[Natalie86]

Hi there,
we're in a desperate situation, as the eon CS doesn't seem to understand what our problem is, so I'll try it here.
Situation: We are on an Economy 7 tariff at the moment, as we've had storage heaters. These storage heaters were removed yesterday and replaced with ordinary electric radiators.
3 of the radiators were fitted to the same circuit the storage heaters were on. Now here's the tricky bit that no one seems to understand: This separate off-peak circuit is only powered between 00:30 and 07:30am during off-peak times. The control for the time switch is presumably done by the meter, as we don't have any timers or switches on the circuit board.
We had a smart meter fitted by eon a few weeks ago.
We had explained our situation to them that we want to make the switch to ordinary radiators and move away from the Economy 7 tariff. However, they fitted a dual rate smart meter, and we found only out yesterday when our electrician came around to fit the new radiators that they should have fitted a different meter (a single rate meter, I assume).
Our problem now: We can't use 3 of our radiators during the day because they are wired to the off-peak circuit that only comes on at night.

My questions now:
1. Do we need a new meter or can the current one be reprogrammed by eon so that the off-peak circuit is powered 24/7?
2. Can we already switch to the eon Next Smart Saver tariff with the current setup, or do we have to wait until the situation with the meter and off-peak circuit is resolved?

Any help or advice is appreciated.

[rwh202]

Firstly, there is no such thing as a single or dual rate smart meter - they are all 48 rate meters and just sent an appropriate tariff matrix.

The difference is that there are 4 and 5 terminal meters. You have a 5 terminal one with the 5th configured to switch according to a separate timing calendar.

E.on can configure the 5th terminal to be permanently energised by setting the timing calendar correctly. Also known as ECAUL setting - electronically controlled auxiliary load.

Perfectly possible if you reach the right person in customer services - they must exist.
However, I can see this setup being ‘fragile’ with a risk of wrong setting being reapplied at any point.

Better might be to get both circuits wired to the 4th permanently live terminal - depending on layout and position of isolators etc. this might require a meter technician or possibly just your own electrician.

[Natalie86]

Thank you for your reply. That's very helpful.
If we rewire the current off-peak circuit to the live terminal, does eon have to change the meter configuration? Or else the meter would still be set to day/night rates, wouldn't it?

[rwh202]

Originally Posted by Natalie86

Thank you for your reply. That's very helpful.
If we rewire the current off-peak circuit to the live terminal, does eon have to change the meter configuration? Or else the meter would still be set to day/night rates, wouldn't it?

The meter switching can be set to whatever - it will have no effect.
The tariff switching would ideally be set to match whatever tariff you were on - essential for economy7, but not for what they term 'smart' tariffs where they are happy for the meter tariff to be anything, since billing done on 30 minute data.

Just an aside: as a short term bodge, your meter will have a 'boost' function - normally a bit of a faff with button combinations but will give you up to 60 minutes of heating with your other 3 heaters... If your meter is easily accessible and you can google the manual (or ask on here), it might be an option on particularly cold days.

[Natalie86]

Thanks again for your reply. Good to know about the boost function.
One more question: Our electrician said yesterday that he could wire the off-peak circuit to the meter, so that it would be on permanently. Could we just go ahead with that, or is that actually the supplier's job to have it rewired by one of their own technicians?

[rwh202]

Originally Posted by Natalie86

Thanks again for your reply. Good to know about the boost function.
One more question: Our electrician said yesterday that he could wire the off-peak circuit to the meter, so that it would be on permanently. Could we just go ahead with that, or is that actually the supplier's job to have it rewired by one of their own technicians?

Would depend on exact layout and where isolators, henleys etc. already are. I'm sure any electrician could do the work - question is whether they should! As I understand it, they shouldn't touch the meter, nor pull the DNO fuse, so if they can do the work safely without doing that, then all good.

[Natalie86]

Great. Thank you so much. That's all been very helpful. Way more helpful than what the eon CS agents had to offer. 👍

[Natalie86]

Update: We called eon CS again today at midday, and I told the agent what we needed as discussed above. He was kind enough to arrange an emergency call-out. He told me though that I would have to explain to the technician what we needed because he (the agent) was apparently not capable to relay the information he got from me to the technicians.
A technician was just here and wired the off-peak circuit to the 4th terminal of the meter. It took less than 10 minutes, and all radiators are working now.
My top tip for everyone, who has similar problems: Don't waste your time with eon's customer service trying to explain technical issues. They are not trained for that (which is really a shame and complicates things a lot, especially when a quick fix can be provided easily). Instead, get help here first, and tell the CS agents exactly what you need. That will save you a lot of time and nerves.

[meldrewreborn]

@rwh202

great advice and well explained.

[meldrewreborn]

@Natalie86

glad that’s all sorted. I’m a little bit perplexed about WHY you’ve gone down this route. I recognise that older storage heaters are rather inflexible but modern ones are much better.