Choosing the correct tariff - standing charge or no standing charge?

macman

At 3,144 kwh your usage is well below the average UK consumption. However, 8 days usage is probably not long enough to use as a basis to calculate annual consumption. But ignoring that for now, only 19% of your consumption is on the E7 cheap rate. Which means that 81% is on non-E7 premium rate. Doing your washing off- peak is not going to drastically alter that split. So I don't understand (without seeing the figures) how you conclude that you will not benefit by moving off E7?
E7 is primarily designed for heating off-peak using storage heaters, and heating water off-peak with an immersion heater, Neither of which apply to you.

macman

OP: PS; you can find your supply district out from the MPAN number on your meter. So, in the example shown this link, the supply district is 13, which is Scottish Power. the full list is further down the page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meter_Point_Administration_Number

Katie-Kat-Kins

If you have decided to stick with the E7 then do take advantage of it by using as much off peak as possible. If you have done the sums and decided that you hit the break even point the you may as well try to get slightly better value!

If you have E7 anyway then doing your washing overnight will be cheaper, it is also worth getting a few cheap timer switches (about £2) and setting these for the hours of your cheap rate - you can then use them for all chargers and things.

While it isn't enough to make E7 worthwhile alone, we always charge our batteries, phones, cameras, ipods etc etc etc overnight - every little helps!

kjsmith7

Also, it isn't the 'supplier' who will change your meter. It is your 'meter operator' or the people who look after the meter. If your meter is relatively new, they might charge you a fixed fee (the meter operator) to have the meter changed. If that is the case, some suppliers can bill you as though you had a single rate meter - they still take both readings (day & night/normal & low) however they charge the same prices for both registers instead of more in the day, less at night.

moneysaver599

macman wrote: »

At 3,144 kwh your usage is well below the average UK consumption. However, 8 days usage is probably not long enough to use as a basis to calculate annual consumption. But ignoring that for now, only 19% of your consumption is on the E7 cheap rate. Which means that 81% is on non-E7 premium rate. Doing your washing off- peak is not going to drastically alter that split. So I don't understand (without seeing the figures) how you conclude that you will not benefit by moving off E7?
E7 is primarily designed for heating off-peak using storage heaters, and heating water off-peak with an immersion heater, Neither of which apply to you.

Current Economy 7 rates for usage -
UsageCostStanding Charge (0.1708p per day)8 days£1.37Usage (12.1940p per kwh)56kwh£6.83Night rate (5.5040p per kwh)13kwh£0.72Total£8.91


Without Economy 7 -
Calculation Details

UsageCostStanding Charge (0.1183p per day)8 days£0.95Usage (11.8580p per kwh)69kwh£8.18Total£9.13


Thanks for your help. I've checked with Scottish Power (the meter operator), as nothing is actually wrong with the meter it will cost us to have it change. From the figures above, we're actually cheaper on the Economy 7. But I will get a more accurate estimate after 30days (which might show Economy 7 usage as more expensive than standard). As we only plan on staying here 6months - 1 year, even if we were to make a saving by changing I don't think we'd be here long enough to offset the cost of changing the meter.