Economy 10, Limited competition

P_Kitch

Can anyone please advise why customers like myself on economy 10 are so disadvantaged, as the few providers offering these tariffs, have the opportunity to operate in a monopolistic type manner and it is incredibly difficult to get clear information on tariffs across a fractured industry!
As users of economy 10 we help the industry by drawing load outside of the peak demands, thus making generation more cost effective, using spare generation capacity.


Surely, as a marginalised section of customers we should be better protected by the regulators, why does this not appear to be the case?

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Whilst it might be a 'chicken and egg' situation, there are relatively few properties with E10 metering. The cost to fit new E10 meters and rewire a house to take advantage of off-peak electricity would be huge.

Some posters on MSE have calculated, that notwithstanding you lose 3 hours daytime off-peak electricity, E7 tariffs are cheaper and available from all suppliers.

CashStrapped

Nobody likes E10 customers......:D

.....Seriously though....it is not a set-up that is installed much any more. It probably requires a bit more legwork (billing systems) by the service provider to produce the bills. Hence, very few, especially small providers even support it. Economies of scale come into play too. There are so few customers (relativity) that have it, so it is not worth offering it.

E7 is probably your best alternative and may work out cheaper (as there is more competition). If you have storage heaters, you need to do the maths and a manual comparison to see.Sometimes swapping meter can cause issues with how the flat wiring is set-up. But other than that, your options are limited.

In the future time specific tariffs will become more common with smart meters. However, I do not think the meters will be able to dynamically switch circuits on/off like the E7/E10 meters of old.

P_Kitch

Ofgem are you out there?
I would hope you, as advocates for consumer rights and due to your high profile within the industry may be able to highlight and possibly in time bring about change!
It concerns me that most E10 users are stuck with their expensive suppliers and heating systems (being electric) and are therefore possibly more vulnerable that other users who have no end of tariffs or suppliers to choose from.

P_Kitch

NEW SMART METERS!
I believe they were originally pitched that they “would provide an opportunity to sell customers cheaper electricity, Off Peak”( sounds like a good idea). This is quite obviously not the case as they are designed as single rate and after a recent enquiry I was advised the “smart meters” at this point in time will not support E10! Being very cynical by nature they will further increase supplier’s profits as remote reading will spell the end to the humble meter reader. Yes consumers will be able to view consumption (they could retrofit monitoring equipment at a far cheaper price) the main win fall will be to the suppliers once again. Free, no they are not! We will pay for them (£300 touted) the asset will be owned by the suppliers ( I am led to believe) the only positive will be a more accurate bill but it comes at a cost!

P_Kitch

I have had the E10 tariff installed within the last few years to a NEW heating system.
The system works well as a heat pump (ASHP) stores up heat in the floor and in a buffer tank. If I could get the unit price even lower through competition I would be a very happy man!


To further add to savings dishwashers, washing machines etc are used off peak they already come with the timers so no changes in the house wiring!

CashStrapped

This is the only dedicated site related to E10 tariffs I have come across. It is just one person doing their own comparison so the tariff data is not updated often. But, it gives you an indication as to which companies support E10.

https://economy10.com/2016/12/12/economy-10-prices-dec-2016/
last updated Dec 2016

Regarding smart meters, as I said at the end of my post, the plan for smart meters in the future is to have multiple tariffs through the day/night. As the smart meters are only just rolling out, these tariffs are not available yet. Only British Gas have the free 8 hours tariff one day a week and this is not that competitive for most. This will slowly change over time.

P_Kitch

Thanks,
Already aware of link but prices for 2015. May have to start the ring-round myself! I have heard of some customers being given E7 prices for E10 meters as suppliers have decided to bill them that way.
Anyone had that experience?

CashStrapped

I have heard of that too. But, it all depends on how the tariff interacts with the meter timings as to whether it works out for you.

Whether the company accepted them knowing it was an E10 meter or it was an error which worked out for the customer is another question.

Bark01

Hi,

You are protected by the regulators, changes have been made to the license conditions that will enable customers on restricted meter tariffs (including all e10 tariffs) to switch onto any Standard meter tariff offered by the major suppliers. The changes come into affect later this year.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-market-investigation-restricted-meters-order-2016

CashStrapped

In an edit to my last post - If you check that link in post 7 - it actually tells you which suppliers are happy to apply the E7 tariffs to an E10 meter. I missed it on first viewing