[Westhamm]

Hi all,

Our house is electric only with the downstairs having underfloor storage heating on a separate circuit with the main hot water immersion. We used to be on Warmwise with the 2 hour boost in the afternoon but finished up on Economy 7 when the prices went through the roof.

With solar, batteries and an EV we are now on the Next Drive tariff which is perfect for us. The issue though is over the Economy 7 time which goes from 00:30 to 07:30 (01:30 to 08:30 summer) which doesn’t tie in with with the 0:00 to 07:00 off peak rate. I have tried calling E.On 3-4 times to see if the timer can be changed to suit but no luck so far. Our battery storage covers the rest of the house so we have this annoying period where I have to manually turn off the heating until it goes past 07:30. It also means the circuit doesn’t go live until 00:30 so we lose 30 minutes of storage heating too!

I would like to have control over the circuit so I can set the times as this would help when we have to move to the 6-hour Next Drive but can’t find a solution to this. Is there something that can be installed for the separate circuit/consumer unit to control when it is live? There is a contactor on this circuit too.

I suppose an ideal solution would be for the circuit to be removed from whatever time switch is controlling it at the moment and a time control that can be adjusted as and when.

Anyone experience of this please and have a solution?

[geoffers]

@Westhamm - unfortunately it sounds you're on a 2-rate (2R) version of next drive which ties in with the E7 timings you describe.

Unfortunately this version of Next Drive doesn't give you the midnight to 6 am (previously 7am) which is advertised, since the 2R version is based on the E7 UTC based timing, with no BST adjustment ☹️

A solution as you say would be to convert to the time-of-use based Drive tariff, and use a separate timer for your heating circuits, not the meter controlled timer

[Westhamm]

Thanks for this, think I am on time based Drive tariff (00:00 to 07:00) which is fine for us. Our PW (plus expansion) presently means we don’t need to use the day rate. As for a separate timer any suggestions - the heating is a fairly high use circuit for the underfloor heating. Does this mean an electrician (or energy provider) needs to remove the E7 timer perhaps?

[rwh202]

It actually sounds like you are on the ToU tariff, yet still subject to old meter switching timings.

A competent supplier would be able to set the meter timings to match, but you will find e.on unwilling or unable to do so.

Options are to see if they can put you on the 2R tariff so you can use the meter switching, or as you say, introduce your own timer to do the switching.

It sounds like you already have a contactor - guessing this is controlled by a (thin) 5th wire from the meter? Or do you have 5 thick cables from meter?

[Westhamm]

Here are a couple of pictures showing the meter plus the heating/water consumer unit I would like to add a time control to. Contactor far right for the 2nd image.

[rwh202]

@Westhamm
Ok. Hard to see what that contactor is actually doing, but from the meter looks like a switched 5th terminal will be supplying the consumer unit. Easy enough to have that moved to the permanent supply and a timer added.
Probably worth consulting an electrician at this point.

[geoffers]

Originally Posted by Westhamm

Thanks for this, think I am on time based Drive tariff (00:00 to 07:00) which is fine for us...

@Westhamm - Are you fairly new to the drive tariff or have you been receiving bills yet?

If you're on the ToU tariff your bills will have consumption values like this


I assume the 2R tariff will have billing-period end readings for both the R01 & R02 registers, with the difference from the previous value giving your billed consumption for the peak & off-peak usage

You have to be careful with the 2R, since the R01/R02 register switch timings are based on the E7 timing so the off-peak consumption is measured from 00:30-07:30 and 01:30-08:30 in the summer, so you may get billed for peak when you think you're not

My meter has R01+R02 which shows this, though I'm billed on ToU
The Active Import register timing changes at the same time as the tariff

[Westhamm]

I have been with Eon since July but the SMETS2 meter still shows Octopus! Recent bill below:

[geoffers]

@Westhamm - 👍 looks like mine so hopefully midnight to 7:00 a.m. ToU billing

I've been getting the raw meter hh data from Bright/Glowmarkt for over two years so I can validate my bills, so I'm happy that the billing has been correct for me. 🤓

[Westhamm]

I will try that for the conformation but was fairly sure that this was the case. Just need a way to stop using the peak rate when it is not needed!