Smart Meter Snoopers

[Robin]

No. But, due to the way the duty (and cost) was put on suppliers you have to leave each supplier to arrange a separate visit to instal each meter.

[ZakJames]

That?s much less flexible with the time of the cheapest power and allows more than just two power costs.

Yes you do because they have to tell you that and the smart meter tells you that too.

No reason why it has to be obscure and the smart meter tells you that anyway.

[invalid]

Of course they are battery powered, what do you think measures the gas so the transmitter can send it to the electricity meter?

Maybe a little battery powered robot pops out and reads the dials, opps there aren't any dials.

[Adam Funk]

But how far in advance? I know when the E7 night rate applies so I can set the washing machine & dishwasher in the evening to run at appropriate times later.

[ZakJames]

Forget what the legal requirement is on prior notification of a rate change is, its quite a while.

Just as true of a time of use tariff and a smart meter with a lot more flexibility on the time of the cheapest power.

[Chris J Dixon]

I was surprised to when I looked at comparisons for my power supply, dual fuel with E7. As I only use about 30% overnight. the cheapest overall was one that didn't actually have a low night rate.

Chris

[AnthonyL]

The last time I found it worth my while being on an E7 tariff was when I had a small office with storage heaters wired directly into the E7.

I doubt that anyone not using electric heating would find it worthwhile, and even though we made maximum use of E7 for washing machines, hot water storage and showers it was marginal even when we managed 30%.

Now, with gas heating, even though we have a dual meter, a single tariff works out cheaper. Just a matter of trying to convince a new supplier that you don't want E7.

[Roger Hayter]

Last time I changed supplier, a couple fo years ago, quite a lot of them, including at least one of the big ones, simply did not have their billing system set up so someone with an E7 meter could pay a single rate tariff. Even once they had understood the request they simply could not do it. That may be the only reason for getting a smart meter, so you can get rid of an Economy 7 switch without paying for a meter change.

[Brian Reay]

Interesting. We were with Eon and they offered a ?better? deal when our contract was due to expire. The new deal wasn?t E7, nor was it better than another deal I?d found with E7- especially as I Charge our car over night on E7. However, when I asked Eon about the meter (which is a conventional dual dial one for E7), I was told they would simply add two readings together and not change the meter. As it happens, we changed suppliers so I never found out if this was actually the case.

Even without charging the car, we?ve always found E7 worthwhile. Senior Management tends to run the washing machine and dishwasher overnight, we?ve a couple of freezers (besides the kitchen fridge and freezer), plus the occasional cycle of the self cleaning oven running overnight.

[Max Demian]

When they change you to E7, don't they increase the peak rate to make the off-peak look cheaper?

[Brian Reay]

I don't recall the numbers- the last time I looked at them was at least a year back. But, I knew my day/night use and compared the options and went for the best deal, including standing charges etc.

[Tufnell Park]

You don't need a smart meter to get a better tariff just a decent supplier who offers reasonable prices like my supplier Utility Point who at under 12p/kWh put most other suppliers to shame.

[Roger Hayter]

I think they increase the peak rate so they don't lose money on the deal, especially if you don't actually use much electricity at night.

[Max Demian]

That rather subverts the rationale of off-peak: that you are encouraged to use electricity to even out consumption.

[Chris J Dixon]

That's not really the case is it? You are encouraged to move some of your consumption to the cheaper period.

As I said previously, my off-peak usage is about 30%, and ever since I started keeping records nearly 30 years ago, E7 has been cheaper than a standard tariff.

The change this time is that the dual fuel non-E7 tariff Avro are offering, compared with my previous but expiring very good deal from Tonik, reduces my electricity costs slightly and my gas costs quite a bit, and the daily charge is also less.

Chris

[invalid]

That doesn't work well with lots of renewables, you want peak consumption to match when its windy/sunny.

So if you can predict that its going to be windy tomorrow you want to sell more electricity tomorrow not at 3AM.

Then of course if you know its going to be calm you want to put the price up so people will put off using electricity and you don't need to run the standby stuff. Better would be to auction off the green energy to those stupid enough to want an all renewables tariff. Then you cut off the ones that fail to get their bid accepted.

[Dave Liquorice]

I think that might be a fairly old tariff. Just renewed with Utility Point to 14.024p/kWhr (Just Up Renewal Sep 19 v4) it was 11.453p.kWhr (Just Up 18 Wk 17 Direct), Area 16 ENW.