Off peak electricity price increase

tiff_rocks

Hi, I would like some advice on my electricity meters please..i have two.
I live in a bungalow built in 1968. I have lived here for 9 years and always  been an NPower customer as no other supplier will support the two meters that serve the property. On Friday of last week I received a letter from NPOWER saying they were putting the price of our off peak meter up to 17.8p/kwh which is more than our standard rate. This apparently has been set by Ofgem to come into effect from 1/10/2020.
This meter controls and powers our hot water and storage heaters..we have no gas in the village.
The only way around this, advised by NPOWER is to have our home rewired to enable them to fit an Economy7 meter. If we do not do this then we will have to pay the higher rate as no other energy supplier will support the second meter. 
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you 

Neil_Jones

This may be a legacy E7 configuration, but those meters don't look that old and they're still available to buy today (Landis & Gyr E100).  They seem to have a 2006 date on them which may be when the configuration was last updated, though the timer thing looks like it may well date from the 1960s   "electricity boards" haven't existed since the 1980s.

Do you have storage heaters?  Are you all electric?  Or do you have gas as well?

Gerry1

There are umpteen similar threads here.  Search for E10, E12, THTC, Redring, 'Comfort Plus White Meter (and similar DTS experiences)' etc.

tiff_rocks

Thank you for your reply Neil.
The timer thing dates from 1968.
I'm not sure what you mean by the 1980s electrcity boards or how that would have an impact on my current situation.
Yes to storage heaters, yes to all electric and no to gas.

MWT

Can you check a recent bill and tell us the name of the tariff you are on please?

The date of the change suggests that it is in reaction to the change in the Ofgem tariff caps, but as the caps have been reduced it should mean a fall in the prices for any tariff at the cap or which tracks the cap.

Interested to see which tariff you are on ...

tiff_rocks

MWT said:

Can you check a recent bill and tell us the name of the tariff you are on please?

The date of the change suggests that it is in reaction to the change in the Ofgem tariff caps, but as the caps have been reduced it should mean a fall in the prices for any tariff at the cap or which tracks the cap.

Interested to see which tariff you are on ...

Hi MWT
The Tariff name is Standard Electricity 13+ Hour Off Peak
No standing charge 
Off peak rate 17.579
From October 1st
It was 12.397
Thank you for taking the time to ask.Much appreciated 

nPower

Hello tiff_rocks,
This looks like quite an old set up, we could look at fitting an economy 7 meter, however, work would be required first by a private electrician. It does not require a full house rewire, it might be worth getting a private electrician in to see what work is required and if you need us to replace the two meters with one economy 7 meter then please get in touch with us, our contact details are on our page. 

With regards to the tariff, since the Government introduced the price cap on the standard variable tariff the multi mpan or complex metering set ups where the supply as two different supplies or meter point administration numbers (MPAN's)  has never been reviewed. They've decided that from 1 October 2020 prices will be increased to bring them in line with standard single MPAN prices. 

Thanks 

Retify

nPower said:

With regards to the tariff, since the Government introduced the price cap on the standard variable tariff the multi mpan or complex metering set ups where the supply as two different supplies or meter point administration numbers (MPAN's)  has never been reviewed. They've decided that from 1 October 2020 prices will be increased to bring them in line with standard single MPAN prices. 

Thanks 

This is somewhat disingenuous. Just because the government raised the price cap doesn't mean that a supplier must raise their prices to match this. Suppliers are required to drop their prices if they exceed the cap, not raise prices if their prices are below the cap. A supplier can set prices to whatever they please provided they don't exceed the price cap, Npower made a choice to raise prices, that was their business decision, not a decision that the government forced.

It could be totally fair that you raised the prices since otherwise you don't make any money, which wouldn't be a great way to run a business! But it is wrong to make out like the government forced your hand with the increase.

MWT

nPower said:

... They've decided that from 1 October 2020 prices will be increased to bring them in line with standard single MPAN prices.

No, they decided to raise the cap.

NPower decided to raise the price...

macman

OP, it's not clear what hours you get at cheap rate on this legacy tariff? Most E10 or similar ones offer something like a 3 hour boost during the late afternoon. Is this something you particularly need or benefit from?
If not, you probably need to bite the bullet and rewire to modern E7 standards. This will give you access to the cheapest tariffs nationally, as every supplier offers E7. You'll also benefit by not paying 2 lots of standing charges, as you have 2 MPAN's at present.
The only circuits that have to be reconfigured are those supplying the NSH's and immersion heater. The 2 meters are adjacent, so it shouldn't cost too much: get a local sparky in to quote. The only other cost will be a meter change to E7, normally around £60.
There is no need to 'rewire the house'!

thorganby

nPower said:

Hello tiff_rocks,
This looks like quite an old set up, we could look at fitting an economy 7 meter, however, work would be required first by a private electrician. It does not require a full house rewire, it might be worth getting a private electrician in to see what work is required and if you need us to replace the two meters with one economy 7 meter then please get in touch with us, our contact details are on our page. 

With regards to the tariff, since the Government introduced the price cap on the standard variable tariff the multi mpan or complex metering set ups where the supply as two different supplies or meter point administration numbers (MPAN's)  has never been reviewed. They've decided that from 1 October 2020 prices will be increased to bring them in line with standard single MPAN prices. 

Thanks 

This is a good example of why customer service reps should not glibly give out incorrect, unhelpful, misleading advice regarding things that they obviously do not understand.

Even when provided with a photo of the metering set up, it is clear that the reps statement "work would be required first by a private electrician" is wrong.

To change to E7, the old two meter plus timeswitch would simply be replaced by an E7 meter with either an internal contactor or an external contactor to control the heating circuits.

This is standard practice and requires no work to be carried out by a private electrician and should be done by npower at no cost to the customer.

OP Once npower have removed their old meters, you will have the choice of the whole market (E7 and single rate) and you would be wise to switch to a more competitive tariff after this treatment by the 5th of the big 5 suppliers!