Martin take note! Save around £70+/year on electricity by ditching rip off economy 7

bada55

I am hoping this is not old news to any of you..
A short time ago I missed the person who reads my electric meter. I decided to call my supplier and let them have the details. By chance I spoke with a line manager and not the normal customer services person. He asked me why I was on economy 7? I explained I have been on that 'scheme' since I purchased my first house back in 1986. I realised at that time that the Economy 7 option was primarily 'designed' to aid those who had many high Kw storage heaters, for central heating, save money but others, like me, were also advised that they too could save by using any appliances they wish during those 7 hours over night.
He then explained that over the years there has been a widening in the gap between the economy 7 day rate and the 'normal' day rate. What this means is that for all the people who still thought (like me) that they could run their washing machines, dishwashers, tumble driers plus outdoor security lights etc etc. on cheap electricity during the night they are very much mistaken! What savings are made at night are lost by paying a higher daily rate and this is the time when most of us use much more electricity any way!
I asked him why I had not been told this before because they know how much 'night time' electricity I use? He explained they had nothing in place to do this. He then went on to say I would have saved £70 had I NOT been on economy 7 for the last 12 months!
Is it me or does this seem like the electricity suppliers know how much we use and what times of the day/night we use it but prefer not to advise us because they are making MILLIONS from our ignorance!!!
I decided to mention this to anyone I met during the day that was also using Economy 7 for the reasons I metioned earlier. I am currently a domestic appliance engineer but was formerly an independent financial advisor (long story!) and make around 10 calls to customers in their homes a day.
I pointed out that although I had not received any refund of overpayments yet that they should still try. The people that I had explained this to told me that they had now switched to the normal daily rate with savings around £70+/year.
Many had asked for a refund for their overpayments for the last twelve months and have received them! One customer told me he had gone one stage further and asked his electricity supplier how far their records of his meter readings went back and managed to get them to refund him for the last 3 years of 'overpayments'.
I'm hoping this is news to most of you so what are you waiting for!?
Thanks for reading.....Nigel Grayson

mattcanary

Sarcy as ever Kim... Not that I understand what you are getting at - who the hell is Ratzinger, anyway!

When I worked as a meter-reader, I found many customers in the same situation. Indeed, many seemed unaware they were even on E7 so weren;t even trying to use appliances in the night time - meaning the difference in size of bills paid throughout the year were even higher.

GetRealBabe

mattcanary wrote: »

Sarcy as ever Kim... Not that I understand what you are getting at - who the hell is Ratzinger, anyway!

Hi

Ratzinger is the Pope.

GRB.

mattcanary

Why does Kim feel she has to demean everyone coming on to this forum? Bada is offering very good information that many people would not know about - and Kim has to jump upon him. Disgraceful.

Cardew

mattcanary wrote: »

Why does Kim feel she has to demean everyone coming on to this forum? .

Why does everyone feel that Kim is female?

Kim is a widely used name for men.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Howells

Cardew

OP,

Unfortunately there is no 'one size fits all' answer to the cost advantages of Economy 7 over a normal 24/7 tariff.

The 'break even' percentage for E7 consumption(of total electricity consumption) varies by company, tariff and area of UK; and this percentage has changed up and down over the years.

Whilst 25% to 30% was generally considered to be the 'ballpark' figure to break even, it has ranged from 60% to one bizarre tariff where daytime electricity on E7 was cheaper than the normal 24/7 rate for the same tariff.

Don't forget some people with, say LPG CH, might swiotch off their boiler in the summer and use E7 for their immersion heater.

I have never heard before of anyone getting a refund because E7 had worked out more expensive and doubt many companies would give such a refund.

kjsmith7

I find the best thing to do in this situation (we had to do this ourselves in the last property) is add up the consumption from the last year, day and night/normal and low, and work out the years bill. Then, add the figures together (day and night) and re-work out the bill as if you were a single rate customer. You may have to get the thresholds and prices from your supplier, but it's worth checking. I telephoned my supplier for help. For us, the saving was £48 per year, which I think is pretty good considering we hadn't altered anything other than having a new meter in.

As I had asked twice about whether E7 worked out more expensive for me than single rate, and on the second time it was noticed, checked and worked out - they came to the same conclusion as I did (the first person gave me incorrect info and said it wasn't possible to change from E7 to Single Rate). I did get my charges backdated, but only to when I first mentioned it, a couple of months earlier. Thankfully as the meter was 19 years old and my meter operator had changed in that time, they were more than happy to come round and change the meter free of charge (otherwise that probably would've eaten up my saving).

Some companies may charge you to take out the meter and put a new one in, and bear in mind that you shouldn't really consider this if you have an immersion heater or storage heaters, but other companies can 'pretend' you have a single rate meter installed by adding the consumption on the day and night registers together.

KimYeovil

Andy_WSM wrote: »

Why do you bother? Are you trying to kill off the community here by putting people off posting?

No mercy to Chicken Lickens who cry 'rip off'. And he did acknowledge both at the beginning and end of his post that he suspected he was stating the obvious. Without the 'rip off' in the title I would have bitten my tongue. But lightly throwing such a red flag meant the gloves were off.

A._Badger

Just this week I ran the figures again with British Gas (who supply my electricity - no gas here) and despite having no storage radiators, we are saving money by using Economy 7. To say the BG advisor was surprised would be an understatement.

That said, our usage is not by any means typical, but the point stands: you can't make assumptions - you must check the figures for your own circumstances.

Cardew

A._Badger wrote: »

Just this week I ran the figures again with British Gas (who supply my electricity - no gas here) and despite having no storage radiators, we are saving money by using Economy 7. To say the BG advisor was surprised would be an understatement.

That said, our usage is not by any means typical, but the point stands: you can't make assumptions - you must check the figures for your own circumstances.

The only caveat to add is that, using your consumption figures and area, another supplier might be cheaper overall on a 'normal' tariff.

Not saying they would be, but as you say everyone must look at all options for their particular circumstances.

With the ever changing tariffs, what applies today might not apply tomorrow.

Swipe

kjsmith7 wrote: »

bear in mind that you shouldn't really consider this if you have an immersion heater or storage heaters

Don't dismiss it entirely for everyone. It depends how often you use the immersion heater. I put mine on for 1 hour every other day and use the kettle for a quick wash and washing up but for a family you may have a point.