Responsibility for correct electric meter in a council property.

dogshome

When a gas CH system is installed in an ECO7 metered home, the energy supplier should told, as that is the only way they will know


It would have been good if the Council had advised tenants to do this, or perhaps they did and the tenant at this time didn't bother, but in the end the Energy accounts are in the tenants name and it is their responsabilty


Some suppliers will add the Night & Day readings together and charge Standard rate for the consumption - Best to research the Comp. sites for good prices and then ask them if they will do combined billing


Such deals are a private arrangement between the customer and supplier, and when that customer moves out, the account automatically reverts to ECO 7 billing, which could be what has happened here

[Deleted User]

There are many areas in the North and Central parts of the UK, that I ve worked in meter reading , usually close to power stations where Eco 7 meters are fitted in fairly new properties as a matter of course where the occupants have a gas supply from day one .Its not always an all electric property who have Eco 7 meters, Retford. Worksop, Peterborough etc .
The two rates can even out if occupiers try and make use of the cheap rates.
New suppliers have recognised this , Yorkshire Energy for one, who offer the day/night rates very close together to reflect this..
The OP should check the comparison websites, at least three of them , to get the best deal possible.
As advised, if they are determined to go single rate its better for the supplier to change the meter than rely on some suppliers who are able to total the two rates. They may charge for this because its considered a non essential service.

Gerry1

Perry162 wrote: »

It makes me sick to my stomach to think how much more she’s paid for electric over 6 years than she should have. It shows how much more she’s been paying unnecessarily and has got her into so much debt.

Perry162 wrote: »

I just feel for my friend having struggled for all this time without knowing she’s on an unsuitable meter

I'm not convinced things are that really bad: feelings need to be supported by hard facts. Have you crunched the numbers to get firm evidence, or is it all just a hunch?

Perry162 wrote: »

Hi robin, I’ve looked at her actual yearly usage over the last years and it’s very low, about standard for a 1 bedroom house/flat. No electric heaters.

She is on the cheapest tariff for both meters but obviously where the E7 tariff is nearly 4x per KWh in the day than at night, that’s where the price is being hiked so much.

Well, if the usage is very low then the 'overcharging' will also be very low. And I've never come across an E7 tariff where the day rate is FOUR times the night rate ! Typical values are Night 9 - 11p/kWh and Day 14 - 17p/kWh. Where's the beef?

Two major mistakes are running storage heaters on single rate (especially if it's a deemed tariff) and failing to claim Warm Home Discount. We don't have much detail, but those don't seem to apply in this case.

The two real clangers seem to have been choosing an expensive provider and not switching to their least worst tariff. That's where real money has been wasted.

I think you'll find that savings can certainly be made by switching to a more competitive supplier, but the E7 aspect will turn out to be quite minor.

Houbara wrote: »

As advised, if they are determined to go single rate its better for the supplier to change the meter than rely on some suppliers who are able to total the two rates. They may charge for this because its considered a non essential service.

I think it would be better to get hard evidence before changing the meter. Who has a singe rate tariff (not available by adding the two readings together) that's so much cheaper than everyone else's, what is the saving, and how long will it take to recover the cost of replacing the meter? Her usage is 'very low' so it could be a very long time. Even if this unicorn tariff does exist, it's still a hostage to fortune: tariffs can change so the differential could be reduced or wiped out long before the cost of changing the meter has been recovered. She would also lose the ability to go back to future E7 tariffs that worked out cheaper.

[Deleted User]

A quick look on UKpower.co.uk reveals suppliers still offering Eco 7 rates as low as single rate.The lowest in my area is Avro who offer day rate -13 p kwh, night rate 13 p/kwh..It was possible to lower the overall cost going single rate but only by a few pounds a year making it a long job to break even years down the line IF the suppliers made a charge for the meter exchange
The smaller cheaper suppliers I don t think have the means to total the two rates together.
..I did nt try separate suppliers so maybe going that way further lowering of the overall costs would work
I used 10000 gas kwh s and 2000 kwhs day, 750 night for Eco 7 ..also did the same using single rate electric using 2750 annual kwhs ..Not much in it on dual fuel deals

Robisere

I can only speak of our own experiences regarding a similar problem. In 2015 our social housing landlord was at last made* to replace our ancient, useless Night Storage Heaters with gas central heating. Because our 23 bungalows were originally Sheltered Housing, there were certain electrical systems (long removed) which required a 3 phase supply and meter. We were not aware of this, until our energy company asked our distributor Northern Powergrid, to fit a new electricity meter. British Gas employed a civil contractor to fit the gas supply and meter.

The 'engineer' turned up to fit a new electric meter, saw it was 3 phase and left, saying that he was not qualified to deal with 3 phase and would report to his HQ. Weeks went by and still we were paying for Economy7, at an exorbitant rate: a supply that we no longer had. I complained to Northern Powergrid several times, by post and phone, no result. Eventually I had a result via EDF, who fought our corner when no one else would. A single phase meter was fitted, EDF calculated the difference between what we paid and what we should have been paying, and gave us a large refund. Our monthly DD was reduced by over 50% and they were instrumental in winning compensation from Northern Powergrid.

The lesson from this is that your local power distributor IS responsible for fitting the correct meter to match the supply at your property. The Council has no responsibility for this whatsoever: but you could look up the contact details of your Council's Environmental Housing department and explain the situation at this rented property.


*'made to' by initially our then MP, who passed it to the Council Environmental Housing department, who told the landlord to carry out the work, or the Council would do so, and send the landlord the bill, with a supporting letter from the Minister. that's why the Council Environmental Housing office is your friend.

matelodave

Just hoiking out the storage heaters doesn't automatically make the energy supply to your house invalid, neither do the energy companies get involved unless requested, either by the customer or maybe the landlord. For some people E7 might still be a good option.

We pulled out our storage heaters and I requested a meter change to singe tariff - it was done within a week and cost me nothing, that was with EDF.
The meter installer connected both the main and heating circuit distribution boards to the meter, so I could run my heatpump from it's own dedicated distribution board as well as a couple of sockets where storage heaters had been connected.

I'm guessing however, that if you rent property that was converted in the past then it's not easy or obvious to establish whether the electricity supply has been altered or not. Checking your bills should give you a bit of a clue as to what sort of supply you've got. Likewise having a meter with two registers or rates or even dual meters should also help establish what you've got.

Just paying a bill without checking it or knowing what tariff you are on will just cost you money

[Deleted User]

Robisere wrote: »

I can only speak of our own experiences regarding a similar problem. In 2015 our social housing landlord was at last made* to replace our ancient, useless Night Storage Heaters with gas central heating. Because our 23 bungalows were originally Sheltered Housing, there were certain electrical systems (long removed) which required a 3 phase supply and meter. We were not aware of this, until our energy company asked our distributor Northern Powergrid, to fit a new electricity meter. British Gas employed a civil contractor to fit the gas supply and meter.

The 'engineer' turned up to fit a new electric meter, saw it was 3 phase and left, saying that he was not qualified to deal with 3 phase and would report to his HQ. Weeks went by and still we were paying for Economy7, at an exorbitant rate: a supply that we no longer had. I complained to Northern Powergrid several times, by post and phone, no result. Eventually I had a result via EDF, who fought our corner when no one else would. A single phase meter was fitted, EDF calculated the difference between what we paid and what we should have been paying, and gave us a large refund. Our monthly DD was reduced by over 50% and they were instrumental in winning compensation from Northern Powergrid.

The lesson from this is that your local power distributor IS responsible for fitting the correct meter to match the supply at your property. The Council has no responsibility for this whatsoever: but you could look up the contact details of your Council's Environmental Housing department and explain the situation at this rented property.


*'made to' by initially our then MP, who passed it to the Council Environmental Housing department, who told the landlord to carry out the work, or the Council would do so, and send the landlord the bill, with a supporting letter from the Minister. that's why the Council Environmental Housing office is your friend.

Three years ago the same suppliers were offering very low Eco 7 rates, the equal or better to the cheapest single tariff rates so I m sure that there is another "lesson to learn " in not paying an exorbitant Eco 7 rate but consult the comparison sites and get switching.
This does not apply to the legacy Eco 10 and various other multi rate meters up in Scotland who are really stuck with very high rates with only around three or four suppliers it is possible to move to.
There is a difference nowadays in that suppliers now own the meters and will want to fit either smart Eco 7 or smart single rate meters on any exchanges .This was changed by OFGEM only for the smart meter roll out.