Economy 10 meter change Eon
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Eon have told us we have to have the meter changed as they will no longer support the current one. It isn't old, they replaced it only about five years ago. It has five meter readings on a scrolling digital display. They say they have to replace the meter because Offgen are making them do it. They also say it will not be replaced with a smart meter. I don't understand why. Some of our neighbours certainly have them so it can't be a signal issue.
I don't understand in what way the meter is simpler. They say it can be used to switch the storage heaters on and off like the present meter does. So it must have two separate meters for the heating and non-heating circuit. If all it does is switch power on and off from a radio signal, and add up the tariff during each period, why is there a different meter for Economy 7 and Economy 10 ? I would have thought it was the same meter switched to a different signal.
In any case it doesn't explain the huge price hike. We are looking at a 45% increase for Economy 10 and a bit less for Economy 7.
We only have storage heaters. No gas in the village. Eon told us the engineer could configure the meter to switch the storage heaters the way we want. Does anyone know if we could, for instance, have that circuit live for a few hours in the late afternoon plus the Economy 7 hours ? That would allow us to be on the a Economy 7 tariff but still use some extra day rate electricity if necessary. Otherwise we either have to have the storage heaters always supplied with power and switch them on and off ourselves at midnight and 5 am - obviously hopeless - or be left with only 7 hours heat per day, which may not be enough in cold spells.
This would allow us to change suppliers, as it seems unlikely we can get a Economy 10. elsewhere. We simply cannot afford the huge price rise to keep the convenience of the Economy 10. Either way we will have to leave Eon after using them for 23 years.
The only other way we can see out of the mess is to somehow switch the storage heaters on and off automatically. I don't know if wifi fused switches are a high enough rating, and replacing the heaters with timer ones will cost well over £1000.0 -
Eon have told us we have to have the meter changed as they will no longer support the current one. It isn't old, they replaced it only about five years ago. It has five meter readings on a scrolling digital display. They say they have to replace the meter because Offgen are making them do it. They also say it will not be replaced with a smart meter. I don't understand why. Some of our neighbours certainly have them so it can't be a signal issue.
I don't understand in what way the meter is simpler. They say it can be used to switch the storage heaters on and off like the present meter does. So it must have two separate meters for the heating and non-heating circuit. If all it does is switch power on and off from a radio signal, and add up the tariff during each period, why is there a different meter for Economy 7 and Economy 10 ? I would have thought it was the same meter switched to a different signal.
In any case it doesn't explain the huge price hike. We are looking at a 45% increase for Economy 10 and a bit less for Economy 7.
We only have storage heaters. No gas in the village. Eon told us the engineer could configure the meter to switch the storage heaters the way we want. Does anyone know if we could, for instance, have that circuit live for a few hours in the late afternoon plus the Economy 7 hours ? That would allow us to be on the a Economy 7 tariff but still use some extra day rate electricity if necessary. Otherwise we either have to have the storage heaters always supplied with power and switch them on and off ourselves at midnight and 5 am - obviously hopeless - or be left with only 7 hours heat per day, which may not be enough in cold spells.
This would allow us to change suppliers, as it seems unlikely we can get a Economy 10. elsewhere. We simply cannot afford the huge price rise to keep the convenience of the Economy 10. Either way we will have to leave Eon after using them for 23 years.
The only other way we can see out of the mess is to somehow switch the storage heaters on and off automatically. I don't know if wifi fused switches are a high enough rating, and replacing the heaters with timer ones will cost well over £1000.
Hello Sandydog and welcome to the Forums.
Many thanks for being with us for so long. I suspect quite a bit of my reply to captainkirk above will apply to your situation too. We're phasing out these types of metering set ups and replacing them with the alternatives I've mentioned.
At the moment, we don't have smart options for all types of complex metering set ups like yours. This is something we're working on. Where we do have smart options, these will be offered.
The replacements are single meters. From what you say, it sounds like Economy 10 will be closest to the existing metering. These meters are wired into the dedicated heating circuits to give 10 hours of off-peak electricity in every 24-hours. This is split into three periods at night, during the afternoon and in the evening. Unless manually overridden, these meters automatically turn the heating on during the off-peak hours and off again afterwards.
A common complaint with storage heaters is a tendency to leak heat and to cool down too early. The afternoon and evening periods 'top-up' the stored heat to help properties stay warm throughout the day.
You'll also have the option of Economy 7. These work with storage heaters as well and give a much greater choice of tariffs both with us and with the other suppliers. These meters give 7 hours of off-peak electricity all at night. There won't be any 'top-ups' possible outside of this period.
Please talk to our Simpler Metering team. They'll be happy to give you a much more detailed explanation specific to your property. They'll also be able to book an appointment for you. There's no charge for this type of meter exchange and our meter technician will go through everything with you during the installation.
Thanks again for sticking with us for so long Sandydog.
Malc“Official Company Representative
I am an official company representative of E.ON. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"0 -
OP you must grab the opportunity to rid yourself of a restrictive Eco 10 tariff which is run by just a few suppliers who run a cabal to keep you paying the highest prices in the UK for electricity. Electric rates are only going to keep rising as they are supporting all the expensive subsidies for solar and wind power
Eco 7 is your way to some of the best rates in the UK.
If you can manage without the extra 3 hours of cheap rate then get Eon to change the meter to Eco 7, hopefully free of charge.
Run some figures through UKpowers easy to use comp site trying different percentages of day/night kwhs to see just how much you can save..You could go from paying the most to paying the least with suppliers such as Symbio, Yorkshire Energy and Bulb ( with referral fees )0 -
Hi Malc
Thank you for your detailed reply. That clarifies a lot of our confusion. The economy ten option would be perfect for us if it weren't for the 56% price hike ! We already use the heating as sparingly as possible. We only have storage heaters so never use higher rate electricity for heating. I see we will gain a tiny bit by having the off peak electricity available in the two day time slots, for cooking and washing machines. But the 30% price increase in the day time units will more than make up for that.
We are afraid of signing up for the Economy 7 as we will lose the afternoon boost. One of us is 82 years old, and home most days. We cannot risk not being able to keep warm. Anyway the Economy 7 prices we are being offered are also a huge price increase. I know we can shop around, and we would certainly have to. But what would be the cost of going back to Economy 10 if we wanted to ? Would Eon even let us go back (I don't think it is available to new customers) ?
I know we have until September to decide what to do. I assume we could leave Eon now, and keep the existing meter ? Eon told us that Offgen are making all companies change to simpler meters but we can find no evidence of that.
Price comparison sites are showing we would save about £500 per year by leaving Eon and buying Economy 7 elsewhere. What is the reason for such enormous price rises from Eon ?0 -
It's a nightmare Sandydog, economy 10 is ideal with storage heaters, the afternoon and evening boost mean that they don't run out of heat like they do with economy 7. Yes, you could go to economy 7 but by the time you factor in the extra electricity you will have to use to get warm in the evening it sort of negates the point of changing to economy 7! I can understand changing the meter system to one meter (hopefully it's that simple) but no-one at Eon will explain the enormous price hike and how they are able to get that through the regulator!0
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Yes,it seems to be as Houbara says, no one wants to supply Economy 10 so we are being priced out of it. Wind power, solar, and electric car charging are changing things. I too can understand the meter simplification is a good thing. But ours is being scrapped after only a few years (we only have one meter, with 5 readings on it). Then they have to put a smart meter in before the end of 2020, so the one they put in this September will be scrapped too after only 15 months use. Of course we are all paying for that waste.
I have done a lot of estimates now on uswitch. Whatever we do will cost us more money, but our best bet is to go to Economy 7 and pay for extra heat in the afternoon as necessary. It will still be cheaper than the extortionate E10 tariff. Hardly ideal though having to put in a second heater in a tiny room. It does seem that Eon have better E7 tariffs (but not E10) than the one they quoted us. I doubt we will stay with them after this anyway though.
I pity their call centre staff. Why on earth they tell them to quote us their worst price tarif is beyond me. And we had to go through several people before we established that the new meters would at least switch the storage heater circuit on and off. The call handlers haven't been told that. We had to explain the problem of having to get up at midnight to switch them on, and 5 am to put them off again (and be always in at 2pm, 4 pm, 8 pm and 10 pm to do the same).
To add insult to injury they then asked if due to age we would like to be on their vulnerable people list ! We were rather less vulnerable before they almost doubled our bill and effectively removed our day time heating. Still, at least we are able to take some actions. We have genuinely vulnerable neighbours who will not know what to do.0 -
I had the same conversation and didn't get a straight answer - I'm afraid to say that their 'specialist team' do not inspire confidence that they know what's going on. I kept asking to speak to someone with technical knowledge of the set up we have but couldn't get anywhere - when I rang back and spoke to a second person she then said she could see our issue - we had 5 meters!! - you feel like you are banging your head against a brick wall sometimes
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It turns out I'm not so daft after all (many would disagree!)
We do, in fact, have a two phase supply - not a split phase - the power supply company says it was common to this area back in the day and nowadays would automatically be three phase but it is definitely a two phase supply (there are three wires from the pole not two as I initially thought)
So, do I keep pushing EON for a definite answer on the meter they will turn up with or just hope for the best!0 -
There is no domestic appliance that runs on 2 phase electricity that I am aware of
There are some industrial applications that may run on 2 phase, but 2 phase is about 400v (sometimes said to be 415v, but in the range 390 V to 440V), not 240v.0 -
There is no domestic appliance that runs on 2 phase electricity that I am aware of
There are some industrial applications that may run on 2 phase, but 2 phase is about 400v (sometimes said to be 415v, but in the range 390 V to 440V), not 240v.
A standard three phase supply provides either 400 volts between phases, or a standard domestic 230 volts between any single one of the phases and neutral.
I doubt there are any two- or three-phase appliances in this property. Rather, I expect two phases are being distributed within the house separately. At a guess, one phase for the 230v heating supply and another phase for a 230v supply to standard power / light circuits?
Seems an unusual setup, but perhaps it was the electricity company's policy to supply two phases in this area to accommodate high heating loads and/or balance the load on their network better.1
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