Former Avro now Octopus - Been moved to E7 tariff

afmfifgh

My parents were previously with Avro. They have an old E7 meter which gives a Day, Night and Total reading. They haven't been on an E7 tariff in years and weren't on one with Avro. Though they did have to give Day and Night readings.

Since Avro went bust they were switched to Octopus. They just this week got their first set of bills from Octopus dating back to 26th September 2021.

Octopus have put them on the variable E7 tariff from the date they took them on once Avro went bust rather than on their standard variable (non E7) tariff. Though since taking over until the bills were issued the Octopus account showed they were on the standard variable (non E7) tariff. This has since the bills have been issued changed and now shows them being on the E7 tariff.

Doing the rough sums and it seems this slight change will cost them hundreds more as they use little energy at night so are being charged the more expensive day rate now.

I have searched about and I couldn't find anyone else reporting this issue so I don't know if this is a one off error, blanket policy or something else. I plan to contact Ocotpus about this but does anyone on here have any advice or experience of this?

It doesn't seem fair or right to me as they have stuck with Octopus thinking they were on one tariff (non E7) only to have been misled and now charged at higher rates (E7).

Thanks.

Section62

afmfifgh said:

Octopus have put them on the variable E7 tariff from the date they took them on once Avro went bust rather than on their standard variable (non E7) tariff. Though since taking over until the bills were issued the Octopus account showed they were on the standard variable (non E7) tariff. This has since the bills have been issued changed and now shows them being on the E7 tariff.

Doing the rough sums and it seems this slight change will cost them hundreds more as they use little energy at night so are being charged the more expensive day rate now.

What are the unit rates and daily SC for the E7 and non-E7 tariffs you've used for the comparison?

Although E7 day rates and SC used to be quite a lot higher than those for single rates, in more recent times many suppliers have closed the difference down, in some cases to nothing.  I'd be really surprised if being on an E7 tariff could cost hundreds more than a single rate.... unless they are using a lot of electricity during the day.  Are you sure you are comparing like-with-like?

MWT

afmfifgh said:

Octopus have put them on the variable E7 tariff from the date they took them on once Avro went bust rather than on their standard variable (non E7) tariff. Though since taking over until the bills were issued the Octopus account showed they were on the standard variable (non E7) tariff. This has since the bills have been issued changed and now shows them being on the E7 tariff.

They are still on the capped standard variable tariff, it includes both single-rate and E7 options.

They will be on that tariff because their meter profile is set to E7, if they want to be on a single-rate then just contact support and tell them that they were on a single-rate with Avro and wish to continue that way and you should find that they will get the billing adjusted.

It is a pity that they didn't check their online account a while ago though as this would have been visible there as well, not just on the bill.

afmfifgh

Thanks for the replies.

Section62 - I don't have the rates to hand. I will post when I am able to get them later today. I only did rough calculations and it sounds from what you said that I may have miscalculated (hopefully) and the difference isn't that much. They use about 80-85% of their daily electric in the day and are relatively high users.

MWT - We will contact Octopus and ask to be put on a single rate and hopefully they adjust the bill. There are other issues with the bills that have been issued so we need to contact them anyway.

They had checked their online account as I mentioned in my opening post and until this week when the first bill was issued the online account showed they were on a single rate tariff. Once the bill was issued, which dated back to 26th September 2021 (I don't know why it has taken so long to be issued any bills), this week the online account with Octopus changed and removed the single rate tariff it was showing up until this week and switched to saying/showing an E7 tariff.

Even the email received on 9th March 2022 showing the projected costs for the April price cap showed prices and rates showing them on a single rate tariff. So as far as they/I were concerned they were on a single rate tariff with Octopus as had been the case with Avro.

Thanks again.

MWT

Should be an easy fix then as it is a recent change.

Section62

afmfifgh said:

Section62 - I don't have the rates to hand. I will post when I am able to get them later today. I only did rough calculations and it sounds from what you said that I may have miscalculated (hopefully) and the difference isn't that much. They use about 80-85% of their daily electric in the day and are relatively high users.

If they are high daytime users then you could be right - I would just suggest double checking the figures to make sure.

Equally if they are high users it might be worth reviewing their usage and seeing if any of it can be shifted into the night rate.  I realise it can be difficult for people to adapt, but at the present time it looks like energy prices are only going one way, and any opportunity to make savings is worth some consideration.  (Here I'm assuming there was also a good reason why the property was originally switched to E7)

MWT

Sometimes there really is no good reason at all.

Our house was built in 1988 and was equipped with an E7 meter, but no electric heating at all.

It never made sense to be on E7 without a lot more night time use than would be typical without even an immersion heater in place.

These are the current rates for Eastern region...

There will be a reduction on the standing charge for customers who qualify for the 'loyal' status.

QrizB

MWT said:

These are the current rates for Eastern region...

From that, the difference in price is about 3p/kWh.

If the OP's parents were "average" dual-fuel consumers, their 2900kWh/yr would cost them an extra £87/yr.

OP says they are high users, so maybe double that?