Getting rid of a "Complex Meter"

Katie-Kat-Kins · 13 February 2018 at 12:57PM

I have a Heatwise with Economy 7 set up, this is a "complex meter" which seems to mean that the energy companies don't have a clue how it works and I'm trapped with over priced tariffs and a very poor excuse for customer service.

What it actually gives me is "normal" economy 7 for my general electricity, so lighting plugged in appliances etc and then on a separate meter with its own MPAN I have 10 hours cheap rate for my storage heaters and an optional boost facility.

The system doesn't work badly for our situation, we have no gas supply and no space for a heat pump or oil tank so storage heaters are the cheapest way for us to heat our home.

The situation with suppliers and tariff availability is driving me crazy though. I am also concerned about the long term availability of such tariffs, lack of support for my meter type and what might happen in the future.

It seems utterly daft that this type of set up is being penalised as the electricity suppliers seem to recognise the value of spreading demand via this sort of arrangement as it is one of the supposed benefits of smart metering but that is a whole other issue!

So what are my options?

I know that I could switch to a single rate tariff now and have all of my electricity billed at the standard rate by any of the big suppliers but this will be too expensive as I do use my storage heaters.

I know that I could get the meter switched to a standard E7 meter but I don't want to do this as I would lose 3 hours of cheap charging of my heaters and the benefit of the heaters charging in the afternoon and evening.

So is it possible to switch to a standard two rate E10 meter? If so how do I go about this? What will it cost? Which electricity companies can offer this?

Or does anyone have any other suggestions, other than sell the house and move to one with gas central heating?

Thanks

Purplepenguin88 · 13 February 2018 at 5:20PM

We were on economy 10 with the complex meter issue (we actually had 2 feeds or something, though a single meter).
I spent a long time phoning up all the companies I could think of to try and find anyone that did actually do economy 10. All the tariffs are very out of date though. It's due to the govt trying to make things easier and each energy company being restricted on the number of tariffs they can offer.
Off the top of my head I think the companies I could go with were spark, EDF and Npower. There may be have been a couple more, but it's a pain to find out who does/doesn't and to compare the tariffs.
We were with EDF which was the cheapest for the Economy 10 at the time (still ridiculously expensive due to being a tariff that was unchanged for several years).
If we'd owned the flat I would have moved onto a simple meter and a competitive Economy 7 tariff where the price would have been less per unit (even if there were less (off peak hours). But we were in rented and very glad to get out of there to be honest!

Katie-Kat-Kins · 14 February 2018 at 11:02AM

Yes it is all so unreasonably difficult and the energy companies don't help, it is almost like these complex meters are a dirty little secret that they don't want anyone to know about. No useful information on their website and generally their usual email/web based enquiry services won't deal with it so you have to sit on hold during office hours to talk to someone who might if you are lucky have heard of E10 but probably won't know a thing about the more complex set up

molerat · 14 February 2018 at 1:42PM

https://economy10.com/list-of-suppliers/

Katie-Kat-Kins · 14 February 2018 at 4:46PM

Thanks molerat, I have seen that site but I am a bit wary as I am not currently on E10 as such I am on a heatwise type tariff. I have seen all the advice about not switching with one of these meters and so don't want to just switch. However I don't think my current supplier (NPower) will swap my meter to something suitable all they will offer is a single rate or E7 meter. So I don't quite know what to do for the best.

House_Martin · 14 February 2018 at 4:58PM

Katie-Kat-Kins wrote: »

Thanks molerat, I have seen that site but I am a bit wary as I am not currently on E10 as such I am on a heatwise type tariff. I have seen all the advice about not switching with one of these meters and so don't want to just switch. However I don't think my current supplier (NPower) will swap my meter to something suitable all they will offer is a single rate or E7 meter. So I don't quite know what to do for the best.

There was a post last week on this subject from someone who lives in the Cairngorms in Scotland explaining how to get rid of this set up and changing meters. I ll have a look for it .Seemed a very useful post for people stuck on these expensive tariffs when there are suppliers who can bill straight Eco 7 at about the cheapest electric tariffs in the UK, eg Iresa Energy Eco 7, 11p day, 8 p night and 13p a day standing charge.
Post was made on 8 th Feb 11.22 am by therealmanda1
He did point out that up there in the Cairngorms he needed the 3 hours boost or the heaters went cold.

[Deleted User] · 14 February 2018 at 5:18PM

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5776630&highlight=cairngorms#6 is the post House Martin recommended.

sheffield_lad · 14 February 2018 at 7:15PM

If switching away from your complex set up (heatwise), be aware that moving down to just 7hrs will have an effect on the heat within your property especially during the evenings.

Try switching your heating off in the morning and see how you get on with no further heating during the day before deciding to remove your meter.

Katie-Kat-Kins · 19 February 2018 at 10:58AM

sheffield_lad wrote: »

If switching away from your complex set up (heatwise), be aware that moving down to just 7hrs will have an effect on the heat within your property especially during the evenings.

Try switching your heating off in the morning and see how you get on with no further heating during the day before deciding to remove your meter.

That is why I don't want to switch to economy 7, if I did my house wouldn't be warm enough. I need the 10 hours but want to get onto a more straight forward single MPAN two rate E10 meter so that my options to switch are opened up (and I would get to use the full 10 hours for my appliances rather than just the 7 hours I get at present).

I can't seem to work out how I can do this as NPower will only fit new single rate or E7 meters, and I can't easily switch with my current set up.

The electricity companies don't want to support these legacy tariffs but they don't make it very easy to move away from them either!

Getting rid of a "Complex Meter"

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