Electrician to check wiring

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

matelodave wrote: »

It's you who doesn't understand - the meter fitter will just fit a meter to the tails - he doesn't really care what's hanging off them provided that they are safe. If the OP is isolating the off-peak circuits then he could end up inadvertantly isolating his heating & hot water.

It's not unreasonable for Eon to advise the consumer to make sure that his circuits are OK before getting a meter change. Not everyone knows how it's all put together

That's right matelodave. Our technicians will only go up to the meter tails. This is the case with all meter exchanges not only those involving an Economy 10 or similar set up. Any work beyond that is the responsibility of the customer. This is why we make the recommendation we do. As above, circumstances vary so much and it's better to be safe than sorry.

Malc

Rubidium

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Our technicians will only go up to the meter tails.
Malc

That is all that they have to do and you are proving that you simply do not understand this subject and that is painfully obvious from your previous posts.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Carrot007 wrote: »

It can even occur with E7 but is rarer. Some meters activly switch the heating on when the off peak period occurs. Puting in an standard meter can result in the heating either not working at all or turning on all the time. Fixing this would be down to the customer because this is their responsibility.




The meter fitter will only check for safty not that things work as that is not his concern. The next the supplier know is when they get an angry call asking why the heating does not work as expected.

Spot on Carrot007. As above, I've come across these complaints many times over the years including this morning.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Rubidium wrote: »

The OP was told that they needed to get an electrician to check their wiring even after stating that the NSH had been removed.

It seems that different eon employees inform their customers differently.

Rubidium wrote: »

It is simply not necessary to put the onus onto your customers to employ an electrician to check.

You could suggest sending in a photo of the meter/consumer unit wiring rather than frightening off customers who desperately want to save money but can't afford to employ an electrician just to check. You already know if they have one multirate meter or two meters and their location from your records. The situation is no different to changing from E7 to a single rate tariff.

Rubidium wrote: »

Of course there is and you are like most other posters showing your lack of metering knowledge and giving incorrect advice on behalf of your company.

If an electrician can see simply by looking, why can't eon allow their meter change contractor to take the necessary steps to replace the E10 meter with a standard meter, it really is not rocket science!

I understand that call centre workers and people like yourself who post on forums simply do not understand metering but you could redirect customers to somebody in your company who does understand , rather than making glib scaremongering comments like "better to be safe than sorry" and "you need to get an electrician to check your wiring".

This thread is about the removal of an E10 meter, the meter is either supplying everything at rate 2 or heating circuits only are at rate 2 depending on the meter currently fitted.

If everything is supplied rate rate 2, the meter will have four cables and swapping to a single rate meter takes minutes, as a single rate meter is identical wiring.

If the existing meter has an internal contactor to supply only heating circuits at rate 2, it will have five cable connections and the two live load cables, heating circuit rate 2 and the all other circuits rate 1, are simply commoned together when the new meter is fitted.

You state that there is a charge for removing certain E10 meters and this charge on top of paying for an unnecessary electricians visit, is holding customers to ransom when they simply want to save money by switching to a more competitive tariff. Do you tell these customers that you will charge £64.76 for their meter change? How often have your E10 tariffs last dropped in price like all other tariffs have done recently.

Morning Rubidium.

We're going to have to agree to disagree I'm afraid. The recommendation we make is part of our duty of care to customers. This isn't something we've only recently started doing. It's been consistent advice over a number of years and comes from our metering experts. It's not our individual opinions. Rather, it's a recommendation based on the advice of experienced technicians working on these meters out in the field.

On the charge we make for non-essential meter exchanges, yes, customers are told about this before an appointment goes ahead.

Prices for all our complex meter tariffs haven't changed for over 2 years. This is also the case with our standard electricity tariff. Only our standard gas prices have gone down during this time.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

manchestermargo wrote: »

Thanks so much everyone for all your posts.


I think I have a better idea now how things work. My heating is electric radiators heated by water. I can programme my rads to come on whenever I like, there is no need to wait for offpeak times. Similarly the immersion heaters can be programmed whenever I want it to come on. Obviously at the moment I use it when the cheap rate tariff applies. However most of my heating needs occur when the highest rate tariff is operational. So I think I will be OK just having the meter changed to the basic rate tariff. Hope this makes sense and again many thanks for taking the time to explain things to me. MM

Morning MM. Just a quick heads up. Once the meter has been changed, you don't have to stay on our basic rate tariff. You'll be able to choose between various tariffs both with us and with the other suppliers. Pop your usage in kWh on to the independent comparison sites and choose the best deal for you.

Malc

lstar337

Rubidium wrote: »

That is all that they have to do and you are proving that you simply do not understand this subject and that is painfully obvious from your previous posts.

I think it is you that doesn't understand.

The supplier is responsible for up to the meter tails, the rest belongs to the home owner. You cannot expect the suppliers engineer to work on equipment that doesn't belong to them for free!

When you buy fuel at a filling station, the station is responsible for everything up to the pump nozzle. You would expect their engineer to also make repairs/modifications to your car, would you?

I am failing to see your argument here, and I doubt I am the only one!

Rubidium

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Morning Rubidium.

We're going to have to agree to disagree I'm afraid. The recommendation we make is part of our duty of care to customers. This isn't something we've only recently started doing. It's been consistent advice over a number of years and comes from our metering experts. It's not our individual opinions. Rather, it's a recommendation based on the advice of experienced technicians working on these meters out in the field.

On the charge we make for non-essential meter exchanges, yes, customers are told about this before an appointment goes ahead.

Prices for all our complex meter tariffs haven't changed for over 2 years. This is also the case with our standard electricity tariff. Only our standard gas prices have gone down during this time.

Malc

I realise that this is not your personal opinion and as this is something that you do not personally understand, you follow the company script on this but that does not mean that it is correct to instruct customers that it is necessary to employ an electrician to check their wiring when their wiring will not normally need to be changed.

If there are five cables connected to the existing E10 meter e.g. two separate loads, rate 1 load and rate 2 load, no "experienced technicians working on these meters out in the field" are going to leave one of the cables unconnected and hanging in free space are they! You have agreed "the meter fitter will just fit a meter to the tails - he doesn't really care what's hanging off them provided that they are safe".

There are many customers on this dinosaur E10 tariff who find that they cannot afford to heat their homes due to the extortionate costs which you admit have not changed for over two years and the fact that this tariff is not suitable for wet central heating using an electric boiler. These customers could pay less than the cheaper E10 rate for all kWh units used and actually be able to use the heating when they require heating and not just during the restricted hour periods.

Informing customers who are desperate to save money by switching off this unsuitable tariff that they need to pay for an electrician is simply not an option for many who are struggling on this expensive and uncompetitive tariff.

No supplier charges their customers to change from an E7 meter to a standard single rate meter, so why are eon holding customers to ransom by charging £64.76 to remove an unsuitable E10 meter on top of your insistence that an electrician is required to check the wiring beforehand?

The OP was told that they needed to get an electrician to check their wiring, now you are saying that this is a recommendation but this clearly puts off many customers from pursuing a tariff change away from the very expensive E10 tariff which has proved to be unsuitable for many and difficult to switch away from.

This tariff may still suit some customers but the charge imposed by eon for non essential meter changes i.e. when the E10 tariff is unsuitable or uneconomic tells us all we need to know about eon's "duty of care to customers", so yes we definitely disagree on this!

manchestermargo

I must say I find it slightly bizarre that E.on do not know if the wiring will be OK to change meters, but there you go!


I was only advised by E.on to ask an electrician to have a look at the wiring.


Thanks everyone for all your very useful comments.


MM

Richie-from-the-Boro

manchestermargo wrote: »

I must say I find it slightly bizarre that E.on do not know if the wiring will be OK to change meters, but there you go!


I was only advised by E.on to ask an electrician to have a look at the wiring.


Thanks everyone for all your very useful comments.


MM

Margo,

Its not bizarre, no one knows if you use electric heating, gas heating, a wood stove or tea candle heating. No one else knows what's in your house but you, how can they ! They supply a meter and tails [thick electricity cables] - what you do with those tails is not their concern but yours of course. Best of luck.

Rubidium

Let me quote Cardew's post, one of the few posters on this thread who actually understands and is able to answer what the OP asked:

Cardew wrote: »

The probability is that on a one-rate 24/7 meter, your immersion heater will still work. If it doesn't, it will be a very simple job to re-connect. So you don't need to pay for a check beforehand .

All posts from others lacking the necessary technical knowledge are simply muddying the waters unnecessarily with irrelevancies.

The supplier does not need to know or care "if you use electric heating, gas heating, a wood stove or tea candle heating".

Malc the eon rep has already agreed that "the meter fitter will just fit a meter to the tails - he doesn't really care what's hanging off them provided that they are safe", so if Richie had actually read the thread, he would know that the supplier simply does not care!

All that the supplier needs to do is charge for the electricity used by the customer by fitting a suitable meter for the requested tariff. Customers frequently switch from mulitrate E7 to single rate with no problems and E10 simply gives three more cheaper rate hours on a very uncompetitive tariff..

Customers who have got themselves into debt on E10 simply want to change to a more suitable, competitive tariff ASAP and no costly electricians check is required unless the customer has a second meter.

If a second meter does exist, then any circuits connected to it need to be disconnected before the supplier can remove it in preparation for a single rate meter. The supplier obviously already knows if the customer has two MPANS from their records.

I'm out.