Economy 10 changed to E7 without warning Outfox the Market

WhyohWhy

I'm with Outfox the Market, after nothing short of harassment, I agreed to have a smart meter fitted.  I was on economy 10 but the new meter was on economy 7.  I use very little during the night time hours but a lot during the cheaper daytime hours so my old split on E10 was 50/50, on E7 its 82/19.  Outfox did not tell me I would not get E10 with a smart meter, if they had I never would have had it installed.  I have been told several times over the phone they will manually adjust my bill but I have nothing in writing and every time I contact them they revert to form and say they do not supply E10 electric.  I am thinking of quitting now, cancelling my DD and going over to a standard rate.( I will owe them as they randomly reduced my DD by a massive amount)  I don't want to lose E10 but its costing a fortune on E7.  Has anyone else had the same problem and did you get it resolved? 

Netexporter

As you have a smart meter it may be worth looking for a TOU (time of use) tariff, that suits you usage pattern, with another supplier. Octopus Agile or Tracker may suit and you'd get a £50 joining bonus if you use a referral code. You won't be able to leave OFTM if you have an unpaid debt, though.

BarelySentientAI

E10 tariffs are now pretty rare and impossible to get from many suppliers.

What tariff name and end date did you sign up for at OFTM?

TheElectricCow

Once a legacy tariff like E10 has been lost they tend to be very difficult to get reinstated as suppliers avoid taking on new E10 customers. Even though any smart meter is technically perfectly capable of supporting E10, suppliers are no longer required to offer the tariff so most make little effort to continue support for it.

Realistically speaking, you might have an easier time finding an alternative to E10 and making a complaint with Outfox to try and get something back in compensation rather than trying to get E10 back with them.

Ovo apparently offer an “Economy 9” tariff which might be good to look into https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/electric-heating/economy-9

Edf are generally reported to have better support for legacy tariffs than other providers but they may or may not accept you as a new customer on one. Still might be worth contacting them if you’re set on staying with E10.

Otherwise, Octopus have an ever expanding range of smart tariffs that you might find suitable for your needs. If you’re willing to accept regularly varying prices, Octopus Agile may offer rates even cheaper than your E10 in the hours you need, but a tariff like that does require more careful consideration than a conventional multi-rate due to the potential for prices to rise.

dunstonh

 Outfox did not tell me I would not get E10 with a smart meter, if they had I never would have had it installed.

Smart meters can use a whole range of different TOU tariffs.  So, economy 10 should be supported.   However, the problem is the suppliers.    Most of them no longer support economy 10.

So, don't blame the smart meter.  Blame your choice of supplier.

 I don't want to lose E10 but its costing a fortune on E7.

You have already lost it.

Has anyone else had the same problem and did you get it resolved? 

By switching to a supplier that offers economy 10 or, if their system supports it, adjusting their system times to run under economy 7.

WhyohWhy

TheElectricCow said:

Once a legacy tariff like E10 has been lost they tend to be very difficult to get reinstated as suppliers avoid taking on new E10 customers. Even though any smart meter is technically perfectly capable of supporting E10, suppliers are no longer required to offer the tariff so most make little effort to continue support for it.

Realistically speaking, you might have an easier time finding an alternative to E10 and making a complaint with Outfox to try and get something back in compensation rather than trying to get E10 back with them.

Ovo apparently offer an “Economy 9” tariff which might be good to look into https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/electric-heating/economy-9

Edf are generally reported to have better support for legacy tariffs than other providers but they may or may not accept you as a new customer on one. Still might be worth contacting them if you’re set on staying with E10.

Otherwise, Octopus have an ever expanding range of smart tariffs that you might find suitable for your needs. If you’re willing to accept regularly varying prices, Octopus Agile may offer rates even cheaper than your E10 in the hours you need, but a tariff like that does require more careful consideration than a conventional multi-rate due to the potential for prices to rise.

Thanks,  I didn't know about the Agile, looking at the variable tariffs it might well be better than E10

Scot_39

Try edf complex team email in this post from forum user @PZ19

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80674704/#Comment_80674704 


I read a post where same thing happened at EOnNext.  The user won comp and EOn told to reinstate,but they told Ombudsman no longer offered, so was left o e7 iirc.

My e10 is 3 off peak time zones,there current t^Cs say only support 1 off peak block.  So expecting to lose next meter upgrade from smets1dcc integrated smart current.

Swipe

Never believe what a supplier tells you at face value. Always get it in writing before you agree to anything.

TheElectricCow

WhyohWhy said:

TheElectricCow said:

Once a legacy tariff like E10 has been lost they tend to be very difficult to get reinstated as suppliers avoid taking on new E10 customers. Even though any smart meter is technically perfectly capable of supporting E10, suppliers are no longer required to offer the tariff so most make little effort to continue support for it.

Realistically speaking, you might have an easier time finding an alternative to E10 and making a complaint with Outfox to try and get something back in compensation rather than trying to get E10 back with them.

Ovo apparently offer an “Economy 9” tariff which might be good to look into https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/electric-heating/economy-9

Edf are generally reported to have better support for legacy tariffs than other providers but they may or may not accept you as a new customer on one. Still might be worth contacting them if you’re set on staying with E10.

Otherwise, Octopus have an ever expanding range of smart tariffs that you might find suitable for your needs. If you’re willing to accept regularly varying prices, Octopus Agile may offer rates even cheaper than your E10 in the hours you need, but a tariff like that does require more careful consideration than a conventional multi-rate due to the potential for prices to rise.

Thanks,  I didn't know about the Agile, looking at the variable tariffs it might well be better than E10

For what it’s worth, I’m on Agile and have personally found it works very well for me, with my electric bills now being lower than than the past two years despite me using more.

The off-peak times tend to vaguely resemble something like E10 with a cheap overnight period and usually a cheap afternoon period before higher prices come in from 4-7pm each day. Occasionally the prices even go into negatives so you get paid for what you use, which by my estimations covers any particularly expensive periods that might come up.

https://agileprices.co.uk/ Is a good site for seeing the past prices and getting a feel for what times of day the lowest prices are. You just need to select your region at the top of the page and pick an older version of the tariff if you want to look back further than a few months.

bob2302

TheElectricCow said:

 Occasionally the prices even go into negatives so you get paid for what you use, which by my estimations covers any particularly expensive periods that might come up.

There are a lot of bogus numbers posted about this though. When plunge pricing happens people use more electricity than they need, so that they can bring down prices - I used a weeks electricity in one day. 
When this happens, people often quote the rate from Octopus Compare, which is:

  Cost / TotalEnergy

rather than the more meaningful figure of:

  Cost / UsefulEnergy

IMO  it's best to see plunge pricing as a bonus. Agile is still cheap without it for me. 

WhyohWhy

Netexporter said:

As you have a smart meter it may be worth looking for a TOU (time of use) tariff, that suits you usage pattern, with another supplier. Octopus Agile or Tracker may suit and you'd get a £50 joining bonus if you use a referral code. You won't be able to leave OFTM if you have an unpaid debt, though.

Thanks for the tip about Agile.  Suits me perfectly, the first month my average was 14.41p/kwh.  It was roughly 40% cheaper than Economy 10 and I've now got hot water again too.