Cheap night time electricity

TimBear

Hiya,

Sorry if this is a really silly question!

In our old house we had electric heating and so I knew we had cheaper night rates for electricity.

However, we have now moved and we're not on the same tariff for electricity anymore. I still am in the habit of putting the washing machine on a timer so it comes on overnight, but I don't actually know if I still get cheaper rates during that time!

Is this a 'standard' or does it vary between different tariffs and providers?

Thanks

HappyMJ

Do you have 2 readings on the meter? If you have gas heating you will in some cases be better off on a standard electric tariff. Read the meter every week and you need to use more than 30% at night to pay about the same as someone on a normal tariff.

Rupinder_Khurana

Hi,

I think rather than wondering, you should directly contact your provider and sort out, before you end up paying huge due to you ignorance.

Regards,

TimBear

Thanks. I know I need to check on my actual tariff to be certain, I just wondered if cheaper over night electricity was a 'standard' thing.

zax47

TimBear wrote: »

I just wondered if cheaper over night electricity was a 'standard' thing.

No it isn't, to benefit from cheap night time electricity you have to be on a tariff which includes it, and have dual metering to take note of the units used at different times of day.

Brummie71

Economy 7 / 10 is only really worth it if you have storage heaters that charge up with heat overnight. If you haven't, then you are normally better off on a standard tariff, as the standard rates for electricity outside the 'economy' hours are thumpingly huge. If you have it, you may have two meters or a dual read meter. Check with your supplier.

HappyMJ

Brummie71 wrote: »

Economy 7 / 10 is only really worth it if you have storage heaters that charge up with heat overnight. If you haven't, then you are normally better off on a standard tariff, as the standard rates for electricity outside the 'economy' hours are thumpingly huge. If you have it, you may have two meters or a dual read meter. Check with your supplier.

Thumpingly? Doesn't that mean very high? The day rate is only about 20% higher than the standard rate and for something like a fridge that runs 24/7 then the average of the day rate over 17 hours and night rate over 7 hours is exactly the same as the standard rate over 24 hours. If the OP can run more things at night even without heating some people can save as long as the night usage is more than 30% then they will save. At 30% the bills are exactly the same and at less than 30% night usage then it's cheaper to be on a standard tariff but not by much. It's not "thumpingly" more.:)

Brummie71

HappyMJ wrote: »

Thumpingly? Doesn't that mean very high? The day rate is only about 20% higher than the standard rate and for something like a fridge that runs 24/7 then the average of the day rate over 17 hours and night rate over 7 hours is exactly the same as the standard rate over 24 hours. If the OP can run more things at night even without heating some people can save as long as the night usage is more than 30% then they will save. At 30% the bills are exactly the same and at less than 30% night usage then it's cheaper to be on a standard tariff but not by much. It's not "thumpingly" more.:)

Certainly if you can use the overnight electricity for anything that is power hungry, then it is worthwhile. For most people, that would mean electric heating.

Rates can vary, even on e7, but the nPower day rate uplift (which includes your evening usage, don't forget) is typically nearer 50% than 30%)

nPower e7 day rate - 24/25p per kWh
nPower e7 night rate - 5-6p per kWh

nPower standard rate - 17p per kWh

Yes, I know that there are a multiplicity of tariff rates and you can find an e7 rate nearer 17p, but most of the rates are nearer 24/25p.

As with everything, you need to make some detailed calculations about how and when you use your electricity to get the most out of it and it is certainly possible that if you were smart, you could get a better deal out of an e7 rate, even without electric heating.

My point is that for the average user with the average household, they are more likely to be better off on a standard rate unless they have electric storage heating. Your fridge - assuming it is relatively new - is a relatively small and a modern model is likely to cost less to run on standard rate than on e7 (it isn't a huge difference - I've just calculated it at about £76 a year on e7 and £71 on standard rate).

HappyMJ

That 24/25p is a primary rate. There are secondary rates to consider. I am on Npower. The day rate in the east midlands is 26.73p on the first 2kWh per day then 16.42p on the rest and night rates are 4.87p. The standard rate is 17.67p on the first 2kWh per day then 13.82p. As almost everyone uses over 1,000kWh per year I'll use the secondary rates.

How I figured out the 20% uplift was 16.42/13.82=an 18.9% uplift rounded to 20% for ease.

How I figured the fridge out was lets say 100W (including a few other 24/7 appliances such as sky/freeview box on all the time) so (0.1kW*17*16.42)+(0.1kw*7*4.87)=31.323p per day compared to 0.1kw*24*13.82=33.168p per day. Therefore cheaper on E7 but close enough to the same as it's only 6% more expensive but as the effective standing charge is higher on E7 then it's the same.

I was just taking issue with the word "thumpingly".:) It means by lots and even by your calculation it's just a bit.

Brummie71

:beer: Not going to argue over thumpingly...