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3-phase E7 meter on single phase supply?

Former Community Member
Former Community Member
My home is wired for storage heaters but none are fitted at the moment. I’ve been using a multi-fuel stove using mostly coal but I have decided to have storage heaters fitted for this winter. I have been with EON on their Heatwise tariff which gives off-peak hours 5 at night; 3 in afternoon and two in evening.. I have two consumer units  - one for normal rate and one for off-peak rate with only the immersion heater using off-peak at the moment.
EON have told me that I can’t have this old tariff anymore and so I agreed to move to their E7 tariff and have an E7 Smart Meter installed.
I currently have a single-phase incoming supply cable feeding two 100A fuses and two meters. One fuse feeds a normal rate meter and the other fuse feeds the off-peak meter. I don’t know why there are two meters fed by separate fuses and why the installation does not use the off-peak meter to record normal rate usage.
I discovered that the meter technician is not a qualified electrician and he didn’t know what to do so he phoned his supervisor who told him not to proceed with the meter change. I spoke to the supervisor on the phone and asked him why the one fuse cannot be removed and the remaining fuse can then supply the new E7 meter. He told me that I would have to get a qualified electrician to approve that which surprised me and I got the impression that these meter technicians don’t appear to know an awful lot.
The supervisor suggested that a 3-phase meter could be fitted retaining the two fuses and the meter is then fed by two cables although it is still a single phase supply. He also told me that the 3-phase meter would not be a Smart Meter. The meter technician was not qualified to do that but he could do the job himself so would phone me later to arrange it.
Another thing the supervisor told me was that I could only have four night storage heaters which I disagreed with explaining that I was proposing to have five which would add up to 17.22kw including the 3kw immersion element – equating to just over 70A and surely the limit is the total load and not the number? There is no electric shower fitted.
I don’t have a lot of confidence that these meter technicians know what they are doing and would have preferred a qualified electrician but EON don’t have any to do meter changes.

My question is does this sound ok or not please – can a 3-phase meter be fitted and fed by two cables from the incoming single-phase supply through the two fuses already fitted.  This all sounds a bit strange so any help appreciated so thanks for any comments.
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Parents
  • 0
    Yes, the peak tails go up and the off peak go off to the left.


    The whole supply go onto E7 at night, so you need to use the time delay settings on the washing machine and dishwasher if they have them to wash clothes and do the dishes overnight to make the most use of the tariff. The relay is switching the supply to the heaters.


    The Dimplex Quantum heaters can run off a single circuit and have the option to switch the charging elements on four times a day, but unless you live on the Channel Islands I don’t think you will find an electric supplier that will offer you a tariff that works with that feature.


    I attended a half day training course organised by Worcestershire County Council and paid for by the European Union Social Fund about advising people on how to reduce their utility bills.


    There are two key ways of reducing your electric bill:
    • Change tariff.

    • ”Behaviour change” adapt your lifestyle and routines to fit the tariffs, so don’t use appliances that can run on E7 tariffs overnight at half six in the evening.


    Until an electric supplier disrupts the UK market by bringing in innovative tariffs and changes to the systems things aren’t going to move forward, the existing E7 tariffs are based on the concept that producers need to dump excess electric overnight whilst the country sleeps, but now we have wind farm operators being paid to go off grid during the day when Smart meters could be switching storage heaters in that may not be able to charge from wind farms overnight, because there isn’t sufficient wind.


     Andy Betteridge
Reply
  • 0
    Yes, the peak tails go up and the off peak go off to the left.


    The whole supply go onto E7 at night, so you need to use the time delay settings on the washing machine and dishwasher if they have them to wash clothes and do the dishes overnight to make the most use of the tariff. The relay is switching the supply to the heaters.


    The Dimplex Quantum heaters can run off a single circuit and have the option to switch the charging elements on four times a day, but unless you live on the Channel Islands I don’t think you will find an electric supplier that will offer you a tariff that works with that feature.


    I attended a half day training course organised by Worcestershire County Council and paid for by the European Union Social Fund about advising people on how to reduce their utility bills.


    There are two key ways of reducing your electric bill:
    • Change tariff.

    • ”Behaviour change” adapt your lifestyle and routines to fit the tariffs, so don’t use appliances that can run on E7 tariffs overnight at half six in the evening.


    Until an electric supplier disrupts the UK market by bringing in innovative tariffs and changes to the systems things aren’t going to move forward, the existing E7 tariffs are based on the concept that producers need to dump excess electric overnight whilst the country sleeps, but now we have wind farm operators being paid to go off grid during the day when Smart meters could be switching storage heaters in that may not be able to charge from wind farms overnight, because there isn’t sufficient wind.


     Andy Betteridge
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