Off peak electricity price increase

stewie_griffin

This probably won't have anything to do with the price cap, but more that your account will be transferring to e.on in the future and they don't support the tariff you're on. They've probably chosen the 1st of October to coincide with the price cap change. I believe e.on underwent a program of replacing all their odd/complex meter set ups a couple of years ago. It's highly unlikely a private electrician will need to do any work and I'd imagine you'd be offered a meter change free of charge. Your storage heaters should work fine with E7 unless they're very old. Having 13 hours off peak seems like overkill to me and on E7 your off peak prices will be cheaper than you're paying now.

Gerry1

If the existing supply gives 13 hours off peak, it's likely that the OP has storage heaters which are too small to work successfully on E7.  Without any daytime boost, they are likely to become cold by the afternoon or early evening.

The choice seems to be between providing sufficient storage capacity by adding to or replacing the existing heaters and then using E7, or switching to a cheap single rate supplier such as Neon Reef who charge around 12p/kWh.

The latter should not require any wiring or meter changes and there would be only one standing charge.

tiff_rocks

stewie_griffin said:

This probably won't have anything to do with the price cap, but more that your account will be transferring to e.on in the future and they don't support the tariff you're on. They've probably chosen the 1st of October to coincide with the price cap change. I believe e.on underwent a program of replacing all their odd/complex meter set ups a couple of years ago. It's highly unlikely a private electrician will need to do any work and I'd imagine you'd be offered a meter change free of charge. Your storage heaters should work fine with E7 unless they're very old. Having 13 hours off peak seems like overkill to me and on E7 your off peak prices will be cheaper than you're paying now.

The old meter that controls the storage heaters only comes on for around 7 hours in any case.
The storage heaters were put in 7 years ago so the 7 hours charge they receive keeps them warm all day.
If we were to have one meter fitted then we would need to have timers fitted to the storage heaters as they come on and off as the meter kicks in.
Thank you for your comment.

tiff_rocks

macman said:

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'!

We would also need to fit timers to the heaters as they are controlled by the meter switching itself on and off.
It just seems unfair as there is nothing wrong with our current set up and the meter does only run for 7 hours a day. I don't understand why we can't be charged the Economy 7 rate on our existing meter which would be 11.414 kwh inclusive of VAT.
 Thank you for your comment 

[Deleted User]

Hi,

you wouldn't need timers on the storage heaters, the switch would be controlled through the meter.

tiff_rocks

thorganby said:

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! 

I keep asking for this but keep getting fobbed off. I have made 3 complaints that keep being classed as resolved, even though I've been unhappy with the advice given 😔

thorganby

tiff_rocks said:

thorganby said:

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! 

I keep asking for this but keep getting fobbed off. I have made 3 complaints that keep being classed as resolved, even though I've been unhappy with the advice given 😔

You need to raise an official complaint to the ombudsman and don't be fobbed off by npower any longer, as they are forcing you into this uncompetitive situation.
You do not need timers because the new E7 meter will control your heating circuit.

Retify

tiff_rocks said:

I keep asking for this but keep getting fobbed off. I have made 3 complaints that keep being classed as resolved, even though I've been unhappy with the advice given 😔

www. ombudsman-services. org/complain-now

Go to the ombudsman, situations like this where you reach am impasse is what they are there for. Npower really shouldn't be closing as resolved unless you are happy with the resolution by the way. In future, ask them to reopen the original complaint, not to start a new one too.

tiff_rocks

thorganby said:

tiff_rocks said:

thorganby said:

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! 

I keep asking for this but keep getting fobbed off. I have made 3 complaints that keep being classed as resolved, even though I've been unhappy with the advice given 😔

You need to raise an official complaint to the ombudsman and don't be fobbed off by npower any longer, as they are forcing you into this uncompetitive situation.
You do not need timers because the new E7 meter will control your heating circuit.

Thank you for that, I didn't realise the E7 meter would control the heating circuit.
The ombudsman won't intervene unless 8 weeks has passed OR I receive a 'final position' or 'deadlock' letter from Npower.
I feel Npower are and have monopolised our situation for the 9 years in which we have lived here.
I have, however, passed this on to the Citizens advice bureau Extra Help Unit.

tiff_rocks

[Deleted User] said:

Hi,

you wouldn't need timers on the storage heaters, the switch would be controlled through the meter.

Thank you 😊