Energy

teleswitchlover

I have a Teleswitch set to Group 55 R4 and I get cheap rate from 22:30 to 24:30 and 03:30 to 08:30 every night, since March 1990. The teleswitch was tested by SWEB in 1992 and has always been fine. I now find that not only must I have a smart meter, to ensure my storage heaters only charge at the night rate, but it looks like I won't be able to keep the above cheap rate hours. I've looked to switch but websites don't show off peak timings, so I can't compare suppliers on this matter. The ones I've made direct enquiries with say 23:30 to 06:30. Yet again the consumer is losing out because smart meters are only smart for the energy industry.

 I don't think this is very smart really, unless someone out there know of an energy supplier who can offer the above timings I've enjoyed for decades?

Netexporter

Smart meters allow me to save a considerable amount on my energy bill.

DE_612183

Which company are you currently with and what tariff are you on?

The tele-switch may be switching your heating on and off, but the rate timings for cheap rate electricity may be different?

Have you compared the rates for off and on peak for what you have now and what you could be on?

teleswitchlover

British Gas variable. Checked Octopus but negligible saving. 

lilac_dawn

EDF have those timings - as far as I know! That is to say, my immersion is switching itself on at those times so I assume it is being charged at night rate then. 

Keep_pedalling

Timings vary with regions, which one are you in?

Spoonie_Turtle

teleswitchlover said:

I have a Teleswitch set to Group 55 R4 and I get cheap rate from 22:30 to 24:30 and 03:30 to 08:30 every night, since March 1990. The teleswitch was tested by SWEB in 1992 and has always been fine. I now find that not only must I have a smart meter, to ensure my storage heaters only charge at the night rate, but it looks like I won't be able to keep the above cheap rate hours. I've looked to switch but websites don't show off peak timings, so I can't compare suppliers on this matter. The ones I've made direct enquiries with say 23:30 to 06:30. Yet again the consumer is losing out because smart meters are only smart for the energy industry.

 I don't think this is very smart really, unless someone out there know of an energy supplier who can offer the above timings I've enjoyed for decades?

It's not the meters' fault, it's what the suppliers choose to do with the information from them. 

Smart meters allow suppliers to bill with a different rate up to every half an hour if they wish to (as in Octopus Agile).  Any supplier could offer any combination of peak and off-peak they want, if they chose to, it's just they choose to only offer certain blocks for their Economy 7.  It's like no supplier offering Economy 10 except those already on it with old meters - they could easily bill for it with the usage information from smart meters, if they wanted, it's a business decision not to.

Not that any of this actually helps you.  I just say it for the sake of accuracy and so you know where the problem lies - with the suppliers, not the meters.

teleswitchlover

South West

Scot_39

Smart meters can iirc support at least 4 off peak ALCS times - and iirc - if you dont rely on ALCS - iirc it is more - possibly 8 - off peak tariff times.

And al support half hour logging - so nothing to stop suppliers building tariffs around that - in fact some might already do for EV if not vanilla E7.

My smart meter currently supports 3 fixed off peak ALCS / off-peak tariff periods per day.   But I dont think my supplier will replace it like for like - but with bog standard vanilla E7 - as that is all they say they will support in current T&C's - one time block - not multiple.

And no one at Ofgem cares enough - about the small minority on more complex metering - who might really need it to support older heating set-ups - to force them to do otherwise.

It isn't the fault of the meter manufacturers - or the govt specs they have to comply with - that the suppliers only offer such restricted fixed TOU tariffs these days - but is arguably of Ofgem - for allowing them to do so.

Ildhund

Spoonie_Turtle said:

It's like no supplier offering Economy 10 except those already on it with old meters ...

That doesn't sound right. Those being relieved of their RTS systems in Northern Scotland by OVO have a bewildering choice of ToU tariffs including Economy 7, Economy 9 and Economy 10 once their smart meter is in place. What may be available in the South West region (22) will be different. It depends on the DNO (NGED) what they're prepared to support. 
  
The idea that an electronic device that was working properly in 1992 is still doing so after operating 24 hours a day for 32 years is questionable, to say the least. If this is a meter (not just a radio-controlled switch), it probably cannot be counted on to be measuring with the precision required. The supplier has a legal obligation to ensure that meters they use for billing are measuring accurately; nowadays, meter manufacturers guarantee that their products are up to standard for a number of years, usually 10 or 15.

Scot_39

Ildhund said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

It's like no supplier offering Economy 10 except those already on it with old meters ...

That doesn't sound right. Those being relieved of their RTS systems in Northern Scotland by OVO have a bewildering choice of ToU tariffs including Economy 7, Economy 9 and Economy 10 once their smart meter is in place. What may be available in the South West region (22) will be different. It depends on the DNO (NGED) what they're prepared to support. 
  
The idea that an electronic device that was working properly in 1992 is still doing so after operating 24 hours a day for 32 years is questionable, to say the least. If this is a meter (not just a radio-controlled switch), it probably cannot be counted on to be measuring with the precision required. The supplier has a legal obligation to ensure that meters they use for billing are measuring accurately; nowadays, meter manufacturers guarantee that their products are up to standard for a number of years, usually 10 or 15.

That Ovo link doesn't seem to work for me - anyone else.

I'd quite like to read it to see if they are actually saying will do like for like.

I thought the only non standard offering from past posts from another user here was an extended E7 variant - the E9 - not E10.