Will anyone deal with two electric meters?

cwoodham
cwoodham Posts: 432 Forumite
Does anyone know if any utility company will consider a single domestic tarrif when I currently have two meters, one for night storage heaters at a cheaper rate and one for ordinary domestic electricity at the standard rate.

I am considering switching suppliers and have been to the uswitch website, gave my annual spend and they have listed a number of suppliers I might be cheaper with. But they dont mention two electric meters.

I tried Amerada a while ago and they wouldn't deal with two meters. Will anyone change me over to a single electric meter and will there still be a saving? Who should I contact?

Thanks

Comments

  • Colin, this is certainly an interesting scenario.

    A recent customer of mine had the same problem, although he didn't actually use the 'second' meter, so it wasn't actually a problem for him, so long as the correct meter was read!

    My customer originally had electricity supplied by one provider to one of his meters and by another to the other meter, until the hot water heating system metered by the second meter was removed (thereby ensuring the second meter became redundant).

    It does seem many suppliers will only supply to a one-meter property/customer.

    If you contact your regional electricity network supplier - NOT the company you buy your electricity from - (their details are normally on a label on or near your meter(s)), they should be able to tell you if your metering system can be changed (to an Economy 7 metering system for example). There is no reason why not. I do not know whether a charge becomes applicable for this.

    Remember, the meters are - as far as I am aware - always owned, maintained and remain the property of the local supply network provider.

    The network provider is NOT necessarily the same organisation that you buy your supply from, but they could be the same company.

    Hope this helps.

    ;)Mark E
    No reliance should be placed on the above.
  • pakman
    pakman Posts: 25 Forumite
    Sometimes they RED's (reginal Elec Distibutors) fit 2 single rate meters. 1 does the day and the other does the night rate.

    Does the property have 2 mpans ?

    Is it normal economy 7 you use or do U have a day boost?

    As far as the ownership of the meter is concerned, since Oct 00 it has been possible for the meter to be owned by U or another party other than the RED or Transco.

    Brit Gas did a trial run in north wales (or sort of area) where they started to replace the existing meters with meters provided by United Utilities.

    The ownership is written on the meter.

    Let us know the result of the Q's.

    Pak
  • zebedy
    zebedy Posts: 425 Forumite
    I don't know about 2 meters but i have 2 mpan numbers.
    I have storage heaters in my flat and apparently this is something to do with that.

    I have recently switched from Powergen to Atlantic and although they only switched one mpan number they have now agreed to switch the other too. I will be having economy 7 electricity from Atlantic and it should still be cheaper than Powergen but we'll see.

    It did cause a lot of hassle and for 2 months i had one mpan number suipplied by Atlantic and one by Powergen
    MS Stalwart. Used site for >10 years :j

    Make Do, Mend and Minimise member - focussing on upcycling/repurposing and sewing
  • zebedy
    zebedy Posts: 425 Forumite
    Continuing from the message above - I have now discovered that there has been such a mess-up by tlantic that I am cutting my losses and switching back to Powergen. I know they are more expensive but they seem to be the only people that can sort things out, have good CS and send out correct bills.
    Oh well - at least i got the £15 from Simply Energy
    MS Stalwart. Used site for >10 years :j

    Make Do, Mend and Minimise member - focussing on upcycling/repurposing and sewing
  • System
    System Posts: 178,077
    Photogenic Name Dropper First Post
    Community Admin
    There are many situations throughout the UK where more than one meter is installed or more than one MPAN exists for a particular property. More often than not this is for 'historic' reasons (two properties being combined into one; customer initially had a single standard supply and then had E7 installed and the electricity company decided to fit an additional meter as opposed to a combined one).

    In these circumstances the MPAS concerned will see these recorded as being linked - thereby alleviating the requirement to pay seperate standing charges and etc.

    Changing suppliers in these circumstances technically causes no problem whatsoever.

    The problem is that the administration systems of many of the relatively new entrants to the UK Gas and Electricity market are not configured to accept more than one MPAN when setting up an account.

    We are not in a position to comment on any of the other price comparison services but at Energylinx we regularly transfer customers who have more than one meter or more than one MPAN.

    The key to the transaction is to make sure that whatever price comparison service you are using to manage the actual transfer or if you are doing this yourself, the supplier, is fully aware of your own circumstances at the outset.

    We would not recommend under any circumstances to attempt to carry out the transfer in two stages. This could result in the meters being then treated as totally seperate supplies in which case you could end up being responsible for seperate standing charges for each MPAN or meter.

    Hope this helps



    Jackie
    CST Team
    Energylinx
  • smiggers
    smiggers Posts: 119 Forumite
    In Scotland (where due to the rural nature of much of the country storage heaters are very widespread) many people have two MPAN meters where one meter is responsible for measuring storage heating controlled by a radio timeswitch (tarriffs Comfort Plus - Scottish Power and Total Control - Scottish Hydro.

    In my own experience it is very difficult to switch supplier as other electricity companies do not have a tarriff that is compatible - if you do switch then the new electricity company usually messes up and charges 2 standing charges etc. Currently 200,000 customers are "locked" and unable to choose another supplier.

    The situation raises strong competion questions and was recently raised in the House of Commons (see
    http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmtrdind/468/468a09.htm

    My own experience in trying to switch my elderly fathers electricity supplier (to Atlantic) was a nightmare even though they originally said it would be no problem to switch a 2 MPAN supply - eventually after a year we gave up and are back with the incumbent company.
  • Has anyone any more recent info on this matter?
    I'm with Southern Electric and have two meters, one for off peak storage heating which constitutes about 55% of my usage. The rates are 6.6p for the first 728 units of "General Domestic" usage, 6.26p for the rest (discounted energy), and 4.46p for the Off-Peak - which is called "Off-Peak Bx units". I get a daytime boost on the off-peak meter.
    Could I switch to another supplier without changing meters?
    Web-sites/telephone staff don't seem to have heard of anything except Standard or Economy7. Mention "Off-Peak Bx" and they go dumb!
    No reliance should be placed on the above.
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