Economy 7: Is it worthwhile? Your views pls!

MSE_Marcel wrote: »

Hi everyone I'm new to MSE and putting together a guide on Economy 7. I'm looking for info on whether it really works out as being cheaper than even the cheapest, single rate tariff deals.

I'd like to know about any problems with Economy 7, of any kind, inc accuracy of the clocks used by meters, i.e. do they automatically switch when the clocks go forward? Anecdotal evidence suggests they don't. Also, what proportion of electricity usage at night, do you think you have to use to make Economy 7 pay? For ex, 20%? 30%?

Any experiences of costs incurred via switching to a single rate from Economy 7 (i.e. how much different cos charge to change meter), would also be great, thanks!

It depends on the amount of cheap rate electricity you consume compared to the overall amount.

This break even ratio varies with supplier, tariff and supply region.

If you play about with some figures on any comparison site, you will soon see for yourself how much it can vary.

I fear, with the limited amount of information you have requested in this thread, you are likely to get a number of people saying I paid £x per month until I changed to/from E7 and now pay £y per month. Totally meaningless.

Regarding the cost to change a meter, well it may not even be necessary. Some suppliers will charge a single rate tariff, despite the user having an E7 meter. (Obviously you can't get E7 without an E7 meter) Other suppliers don't charge for a meter change.

Infact, I only know of one of the big 6 suppliers that will not either provide a single rate tariff on an E7 meter or provide a free meter change. That supplier is Scottish Power. I believe they currently charge £45.91, but if you email the SP rep, I'm sure they will happily confirm the exact figure for you.

Edit:
e.g. according to EnergyHelpline, an electricity customer consuming say 8000kWh per year supplied in the East Midlands area (and uses 55%, the default amount the comparison site uses for E7 usage, during the low rate period) gives the following cheapest results:

Single rate tariff:
nPower - energy online aug 2014 - £939 p.a

E7 tariff:
Flow energy ((new supplier, just launched) Thames - £806 p.a
Scottish Power Online Energy Saver 21 - £832 p.a


I also remember reading this thread - it's a few years old now so doesn't apply today but it indicated E7 from SP would always be cheaper (in the specific supply region) than the equivilent non-E7 no matter what percentage overnight usage was
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1207887

But it's not clear if the SP tariff was the cheapest for everyone (that would probably depend on level of usage), and I think it only compared no standing charge tariiffs (which were common) that were paid quarterly on receipt of bill.


Regarding clocks, and their accuracy - well that depends.
Our clock has been wrong by a number of hours (not complete hours) for years - no one is interested.
I noticed recently the clock went forward by an hour in accordance with BST, so assume it is remotely controlled somehow, but it's still wrong; it just shows an hour ahead of the time it would have shown.
The timing of when the low rate starts and stops hasn't changed i.e. it's still on GMT, which I belive is common for most if not all people (unless thay have a smart meter perhaps - it is suggested that with the introduction of smart meters much more complicated time of use tariffs may be introduced - remember the EDF 20:20 tariff?)

The break-even percentage point where E7 is viable varies by company and area; and over the years has also changed.

To further complicate matters the 'premium' for the 17 hours daytime electricity also varies considerably - as does the off- peak cheap rate price.

The 'traditional' break even point was 30% E7 usage. The last time I looked Scottish Power's break even point was 20% and British Gas was 40%.

The only lesson to be learnt is there is no 'one size fits all' solution.

Some companies will allow you to switch from E7 to a normal(24/7) tariff without changing the meter. They simply aggregate both consumption figures and treat as one total. e.g. 3,000kWh on daytime and 1,000kWh on off-peak will be treated as 4,000kWh on the 24/7 tariff.

The mechanical switching clocks can go out of adjustment, and in my experience are never corrected. I should have midnight to 7am in Winter(GMT) and 1am to 8am in Summer(BST) but over the years it has changed so I now get E7 finishing at 8am and 9am repectively. People have reported on MSE far greater errors with their clock.

I believe the more modern meters that are switched remotely are accurate. Smart Metering should solve that issue.

So has your heating been on during April? It has been pretty cold this year - this is my gas usage over the last two winters (monthly readings so not accurate to the day) and it's pretty clear that it's been colder for longer this time around:



The red line shows when the number of adults living in my house increased from 2 to 3, which was more significant when it came to electricity usage:



The dips always appear when everyone goes on holiday (we have no standing charge for either electricity or gas).

it really works out as being cheaper

In most cases with properly used ToS water & space heating - YES

electricity usage at night

Break even [ToS by supplier] points :

British Gas 45%
Cooperative Energy - 35%
Ebico - 33%
Ecotricity - 20-35% [depending on the region]
EDF Energy - 20-30% [depending on region and consumption profile]
EON - 34%
First Utility - Don't offer an Economy 7 tariff
Good Energy - 15 to 40% [depending on region and consumption profile]
LoCo2 - 13 to 20%
npower - 35%
OVO - 30%
Scottish Power - 15%
Spark Energy - Don't offer an Economy 7 tariff
SSE - 35%
Utility Warehouse - 40% [35% for low users]

accuracy of the clocks used by meters

As you say 'anecdotal' from this site, where you get hard research I've no idea. Much however of that 'anecdotal' comes from 'boots on the ground' meter readers who have no axe to grind and should be qualitatively better than any pre-laundered figured released by industry.

make E7 pay

A 2011 ipsosMORi report for consumer focus suggested that around 40% of E7 tariff users have no storage [panel / underfloor etc] facilities, this group certainly should seriously consider switching away from E7 / E10.

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

A 2011 ipsosMORi report for consumer focus suggested that around 40% of E7 tariff users have no storage [panel / underfloor etc] facilities, this group certainly should seriously consider switching away from E7 / E10.

Agree with the thrust of your post, but the situation today(as described above) might not apply tomorrow.

There is also merit in those with older(thus less efficient) oil/LPG boilers to consider switching them off during the summer and heating water by an immersion heater on E7.

Indeed even an old gas boiler with a 'flamethrower' pilot light might find E7 cheaper.