Economy 7 meter timings off

N_Pars

Good morning, 

We had a new consumer unit fitted to our property yesterday, and since that we have noticed our storage heaters were heating during the day. We have checked the economy 7 meter and at 6.55am this morning the meter says rate 1 - 21.47. So I am assuming the meter is on day time rate thinking it's 10pm and it will switch to night rate in a few hours time?

Has this been caused by the electrician? And how can we get this back to the correct time? 

Thanks in advance. 

Swipe

Yes, it sounds like you need to get the electrician back and make sure they understand that you have storage heaters on off peak economy 7 circuits.

N_Pars

They are aware and they also noticed the storage heater was on during the day but they are denying it has anything to do with them as they claim they never touched anything to do with the economy 7 meter. It was all working to the correct times before they changed the consumer unit. 

mmmmikey

Morning, is it possible that it was like this before the electrician did the work, and you've only just noticed because having the electrician in prompted you to check? 

Worth checking the meter is working as it should and switching between the two rates at the correct times. Do you know what the correct times are? Is this a smart meter, and if so when was it installed? Who is your electricity supplier?

Sorry to bombard you with questions but if you answer these someone here can help you check whether the problem needs to be referred to the electrician or your supplier.

Mark_d

The storage heaters should charge according to the load switches.  This is completely separate to the consumer unit.

MWT

Is this an old meter with a clock fitted (usually close to the meter) ?

If so it is possible that your electrician pulled the main fuse to allow him to safely work on the new consumer unit tails to the meter if there was no isolation switch fitted.

With the older clocks, cutting the power will often result in the clock stopping until the power is resumed leaving it on the wrong time...

Ildhund

Do you have more than one meter - the normal one and "the Economy 7" one? If so, and making a big assumption that the electrician had to remove the main fuse in order to be able to work on your CU, the E7 timings could have slipped by the duration of the power cut.

It would be useful to know more about your metering arrangement. Clear photos (close-ups of meters and a view of the whole box/cupboard/backboard showing the cabling from the cut-out to and from the meters) always help.  

N_Pars

MWT said:

Is this an old meter with a clock fitted (usually close to the meter) ?

If so it is possible that your electrician pulled the main fuse to allow him to safely work on the new consumer unit tails to the meter if there was no isolation switch fitted.

With the older clocks, cutting the power will often result in the clock stopping until the power is resumed leaving it on the wrong time...

I am thinking this is what has happened. The clock was correct before this work, and the storage heaters turned on and off at correct times. I will post some pictures later of our set up. Would I need to contact my electricity provider to reset the time on the meter? 

Swipe

I'd love my storage heaters to come on a few hours later on cheap rate allowing them to stay hotter late into the evening on the coldest days. One of the reasons I hate it when the clocks go back at the weekend.

Scot_39

If this is a modern digital or smart meter - I would have thought it should have been able to run through a short power interruption - and keep it's time.

Never once noticed my e10 times shifting - and I am more likely to as have afternoon and evening off peak slots than just e7s overnight.

And I know I've had a few short power outages - on both my digital and smart meters in the past.  I was RTS digital for off peak before those. 

Analogue timers - if you have an external rotational timer driving the meter - were I guess also shipped with rechargable batteries in the one spec sheet found - which in one case were capable of upto 100 hours once charged for 300 hours (from a Sagamo timer spec sheet).

If it's smart - your supplier may be able to send a time sync of some sort.

If the meter is smart - or do DCC send smart meters a regular time sync message ?  Can the supplier trigger one ?

Anything over 2 hours is IIRC reportable and actionable by supplier - anything less they are allowed to just leave - even the Ombudsman wont force them to fix from a few posts in past here.

But it it was caused by your electrician visit - let them have a look first.

MWT

N_Pars said:

MWT said:

Is this an old meter with a clock fitted (usually close to the meter) ?

If so it is possible that your electrician pulled the main fuse to allow him to safely work on the new consumer unit tails to the meter if there was no isolation switch fitted.

With the older clocks, cutting the power will often result in the clock stopping until the power is resumed leaving it on the wrong time...

I am thinking this is what has happened. The clock was correct before this work, and the storage heaters turned on and off at correct times. I will post some pictures later of our set up. Would I need to contact my electricity provider to reset the time on the meter? 

Yes, if it is a mechanical clock then technically it has to be your supplier as there is usually a seal on the clock to prevent tampering for obvious reasons...

Depending upon which supplier it is, you may find them more interested in replacing your meter with a smart meter as a solution, rather than just adjusting the existing clock.