Economy 7 - do I keep it?

bookseller1980

I have an economy 7 meter which was in the property when I purchased it. I have a dual fuel agreement with npower. I only really use the e7 rate for 2 hours of the immersion heater every morning and the usual 24/7 stuff like the fridge.
The dishwasher and washing machine very rarely go on at night - I am just not organised enough or around at the right times. I cannot put them on timers as the plugs are under the worksurfaces and at the bottom. The appliances would stick out!
It has been suggested that it would be cheaper to have the ecomomy 7 taken out. Is this right? It I had never occurred to me - I just thought it was cheaper!:o
Would they charge to do this?
Thanks.

KimYeovil

Yes, it would be cheaper if you don't use night units. (It has been decades since Economy 7 was cheaper for everyone.)

E7

---

OL11
27.248 tier1 15.698
16.685 tier2 14.448
06.353 night 14.448

So standing charge is an extra £84 per year, tier 2 day units 2p more expensive. (Actual prices will be different and proportions may be significantly different in your region.)

They may charge you to change meter, or they can change it for free, or they can change it for free and ask for a deposit. Or you may find a company that will not charge you to change (but, of course, their prices for all their customers will reflect this subsidy.) Or you may track down a company that simply adds the day and night readings together.

notbritishgas

bookseller1980 wrote: »

I have an economy 7 meter which was in the property when I purchased it. I have a dual fuel agreement with npower. I only really use the e7 rate for 2 hours of the immersion heater every morning and the usual 24/7 stuff like the fridge.
The dishwasher and washing machine very rarely go on at night - I am just not organised enough or around at the right times. I cannot put them on timers as the plugs are under the worksurfaces and at the bottom. The appliances would stick out!
It has been suggested that it would be cheaper to have the ecomomy 7 taken out. Is this right? It I had never occurred to me - I just thought it was cheaper!:o
Would they charge to do this?
Thanks.

From what you say I doubt if you are making E7 pay. Sort out some old bills and work out what % of your electric you use at night. I am on npower SoL 10 and used 34% at night and this was about £10 a year more expensive than single rate, and I had to work hard to use this amount at night.I have had the meter changed.
Npower do not charge to change the meter, well that is what they told me!!

bookseller1980

Thanks.
The last bill says I used 346kwh night and 815kwh day.
The little notice by the meter says economy 7 is 1am-8am. I thought it was 11pm - 8am!

dizziblonde

From what I remember from my brief stint working at an energy company - E7 is mainly good if you have those wonderful storage heaters that were the bane of my life in my previous house. We were better off on it - but from working in energy for a while - we knew full-well to hammer the heck out of the night rate, if you're not - then switching is probably the better plan.
If you call your supplier they should be able to calculate if you'd save going to single rate or not - I know I've done that search for customers in the past so the facility's definitely there.

bookseller1980

Thanks - I'll give them a call.