What are my Economy 7 Times?

  • retrotecchie's Avatar
    Level 92
    My statements, referring to off-peak, state 'weekends/other'. This would suggest that there is some day time periods through the weekend which are classified as off-peak. If that was so, it would begin to make sense. If you have any views I will be pleased to hear them.

    If you read my post immediately prior to yours, you will see I have given you a description of your 826 meter time code and explained that you have a non-domestic meter and a non Economy 7 tariff pattern.

    Peak periods are daytime weekdays and your off-peak periods will be evenings and weekends, but I can't tell you what the specific hours for the periods are. As I say, it's a non domestic metering arrangement, not Economy 7!

    In all likelihood, peak will be somewhere in the ballpark of 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday and off-peak will be anything outside of those times.

    Now, if E.On next are billing you at an Economy 7 tariff then likely you will be rather better off than on actual Economy 7 as you have more off-peak than on-peak hours.

    E7 is 7 off peak hours, seven days a week for a total of 49 hours, leaving 119 on peak hours. Under your metering arrangement, you are likely getting 55 on-peak hours and 113 off-peak hours, but that's just picking numbers out of the air based on my guess as to your hours.

    Why this exists in what appears to be a domestic bungalow is a bit of a mystery, but there are a couple of plausible explanations.

    1, A previous incumbent ran a business from the property and switched to a commercial tariff because the time pattern and tariff was more suited to their business usage.

    2. I have seen this before. If the property was part of a development that was local authority owned or housing association or managed by an umbrella organisation, it could well be that a number of properties were 'pooled' onto a commercial setup. It may be that rents included utilities, but the management got a better deal on a group of properties under a business arrangement rather each property set up with an individual domestic account. If the rent's didn't include utilities, then the management would have been responsible for reading all the meters under their arrangement.

    It would help further if you could provide the 2 digit supplier code. If this lies outside of the standard 10-23 range, then you do not fall under one of the regional DNO's but your setup was installed by a private/independent network or supplier. This would completely correlate with your 'out of the usual range' MTC code. This is the first two digits on the lower row of your MPAN number.


    I am trying my best to assist here and I would be very surprised indeed if E.On Next could supply you with answers. They only do 'standard domestic' setups and anything else is outside of their scope or expertise. It may be that this supply has been inherited from one of any number of smaller or private suppliers that have gone bust or merged with other companies. The legacy information on non-standard arrangements would not have been inherited along with the customer base.

    A photograph of the meter itself would also be useful. That may give me a little more insight.

    To reiterate what @meldrewreborn said, neither he nor I have any 'official' connection with E.On Next. We both contribute where we can as unpaid volunteers. Young Mr Meldrew is a bit of a whizz at number crunching and logically worrying at a problem whereas I am rather more au fait with the technical aspects of electrical engineering. Between us and many of our other regular volunteers we chip in and offer suggestions or help where we can and I think I can speak for him when I say we both like to get to the bottom of these interesting mysteries!
    Last edited by retrotecchie; 16-08-23 at 14:39.
    Don't shoot me, I'm only the piano player. I DON'T work for or on behalf of EON.Next, but am willing to try and help if I can. Not on mains gas, mobile network or mains drainage. House heated almost entirely by baby dragons.
  • Lescaut's Avatar
    Level 5
    Retrotecchie: You have certainly gone to a lot of trouble which I appreciate very much. The frustrating thing about anything relating to power is that virtually everyone you speak to at the supplier's end know absolutely nothing! I have attached a picture of the meter.

    Michael
    Attached Images Attached Images  
  • Lescaut's Avatar
    Level 5
    Thank you for your reply. To answer one question: I certainly started with Eon and somehow got moved on to Eon.next

    Actually I am currently on standard tariff across 24 hours. I did a spreadsheet analysis of my past consumption and if I was on an E7 program I would save marginally (about £5 a month!). However, if I discovered that off-peak included large chunks of weekend then by organising my consumption to coincide with those times I could save considerably more.

    My starting point really though is trying to understand my statements: How can it be that my off-peak (described as weekends/other) equal, or come near, my peak consumption? (given that I am a sad person who goes to bed at 18.00 hours!)
  • meldrewreborn's Avatar
    Level 91
    @Lescaut

    if your consumption is heavily influenced by appliances like fridges and freezers which operate 24/7 then off peak consumption will be more of a factor than a family home using lots of power at peak times.
    Current Eon Next customer, ex EDF, Zog and Symbio. Don't think dual fuel saves money and don't like smart meters. Chronologically Gifted. If I offend let me know by private message, but I’ll continue to express my opinions nonetheless.
  • meldrewreborn's Avatar
    Level 91
    @Lescaut

    if off peak is 5 days of 7 hour plus 2 of 24 that comes to 83 hours , almost half of a 168 hour week.
  • Lescaut's Avatar
    Level 5
    @retrotecchie
    I have decided in order to save my sanity, to surrender and not attempt to put any further arguments to Eon. A reminder: the previous owner of this property (now deceased) left a note in the meter cupboard which read: 'Rate 2 Day'. We have gone along with that for 2-3 years, but it is not correct. To make my point I checked my Rate 1 and Rate 2 readings around 09.00 hours yesterday and again at around 17.00 hours. The Rate 1 reading had gone up by 1. But the Rate 2 remained constant. It doesn't take - I would have thought - Einstein to work out that Rate 1 must be day!
    I emailed this 'discovery' to Eon and had the reply this morning to the effect that from the middle of July to the middle of August both Rate 1 and Rate 2 increased. You could say: 'so what is your point?' I was tempted to reply to this but, on reflection, I have opted for the quiet life. The last thing I want is to finish up being 'sectioned'!
  • steverwilliams's Avatar
    Level 5
    @Lescaut

    Hi, apologies for late reply - not sure if this is any help but I did eventually find out my three tariff timings - believe me it wasn't easy which is an absurdity in itself.
    Tariff 1 - Night 0000 to 0700
    Tariff 2 - Day 0700 to 1900
    Tariff 3 - Off peak 1900 to 2400 week days, 0700 to 2400 weekends
    Good luck
  • Lescaut's Avatar
    Level 5
    But to just concentrate on the little experiment I carried out: if I observed the rate 1 and rate 2 readings at 9 am on a Monday morning (peak time) and then noted the readings at 5 pm and found that rate 1 had increased by 1 and rate 2 had remained constant, doesn't this surely mean that rate 1 registers peak consumption?
  • meldrewreborn's Avatar
    Level 91
    @Lescaut

    It seems there is no consistency in whether rate 1 =peak, or off peak.
  • JoeSoap's Avatar
    Level 91
    But to just concentrate on the little experiment I carried out: if I observed the rate 1 and rate 2 readings at 9 am on a Monday morning (peak time) and then noted the readings at 5 pm and found that rate 1 had increased by 1 and rate 2 had remained constant, doesn't this surely mean that rate 1 registers peak consumption?

    From what you say I too would deduce that Rate 1 is your daytime peak reading. You could try the same experiment at other times of the day and at weekends if you want to know more about your rates but if you're on a single rate tariff anyway then as you know, it would make no difference.
    I'm an Eon Next dual fuel customer with no particular expertise but have some time on my hands that I am using to try and help out a bit.