Business Account - meter still incorrectly listed somewhere as dual rate

Qyburn

Hi,

This is a business account with an AMR meter and no signal. The history, as far as I can tell, is that the builder selected a dual rate tariff when the supply was first installed, but the meter was never programmed "over the air" so doesn't actually record anything but a single running total.

Single rate suits the business.

The supplier SSE initially worked around this by making an arbitrary split of tthe total into Day and Night, and once we went onto contract both rates were charged at the same price. At that time we couldn't use any of the automated methods to submit readings as their system expected the two readings (and I didn't want to falsify anything myself).

In due course, being passed from one team to another thethen back again, SSE eventually agreed it was a single rate meter and claimed all databases would now reflect that. Their own system certainly does as we can submit a reading and it asks only for one total "NHH Unrestricted".

However somewhere, something, still thinks it's dual rate. We're looking for options once current contract ends and everybody wants to quote a Day/Night tariff.

Is there any sort of independent check we can do before reverting to SSE again? You can see it won't be appealing just saying it must be wrong because Octopus says so. If I could show some sort of supplier independent lookup that would be better.

Ildhund

What does the MPAN say? The profile class (the numbers in the left-hand box in the top line of the 'S' panel you should see on bills) is the first thing to look at. AMR meters are, I think, 'Advanced' within the meaning of the act, and this is what REC have to say about PCs:

It should be noted that in MHHS the Profile Class values are mandatory for Traditional meters but optional for Advanced and Smart. For Advanced and Smart the PC populated prior to migration will be carried forward into MHHS and maintained until such time the Supplier decides to remove it. Search - REC Portal

Profile Class	Meaning	Typical Use
01	Domestic single‑rate	Standard home tariff
02	Domestic dual‑rate	Economy 7 / Cosy / storage heating
03	Business single‑rate	Small shops, offices
04	Business dual‑rate	Small business E7
05–08	Larger non‑domestic NHH	Medium commercial sites
00	Half‑hourly metered	Large commercial; soon smart meters under MHHS

So if you're seeing PC04, you have your explanation.

Qyburn

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82053712#Comment_82053712

Thanks. Do you mean the first two digits on the top line after the "S", format xx yyy zzz? If so the first two digits are 03.

Qyburn

Bills from last year, prior to current contract, have it as 04. Annoyingly I can't see exactly when it changed because SSE reissued all bills from start of contract (Sept 2025) and the old ones aren't available online.

jaybeetoo

If you are a business then shouldn’t you have the bills stored somewhere going back 7 years as they form part of your accounts?

Qyburn

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82053975#Comment_82053975

The treasurer has paper copies of the initial bills and the later electronic ones. I've just been dealing with the technical issues which means I have a login. Some of the bills passed through my hands when some explanation was needed, or while we were in dispute with SSE, but not a complete set.

However just looking at what I do have, SSE show it as 03 at the end of October 2025.

Qyburn

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82053712#Comment_82053712

Is there a third party lookup I can use? Rather than just looking at SSE bills?

Ildhund

I don't know! The whole system is in flux and will be for the next year or so as MHHS is rolled out over an 18-month period, as you'll see from the REC reference I gave. Some items are guarded like state secrets, while others are made available to the general public, and which are which is apparently often up to the DNO. NGED, for example, allow me to look up any meter serial number in their bailiwick and find the associated (13-digit) MPAN and precise supply address. The old ECOES was for a long time 'authorised users only', i.e. for consumers lookups were only via the supplier. We're now moving on to EES - the Electricity Enquiry Service. What credentials are needed to access it remains to be seen. You might ask a friendly AI search agent (I use Microsoft's Copilot quite often, and occasionally Google's Gemini) if it can help - I'm often surprised at what they can unearth.

This is what Copilot suggested just now:

1. Contact SSEN directly (the DNO) SSEN is the authoritative source for MPANs in the north of Scotland. They will provide the full MPAN on request — they have the same ECOES/EES backend as all DNOs. SSEN Contact Routes: Phone: 0800 048 3516 (general enquiries) Email: customer@ssen.co.uk Online: “Who is my electricity distributor?” → SSEN → contact form SSEN is usually responsive because MPAN lookup is a routine task for them.

Qyburn

Thanks. I've fired an email off to SSEN. In addition I might phone Octopus and ask what they're seeing to make them off only dual rate.

Ildhund

Further research: from What is an MPAN? - SSEN

If you don’t have an energy bill for the property (you have just moved into a new property) please email mpas@sse.com with your full address and meter serial number.

{Just so your email gets to the right place with a bit of luck!}

Qyburn

Really quick reply from SSEN and they still have the profile class as 04.