continues to run from midnight to 7am.

Is there any chance of me getting my old timings back. I believe my new meter's settings can be set remotely.

Without storage heaters, the new timing means economy 7 is now uneconomical & I'll need to take the day off work again to replace my new Economy 7 meter for a normal one.

I've spoken to First Utility who say they've no control of times.

Could I add a 2nd query.....Who is it that actually has control & sets the hours of my economy 7 meter now?

Thanks

Cardew

The timings are set by the DNO according to the area in which you live.


Distribution Network Operator Companies | National Grid


The timing are here:


https://customerservices.npower.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/179/~/what-are-the-economy-7-peak-and-off-peak-periods%3F


I believe the only area with split timings is the South East.


I thought all switching on new meters was done remotely??

[Deleted User]

meters have a built in timer.

[Deleted User]

All modern digital eco 7 meters, like the Ampy meters have a built in timer clock. In my area they all come set to 12.30 pm to 7.30 pm. I would expect that if the OP is in the S.East area and its split timing, then that is what you should be getting. the other timers are the Radio Teleswitch and old circular 24 hr timers . The digital eco 7 meters will drift out of time. Eco 7 smart meters are being fitted now and they will be spot on, they too will be programmed to operate at the local DNO timings and will have a clock built in. I have nt seen any yet in my area but they are being fitted countrywide.
I rejected the offer of smart meter fitting..too much driving.

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

Richie-from-the-Boro

Mine [AMPY] does not come on till 0230 in the winter, I don't care, 7 hours is 7 hours is 7 hours.

geeooff

Thanks guys for your help. That was very useful. I've never heard of DNOs

I am in the south east, so I can see from that map that I should be getting, 11:30-01:30 & -3:30-08:30 in the winter. It looks like I've got a London meter offering 24:00-8:00.

I spoke to UK Power Networks who said 'not me guv' but contacted First Utility on my behalf. And this time First Direct can't say 'not me guv', so they're looking into it and will get back to me.

(Though they fitted a new meter in Dec, they say they've not yet bought any economy 7 smart meters, so my one is still dumb & they can't control it remotely. So I'll loose another 5h pay when they replace it & another 5h pay when they have to make it smart it in a few years)

geeooff

In passing. we can't think of the reason why the SE has this odd 2 hours of expensive electricity between 1:30am-3:30am. We have nuclear in the SE, so I'd have thought an even demand throughout the night would suit its output best. Any ideas why?

geeooff

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

Mine [AMPY] does not come on till 0230 in the winter, I don't care, 7 hours is 7 hours is 7 hours.

My household is active to past 1am & from 6:30am. So the SE economy 7 times means we get 3 hours of cheap energy when we need & use it most.

Seems Economy 7 is something of a bargain in the SE (but I wonder many run their storage heaters throughout the night & so get hit by those odd 2 hours of peak charges without knowing about it,

Cardew

geeooff wrote: »

My household is active to past 1am & from 6:30am. So the SE economy 7 times means we get 3 hours of cheap energy when we need & use it most.

Seems Economy 7 is something of a bargain* in the SE (but I wonder many run their storage heaters throughout the night & so get hit by those odd 2 hours of peak charges without knowing about it,

Indeed we have had posts on that very subject - iirc from someone who moved to the South East from another area.

*Yet another bargain for the affluent South East;)

Richie-from-the-Boro

geeooff wrote: »

My household is active to past 1am & from 6:30am. So the SE economy 7 times means we get 3 hours of cheap energy when we need & use it most.

Seems Economy 7 is something of a bargain in the SE (but I wonder many run their storage heaters throughout the night & so get hit by those odd 2 hours of peak charges without knowing about it,

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ! - you have been getting the luxury of E7 pricing for years, others pay a lot more for E10. Put conversely someone else is paying for those 720 hours a year each of you were getting free.

molerat

Scotland also has split low hours. They also have different times between properties. My MIL & SIL lived next door to each other and their times were an hour apart on a radio time switch.