Eon Electrical Heating Economy 18 - advice needed

jammy_jam_jam

I've seem some similar threads but nothing that matches our situation so I thought I'd make a new thread to ask for some advice. Apologies in advance for a bit of a rambling post but I want to put in all of the details.

We live in a rented flat in Suffolk and currently we're on Eon's Electrical Heating Economy 18 tariff. We received a letter in June saying that the tariff was ending and we'll need to move to a new tariff. At the time we contacted Eon's Simpler Metering Team several times and after being bounced around a lot we were told that the only thing they can offer is the standard tariff which would add around £450 per year to our electricity bill.

We contacted the company who looks after the flat on behalf of our landlord and they said at the time that Eon were just scaremongering and we didn't need to do anything but now we've had another letter from Eon to say that the tariff is ending on 5 November and they'll be moving us onto the standard tariff. The management company has now said that because we pay for the electricity that it's our responsibility.

To give some more details on how things are set up in the flat - we have a single meter with two MPANs, it has three rates: day, night and stored heat. We have one storage heather in the living room and standard electric radiators in every room (including the living room). For hot water we have a Redring LWC210 boiler/cylinder with two immersion heaters attached.

I divided down 13 months of usage and on average we use 169 day units, 43 night units and 358 stored heat units. We both work full time during the day and since we're in a flat it's not really possible to run appliances overnight.

One thing that one of the Simpler Metering Team reps said is that because of the boiler we have they can't move us to either Economy 7 or 10 because they don't support it.

One thing that I'm particularly concerned about, apart from the possible increase in our bill, is that if we are switched to a standard tariff that we'll lose our hot water. There's no timer or any controls on the boiler besides two fused switches on the wall.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation or can anyone offer some advice?

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

jammy_jam_jam wrote: »

I've seem some similar threads but nothing that matches our situation so I thought I'd make a new thread to ask for some advice. Apologies in advance for a bit of a rambling post but I want to put in all of the details.

We live in a rented flat in Suffolk and currently we're on Eon's Electrical Heating Economy 18 tariff. We received a letter in June saying that the tariff was ending and we'll need to move to a new tariff. At the time we contacted Eon's Simpler Metering Team several times and after being bounced around a lot we were told that the only thing they can offer is the standard tariff which would add around £450 per year to our electricity bill.

We contacted the company who looks after the flat on behalf of our landlord and they said at the time that Eon were just scaremongering and we didn't need to do anything but now we've had another letter from Eon to say that the tariff is ending on 5 November and they'll be moving us onto the standard tariff. The management company has now said that because we pay for the electricity that it's our responsibility.

To give some more details on how things are set up in the flat - we have a single meter with two MPANs, it has three rates: day, night and stored heat. We have one storage heather in the living room and standard electric radiators in every room (including the living room). For hot water we have a Redring LWC210 boiler/cylinder with two immersion heaters attached.

I divided down 13 months of usage and on average we use 169 day units, 43 night units and 358 stored heat units. We both work full time during the day and since we're in a flat it's not really possible to run appliances overnight.

One thing that one of the Simpler Metering Team reps said is that because of the boiler we have they can't move us to either Economy 7 or 10 because they don't support it.

One thing that I'm particularly concerned about, apart from the possible increase in our bill, is that if we are switched to a standard tariff that we'll lose our hot water. There's no timer or any controls on the boiler besides two fused switches on the wall.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation or can anyone offer some advice?

Hello jammy_jam_jam and we're phasing out meters like Economy 18 as we're no longer able to support them.

You've done the right thing in contacting our Simpler Metering team as this is the area looking after the project. Things have moved on a bit since you spoke to them in June and it's worth talking to them again. There could be options available depending on the circumstances at the property.

Economy 18 tends to be different from some other types of complex meter (Economy 10, Heatwise, etc), in that, many were installed to suit specific types of heating/hot water arrangements. Red Ring Boilers are a case in point. With Economy 18, we're conscious of the impact any changes might have on the current heating system.

This isn't to say there aren't options and we need to look at each case individually. It may be a meter exchange is possible without impacting the current heating system. If not, we can look at tariffs and not just our Standard Variable product.

As I say, the best people to talk to are our Simpler Metering team. If you're struggling, please drop an email to the address in my Profile and I'll be happy to put you in touch with them.

Thanks jammy_jam_jam.

Malc

jammy_jam_jam

Hi Malc, thanks for the reply. I tried phoning and the person I spoke to didn't understand what I was asking so I've sent you an email.

coffeehound

Redring LWC210 appears to be a standard unvented hot water cylinder so should be eminently suitable for an Economy7 or -10 tariff. Don't know why they would suggest it isn't.

jammy_jam_jam

coffeehound wrote: »

Redring LWC210 appears to be a standard unvented hot water cylinder so should be eminently suitable for an Economy7 or -10 tariff. Don't know why they would suggest it isn't.

That gives me some hope, thank you!

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

jammy_jam_jam wrote: »

Hi Malc, thanks for the reply. I tried phoning and the person I spoke to didn't understand what I was asking so I've sent you an email.

Many thanks jammy_jam_jam. I've received the email and just replied.

Malc

jammy_jam_jam

Just had a call from Eon and got some good information from them: due to our Redring boiler we can't switch to Economy 7/10 however if we switch to an unrestricted tariff (including the 1-year fixed version) we can keep our current meter and boiler and the stored heat part of the meter will still work and will still switch on and off automatically as it does at the moment.

The last part is information that I haven't seen elsewhere so I hope it might be helpful to anyone else in the same situation.

As it is, we're looking at around £450 p/a extra on the unrestricted tariff and something over £200 p/a on the 1-year fixed so it's not all good news but at least we have something we can take back to the landlord now.

Thanks again Malc for your assistance.

Flt._Lt._Biggles

jammy_jam_jam wrote: »

Just had a call from Eon and got some good information from them: due to our Redring boiler we can't switch to Economy 7/10 however if we switch to an unrestricted tariff (including the 1-year fixed version) we can keep our current meter and boiler and the stored heat part of the meter will still work and will still switch on and off automatically as it does at the moment.

The last part is information that I haven't seen elsewhere so I hope it might be helpful to anyone else in the same situation.

As it is, we're looking at around £450 p/a extra on the unrestricted tariff and something over £200 p/a on the 1-year fixed so it's not all good news but at least we have something we can take back to the landlord now.

Thanks again Malc for your assistance.

What was the explanation given as to why this previous advice was not appropriate? :huh:

coffeehound wrote: »

Redring LWC210 appears to be a standard unvented hot water cylinder so should be eminently suitable for an Economy7 or -10 tariff. Don't know why they would suggest it isn't.

Economy 7 would provide you with 7 hours of cheap rate electricity every day.

An unrestricted tariff will charge you the nomal (sometimes referred to as day or peak) rate 24/7/365

thorganby

jammy_jam_jam wrote: »

Just had a call from Eon and got some good information from them: due to our Redring boiler we can't switch to Economy 7/10 however if we switch to an unrestricted tariff (including the 1-year fixed version) we can keep our current meter and boiler and the stored heat part of the meter will still work and will still switch on and off automatically as it does at the moment.

The last part is information that I haven't seen elsewhere so I hope it might be helpful to anyone else in the same situation.

As it is, we're looking at around £450 p/a extra on the unrestricted tariff and something over £200 p/a on the 1-year fixed so it's not all good news but at least we have something we can take back to the landlord now.

Thanks again Malc for your assistance.

You really should request that eon remove their legacy metering and provide you with standard E7 metering.

Until you do this you will be held to ransom by eon and will not be able to switch to the best tariffs available from any other suppliers.

Keeping your current metering is your worst possible option!

jammy_jam_jam

The problem is (as I understand it) that if we change the meter then the storage heater and boiler will need to be re-wired and as we're renting that would be something the landlord would need to pay for which of course they'll be reluctant to do.

I'm happy to take any advice/corrections though as my knowledge of this is minimal to say the least.

Flt._Lt._Biggles

thorganby wrote: »

You really should request that eon remove their legacy metering and provide you with standard E7 metering.

Until you do this you will be held to ransom by eon and will not be able to switch to the best tariffs available from any other suppliers.

Keeping your current metering is your worst possible option!

As I understand it, the meter is being replaced anyway; that is the cause of the issue as I understand it, the old meters are now obsolete and there are no similar type replacements available any longer.

But replacing the meter with a single rate meter that charges the same high price 24/7 does seem a strange decision , when it has already been suggested an E7 meter that would allow the OP to have 7 hours of cheap rate electricity every day does seem a decision that is as odds with the advice previously provided in this thread.