E.ON Next smart meter email

Northern_Wanderer

Next Flex does not require a smart meter and they are not mandatory. You can safely ignore the requests to get one if that's best for you for now, whatever your reason. I am opted out of SMS communications and also opted out of recieving communications on smart meters. However, I still regularly receive SMS asking me to make a smart meter fitting appointment which I promptly delete. But I would like to know why Eon Next think it's ok to text me even though I am opted out of that method of communication, regardless of what it's about.

chris1973

Mstty said:

Just a question,

In these interesting times why wouldn't you want to track your own energy usage easily on a nice in home display and make sure you aren't using too much energy and blowing the household budget?

I'm more concerned about the introduction of Time of Day style tariffs, inevitably with the highest energy price band being charged during the 'peak' time, which is roughly 4.30pm to 8.30pm.

EV owners may also want to consider the real possibility that when several million EV's are all charging overnight, it will probably create yet another overnight peak period, just like the Evening one, which could very well spell the end or change to their 'off peak' cheaper tariff periods!.

I have to go out to work, in order to afford all of these price increases, which mean i'm unable to be at home to take advantage of any of the cheaper tiered rates and do all of the energy hogging tasks at say 11AM - I did ask my boss about letting me leave at 10AM and return at 1PM every day so I can do my washing, tumble dying and ironing and put the slow cooker on during a cheaper energy tariff band, but for some strange reason, cheaper energy and saving the world didn't sway him, and my request for this flexible working was turned down.......when he had stopped laughing.

So, by default I can only be at home in the Evenings during the week and this is when I use the most Energy, and this period is also almost exclusively going to be charged at the highest rate. Why exactly, should somebody who works office hours be financially disadvantaged over somebody at home 24/7/365 or who works the night shift?

I don't have the cash to invest in solar panels and battery packs and why should I, as the present 24/7 single tariff works for me just fine, thanks. Fire Brigade advice is also not to leave unattended white goods running whilst asleep or whilst out of the house, so that negates leaving appliances on timers or timed function.

I contacted Eon to ask them for written assurances that there are no plans to introduce such charging, after receipt of which I will consent to a smart meter. I've had no reply, draw your own conclusions.

Either way, Governments and Energy Companies aren't Saints or your Mum, so I would question any 'advice' from either of them being made truly in our best interests and for our benefit. If they really did care about 68 million complete strangers, we wouldn't be seeing this level and frequency of increases in energy in the first place. We already have one of the highest Electricity prices in the world, so plenty of scope to reduce the severity of these increases, but they would have to start giving a damn first - which again, calls into question the real reason for smart metering.

Mr_K

Northern_Wanderer said:

Next Flex does not require a smart meter and they are not mandatory. You can safely ignore the requests to get one if that's best for you for now, whatever your reason. I am opted out of SMS communications and also opted out of recieving communications on smart meters. However, I still regularly receive SMS asking me to make a smart meter fitting appointment which I promptly delete. But I would like to know why Eon Next think it's ok to text me even though I am opted out of that method of communication, regardless of what it's about.

Me too, however I've solved that one,  i changed my phone with them to 07777777777.  No more pushy texts !

Northern_Wanderer

Mr_K said:

Me too, however I've solved that one,  i changed my phone with them to 07777777777.  No more pushy texts !

Yes but they seem to know who I am when I call from my listed number....

StinkerPinker

I dislike the idea of Time-of-Day tariffs.   It would make it harder for a consumer to budget reliably, surely?  

Even worse would be dynamic on-the-hoof price variation to throttle demand during times of stress for the network.   Suppose one didn't notice a sudden hike.   Expensive for the user and ineffective for the network.   There would need to be an alert system to get people to react.

All this increasing complexity.   Increasing risk of it all falling over.   Time to crawl back under my rock, I think!  

On a brighter note, I saw a post about the company using the age of the meter as an excuse to change it to a smart meter, so I checked mine - a Landis & Gyr 5235a installed in 2013, so it's certified until 2033 - nice.

Thanks for all the replies, people.    Not unappreciated.
stinkerpinker.

Northern_Wanderer

StinkerPinker said:

On a brighter note, I saw a post about the company using the age of the meter as an excuse to change it to a smart meter, so I checked mine - a Landis & Gyr 5235a installed in 2013, so it's certified until 2033 - nice.

Thanks, just checked mine, it's got 25 years certification so I'm good for four more years   I will feel better that I will let it run till the end of it's certified life for environmental reasons because I am of the opinion of if it ain't broke don't fix it and I dislike waste problems.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79397164/#Comment_79397164

[Deleted User]

@chris1973  It has got nothing to do with energy prices per se.  The challenge going forward is that our energy supply is going to become increasingly uncertain as we see more renewable energy sources coming on stream.

As I post, it is a nice sunny day around the UK and 24.4% of our energy is coming from the sun but there is little wind so only 4.12% is being supplied from wind farms. These percentages change by the hour; by the day and by the season. The Smart Grid, of which smart meters are just a minor player, offer Grid managers a way of managing intermittent/ever changing supply with demand without the need to have expensive standby power generation or the need to pay generators to feather their wind turbines.

Many countries have already introduced time-of-use tariffs with peak; mid-peak and off-peak times and charges. We are now seeing tariffs with both a maximum usage and a power limit. If a customer can manage with a 3kW power limit then he/she will pay less than a customer who wants a 5kW limit.

Clearly, customers such as you who want the energy equivalent of a full Sky Q HDR TV; broadband and mobile package - that is, use what you want, when you want - will probably still be able to stay on a legacy tariff but at a considerably higher cost than those consumers who are prepared to be flexible.

This is a present French Time-of-Use/Power Limited Tariff: (For kVA read kW). Look at how the annual standing charge increases as the agreed power limit increases. The are many other variations.

This is Spain’s response to the supply versus demand challenge:

The CNMC will replace a flat tariff rate with a modified tariff that will optimise the way the electricity network is used: effectively, you will pay more for your electricity if you use it at peak times. The rate you pay for your electricity will effectively change depending on the time of day you use it.

 The electricity charges set by the Spanish government itself will also be updated and will follow the same structure and proposal as the CNMC.

•  Picking the Cheapest Times to Use Electricity

Under the new tariff rates, the hours of 10am-2pm and 6pm-10pm from Monday to Friday will be the most expensive times of day to user your electricity. The ‘average’ or medium price times to use your electicity are between 8am-10am, 2pm – 6pm, and 10pm to midnight from Monday to Friday. Whilst the cheapest times to use your electricity will be between Midnight and 8am from Monday to Friday, all day on Saturday and Sunday, and on national holidays.

And across the Atlantic, this is what Ontario is offering (along with a conventional tariff alternative):

Whether UK consumers like it or not, these types of tariff offers are coming our way very soon.

MWT

chris1973 said:

I'm more concerned about the introduction of Time of Day style tariffs, inevitably with the highest energy price band being charged during the 'peak' time, which is roughly 4.30pm to 8.30pm.

When we get to the point where there is a sufficiently small number of customers who are resisting the smart meter installations, you may find that rather than the tariffs penalising use in the peak periods, they will be enabling discounts in the off-peak periods, so lack of a smart meter would leave you will all the usage at the peak rate...

We are not close to that yet, but if it is needed, it will eventually happen...