I want to get economy 7, how do I do that?

5abi

Houbara wrote: »

Your Eversmart fixed deal is probably unbeatable but when the fix ends all prices have risen since your Eversmart deal. I arranged an Eversmart deal for three of my friends last Aug after the demise of Iresa Energy. The way Eversmart are going I fully expected them to go bust by now.
Best deals on Eco 7 in my area ( S. Yorks ) is Symbio energy
Day 13.08, Night 9.40 with quite a low dsc of 16p
Utilita are next cheapest on my input of usage 3000/2000 night/day
Utilita operate a block tariff with the first day 365 kwhs at 50.189 p/kwh, then 18.436p
Night rate is only 4.67 p/kwh to compensate
No standing charge s.

That list provided by thorganby seems unreliable to me . BG and others will mostly simply total the day/night reads without the expense of changing meters for eco 7 to standard tariff.
. I can t believe greedy Scot Power will do anything for free unless ordered to by Ofgem. eg they used to charge £220 a meter to swap a prepay to a credit meter. so £440 for gas/electric .
As for the idea of someone with a single rate meter fancying a change to an Eco 7 and the big 6 doing it for free, then I will need some proof of this other than an internet list. .
All non essential meter change work I expect would be billed . Its also a money saving operation for the suppliers too.

Thank you for this. I have leart something new today. Rates are different for different parts of the country. When I do quotes for my area (Croydon / South London) the rates are more than yours on all counts. This is not what I expected and I wonder if there is a London tax being applied everywhere.

Mister_G

5abi wrote: »

Thank you for this. I have leart something new today. Rates are different for different parts of the country. When I do quotes for my area (Croydon / South London) the rates are more than yours on all counts. This is not what I expected and I wonder if there is a London tax being applied everywhere.

More likely that the cost of installing and maintaining a largely underground distribution network is considerably higher than the overhead network used elsewhere in the country.

5abi

nwlondoner wrote: »

Over the years I've noticed that a lot of Economy 7 tariffs seem to charge more for daytime use than standard tariffs so be aware of that.

There's an option on MSE Cheap Energy Club to view suppliers offering Economy 7 tariffs - just edit your details.

The cheapest that comes up for me at the moment is a variable tariff with a company called Bulb...
Electricity Day Unit Rate: 16.296p per kWh
Electricity Night Unit Rate: 7.907p per kWh
Standing charge: 20.44p per day (£74.62 per year)

The second on the list is the Yorkshire Energy tariff you mentioned, which is fixed until 30th April 2020.

The third is Shell Energy (previously called First Utility) which is fixed until 31 July 2012...
Electricity Day Unit Rate: 16.586p per kWh
Electricity Night Unit Rate: 10.418pp per kWh
Standing charge: 14.553p per day

Of course the cheapest tariff on my comparison may not be the cheapest for you due to the different ratios of day/night usage, so make sure you get a comparison with your own day/night estimates.

It's worth calling the cheapest suppliers on your comparison and asking if they charge to fit an Economy 7 meter. If they do, then I'd do as thorganby suggested - change to one that offers free installation and then change again once they've installed the new meter

As you are a Londoner, I think our rates will be similar as I have just done a quote on Bulb and it looks great. Most attractive yet. I will ask them to see if they install eco7 meters or smart meters.

[Deleted User]

5abi wrote: »

As you are a Londoner, I think our rates will be similar as I have just done a quote on Bulb and it looks great. Most attractive yet. I will ask them to see if they install eco7 meters or smart meters.

The rates for London reflect the extra costs of transporting electricity a longer route than me in S.Yorks area which is much closer to the main power stations.
Please can you get back to us with an up to date price that Bulb Energy charge for this non essential meter exchange.
A quick flit around on Google indicated that Bulb would charge as much as £120

thorganby

Houbara wrote: »

That list provided by thorganby seems unreliable to me . BG and others will mostly simply total the day/night reads without the expense of changing meters for eco 7 to standard tariff.

Agreed for charging at a single rate but that is irrelevant for this thread, which is regarding customers specifically wanting to get an E7 meter fitted.

MSE don't seem to have the staff now to keep their articles updated, so ring some suppliers up and enquire if they charge for this, I'm sure that you can afford it or find a freephone number.

Many new suppliers like Bulb don't provide a complete service e.g. provisioning a new supply and rely on the big six for various things.

5abi

Another area of concern for me is FIT payments.

I should be getting 3.79p for every KWH i generate. On top of that, 50% assumed to be exported I should get 5.5p per kwh. I beleive all FIT payments are set that way.

The Export payments are what slightly concern me if I go for a smart meter for economy 7 at this time. Smart meters would provide true data of what has been exported back to the grid. This could be less than the 50% assumed export at the time of certification. People will install batteries and try to max out their solar generation so export is minimised as much as possible.

One of the reasons why I convinced myself to invest in solar was that I would be able to pocket 50% of all generation regardless of export. With smart meters, it would show true export and then impact the payments back to me.

In light of this, any suggestions on how I could jump on economy 7 without getting a smart meter?

matelodave

You'd have to find a supplier who would swap your single rate meter for an E7 meter and agree not to implement it's smart functionality.

However as has been said in countless threads and posts, that may not (in fact probably will not) get you one of the better deals and although having a smart meter is not a legal requirement it can and often is a specific contractual requirement for some tariffs.

It's also more likely that more suppliers will be insisting on smart meters to avoid sanctions and fines by the government - the government have ways of making it difficult for you not to have one even if they cant legally compel you to

In the end you will have to ask your chosen supplier what they will do and how much they might charge to swap your meter. There are too many variables for anyone here to be able to answer your question.

AFAIK you can keep your FIT payments with your existing suppler - you dont have to transfer them to a new supplier so I guess it's down to whether they also pay your export allowance as well based on your generation meter rather than your consumption meter.

Again, its another variable that might get answered on the Green & Ethical thread by those who might have already gone down that path.

You could read this but I'm not sure that it helps https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/09/households-solar-panels-risk-overcharged-smart-meters/.

Trawling around the internet it seems that, in all discussions about smart meters, there's a lot of rubbish being spouted and some odd bits of genuinely useful info. I'm guessing that a lot depend on which meters you have, how your system has been configured, who sup[lies your leccy and who supplies your FIT.

I'm of the opinion that you could end up making a big mistake by trying to be clever and squeeze another penny or two and then getting stuffed by complications that will be impossible to untangle - just my opinion you understand