Half-hourly metering - which tariffs?

emv

Our home-based business has half-hourly metering because we inherited a max demand meter from the previous owner (the meter used to supply an entire village). We were moved to a smart meter & half-hourly metering about a year ago but on what is effectively an Economy 7 tariff so 11p from 07.00 - 24.00 and 6p from 24.00 - 07.00.

We had a letter from the distribution company telling us that we should be charged according to three time bands - Red, Amber & Green & they have sent through last month's data to show that this is how they are charging our supplier.

Moving to this kind of tariff would be great for us as we'd have off-peak periods at much more sociable times of day (and at weekends) & could minimise use during the Red period when it's super expensive. But our supplier doesn't seem to offer a three band tariff. Am I just stuck with whatever they offer, even though half-hourly metering is supposed to encourage businesses to avoid periods of peak demand?

Swapping to a non haf-hourly meter isn't an option at the moment, the cost of this is almost £2k and I'm not convinced that the savings would be significant.

Any help appreciated.

Em

footyguy

emv wrote: »

Our home-based business has half-hourly metering because we inherited a max demand meter from the previous owner (the meter used to supply an entire village). We were moved to a smart meter & half-hourly metering about a year ago but on what is effectively an Economy 7 tariff so 11p from 07.00 - 24.00 and 6p from 24.00 - 07.00.

We had a letter from the distribution company telling us that we should be charged according to three time bands - Red, Amber & Green & they have sent through last month's data to show that this is how they are charging our supplier.

Moving to this kind of tariff would be great for us as we'd have off-peak periods at much more sociable times of day (and at weekends) & could minimise use during the Red period when it's super expensive. But our supplier doesn't seem to offer a three band tariff. Am I just stuck with whatever they offer, even though half-hourly metering is supposed to encourage businesses to avoid periods of peak demand?

Swapping to a non haf-hourly meter isn't an option at the moment, the cost of this is almost £2k and I'm not convinced that the savings would be significant.

Any help appreciated.

Em

Most business tariffs do have very onerous conditions.

You may well be stuck with the existing supplier until your contract expires, and you may be expected to provide possibly 6 months notice prior to that contarct expiring if you wish to change supplier.

I can only advise that you carefully read the terms of the contract you agreed to. Business is all about contracts, and business owners are expected to understand them (or emply someone to do so) - unlike domestic consumers who are protected much more.
As with all forms of your business, buying electricity for it is all about negotiation, not simply accepting what someone offers.

emv

We're renewing at the moment, contract expires in January. I have no problem with the t&cs, I was just interested in finding out whether anyone else is on half hourly metering & has been offered a tariff with 3 time bands. If the tariff exists I'll know I can ask for it.