Switching my parents away from EON Economy 10

londoner2009

My parents have lived in the same house for over 40 years in North West London. They recently got a letter saying their electricity meter had to be changed because it's so old. It's an old mechanical meter and it turned out it's an Economy 10 meter - I knew it has a LOW and NORMAL reading and had assumed it was an economy 7 meter but it's a full 10 hours at night on LOW.

The thing is they also have gas central heating and as far as they remember they've never had electrical storage heaters so they have no idea why they have an economy 10 meter.

Anyways EON messed up the change of the meter - never came at the time slot allocated, so phoned up and was given a new date 2 weeks into the future. Then an hour after the call an engineer turned up on the door but he didn't have an economy 10 meter to swap it with. He also said the wires coming in were thinner then today's standard.

Anyways I've been thinking how can we swap to a different tariff with another provider when we have an economy 10 meter and EON want to replace it with another economy 10 meter?

I'm sure they can save money on their electricity - I've now registered them for online accounts and I can now see how much electricity is being used. It's roughly 3000 kwh per year

I've also taken a meter reading today and compared it to the last meter reading on the online account from April 2017 the figure below are their NORMAL and LOW readings

3rd April 3rd July
87711 88210 Normal
54621 54901 Low

Any suggestions on if we can get them a better deal elsewhere and how to go about switching when they have the old economy 10 meter installed? Can EON switch us to a better tariff with a normal meter / economy 7 meter?

Will we be able to switch to another company with this meter still installed?

Neil_Jones

You can switch between providers with Economy 10 but not all providers support this (most of these are legacy ones from the days before you could switch provider).

EON say here they can switch you to a single usage tariff if that may work out cheaper:
https://www.eonenergy.com/for-your-home/your-account/economy-7-and-10-meters#Dont-want-e7

But of course in the future you may ultimately end up having to have an entirely new meter.

silverwhistle

I've just changed my aged parent's Economy 10 supplier due to being on just about the most expensive of all the companies. As an all electric flat where we don't have a record of the usage it's difficult to choose any alternative.

Bear in mind that Economy 10 includes some mid afternoon hours at the cheap rate, before going back up for the evening peak. I'd want to know the usage in winter before changing from an E10 meter as it might be difficult to go back to it.

This is a very useful and independent site which gave me some valiuable insights: https://economy10.com/

londoner2009

silverwhistle wrote: »

I've just changed my aged parent's Economy 10 supplier due to being on just about the most expensive of all the companies. As an all electric flat where we don't have a record of the usage it's difficult to choose any alternative.

Bear in mind that Economy 10 includes some mid afternoon hours at the cheap rate, before going back up for the evening peak. I'd want to know the usage in winter before changing from an E10 meter as it might be difficult to go back to it.

This is a very useful and independent site which gave me some valiuable insights: https://economy10.com/

My parent's Economy 10 doesn't include anything in the afternoon, it's a straight 10 hours all at night - In fact the guy that came to change the meter didn't have the correct meter that did 10 hours all in one go and had to leave.

footyguy

londoner2009 wrote: »

My parents have lived in the same house for over 40 years in North West London. They recently got a letter saying their electricity meter had to be changed because it's so old. It's an old mechanical meter and it turned out it's an Economy 10 meter - I knew it has a LOW and NORMAL reading and had assumed it was an economy 7 meter but it's a full 10 hours at night on LOW.

The thing is they also have gas central heating and as far as they remember they've never had electrical storage heaters so they have no idea why they have an economy 10 meter.

Anyways EON messed up the change of the meter - never came at the time slot allocated, so phoned up and was given a new date 2 weeks into the future. Then an hour after the call an engineer turned up on the door but he didn't have an economy 10 meter to swap it with. He also said the wires coming in were thinner then today's standard.

Anyways I've been thinking how can we swap to a different tariff with another provider when we have an economy 10 meter and EON want to replace it with another economy 10 meter?

I'm sure they can save money on their electricity - I've now registered them for online accounts and I can now see how much electricity is being used. It's roughly 3000 kwh per year

I've also taken a meter reading today and compared it to the last meter reading on the online account from April 2017 the figure below are their NORMAL and LOW readings

3rd April 3rd July
87711 88210 Normal
54621 54901 Low

Any suggestions on if we can get them a better deal elsewhere and how to go about switching when they have the old economy 10 meter installed? Can EON switch us to a better tariff with a normal meter / economy 7 meter?

Will we be able to switch to another company with this meter still installed?

No .

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

londoner2009 wrote: »

My parents have lived in the same house for over 40 years in North West London. They recently got a letter saying their electricity meter had to be changed because it's so old. It's an old mechanical meter and it turned out it's an Economy 10 meter - I knew it has a LOW and NORMAL reading and had assumed it was an economy 7 meter but it's a full 10 hours at night on LOW.

The thing is they also have gas central heating and as far as they remember they've never had electrical storage heaters so they have no idea why they have an economy 10 meter.

Anyways EON messed up the change of the meter - never came at the time slot allocated, so phoned up and was given a new date 2 weeks into the future. Then an hour after the call an engineer turned up on the door but he didn't have an economy 10 meter to swap it with. He also said the wires coming in were thinner then today's standard.

Anyways I've been thinking how can we swap to a different tariff with another provider when we have an economy 10 meter and EON want to replace it with another economy 10 meter?

I'm sure they can save money on their electricity - I've now registered them for online accounts and I can now see how much electricity is being used. It's roughly 3000 kwh per year

I've also taken a meter reading today and compared it to the last meter reading on the online account from April 2017 the figure below are their NORMAL and LOW readings

3rd April 3rd July
87711 88210 Normal
54621 54901 Low

Any suggestions on if we can get them a better deal elsewhere and how to go about switching when they have the old economy 10 meter installed? Can EON switch us to a better tariff with a normal meter / economy 7 meter?

Will we be able to switch to another company with this meter still installed?

londoner2009 wrote: »

My parent's Economy 10 doesn't include anything in the afternoon, it's a straight 10 hours all at night - In fact the guy that came to change the meter didn't have the correct meter that did 10 hours all in one go and had to leave.

Hello londoner2009 and I'm sorry we couldn't do this job at the first attempt.

Your description of the meter is a little different from most Economy 10 set ups. Usually, the 10 off peak hours where electricity is cheaper is split between periods at night, in the evening and during the afternoon. They're not all in one block. Having said this, I do recall something similar with all 10 hours at night and, if my memory serves me right, this was in the London area. It was a bit of a hybrid set up restricted to a specific number of customers in all electric properties. If your parent's home was originally set up like this, it looks as though things have moved on and they could benefit from a different type of meter. I'm guessing a lot here.

Economy 10 meters are mainly found in all electric properties with storage heaters and electric water immersion heaters. To work, the meter is wired directly into the heating/water heating circuits at individual properties. This lets them automatically switch the storage heaters and hot water on and off at the set off peak times.

As your parents don't have storage heaters but gas central heating, they're probably not receiving the full benefits from this arrangement. Although, from the figures quoted, they used about 36% of electricity during the cheaper times. With multi-rate meters like Economy 10 or Economy 7, to be cost effective, a significant amount of electricity needs to be used during the off peak times. This is because peak usage is charged at a premium rate. The actual amount depends on the region and tariff. 36% is a reasonable amount at off peak but this is only over a couple of months and we would need to look at the usage over a longer period for a better picture.

How do they heat their water? Is this by gas or do they have a separate electric water immersion heater? If they do, I suspect this is wired into the meter. If it is, changing the meter could have implications for their hot water and might even need some remedial work by a qualified electrician. Guessing again. If their water is heated by gas, then it should be possible to change the meter for a different type with little difficulty.

With most Economy 10 meters, we can change them for a more up to date equivalent or a conventional single rate/Economy 7 meter. Given what you say, I'm not sure of the possibilities here. I'd recommend having a talk with our specialist Simpler Metering team (contact details are on our website under metering). They'll be able to let you know the options available for the specific metering set up at your parent's home.

If it's possible to switch the meter, your parents will have access to more tariffs both with us and with the other suppliers.

Sorry for the questions and speculation londoner2009 but hope it helps point you in the right direction.

Malc

Richie-from-the-Boro

londoner2009

.Q. "Any suggestions on if we can get them a better deal elsewhere and how to go about switching, they have gas central heating"

No no no, you are never going to win on either E10 or E7 which are 100% wrong tariffs for your AP's. You need to check gas heats the water then get rid of the E10 / E7 meter altogether, do not accept an offer of a more modern E10 / E7 meter, do as Malc suggests and ask E.ON when they make the change of meter to fit a conventional single rate meter and open your AP's to the whole range of choice from competitive much much cheaper tariffs. Best of luck.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Neil_Jones wrote: »

You can switch between providers with Economy 10 but not all providers support this (most of these are legacy ones from the days before you could switch provider).

EON say here they can switch you to a single usage tariff if that may work out cheaper:
https://www.eonenergy.com/for-your-home/your-account/economy-7-and-10-meters#Dont-want-e7

But of course in the future you may ultimately end up having to have an entirely new meter.

We certainly support both Economy 10 and Economy 7 meters Neil. With the Economy 7, we can bill these as a single rate should this be better for a customer. We add the day and night usage together and charge it all at the one rate. No need to change the meter. A customer needs to agree this first and they can either make the change through our website or over the phone.

At the moment, this is something we're not able to do with Economy 10. Following the CMA report, we're looking at making single rate tariffs available for Economy 10 as well as other types of restricted meter. I don't have any details yet but will look to keep these Forums up to date when I do.

Hope this is of interest.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

londoner2009

.Q. "Any suggestions on if we can get them a better deal elsewhere and how to go about switching, they have gas central heating"

No no no, you are never going to win on either E10 or E7 which are 100% wrong tariffs for your AP's. You need to check gas heats the water then get rid of the E10 / E7 meter altogether, do not accept an offer of a more modern E10 / E7 meter, do as Malc suggests and ask E.ON when they make the change of meter to fit a conventional single rate meter and open your AP's to the whole range of choice from competitive much much cheaper tariffs. Best of luck.

As you say Richie, with gas central heating, it's unlikely there'll be much benefit with an Economy 10 meter. Particularly if the water is gas heated too. It depends on the individual circumstances. That's why it's best the OP or their parents talk to our specialist team so we can sort a meter best suited to their specific home. I also agree, a more conventional meter will give them more tariff options both with us and with the other suppliers.

Malc

Bark01

Theres new regulation coming into force later this year that will allow your parents to swap to any of the major suppliers standard meter tariffs whilst still keeping their existing meter.

The supplier will just bill all your registers at the standard register price.

Some suppliers already offer this, its generally known as totalising. Its one of those things that that the average customer service rep may not know about.

The change in regulation is part of the changes being brought in after the CMA investigation. Its due to be in place by Sept 17 so your parents should be able to swap before the heating goes on.

Full info here:
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2017/02/suppliers_letter_for_restricted_meter_remedy_provision_of_information_to_rm_custs_final_20_feb_2017.pdf

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Bark01 wrote: »

Theres new regulation coming into force later this year that will allow your parents to swap to any of the major suppliers standard meter tariffs whilst still keeping their existing meter.

The supplier will just bill all your registers at the standard register price.

Some suppliers already offer this, its generally known as totalising. Its one of those things that that the average customer service rep may not know about.

The change in regulation is part of the changes being brought in after the CMA investigation. Its due to be in place by Sept 17 so your parents should be able to swap before the heating goes on.

Full info here:
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2017/02/suppliers_letter_for_restricted_meter_remedy_provision_of_information_to_rm_custs_final_20_feb_2017.pdf

Spot on Bark01. As I mentioned to Neil Jones yesterday (post #8), following the CMA report, we're looking at making single rate tariffs available for all the restricted meters we supply. As well as Economy 10, this includes other variations like Heatwise, Economy 18 etc.

We can already do this for customers with Economy 7 meters by adding the day and night usage together and charging it all at the one rate.

I don't have an exact date yet but are looking at later this year. I'll keep the Forums updated as and when I know more.

Malc