Economy 7 or not Economy 7

Magentasue

We had E7 in a house for years even though we didn't have storage heaters. We used to use washing machine and tumble drier overnight and heat our hot water on cheap rate. We struggled to break even on it but this was when we were just a couple. When we had children and did more laundry and had a dishwasher, we broke even but it was often inconvenient - I wanted to get the washing out of the way, not wash one night and dry the next.

We moved into a house with storage heaters. They didn't last long. Cost a fortune and inefficient. Hated them. Put gas CH in and had meter changed. Before we did it, we did one quarter without heaters but running everything we could overnight and failed to break even. I think it was because by this time we had teens and therefore more gadgets etc and I was using oven and cooker more.

Gas CH and no E7 was the way to go for us. It was liberating to be able to put the dishwasher on when I wanted and not feel guilty if I used appliances during the day.

In both houses where we had E7, it was wired so that all electricity used in the E7 hours was charged at the cheap rate but I know people who have only an immersion heater and storage heaters wired to the off peak meter.

Personally, I would advise against it unless you have storage heaters - and I would never have them again. I don't think any electric heating works out cheaper than gas CH as prices are at the moment.

Raksha

We are currently on Economy 7 with Scottish Power, and according to comparison web sites, it is the cheapest option for our set up (or if not the cheapest, only £2 or £3 a month more expensive).

I run a dishwasher, washing machine and tumble drier most nights, we also have a hot tub (which is not that 'thirsty' as it's well insulated)

Premier_2

If you want E7 for night storage heating purposes, it is normal that these are connected via a unique circuit that only comes live when you are receiving low rate electricity.

But don't be mis-led. All electricity supplied during the low rate will be charged at that low rate whichever circuit it is on, but the specific circuit the NSH is on will only come live during the low rate. I've not seen any NSH that have individual clocks on each heater (but there may be some)

Even if you don't want the NSH on a night-time only circuit, NSH usually have a unique circuit because of the load involved. It may also be that the supplier wants to check the total current you plan to draw to check your supply can handle this.

As a new electrical circuit installation will require checking out before the electricity supplier will connect to that circuit, then that is why they suggest you get the work done first, else they'll charge you again to come out and connect the new circuit once that is installed.

With regards low rate electricity being cheaper than gas, do your calculations carefully. e.g. ebico charge just 3.77p per kWh for gas (other suppliers may charge less depending on usage), but I suspect you may struggle to find electricity cheaper even at low rate. Then you need to factor in the efficiency factor of gas heating vs electricity heating (electricity heating is usually considered almost 100% , but gas heating is usually less efficient)