Electricity change 30 April 2019 at 9:52PM in LPG, heating oil, solid & other fuels 9 replies 1.6K views

sharon51

My electricity supplier requested a home reading, on my meter there are always 3 sets of numbers, when i fill in the online reading it has stated, 'not read properly we will estimate your bill'. I finally got round to calling my provider, i know i have economy 7 and tried to make my usage at night as much as possible. On speaking to the very helpful customer services, i was informed that if i didn't have storage heaters it was a waste of time being on E7 as there is no advantage, my provider said i should change my meter and i was given a range of cheaper tariffs.

When the new meter was being fitted, the fitter stated that my provider would have known that i did not use the E7 to its advantage, (this should be at least 23% usage at night apparently). My new rate is half of what i used to pay, a big saving i was very surprised, surely i should i have told...

My question is if my provider knew i was being overcharged for the last 20 years am i entitled to any compensation?

dunstonh

i was informed that if i didn't have storage heaters it was a waste of time being on E7 as there is no advantage,

That is very simplistic and would often be wrong. Heating appliances are not the only things that can utilise timed power. We have E7 and dont have storage heaters. Yet use abouta 1/3rd of our power during the cheap rate and that is enough to make E7 cheaper.

My question is if my provider knew i was being overcharged for the last 20 years am i entitled to any compensation?

The tariff you are on is your choice. Not the provider.

Reed_Richards

sharon51 wrote: »

My question is if my provider knew i was being overcharged for the last 20 years am i entitled to any compensation?

Most gas and electricity providers rely on customer inertia, that their customers don't shop around for the best tariff. This is not currently viewed as an unfair practice so no compensation is payable. You might be advised to keep records in case things change in the future.

matelodave

You haven't been overcharged - the supplier has no idea what you use your leccy for, it's up to you to decide how best to manage your consumption and decide which tariff will be most appropriate.

Some suppliers will give you advice if you ask them but they aren't clairvoyant.

J_B

Just a few comments in bold ...

sharon51 wrote: »

My electricity supplier requested a home reading, on my meter there are always 3 sets of numbers,

Probably (?) day/night/total?

when i fill in the online reading it has stated, 'not read properly we will estimate your bill'. I finally got round to calling my provider, i know i have economy 7 and tried to make my usage at night as much as possible. On speaking to the very helpful customer services, i was informed that if i didn't have storage heaters it was a waste of time being on E7 as there is no advantage,

as said, only you know how many day & night units you use, so you can do the sums

my provider said i should change my meter and i was given a range of cheaper tariffs.

When the new meter was being fitted
but it seems that you have gone off E7 anyway, so he above is not relevant

, the fitter stated that my provider would have known that i did not use the E7 to its advantage, (this should be at least 23% usage at night apparently). My new rate is half of what i used to pay, a big saving i was very surprised, surely i should i have told...

My question is if my provider knew i was being overcharged for the last 20 years am i entitled to any compensation?
See other's comments

J_B

moremore wrote: »

I am seriously considering having prepaid electric meter installed but pay by direct debit as it only way to show how much I use as I live in block of flats.
My present provider is SSE and their cost have gone up to 256.kWh at 17.31p - £44.31 Standing charge 46.days at 21.83p £10.04 I understand they also installed pre paid meters which I will be discussing with them tomorrow fingers crossed.

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dunstonh

You won't get an answer now. Clearly the responses were not what the OP wanted to hear and rather than be polite and respond, they have not bothered to thank people for their time.

texter

J_B wrote: »

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J_B

texter wrote: »

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Confused dot com.


I replied to a post, it's still there in my quote ... but it's not there anywhere else!

tempus_fugit

That confused me too.