Economy 7 - is it worth it?

bossymommy

Sorry its me again....pain i know. Have just set up online account with BG and according to my details on there, i am on standard rate. Whats going on???

lauren1983

Hi

I just thought id share my story. After reading this thread yesterday i checked my electricity bill and notice my night use was only £11 compared to day use £203 :eek:
I rang BG and explained the situation. He straight away said oh dont worry i will sort that out now for you. He said now everything will get added together and i would just work on the day rate which are now lower, so i worked out i would have saved myself £41 on my last bill if i had realised that E7 wasnt any good for me.

So im happy :j just need to reduce the bills more now!
So in answer to the OP's question! I think it might be worth changing from E7

Premier_2

bossymommy wrote: »

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?

bossymommy wrote: »

Sorry its me again....pain i know. Have just set up online account with BG and according to my details on there, i am on standard rate. Whats going on???

You can find the electricity rates for British Gas here:
http://www.britishgas.co.uk/pdf/unit%20rates/Elec%20ONLINE%20Rates%20Tables%20-%20Standard.pdf

The rates you quote are excluding VAT (so I'll continue that way).

E7
Tier 1 = 31.370p (for initial 125kWh per quarter)
Tier 2 = 11.490p
Night = 4.619p

Non-E7
Tier 1 = 22.454p(for initial 125kWh per quarter)
Tier 2 = 9.832p


The difference between Tier 1 & Tier 2 is the way BG recover the standing charge.
i.e. for E7 = (31.370 - 11.490) x 125 = £24.85 (or about 27p per day)
For non-E7 = (22.454 - 9.832) x 125 = £15.78 (or about 18p per day)

Ignoring the standing charge effect ,you'll see daytime electricity is 1.658p per unit more expensive (16.8%) than non-E7, but you obviously don't benefit from the very cheap night rate (53% cheaper than non-E7 day rate)

To make E7 pay on this particular tariff, you'd need to be using over 40% night-time electricity, which you clearly are not. (The break-even percentage varies by supplier and specific tariff - this one is quite high)

The good news is that if you want to stay with BG, you can simply call them and ask to transfer to a non-E7 tariff and they will bill you on that basis in future even though you have a dual rate (E7) meter.
Be aware that not all suppliers will allow this; some will require a replacement single rate meter to be installed.
The reason I added this comment, is that it may be wise to establish your annual consumption in kWh (your supplier can provide this if you don't have the past bills) and put that into a couple of the comparison sites above where I suspect you may make even better savings by switching tariff (which may involve a switch of supplier)

JennyR68

bossymommy wrote: »

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?

I was on a BG rate similar to yours and saved 25% a year by checking comparison site and switching to EDF.

maxmycardagain

Economy 7 is ONLY worth having if you have night storage heaters, trust me.

they heat/charge up on low rate (5p) and release thru the day

my tarrif was wrong, and the timeswitch faulty, result - £750 bill for a 2 bed bungalow

be warned.

kippen_noedel

HMS wrote: »

Economy 7 - is it worth it?

You'll get lots of advice on ratios and percentages, mostly they will be correct,

however, the only way to truly find out is to work out your total annual usage and get quotes based on that usage at daily rates and also with E7. Make sure the E7 quotes you get are based on your actual day and night usage.

bossymommy

Right....after doing some homework i have figured out that i must have a twin rate meter. I just presumed that BG had put me on to E7 when i moved in. Have been looking at their Websaver 6 deal and would be saving a bit if i go onto that (not alot but every little helps). When asking for a quote online it asked me what meter type i had, i just presumed all meters were the same...shows how thick i am! The websaver6 would have saved me £45 on my last bill, but this is going by the rates of a single meter. Do you think that BG would change me to single rate billing before i sign up for websaver 6?

maxmycardagain

what leccy do you use between midnight-7am?

thats when E7 is a better bet

Owain_Moneysaver

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...

Your daughter needs to turn the output to MIN / 0 before going to bed, and not turn it up until heat is required in the afternoon, that way the heat in the heaters should last most of the evening.

jax-e-h

She has been given that advise and does have her output down to 0 through the day but it is still definitely luke warm by 8pm of an evening. She only has three radiators and one seems to be only heating up at the top, so maybe replacing this one is the answer for now.... After reading what everyone else is saying seems overnight heating is the cheapest... i guess my query was more that the price she is paying does not relect the heat she has of an evening.... oh well, she will need to get a blanket..... thanks everyone for your help..... :T