Overcharged for electricity due to time clock/ E7 meter problems.

EssexHebridean

It sounds to me like a change of supplier and an immediate request for a smart meter is probably going to be the solution here. 

Out of interest, is there a sticker/label on the current meter which has the year of certification on it, by any chance? 

Jemma01

I had E7 in a rental flat that was fine for a while, then the company busted and BG took over, when they did, they decided that E7 will just be a flat rate and didn't support two rates, you couldn't switch to anyone else because BG took over as a response to the other company going down. My bills were £100/m during winter and I didn't even turn the heating on anywhere except my single bedroom (boxed room 2.5x2), and I wasn't in the flat most of the day, I'd often return at 8pm and leave 7 am in the morning, and every second weekend I'm elsewhere.
Seeing your bill is 450 doesn't surprise me,seeing that I only had one oil-based electric heater (not sure what these are called). 

I hope that you have the choice to switch suppliers. I'd def look for a cheaper tariff. From what I remember, SMETS2 meters (smart meters 2) support multi-rate tariffs, so you wouldn't be losing on a night rate if you could have one. But then again, I would ask them if the night window would change with a change in the meter or not, and what happens during summer times.

[Haven't read the comments if this is already mentioned, sorry] Also have you read this? is your E7 RTS? https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/replace-your-old-rts-meter-as-soon-as-possible/

QrizB

It really would help if OP could share a photo of their meter and the associated wiring.

Reed_Richards

carlsouthlon said:. BG are charging me £450 per month for a small 2 bed flat with 3 electric radiators which are only on for a few hours in the evening! 

Let's suppose you have 3 electric radiators, each with a 2 kW output that you keep on for 5 hours each day (e.g. 6 PM to 11 PM).  If they have thermostats, I will assume that they never reach the set temperature so they are on all the time.  You would use 30 kWh per day and that might cost £10 per day, excluding the standing charge.  So that would be over £300 per month just on space heating.  But that seems barely credible unless your flat is very badly insulated.  Can you give us some more context about your flat and your radiators, please.      

carlsouthlon

My advice is that you turn your attention to what is using all that electricity.  You could start by recording your meter reading and the time every few hours, last thing at night and first thing in the morning.  Is there a pattern?  The other thing you could try is to turn off everything at your consumer unit (fuse box) and check that your meter reading remains static.  

Thanks Reed of F4 
I'm going to act on this advice and establish what transpires. I want to know that the meter reading remains static upon shutdown of everything via the fuse box 

carlsouthlon

Peter999_2 said:

carlsouthlon said:

Peter999_2 said:

My electric meter had economy 7 with two readings on the smart meter.    God only knows why the previous owner was on E7 as it has gas central heating.   He genuinely thought it was great as he was getting cheap overnight electric and didn't realise he was paying more during the day.

Anyway, as soon as I moved in I obviously got it swapped out for a smart meter.   I was a bit surprised that the new smart meter had two entries still - the installed said that you always got whatever you already had.

I immediately moved to Octopus and got on the Octopus Agile tariff (different rates every 30 minutes and has saved me quite a lot of money).    Octopus just literally added the two readings together and use that - their systems then do the working out of the timed tariff using the 30 minute reads from the meter (with the two figures added togther) which works great.

If I were you, I'd do the same as me, get a smart meter and go on a smart tariff which will hopefully save you money if you can calculate when you actually use the electric.

Thanks Peter. Your experience is helpful and I will explore Octopus if BG continue to be resistant. Other people in my block have smart meters with Oct. I will establish if they will do it for me. BG are charging me £450 per month for a small 2 bed flat with 3 electric radiators which are only on for a few hours in the evening! 

That is very expensive for what you've got.    I pay about £55 to £60 a month for my electric in a 2 bedroom house (though I do live alone).   I have gas central heating so the electric is not required for heating.    I use about 4 kWh a day.     I used to use about 18 kWh a day up to 2023 when I started to look at my electric usage and realised I had a few vampire devices (my TV was using 24W in standby, haha).

Hope you get it sorted soon.

Thanks Peter. I need to look at electricity usage for sure. It's also about the feeling that British Gas are extorting money from me when they can do something about it. I'm happy to pay my way - but play fairly and charge me at the rate that is equitable with everyone else

Peter999_2

carlsouthlon said:

Peter999_2 said:

carlsouthlon said:

Peter999_2 said:

My electric meter had economy 7 with two readings on the smart meter.    God only knows why the previous owner was on E7 as it has gas central heating.   He genuinely thought it was great as he was getting cheap overnight electric and didn't realise he was paying more during the day.

Anyway, as soon as I moved in I obviously got it swapped out for a smart meter.   I was a bit surprised that the new smart meter had two entries still - the installed said that you always got whatever you already had.

I immediately moved to Octopus and got on the Octopus Agile tariff (different rates every 30 minutes and has saved me quite a lot of money).    Octopus just literally added the two readings together and use that - their systems then do the working out of the timed tariff using the 30 minute reads from the meter (with the two figures added togther) which works great.

If I were you, I'd do the same as me, get a smart meter and go on a smart tariff which will hopefully save you money if you can calculate when you actually use the electric.

Thanks Peter. Your experience is helpful and I will explore Octopus if BG continue to be resistant. Other people in my block have smart meters with Oct. I will establish if they will do it for me. BG are charging me £450 per month for a small 2 bed flat with 3 electric radiators which are only on for a few hours in the evening! 

That is very expensive for what you've got.    I pay about £55 to £60 a month for my electric in a 2 bedroom house (though I do live alone).   I have gas central heating so the electric is not required for heating.    I use about 4 kWh a day.     I used to use about 18 kWh a day up to 2023 when I started to look at my electric usage and realised I had a few vampire devices (my TV was using 24W in standby, haha).

Hope you get it sorted soon.

Thanks Peter. I need to look at electricity usage for sure. It's also about the feeling that British Gas are extorting money from me when they can do something about it. I'm happy to pay my way - but play fairly and charge me at the rate that is equitable with everyone else

I bought some Tapo P110 smart monitoring plugs when I wanted to cut down my electric use.   I plugged in everything I thought might be using a lot of power.

I found out my NAS was constantly using 60W, the TV 25W in standby and 110W when on. I have spot lighting all over the house, and each room was using about 21W which was more than I expected.  My fridge uses about 1kWh a day but obviously can't do much about that.

I got a Octopus Mini which gives the total usage of the house electric use live.   I feed that into Home Assistant and can then look at a graph of electric usage during the day.       I've now got about 15 of the plugs (bought when on good offers) plugged into various things and I turn them all off when I go out (using HA it is a one button press to turn them all off).

I've now got the house down to a "base" use of 32W which made a massive difference to the cost.    I'm getting solar and a battery installed next month so that will no doubt help as I should generate about 9kWh on a good day which is way more than I use.

SAC2334

QrizB said:

Do you own your flat, or is it rented?

Can you share a photo of your electricity meter and any associated equipment?

carlsouthlon said:

My meter has readings, a day rate and night rate, as I believe there were Economy 7 storage heaters in the past. There are now standard electric radiators installed.

It would have been better to have chosen a different flat, one which still had storage heaters (or even one with gas central heating) but that's in the past.

With electric panel heaters, you should probably be on a single-rate tariff not Economy 7.

carlsouthlon said:

 I have been providing the day rate reading monthly to the supplier (British Gas), which changes each month.
The night rate reading has never changed and the dial on the clock has not moved 

If your meter has a dial, it must be ancient. Electronic (digital) meters have been standard for 20+.years.

Has BG ever asked to fit a smart meter?

carlsouthlon said:

The night rate reading has never changed and the dial on the clock has not moved 
... What I do know is that one of the previous owners of the flat removed to meter time clock (E7 meter). 

A pghoto of your meter will help us diagnose the problem here.

carlsouthlon said:
What has gone wrong here and what can I do about it?

Most likely, you can do two things:

- Ask BG to switch you to a single-rate tariff.

- Ask BG to fit a smart meter.
You should also think about whether you're likely to stay in your flat for the long-term, or not. If you're staying, getting storage heaters re-fitted could be a good Idea.

As an ex meter reader for 20 years I can tell you that once someone starts to get very cheap electricity bills from meter faults ( or fiddles ) they will constantly refuse a smart meter to the bitter end .Even if the meter has reached end of life they will either will  not open the door or refuse to allow meter fitter access when a fitter calls .
Only way BG can get in to switch meters to smart meters would be to get warrant and a locksmith .Many suppliers are very reluctant to spend money on warrants although BG are usually not one of them 

EssexHebridean

SAC2334 said:

QrizB said:

Do you own your flat, or is it rented?

Can you share a photo of your electricity meter and any associated equipment?

carlsouthlon said:

My meter has readings, a day rate and night rate, as I believe there were Economy 7 storage heaters in the past. There are now standard electric radiators installed.

It would have been better to have chosen a different flat, one which still had storage heaters (or even one with gas central heating) but that's in the past.

With electric panel heaters, you should probably be on a single-rate tariff not Economy 7.

carlsouthlon said:

 I have been providing the day rate reading monthly to the supplier (British Gas), which changes each month.
The night rate reading has never changed and the dial on the clock has not moved 

If your meter has a dial, it must be ancient. Electronic (digital) meters have been standard for 20+.years.

Has BG ever asked to fit a smart meter?

carlsouthlon said:

The night rate reading has never changed and the dial on the clock has not moved 
... What I do know is that one of the previous owners of the flat removed to meter time clock (E7 meter). 

A pghoto of your meter will help us diagnose the problem here.

carlsouthlon said:
What has gone wrong here and what can I do about it?

Most likely, you can do two things:

- Ask BG to switch you to a single-rate tariff.

- Ask BG to fit a smart meter.
You should also think about whether you're likely to stay in your flat for the long-term, or not. If you're staying, getting storage heaters re-fitted could be a good Idea.

As an ex meter reader for 20 years I can tell you that once someone starts to get very cheap electricity bills from meter faults ( or fiddles ) they will constantly refuse a smart meter to the bitter end .Even if the meter has reached end of life they will either will  not open the door or refuse to allow meter fitter access when a fitter calls .
Only way BG can get in to switch meters to smart meters would be to get warrant and a locksmith .Many suppliers are very reluctant to spend money on warrants although BG are usually not one of them 

I'm not sure how this is relevant to the OP:
- their whole point is that their bills aren't "very cheap"
- They have already asked for a smart meter and BG have refused - unless you think that BG are the ones who are fiddling or aware of the fault, that makes your point here irrelevant
- pretty sure that if BG had been willing to replace the meter the OP would have welcomed them in with open arms, possibly even put the kettle on, allowing that they had made the request! 

This feels like a snarky attempt to accuse the OP of fiddling their meter - which is both inaccurate and unfair allowing for the information given. 

SAC2334

EssexHebridean said:

SAC2334 said:

QrizB said:

Do you own your flat, or is it rented?

Can you share a photo of your electricity meter and any associated equipment?

carlsouthlon said:

My meter has readings, a day rate and night rate, as I believe there were Economy 7 storage heaters in the past. There are now standard electric radiators installed.

It would have been better to have chosen a different flat, one which still had storage heaters (or even one with gas central heating) but that's in the past.

With electric panel heaters, you should probably be on a single-rate tariff not Economy 7.

carlsouthlon said:

 I have been providing the day rate reading monthly to the supplier (British Gas), which changes each month.
The night rate reading has never changed and the dial on the clock has not moved 

If your meter has a dial, it must be ancient. Electronic (digital) meters have been standard for 20+.years.

Has BG ever asked to fit a smart meter?

carlsouthlon said:

The night rate reading has never changed and the dial on the clock has not moved 
... What I do know is that one of the previous owners of the flat removed to meter time clock (E7 meter). 

A pghoto of your meter will help us diagnose the problem here.

carlsouthlon said:
What has gone wrong here and what can I do about it?

Most likely, you can do two things:

- Ask BG to switch you to a single-rate tariff.

- Ask BG to fit a smart meter.
You should also think about whether you're likely to stay in your flat for the long-term, or not. If you're staying, getting storage heaters re-fitted could be a good Idea.

As an ex meter reader for 20 years I can tell you that once someone starts to get very cheap electricity bills from meter faults ( or fiddles ) they will constantly refuse a smart meter to the bitter end .Even if the meter has reached end of life they will either will  not open the door or refuse to allow meter fitter access when a fitter calls .
Only way BG can get in to switch meters to smart meters would be to get warrant and a locksmith .Many suppliers are very reluctant to spend money on warrants although BG are usually not one of them 

I'm not sure how this is relevant to the OP:
- their whole point is that their bills aren't "very cheap"
- They have already asked for a smart meter and BG have refused - unless you think that BG are the ones who are fiddling or aware of the fault, that makes your point here irrelevant
- pretty sure that if BG had been willing to replace the meter the OP would have welcomed them in with open arms, possibly even put the kettle on, allowing that they had made the request! 
- the OP has already stated early in the thread that they do intend to stay in the property for the long term. 

This feels like a snarky attempt to accuse the OP of fiddling their meter - which is both inaccurate and unfair allowing for the information given. 

ok..You been on here a long time like me .Why don't you give him some advice to get much cheaper electricity rates with a single rate meter  plus switching to the best supplier by a country mile and get £50 referral fee with Octopus .
Once with a proper supplier unlike the current utter dross we have in the UK ,Octopus will fit a single rate smart meter where he can then move to Octopus Agile with its 30 minutes rate or if he's not keen on being a smart user he can pick the Tracker tariff with its single rate per 24 hrs .
.I m averaging 13 p per kWh over the whole of 2025 with lots of super low times and free and plenty of times where  they pay  me to use electricity .
That's my advice to the OP .dump BG and move to Octopus .Three people locally who followed that advice got their smart meters in a few weeks . I got mine in two weeks because I accepted a cancellation from meter fitters working locally .Octopus put you on the cancellation list .