British Gas Economy 7 woe

valiant24

I was with PFP energy on Economy 7.  They went bust and I was moved to British Gas (BG) on 4th Oct.  Apr Price Promise, with Day and Night rates.

Since then the Night Rate meter reading has not budged, but the Day Rate meter has flown on.   I've been wading through treacle with multiple BG agents half a world away on live chat and been given lots of conflicting answers, the most recent being that my meter is not compatible with BG's systems so, although I am on an Economy 7/Day Rate-Night Rate tariff, I'll be charged for everything at Day Rate.

This will be enormously damaging if true, as I have an electric Aga and 75% of my usage is at night.

Any advice please?

Thanks
V

QrizB

Is this a smart meter or an older one? If older, analogue or digital? Could you post a photo?

worrywart_3

How come so much at night? I have an electric everhot simile beast but it dwindles at night, will send you a pm

valiant24

QrizB said:

Is this a smart meter or an older one? If older, analogue or digital? Could you post a photo?

On hols right now - will post on Monday.  It's a new smart meter and external meter only provided a couple of months ago though.

valiant24

worrywart_3 said:

How come so much at night? I have an electric everhot simile beast but it dwindles at night, will send you a pm

Electric Aga.

Curiousgirl1

I think if a smart Economy 7 loses signal so doesn’t work as a smart meter, you lose the night rate. This could be the issue with changing to BG 

MWT

Curiousgirl1 said:

I think if a smart Economy 7 loses signal so doesn’t work as a smart meter, you lose the night rate. This could be the issue with changing to BG 

That shouldn’t happen, the use of two registers would have to be reconfigured for it to stop recording energy use that way, it isn’t dependent on an external ‘signal’.
So in this case it is a change that BG have made to the configuration, or possible PFP did it upon transfer, but that seems less likely. 

worrywart_3

valiant24 said:

worrywart_3 said:

How come so much at night? I have an electric everhot simile beast but it dwindles at night, will send you a pm

Electric Aga.

Yes I understand that I have a similar beast an everhot but I can get it to go in to eco mode at night as it won’t be being used whilst we are all asleep why is the aga utilising so much electric at night, an everhot is I think much more energy efficient than an Aga or was when I bought I think the aga has updated so depends when you bought. I have turned mine off for now as it literally doubles my electric usage I don’t have room for a seperate cooker so I’m using a air fryer and a one pan induction plug in hob, will put the everhot back in  action when it’s gets cold but it’s just so expensive to run, and with prices increasing so much only more. Why does the aga use so much at night? 

coffeehound

valiant24 said:

I've been wading through treacle with multiple BG agents half a world away on live chat and been given lots of conflicting answers, the most recent being that my meter is not compatible with BG's systems 

Have you broached the subject of getting BG to fit a new meter?

valiant24

coffeehound said:

valiant24 said:

I've been wading through treacle with multiple BG agents half a world away on live chat and been given lots of conflicting answers, the most recent being that my meter is not compatible with BG's systems 

Have you broached the subject of getting BG to fit a new meter?

In one of the the 4 online "chats" I have had with various of their agents, it was suggested that I contact them later in the month to request this.   Another suggested that he/she had already requested it.  So who knows?

On the subject of how they propose to charge me the correct sum for this month and indeed any period before they fix the problem, whether by a new meter or some other means, there was no coherent answer.

I suppose when push comes to shove I'll refuse to pay the full amount and instead offer an estimate of the correct bill, and this will bring things to a head .....

valiant24

worrywart_3 said:

valiant24 said:

worrywart_3 said:

How come so much at night? I have an electric everhot simile beast but it dwindles at night, will send you a pm

Electric Aga.

 ........ Why does the aga use so much at night? 

Because it is specifically programmed only to come on at night, viz during the Economy 7 hours.