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Economy 7 smart meter advice
stevekm1982
Posts: 13 Forumite
in Energy
Earlier in the year British Gas contacted me about moving to a smart meter, which I agreed to. I have since discovered when reviewing my bill that by doing this they have removed me from an economy 7 meter, which was not mentioned at the time. I have an electric car through work and have always charged my car overnight (as well as run other appliances) and noticed that I have been charged the standard variable tariff 24/7. I have tried reaching out to British Gas by their call centre (which is closed) and their WhatsApp function (who said to contact the call centre) with no luck.
Before I take this further I just wanted to check whether others have had similar experiences and whether they have rectified it? And also whether it’s worth pursuing and switching back to economy 7 if possible? As I note from other posts that the tariffs may not be as beneficial now.
Before I take this further I just wanted to check whether others have had similar experiences and whether they have rectified it? And also whether it’s worth pursuing and switching back to economy 7 if possible? As I note from other posts that the tariffs may not be as beneficial now.
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Comments
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British Gas seem to have a massive problem doing Economy 7 on smart meters.
Everyone else seems to manage somehow. You might want to look at E7 tariffs from other suppliers, particularly as there are some big differences in the day/night balance.1 -
Oh dear, sadly this is a well known issue - and more importantly it is also an issue that BG themselves are extremely well aware of!
Presumably the meter that BG have fitted isn't capable of supporting E7?🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00. Balance as at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her2 -
No I don’t believe so.EssexHebridean said:Oh dear, sadly this is a well known issue - and more importantly it is also an issue that BG themselves are extremely well aware of!
Presumably the meter that BG have fitted isn't capable of supporting E7?Any idea whether British Gas has managed to rectify this for others?0 -
No, they don’t have a clue how to fix it.stevekm1982 said:
No I don’t believe so.EssexHebridean said:Oh dear, sadly this is a well known issue - and more importantly it is also an issue that BG themselves are extremely well aware of!
Presumably the meter that BG have fitted isn't capable of supporting E7?Any idea whether British Gas has managed to rectify this for others?0 -
Sounds about right.Deleted_User said:
No, they don’t have a clue how to fix it.stevekm1982 said:
No I don’t believe so.EssexHebridean said:Oh dear, sadly this is a well known issue - and more importantly it is also an issue that BG themselves are extremely well aware of!
Presumably the meter that BG have fitted isn't capable of supporting E7?Any idea whether British Gas has managed to rectify this for others?Do you think I would have a case for reclaiming overnight energy use that was billed at standard rate as opposed to economy 7?0 -
Yes, my Old Eon SMETS1 economy 7 enabled smart meter is now connected again and appears to have lost its economy 7, the two values are added together and I'm on the single rate, I am with BG, I do need to confirm this as they didn't actually let me know, I only found out when I tried to submit meter readings and found my smart meter working again but it's useless trying to contact them at them moment, fortunately I am quite happy to be off economy 7 but obviously lots won't be1
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Raid a formal complaint with them if you haven’t already, asking them what their planned fix is, and stressing that if they don’t have one, they need to urgently get you a replacement smart meter that WILL support E7 fitted so you can switch away. I would also state in that complaint that you expect them to return you financially to where you would have been had the error not been made. It’s utterly appalling that in spite of KNOWING that they can’t support E7, they are still doing smart meter installs for customers on a dual rate tariff.stevekm1982 said:
Sounds about right.Deleted_User said:
No, they don’t have a clue how to fix it.stevekm1982 said:
No I don’t believe so.EssexHebridean said:Oh dear, sadly this is a well known issue - and more importantly it is also an issue that BG themselves are extremely well aware of!
Presumably the meter that BG have fitted isn't capable of supporting E7?Any idea whether British Gas has managed to rectify this for others?Do you think I would have a case for reclaiming overnight energy use that was billed at standard rate as opposed to economy 7?🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00. Balance as at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her1 -
stevekm1982 said:
No I don’t believe so.EssexHebridean said:Presumably the meter that BG have fitted isn't capable of supporting E7?All smart meters are capable of supporting E7, it's a mandatory part of the spec.The problem seems to lie with BG's back-end.Any idea whether British Gas has managed to rectify this for others?
With a lot of effort, yes.See this thread from January:N. Hampshire, he/him. Octopus Intelligent Go elec & Tracker gas / Vodafone BB / iD mobile. Kirk Hill Co-op member.Ofgem cap table, Ofgem cap explainer. Economy 7 cap explainer. Gas vs E7 vs peak elec heating costs, Best kettle!
2.72kWp PV facing SSW installed Jan 2012. 11 x 247w panels, 3.6kw inverter. 35 MWh generated, long-term average 2.6 Os.0 -
Same problem. EDF kept pestering with requests to upgrade to a smart meter which my partner finally agreed to.
6 months on I've just worked out & realised the "not so smart" smart meter is supplying all the economy 7 circuits 24 hours a day at the much higher day rate instaed of only coming on at the cheaper economy seven times.
Raised a complaint with EDF & they havn't got a clue on the fact they have dissabled a what was fully functioning economy 7 installation. All they ask is; do you have hot water & does the heating work.
Engineers installing these smart meters are NOT fully qualified electricians with a full understanding of home installation systems. Only trained & competent to repalce meters.
How many other customers, particularly vulnerable & elderly, are now financially much worse off without realising what has happened?
Does anyone know how make EDF understand the problem & either get an economy 7 compatible smart meter installed or revert back to the original 2 meter economy 7 installation.
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I was so sceptical that I got it i writing from EDF and asked my smart meter engineer to guarantee that he would be installing a 5 terminal meter and that would it support my E7 off peak circuits. I also made him double check that it was all in order before he left the job. Trust no one these days.0
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