Our Smart Meter is E7 but we want to switch to single rate

Silva9

I hope someone can give us advice. We live in a house without E7 heaters though on a dual rate meter and were told that if we  had  a smart meter fitted it could simply total both readings (night and day)  and  then bill for single rate, so we had the smart meter fitted.We have been waiting for well over a year now  but Bulb have said they cant say when this will happen. So in the meantime are bills are really high. Has anyone had any success in getting this sorted themselves or any  advice please?

Swipe

Switch to a supplier who will oblige. Bulb are expensive regardless whether you are on E7 or not.

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately, you've been misled twice over !

• You didn't need to have the meter changed.  Neon Reef, Symbio and many others will happily bill an E7 meter at single rate.  I've switched umpteen times; sometimes E7 is cheaper, sometimes single rate wins.

• Bulb used to offer single rate with an E7 meter but then became awkward and refused to do so.  Whoever told you they would do now so was wrong: you'd have to agree to a rip-off charge of £120 to get a single rate meter.  They are also an expensive supplier, so dump them ASAP: start comparing with Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch'.

Remember that separate suppliers are often cheaper than dual fuel.  Don't assume that single rate is always cheaper than E7 for low usage: some suppliers are competitive with night usage as low as 15 - 20%, so get comparisons for both E7 and single rate.

Just find your first choice electricity supplier and ask them whether they will bill both registers at single rate.  If not, choose the next best, and so on.