EDF supplied wrong meter instead of Economy 7

cwither

I agreed to a smart meter and last week EDF supplied the meter but is only a 1 rate meter and not Economy 7.  I have spoken to EDf and they say it is my fault for not stipulating Economy7 but there was no where on the email just a box for an appointmetn to be made.  I have just switched to them on 30/09/23 and I have an economy 7 tariff.  I thnk they are blaming me but they should surely have known it was an Economy 7 meter they were chargong.  I know the person who installed was a bit strange when I asked him to show me how th read the meter.  EDF say in will be 8 weeks befre it can be changed.  Please can someone advise if I should esculate tis as I am so upset about it.

ArbitraryRandom

I'd ask them to confirm the smart readings is recording your usage every 30 mins - if it is, I'd get them to agree (in an email) that they'll bill you between install and meter replacement based on your usage using your E7 rates (they'll have to calculate it manually and do a bill adjustment, but it's not like it's difficult). 

If they won't do either of those things then I'd lodge a formal complaint and escalate to the ombudsman. 

Gerry1

My understanding is that smart meters can be remotely programmed to operate with an E7 tariff.

However, if you have storage or immersion heaters you may have a problem if they've fitted a four terminal meter (two fat wires going in, two fat wires going out).  You might find that your heaters don't get switched on automatically overnight.

The need to obtain and install a replacement five terminal meter might explain the eight week delay.

QrizB

cwither said:

I agreed to a smart meter and last week EDF supplied the meter but is only a 1 rate meter and not Economy 7 ... EDF say in will be 8 weeks befre it can be changed.

Every smart meter is capable of being an E7 meter. It just needs your supplier to send the meter the correct configuration details.

Assuming that your meter is working in smart mode, EDF can switch you from single rate to E7 remotely, without a site visit, and within the day.

QrizB

Gerry1 said:

However, if you have storage or immersion heaters you may have a problem if they've fitted a four terminal meter (two fat wires going in, two fat wires going out).  You might find that your heaters don't get switched on automatically overnight.

A photo of the meter and associated wiring should help us see if this is the case.

OP are your storage heaters and immersion heaters working correctly?

HedgehogMum

cwither said:

I agreed to a smart meter and last week EDF supplied the meter but is only a 1 rate meter and not Economy 7.  I have spoken to EDf and they say it is my fault for not stipulating Economy7 but there was no where on the email just a box for an appointmetn to be made.  I have just switched to them on 30/09/23 and I have an economy 7 tariff.  I thnk they are blaming me but they should surely have known it was an Economy 7 meter they were chargong.  I know the person who installed was a bit strange when I asked him to show me how th read the meter.  EDF say in will be 8 weeks befre it can be changed.  Please can someone advise if I should esculate tis as I am so upset about it.

Hi, my advice from personal experience with EDF fitting smart meters is to ring them back and ask THEM to escalate your complaint as this is Step 2 of their Making a Complaint procedure, details of which they should have sent you. Note, if it's been 8 weeks since you FIRST told them about the problem or you've had a deadlock letter & they haven't fixed the problem, Stage 3 of their complaints procedure tells you you can contact the Energy Ombudsman. As you were already on an Economy 7 tariff with them, unless they informed you that having a smart meter would change your tariff to a single rate one, I think you have a clear complaint to add on to the actual mismanagement of your smart meter installation. My previous electricity meter was an Economy 7 meter but I didn't take up their Economy 7 tariff during its operation. When inviting me to have smart meters, EDF put a disclaimer on my online account that they wouldn't be responsible if the new smart meter being offered didn't work for Economy 7. I rang and had a lengthy signing up process with the call handler to ensure I was getting the single rate meter I wanted. From this experience, I would surmise that they've had issues installing smart meters in Economy 7 households. Hope it works out for you. 

Swipe

It's not advisable to let an installer loose if you have Economy 7 until you have grilled them and made them confirm all your storage heaters will still work post installation

EssexHebridean

Swipe said:

It's not advisable to let an installer loose if you have Economy 7 until you have grilled them and made them confirm all your storage heaters will still work post installation

And realistically, outside these forums and similar ones, how many "Jo(e) Bloggs" members of the public do you think know how to tell the difference between an E7 and a standard meter, or even that anything different is required?

OP - frankly I think it's deplorable that they are trying to blame you for their error - the very fact that you are on an E7 tariff means that they should have been aware of what may be required. 

MeteredOut

My experience of EDF is that the first line customer support will tell you anything to get you off the phone. OP, get a complaint raised and escalated and that starts the clock ticking for the 8 week limit before you can contact the energy ombudsman.

Did you get the "8 weeks to get it changed" in writing, or was that just a comment over the phone? 

I doubt you'll be able to get anyone at EDF to do anything to fix the issue until the ombudsman gets involved.

If it turns out you've lost the E7 tariff, keep as much record as you can of your increase cost due to this, and include that as part of your claim to the ombudsman.

Scot_39

QrizB said:

cwither said:

I agreed to a smart meter and last week EDF supplied the meter but is only a 1 rate meter and not Economy 7 ... EDF say in will be 8 weeks befre it can be changed.

Every smart meter is capable of being an E7 meter. It just needs your supplier to send the meter the correct configuration details.

Assuming that your meter is working in smart mode, EDF can switch you from single rate to E7 remotely, without a site visit, and within the day.

Every smart meter maybe capable of billing using e7 rates, but not all are 5 port - so able by themselves to replace and then maintain similar functionality as many an older e7 or legacy (like dual RTS) meters.

To successfully control heating and hw needing time switched supplies properly.

EDF and you would hope meter fitters would have access to meter type and the fact the OP was on E7 initially seems to confirm they were well aware.

And the meter fitter should never have fitted the wrong meter type if not suitable.  But then we have seen a few bad installs here in the past.

The OP doesn't say has lost hw or heating though - so as you say need to look beyond just the meter software configuration - to see if that's a good enough solution.

The fact been told needs a new meter and not just an over the air configuration worries me.  As if not lost,  OP could even have hw and heating operating 24/7 if not on own timers etc.

But in my experience many - even supervisors I talked to (at EOn) normal customer services  - have no clue about the wiring needs - it's just a name on a screen. And a tariff with 1 or 2 rates.

And the first 2 of the meter fitters sent to replace my heatwise twin rts setup years ago - at least had sense to walk away rather than risk botching it.

QrizB

Scot_39 said:

QrizB said:

cwither said:

I agreed to a smart meter and last week EDF supplied the meter but is only a 1 rate meter and not Economy 7 ... EDF say in will be 8 weeks befre it can be changed.

Every smart meter is capable of being an E7 meter. It just needs your supplier to send the meter the correct configuration details.

Assuming that your meter is working in smart mode, EDF can switch you from single rate to E7 remotely, without a site visit, and within the day.

Every smart meter maybe capable of billing using e7 rates, but not all are 5 port - so able by themselves to replace and then maintain similar functionality as many an older e7 or legacy (like dual RTS) meters.

And we don't know how the fitter installed it.

Scot_39 said:

EDF and you would hope meter fitters would have access to meter type and the fact the OP was on E7 initially seems to confirm they were well aware.
And the meter fitter should never have fitted the wrong meter type if not suitable.  But then we have seen a few bad installs here in the past.

Which is why we would benefit from a photo. OP hasn't yet returned to the thread.