Half Hour electricity meter in small business unit

[Nickh]

Recently moved into a small business unit and had quite a surprise regarding the electricity supply and wanted to see if anyone has experienced the same or have any suggestions.

When we started getting energy quotes we found the installed electricity meter is intended for a large business with very high electricity usage. Called a Half Hour meter.

The main issue being that the standing charge £5 to £6 a day.

When we asked for the meter to be downgraded to a normal business meter we are being told due to Offgem Market-wide Half-Hourly Settlement (MHHS) initiative energy companies are no longer permitted to downgrade these meters to a standard meter so we are stuck with these very high standing charges.

If anyone has any suggestions, would be much appreciated.

 

[fisicx]

Move out to a different unit!

Why didn’t this get picked up during the building survey and lease review?

If they won’t change the meter and you can’t hand back the keys you are probably stuck with the standing charge.

Unless @NickGrogan has some advice.

 

[Picture Bute]

My daughter recently walked away from a potential lease arrangement for exactly this reason. The owner did not disclose when she asked them for details of what the utility bills had been over the previous few years. He was given a spreadsheet which showed £4K and £5K annual spends on electricity. When she phoned elec companys for quotes, she found about the half hour meter. After various discussions, it turned out it wasn't going to be an easy fix.

 

[Picture Bute]

Update.....according to what my daughter found out...

They downgrade the energy supply to the meter which mitigates the high standing charges

The high standing charges are for the high energy consumption not the meter

She said she had to speak to the head of SSENs engineering specialist network distribution team.

 

[WaveJumper]

Interesting when I read up on this last week I didn't find anything that said a meter can not be downgraded in fact quite the opposite.

As above Nick may give us more of an insight into this

 

[SummerVictoria]

Recently moved into a small business unit and had quite a surprise regarding the electricity supply and wanted to see if anyone has experienced the same or have any suggestions.

When we started getting energy quotes we found the installed electricity meter is intended for a large business with very high electricity usage. Called a Half Hour meter.

The main issue being that the standing charge £5 to £6 a day.

When we asked for the meter to be downgraded to a normal business meter we are being told due to Offgem Market-wide Half-Hourly Settlement (MHHS) initiative energy companies are no longer permitted to downgrade these meters to a standard meter so we are stuck with these very high standing charges.

If anyone has any suggestions, would be much appreciated.

Hi, Could I ask if you have gotten any further with this as we are being quoted a standing charge of £13 per day plus. Many thanks

Victoria

 

[NickGrogan]

Yes and no, is the answer to this one.

Suppliers will almost never remove a HH meter and replace it with a non half hourly, MHHS being the main reason - all meters will be half hourly eventually.

But you can reduce the availability (the amount of power the meter is expected to take) this will reduce your availability charge and also reduce the standing charge as this is calculated in bands based on the availability.

Reducing it is free, just ask the distribution company and then inform the supplier. Changes in standing charges are not always instant.

Some customers are having new connections added next to the existing meter, fitting a new non half hourly meter and then having the half hourly meter disconnected.

As they have different Mpan numbers, this is not "downgrading" the meter.