Economy 7 timer switch advice

hilaryfur

Thanks to all who commented, that is helpful.
I confirm that the meter change notice showing R1 and R2 refers to the previous meter.
This new meter does give 2 readings when I cycle through, however the night reading hasn't changed of course since the meter was fitted on Monday. 
I was able to get an electrician out yesterday evening: he checked all wiring and circuits and said all is fine. He also fitted an indicator switch going to an unused position in the fuse box, and said that the light would come on if there was power going through during the night (see picture). I got up at 1:15 to check, and the light was off. I had not seen the suggestion of checking the 100A button, but will do that tonight when it should have switched over.
I am about to tackle British Gas again.

matelodave

I can only suggest that the contactor is not operating in the meter - possibly because the E7 function has not been enabled. This would need a BG person to come and do it because it is a function of the internal clock in the meter. Can you check whether the time has been set on the meter - this is how to cycle through the readings on an E7 meter. Unfortunately they are all a bit different so yours might not be the same but it does give you an idea.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw9z05tfs9s

hilaryfur

Yes the time and date have been set correctly.

matelodave

OK, now you've got a pretty good idea of what is wrong you may be able to explain it to the person on the customer service desk, or request a conversation with a supervisor if you cant get your message across. 

I guess you aren't getting any hot water either unless you are using the daytime boost switch which is also costing a lot of money if you cant access the off-peak energy.

Hopefully you are keeping a record of all these conversations and ensuring that they are aware that you will be left without heating, possibly until the New Year until they get it sorted and its now urgent. have you got children or any other vulnerable people in the house (like a Granny or Grandad who might just be staying with you  ) who would be severely compromised without adequate heating.

I'd also advise you to write them a complaint e-mail stating whats been going on and why you are unhappy with their service.

hilaryfur

Dave, I think your signature phrase was written with BG in mind. I am utterly tearing my hair out. I have spoken and emailed at length to BG, my MP has been in touch with them, and they continue to insist it is not their responsibility. Yes I am documenting, and submitted a written complaint, which is nothing to the one they will receive when this is over. I have now spoken to Dimplex, and they say that the heaters are not receiving a signal from the meter. They (and I) think the problem might be that BG have switched me to a standard variable single rate tariff, although the new meter IS showing 2 rates. The old meter stopped showing 2 rates the same morning the heating stopped working. BG won't allow that there is any connection between this and the heaters not working. Can you comment on that?
You have been so helpful!

hilaryfur

Luckily my hot water is just a stand alone immersion heater.
British Gas still stonewalling.

matelodave

Cant really comment - I dont actually know the meter and there's no reall info about on t'interweb) but intuitively it hasn't been set up correctly (assuming that it has the capability of being configured for either single or dual rate operation).

IMO if it's got a clock and the two rate register then it should be activating the internal 100amp contactor to energise the fifth terminal during off peak hours. Not only that, if its configured as an E7 meter,  the low rate register should be incrementing during the night because all your leccy should be delivered at the off-peak rate, even if it just for your fridge, freezer and broadband router. If it's not then its not been configured 

As I said, our previous E7 meter (similar but not the same) was installed as an E7 by Eon in 2010 to exchange it from a Paygo meter and they came back a week or so later to reconfigure it when we requested a swap to a single rate tariff.

Its not something you can do yourself, it needs whoever changed the meter to come back with the appropriate equipment to physically do it at the meter. I'm guessing that perhaps the meter should have be pre-configured before it was delivered but has slipped through the net and whoever did the swap wasn't really on the ball.

 You could try the emergency number for your DNO and see if they've got any ideas.(check your leccy bill for the emergency number or do a DNO look-up to find out who yours is.

Unfortunately a lot of the guys (and possibly gals) who are doing meter changes don't actually know what they are doing and neither does the person on the helpdesk. You may need to find out who actually did the exchange, was it the supplier, the DNO or an agency.

Is there any identifying info on the meter change docket (check the back as well) which may point you towards the company that actually did the meter swap (frequently these are subbed out so finding out who did what and when can be a bit of a nightmare). Is there an owners decal on the meter itself (many meter are actually leased and not actually owned by the energy supplier. It's interesting that the "property of " info has been scored out so I'm guessing that it may be a refurbished meter, but it does have a bar code to identify it.

If BG think you've got an E7 meter and your MPAN also says its an E7 meter but it's not been configured as such then you are probably going to go around in circles unless you can get someone to actually come and look at it.
As I hinted, tell the DNO  that you have a vulnerable person living/staying with you and you have not had any heating since the meter was changed and that you cant get any sense out of BG and you are at your wit's end. lay it on a bit

Sorry but I can't say much more. I hope you get it sorted out - please come back and tell us what went wrong when you do. Good luck

Swipe

Yes, as matelodave says, I'd call the DNO . It is their responsibility that you have the correct supply. I can't vouch for other DNO's but Western Power are excellent.

matelodave

Our DNO is UK Power Networks and have been excellent on the two occasions that I've had to cal them out.
Both times they were here within less than an hour. Once was for a major outage when the power line fell down in high winds and the second when I thought that our main fuse had blown but turned out to be a faulty joint and the top of our power distribution pole which only affected us.

hilaryfur

My first port of call last Sunday when it failed was the DNO, which is SSE. Not interested unless I have no power at all on the property. If daytime power works, it's not their problem. We are a 'vulnerable household' as my partner is 77 and disabled, I am 71 and rapidly descending into severe stress issues - I have relayed this on every phone call, to no effect. I think my next step is to wake up again in the middle of the night and check the 100A light. Video it perhaps. Then attach BG again in the morning. 
Thank you so much guys for your advice, watch this space.