Non Standard Meter can't Switch Tarriffs

Help please. We live in Shetland. My Stepdaughter is trying to switch from the Standard Tarriff that she is on with SSE. I have tried using uSwitch but she gets rejected because of her Non Standard in Area Electric Meter set up.
She has one Meter which has two Rates, Low (Night), Normal (Day) and another Meter which I assume is her Storage Heater Meter THTC (Total Heating Total Control).
Is there anybody else out there with a similar set up and been able to switch to another supplier.

She is paying nearly £2000 a year.

Comments

  • Bark01
    Bark01 Posts: 881
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    Its unlikely you will find another supplier to take over and its even more unlikely you will be able to switch one of the smaller suppliers.

    You have a few options:
    1) ring up each of the big six suppliers and ask to speak to their complex metering teams. These are specialist teams who will have better knowledge on how they can help than your average call centre bod.

    2)Although you may not be able to switch, for the most part the 'complex' metering set ups shouldn't be too expensive provided they are used correctly. i.e The storage heating is only coming on at off peak times and as much general consumption is moved into the off peak area as possible.

    According to the SSE website THC should be 24 hours general elec at one price 23.44p and all heating at 15.05. This doesn't match up to the 3 rates you describe above, so i may be wrong

    SSEs cheapest comparable standard rate is 17.90p

    Your daughter would need to be consuming 65% of her energy at the off peak rate in order for it to be cheaper than just being charged SSEs cheapest standard rate. This seems a little excessive to me. But maybe not in the chilly northern isles.

    https://sse.co.uk/help/electric-heating/other-two-meter-tariffs
    https://products.sse.co.uk/our-prices/view-tariffs-and-prices?Postcode=ZE1+0AB&FuelCategory=1&TariffStatus=0

    3)Ask SSE if they would be willing to totalise the metering set up. This means they don't change the physical meters but change allow you to access any standard tariff by adding together the consumption of multiple registers and charging them at a single rate. This won't let you change suppliers but it should allow you access SSE's cheapest tariffs.

    4)You can ask for a meter exchange, but this is likely going to have to paid for by yourself it should cost ~£100 to replace 2 meters but you will also need to factor in any rewiring costs.

    5)Wait for smart metering to get its act together and support complex metering. The meters required for this are due around the end of the year, but there are likely to be a lot of complications with complex metering set ups. So you could be looking at another year or 2.

    I would first of all make sure nothing untoward is going on with your daughters consumption, is the billing accurate is the heating only being charged up at off peak times etc.

    If she uses way below the 65% of consumption at off peak then speak to SSE about totalising

    If SSE won't do this speak to the other suppliers to see if they can help.

    This article may be of help
    https://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2016/10/30/change-meter-make-big-savings-electricity-sse-customer-claims
  • S92Man
    S92Man Posts: 2 Newbie
    Thanks for the info Bark01. I'm going to phone SSE on her behalf and see if it is possible to get a Meter swap. Even if it costs, in the longer term she will save and give her more options to swap to cheaper Tarriffs with other Companies in the future.
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