Economy 7 - is it worth it?

JennyR68

Wickedkitten wrote: »

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.

Did you just look at those figures wickedkitten and think they looked better or put in an accurate assumption of use and work it out?

Plushchris

JennyR68 wrote: »

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

To get a unit rate like that you must be paying a standing charge, have you taken that into account?

Edit: Also 13000 units at 7.46p comes to £969.80

JennyR68

HMS wrote: »

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!

Enter total units used as a single rate on your tariff in http://smartmeter.ukpower.co.uk/ , enter it as E7 and see which works out cheaper.

Phone your supplier and ask if you can change meter, many do it for free.
I have one more week to wait till I can get EDF to change mine to a single rate and each week I have had to wait has cost me around £5.00 extra and that is with using 28% night energy at the moment.

JennyR68

Plushchris wrote: »

To get a unit rate like that you must be paying a standing charge, have you taken that into account?

Edit: Also 13000 units at 7.46p comes to £969.80

Don't you worry figures quoted include all standing charges and discounts applied.

example of last weeks consumption including standing charges E7-

Standing Charge (0.2254p per day) 7 days = £1.58

Day usage (9.8501p per kwh) 309 = £30.44

Night usage (5.0700p per kwh) 122 = £6.19

TOTAL = £38.20

on single rate -

Standing Charge (0.2039p per day) 7 days = £1.43

Usage (7.4600p per kwh) 431 = £32.15

TOTAL = £33.58

Wickedkitten

JennyR68 wrote: »

Did you just look at those figures wickedkitten and think they looked better or put in an accurate assumption of use and work it out?

Of course I worked it out and it's the difference between paying the £450.12 that we are paying now, and £429.20 that we would be paying if we switched.

JennyR68

Wickedkitten wrote: »

Of course I worked it out and it's the difference between paying the £450.12 that we are paying now, and £429.20 that we would be paying if we switched.

Sorry didn't mean to sound like I was insulting your intelligence:o

Just proves the point everyone needs to check for themselves what's best for them using their consumption in their area and not worry to much about what others up to.

HMS

JennyR68 wrote: »

Enter total units used as a single rate on your tariff in http://smartmeter.ukpower.co.uk/ , enter it as E7 and see which works out cheaper.

This is a good tool. Based on the results I'm saving about £4 with my current supplier by being on the E7 even with my low night usage. I'll stick with this until I get a chance to switch suppliers when my tie in period ends (I'm with Ovo at the moment).

bossymommy

Hi there. I had a knock at the door last week from yet another energy company trying to get me to switch. I never do! Anyway im with BG and when i showed the woman at the door my bill she seemed horrified that im on E7. I didnt even know. I just get my bills quarterly and pay by monthly direct debit. I dont even look at what im being charged for.....silly i know! So is this E7 a bad thing? I live in a 4 bed house and have the heating and washing machine on throughout the day. Very confused :-(

Cardew

bossymommy wrote: »

Hi there. I had a knock at the door last week from yet another energy company trying to get me to switch. I never do! Anyway im with BG and when i showed the woman at the door my bill she seemed horrified that im on E7. I didnt even know. I just get my bills quarterly and pay by monthly direct debit. I dont even look at what im being charged for.....silly i know! So is this E7 a bad thing? I live in a 4 bed house and have the heating and washing machine on throughout the day. Very confused :-(

If you have gas for heating it is very unlikely you should be on E7.

You get 7 hours cheap electricity in the night(7 hours in the period somewhere between 11:30pm and 08:30am) but you pay quite a bit extra for electricity supplied during the other 17 hours.

So unless you have storage heating, what you gain in the 7 hours is not as much as you pay extra in the 17 hours.

bossymommy

Am just looking through my last electric bill and cant believe i have been so stupid not to notice this before! My house was a new build 4 years ago and BG were automatically the suppliers. Why would they select E7 for a large house that obviously is going to have more occupants and use more energy??? Can i get the E7 changed to standard rate? I really dont use much electric in the times stated...well £8.64 was used on the last bill compared to a whopping £101.99 used during the day, ranging from 31.370p to 11.409p. Why is there 2 different charges for the daytime? One says first @31.370p and then next @11.409p. Heeelllllpppp lol

Oh and i have a combi boiler, which i am presuming uses both gas and electric?