Economy 7 - is it worth it?

HMS

Hi all

I'm using the Economy 7 meter that was on my house when I moved in, but from my latest bill I've think I've used ~15% of energy in the night. My use on my bill was from 14 Dec to 14 Feb: Night = 106 kWh, Day = 560 kWh

The thing is I'm not sure how I can increase my night time electric consumption as my house and water is heated by gas and I run my washing machine and dishwasher in the night. I only live in a little house.

My questions are:
1. How can I tell if economy 7 is cheaper for me? and...
2. If it isn't cheaper for me can/how do I get the meter changed?

Thanks in advance!

Cardew

It is very unlikely that you will make E7 pay when only using 15% at cheap rate.

Your best bet is to assume that you will use approx the same amount of electricty all year. So assume you use 4000kWh per year(approx 6 times the amount you used from 14/12 to 14/2)

Go to a comparison website and enter 4000kWh on normal use. Then enter 4,000kWh with 15% on E7.

To get an accurate picture include your gas consumption as the dual fuel discounts are quite large.

It might not be necessary to change your meter, some allow you to aggregate the 2 readings - i.e. for your consumption above you would be charged for 666kWh at a normal 24/7 tariff rate.

Others do require a meter change, some do it for free others charge.

spiro

Go onto your suppliers website, find the 24/7 prices and recalculate you bill using these prices. This will give you a like for like comparison without changing supplier. I would bet you will be better off not on an E7 tariff.

tori.k

I just added my E7 numbers together and worked it out how much the price would be on a standard tarrif. like you we didnt really use the night time electric, once we knew we would save alot on just a sandard tarrif we got the meter changed over, and looked at the online deals

jax-e-h

My daughter has just moved into her first flat, it is two bedroom and not very big, she has three storage heaters which two of the small heaters are hot in the morning's and the large heater is only hot at the very top, by 7pm at night the two smaller radiators are luke warm and the large is cold.. the flat although very warm all day is cold of an evening.... we have the input setting at 7 and the output at 2... yet her first bill was for two months at £270.. we are thinking of changing from storage heaters to electric radiators that we can control when the heaters come on and off, would you recommend this and if so can we do this ourselves or do we need to go through Scottish Power?

jax-e-h

My daughter has just moved into her first flat, it is two bedroom and not very big, she has three storage heaters which two of the small heaters are hot in the morning's and the large heater is only hot at the very top, by 7pm at night the two smaller radiators are luke warm and the large is cold.. the flat although very warm all day is cold of an evening.... we have the input setting at 7 and the output at 2... yet her first bill was for two months at £270.. we are thinking of changing from storage heaters to electric radiators that we can control when the heaters come on and off, would you recommend this and if so can we do this ourselves or do we need to go through Scottish Power?

spiro

jax-e-h wrote: »

My daughter has just moved into her first flat, it is two bedroom and not very big, she has three storage heaters which two of the small heaters are hot in the morning's and the large heater is only hot at the very top, by 7pm at night the two smaller radiators are luke warm and the large is cold.. the flat although very warm all day is cold of an evening.... we have the input setting at 7 and the output at 2... yet her first bill was for two months at £270.. we are thinking of changing from storage heaters to electric radiators that we can control when the heaters come on and off, would you recommend this and if so can we do this ourselves or do we need to go through Scottish Power?

Given the recent weather £135 per month for an all elec flat is not bad based on other posts on this Forum. If you start using radiators that are on during the day these will use higher price elec.

jax-e-h

maybe, it is just that she works all day and when she is in the flat at night she is cold, the heaters are no longer hot and one is cold....

Cardew

jax-e-h wrote: »

maybe, it is just that she works all day and when she is in the flat at night she is cold, the heaters are no longer hot and one is cold....

There certainly is a case to be made for using 'normal' heating instead of storage heating if you are out at work all day. This because, as you indicate, a lot of heat is wasted when the flat is empty during the day.

If she does decide to stop using storage heating, ensure that she changes tariff away from Economy 7.

Don't forget that you need to factor losing cheap hot water into the equation.

Wickedkitten

Obviously it will depend on how much you are paying on your daytime rate, but for us I was thinking about just switching to a normal meter since we haven't used our storage heaters all winter. Went on a price comparison website to look at the cheapest tariff for electricity only and the cheapest one is 8.27p with £59.79 a year standing charge. Right now our day rate is 10p with £43.80 a year standing charge so it totally wasn't worth it for us because we are still getting night rate energy at 5p which is great for the immersion and also for showers since ours is electric.

JennyR68

Cannot emphasise enough you have to work out for yourself what will be the cheapest for you in your area.

I personally am waiting to get my meter changed to a single rate instead of E7 after removing storage heaters. Still heat water, put on washing machine and some electric showers on night rate.

With 20% of my est. total 13000 units at the night rate on a tariff of 9.85 day 5.07 night my annual bill would be £1164.18.

13000 units single rate 7.46p the bill is £981.57.

Those figures would work out totally different if I was to live in a different area. This really isn't a question anyone else can answer but you. You need an accurate idea of what your day to night ratio is annually and a wee bit of time on your hands to do the maths and work it out.