Economy 7 problems / removal. BESutilities business.

Sully88

Any help welcome!
Started a small cafe business in a small cottage type building, very small, very manageable so I thought. Signed up for the best electric provider I could find at the time BES utilities. Thought the set up already here couldn't be bad, economy 7 metre night & day rates, did not put much thought into it at the time but figured with fridges etc needing to be kept on 24hrs it must be ok. I know iv been wrong here as I don't have storage heaters or any major power used in night. Anyway already signed contract. 3 years ouch.

Going on 2.5 years it's become evident I've ended up in a very expensive situation with electricity costing around 3x the cost of gas which is the primary fuel used for cookers heating etc. For daytime prime user like me it's a bad tariff to be on.
THE POINT: Have noticed there is nothing clocking up on the night rate. At all. 0 change. The metre has been fixed on 1 number for 2 years now! At 1st I was thinking this has to be good if there is no cost! But the day rates coming in expensive at 15p per kWh as all my prime daytime usage. I'm now wondering if im actually getting charged for the nightrate in the daytime rate, is that possible? BES doesn't seem to care or notice that nightrate has not moved as I guess they are getting a great deal out of the higher day rate that I don't need to be on? !
I must admit I've never taken on household bills b4 this business and I'm clearly not very educated in funding the right deal but I'm learning sharp! Somethings up and I have obviously been naive. It's a lot to get head round at times.
I've spoke to BES and they can't give me any answer to why the night metre is not clocking up but they were going along with the tune that im probably lucky not to have to pay for it. Hmm? They said they won't be able to downgrade it aswell as this is the set up fitted.
All very strange. And definitely expensive. My gas cost here is around £70 per month and electricity at £250 per month. Even though it's gas fired heating, cooker etc. My coffee machine definitely kicks out power but is the only real source of electricity use.
Any advice welcome.
Faulty metre? Faulty set up?
How can I challenge my energy company? I thought they would be noticing these issues and giving advice on how to fix it.

billycasper_2

It does seem unusual that the night rate hasnt moved at all in nearly 3 years. Is it an old meter? does it have a timeswitch or radio teleswitch next to the meter? A picture may help
Once you can establish that the night rate doesnt work then you can challenge the company via any complaints procedures they have. This gives you the option of going to the energy regulator if you are not happy with outcome of the complaint.
It may be that the night rate isnt working and that any usage during the night is ticking over on the normal(day) dial on the meter. If this is the case then you should be able claim back some of the cost given the day rate is more expensive

footyguy

Sully88 wrote: »

Any help welcome!
Started a small cafe business in a small cottage type building, very small, very manageable so I thought. Signed up for the best electric provider I could find at the time BES utilities. Thought the set up already here couldn't be bad, economy 7 metre night & day rates, did not put much thought into it at the time but figured with fridges etc needing to be kept on 24hrs it must be ok. I know iv been wrong here as I don't have storage heaters or any major power used in night. Anyway already signed contract. 3 years ouch.

Going on 2.5 years it's become evident I've ended up in a very expensive situation with electricity costing around 3x the cost of gas which is the primary fuel used for cookers heating etc. For daytime prime user like me it's a bad tariff to be on.
THE POINT: Have noticed there is nothing clocking up on the night rate. At all. 0 change. The metre has been fixed on 1 number for 2 years now! At 1st I was thinking this has to be good if there is no cost! But the day rates coming in expensive at 15p per kWh as all my prime daytime usage. I'm now wondering if im actually getting charged for the nightrate in the daytime rate, is that possible? BES doesn't seem to care or notice that nightrate has not moved as I guess they are getting a great deal out of the higher day rate that I don't need to be on? !
I must admit I've never taken on household bills b4 this business and I'm clearly not very educated in funding the right deal but I'm learning sharp! Somethings up and I have obviously been naive. It's a lot to get head round at times.
I've spoke to BES and they can't give me any answer to why the night metre is not clocking up but they were going along with the tune that im probably lucky not to have to pay for it. Hmm? They said they won't be able to downgrade it aswell as this is the set up fitted.
All very strange. And definitely expensive. My gas cost here is around £70 per month and electricity at £250 per month. Even though it's gas fired heating, cooker etc. My coffee machine definitely kicks out power but is the only real source of electricity use.
Any advice welcome.
Faulty metre? Faulty set up?
How can I challenge my energy company? I thought they would be noticing these issues and giving advice on how to fix it.

If I understand you correctly, you chose an E7 tariff but have noticed that your low(night) rate register on your meter never moves.

Well presumably you keep your fridge on 24/7, so that should use at least some electricity during the low rate period.

Therefore I suggest you contact your supplier and report that you suspect your meter to be faulty (because it does not switch registers).
The supplier should arrange for the meter to be tested, and if proven faulty should arrange for a replacement to be fitted.

The supplier will then estimate your usage covering the period the meter was faulty and re-bill you accordingly.
(However, as you have left matters so long, I don't know if they will go back and cover the whole period the meter was faulty. As in all claims, you are expected to mitigate your losses)

macman

Post your actual kWh usage over a year and some sensible advice can be given. £250 a month in a property with gas CH and DHW is insanely high-and it's not down to a coffee maker.
Based on what you have said, E7 is hopelessly wrong for your property and lifestyle, regardless of the meter fault, as you are paying about 300% more than single rate for all your peak rate usage-which at present is 100% of your total. E7 normally only makes sense if you use at least 33% on the cheap night rate.

[Deleted User]

Its easy to see if you are getting charged for your night rate at day rate price. Just see if the day rate advances at all in the 7 hours low. night rate is usually between 12 .30 am and 7.30 am but this time varies for different regions. also check the timerswitch which controls the switchover times to see if its any where near the correct times.
The last occupier may have asked for single rate billing . There is a cheap quick fix which they can do to disconnect the low rate instead of replacing the meter.

macman

But surely any arrangement to merge two E7 meter readings and bill on a single rate (if allowed by the supplier) does not automatically carry over to a new customer on that account? My understanding is that the type of meter is determined by the serial number or MPAN, and so if the meter is an E7 one, you will be billed on E7 by default, unless you request otherwise (and if the supplier allows it).
You wouldn't be put on a single rate tariff just because a previous occupier was on single rate with an E7 meter?

[Deleted User]

macman wrote: »

But surely any arrangement to merge two E7 meter readings and bill on a single rate (if allowed by the supplier) does not automatically carry over to a new customer on that account? My understanding is that the type of meter is determined by the serial number or MPAN, and so if the meter is an E7 one, you will be billed on E7 by default, unless you request otherwise (and if the supplier allows it).
You wouldn't be put on a single rate tariff just because a previous occupier was on single rate with an E7 meter?

If the meter timerswitch was rewired, as they can be, then it can t go back to E7 without a visit from an engineer.Someone has been adjusting the meter or its faulty if the night rate is nt in use. It can be a fiddle if that meter timer switch has been adjusted by an occupier. Depends if day rate is only active for 17 hrs. The OP was quite happy to sit back with what he thought was free night use until the thought of an expensive 24 hr day rate throughout appeared.

Sully88

Thanks for the replies. I'm not sure if it's a radio switch or Teleswitch but will attempt to include a picture of the set up.
I'm comforted to know that 250 is indeed a high amount. I'm going to work out my kWh per year numbers and update here.
I don't usually have any reason to be at the business premises in the night but will make the moonlight raid on the metre to see if the dayrate numbers are moving instead ( thanks for that simple troubleshoot plan!).
I've had too much faith in my energy provider to believe they would update me if there was issue, as it stands they Havnt so I went on with it but suspicion has caught the better of me now and I think they've made a mess of my account due to this oversight. It's crippling me each month in payment. I first raised the issue with them last October about this metre not moving, i sure hope I can backlog overpaid amounts when they confirm its faulty.

Sully88

MSE forum rules not permitting me to add image link as I am a new user.
Any other method possible?

Rubidium

Sully88 wrote: »

MSE forum rules not permitting me to add image link as I am a new user.
Any other method possible?

Yes simply post the url link with the first part that makes it a valid link missing and somebody else will post the pics for you.

Sully88

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