Can an electrician change the Economy 7 timer in a smart meter?

[catwin1]

Hello, I am on Economy 7 and I have storage heaters and a hot water tank connected to a separate CU for my off-peak usage. The timer that switches to the off-peak circuit at night on my newly installed SMETS2 smart meter is wrong so I am being overcharged by 50% for my night appliances. The supplier tells me that they cannot change this (contrary to everything I have seen online) and that I need to ask an electrician to do this.
Can someone please confirm?
Thank you

 

[James]

Can you post a picture of the timer that is wrong?

 

[catwin1]

Thank you for your reply.

It is a 5-port SMETS2 smart meter and I do not have access to the timer as the off-peak circuit is controlled by an ALCS inside the meter itself. (It's an old setup, with old storage heaters).

I ended up switching to a different supplier today, after 7 weeks of trying to explain what needs to be done to them, for them to say it's not their job.

 

[Charah]

Can you post a picture of the timer that is wrong?

Hello James, I think I have the same problem that catwin1 had. Please can you help me.

On 04.12.23 my Radio Teleswitch meter was replaced with a KAIFA Smartmeter. This was a requirement of my fixed rate energy deal, and because I have read that my old meter would no longer function when the BBC switch off the long wave signal on 31.03.24.
I have four storage heaters and a single element immersion heater that work on an economy 7 circuit. The Radio Teleswitch meter worked perfectly and my Ecomony 7 use averaged at around 84% per year. Five days after the Smart meter was installed my Ecomony 7 use had dropped to 71% (I had recorded daily readings the week before the old meter was replaced and my Ecomony 7 use was 90%, due to the storage heaters use in the winter).

I watched the times that my heaters switched on and off, and recorded the times that the T1 and T2 rates changed over. There is a 30 minute lack of synchronicity between the times. My storage heaters and immersion heater work from 00.02 to 07.02 Hrs, and my Peak Rate (T1) changes to Economy 7 rate (T2) at 00.32Hrs and the Economy 7 rate ends and changes back to Peak rate at 07.32 Hrs. This means the storage heaters and water heat from cold for 30 minutes before the Economy 7 rate starts, and explains the drop in Economy 7 use.

I have complained to my energy supplier and at first they told me I needed to employ an Electrician to change the timer for the Economy 7 devices to my observed tariff times. I have no idea where this timer is, I assumed it would be part of the Smart meter. However they insisted that my tariff times were 00.00-07.00Hrs. When I sent my evidence of the tariff times to them the metering team said my meters timings did not match with the times that they had listed on their system for me. They also compared it with the data on the National Database for my meter and it does not display the correct timings for my meter.

The metering team have advised that currently their Smart meters do not support the timings that I am requesting from them to be switched to and that this is something they are currently working on. Again they suggested that I try to amend the timing on my storage heaters so they are in line with the Smart meter times.

Meanwhile in order to avoid high bills, I switch my Economy 7 devices off when the Economy 7 rate has gone off in the morning and get up after 00.32 to switch then on when I know that the Economy 7 tariff is in use.

Do you know if there are any Regulations for suppliers of Economy 7 tariffs to comply with? What do you think my reasonable options are? Thank you for your help in this matter.