Eon Next Economy 7 metering issue

Mobtr

QrizB said:

Mobtr said:

Just had a glance through this post, what exactly is the complaint you have gone to the ombudsman with? 

Hopefully, it's that the ALCS times don't align with the tariff times and that the OP's mother is paying peak-rate prices for what should be off-peak electricity.

Surely if the storage heaters are wired up to the night rate, they would charge up only when the meter switches to the low rate which would be 22:30 - 00:30 & 02:30-7:30 and not charge up when the meter clicks over to day rate between 00:30 - 02:30

QrizB

Mobtr said:

QrizB said:

Mobtr said:

Just had a glance through this post, what exactly is the complaint you have gone to the ombudsman with? 

Hopefully, it's that the ALCS times don't align with the tariff times and that the OP's mother is paying peak-rate prices for what should be off-peak electricity.

Surely if the storage heaters are wired up to the night rate, they would charge up only when the meter switches to the low rate which would be 22:30 - 00:30 & 02:30-7:30 and not charge up when the meter clicks over to day rate between 00:30 - 02:30

Yes, but only if the ALCS and the tariff both have the same timings.

The complaint is that the cheap-rate tariff applies from 2230-0030 & 0230-0730, but the ALCS is set for 0030-0730.

(I might have those back-to-front.)

It's a rare fault but we've seen this before on the forum, at least once.

Monkston

Just updating this absolute omnishambles in case anyone runs into a similar issue. 

It transpired that the old, non-smart meter was running a split-Economy7 tariff (SSC 0374, Night rate 0000-0030, 0230-0730, 2230-2400).  From talking to one of the engineers this was apparently a common option across the Eastern Region back in the nineties.  However, due to a records issue, E.ON Next assumed it was a standard Economy7 meter (SSC 0151, Night rate 0030-0730) and didn't check when they replaced it with a smart meter in March'22.  Hence it inherited the split-rate SSC 0374, but they applied standard E7 hours to the storage heaters.

In Sept'23 the Ombudsman upheld the complaint and identified that - contrary to their continual protestations - E.ON Next had not installed a smart meter with a standard E7 SSC of 0151, it was registered with a split-E7 SSC of 0374.  He instructed them to align the storage heater hours to the split-E7 tariff.

In Oct'23 E.ON Next appealed the ruling stating they do not offer split-E7 tariffs so could not offer it back, ignoring the fact it was already in effect and had been for 20 years.  They also stated that anyway, they had installed a standard E7 smart meter with SSC 0151 and that everything was already correct.  The Ombudsman again referred them to the Electricity Central Online Enquiry Service (ECOES) which recorded the new meter as having an SSC of 0374, rejected their appeal and instructed them to replace the meter with a standard E7 SSC of 0151.

The first engineer arrived with no instructions and proclaimed it could not be adjusted at the meter.  The second engineer appointment was missed.  The third arrived with instructions to fit an Economy10 meter.  The fourth was a repeat of the first.  After prodding the Ombudsman some more, a fifth engineer finally arrived in March'24 - 6 months after the original ruling was upheld - and replaced the smart meter with a non-smart E7 meter.  This seems insane (why not just reconfigure it?) but at this point at least the E7 hours and storage heaters are now in alignment again.  After 2 years.

When it came to recalculating the backbilling they were adamant she'd had an Economy10 tariff and, for my own sanity, I accepted a partial settlement.

E.ON Next are, by far, the most dysfunctional company I have ever dealt with.