Have you heard of this?

melbury

Lady I work with was telling me that her electricity is on a high and low rate. She says after 11.30pm it switches over the low rate. I said that must be because you have night storage heaters, but she hasn't (has gas central heating). She says a friend of hers is also on this. I have never heard of it, is this an option available to everyone and, if so, do you have to have a special meter installed?

zipwen1

never heard of it. We were being charged a high low rate when we had night storage heaters and even after they were removed because the electric co didn't bother to tell us we had to get a new meter in to go onto a normal rate

masonic

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=economy+7

Rikki

Its economy 7 electric.

melbury

Rikki wrote:

Its economy 7 electric.

Well that it was I said to her, but she insists she is just on normal electricity. I always thought that economy 7 electric was for people with storage heaters, that's right isn't it?

Biggles

I always thought that economy 7 electric was for people with storage heaters, that's right isn't it?

That's right. Mum's house used to have storage heaters, and she still has the two-rate meter. All they do is add the two readings together and charge her standard rate.

Rikki

melbury wrote:

Well that it was I said to her, but she insists she is just on normal electricity. I always thought that economy 7 electric was for people with storage heaters, that's right isn't it?

No, its just a tarrif. Its night time cheaper electricity. I use my dishwasher and washing machine at night.

I have gas central heating.

Cardew

melbury wrote:

Well that it was I said to her, but she insists she is just on normal electricity. I always thought that economy 7 electric was for people with storage heaters, that's right isn't it?

No.

Lots of people have Economy 7 without storage heating.

The downside is that you pay more for your daytime electricity than those on a normal tariff. This means it is difficult to make it worthwhile without storage heating.

The 'break even' point varies across the country and depends on the company as well. Typically it is around 30% usage in the 7 night hours - but can be lower. Some people run dishwashers, washing machines, dryers during this 7 hours and others don't heat hot water by gas but use the immersion heater(it can be marginally cheaper on some tariffs)

I was on E7 but couldn't make it pay so switched to normal tariff.

melbury

Rikki wrote:

No, its just a tarrif. Its night time cheaper electricity. I use my dishwasher and washing machine at night.

I have gas central heating.

Well I am amazed! I didn't realize you could choose to have this cheaper night tariff - like I said I just assumed it was for people with night storage heaters. Is the daytime electricity charged at a much higher rate? Can you switch over to it just by asking or do you have to get a new meter fitted?

Sorry, so many questions!

masonic

melbury wrote:

Is the daytime electricity charged at a much higher rate? Can you switch over to it just by asking or do you have to get a new meter fitted?

It depends on the supplier/tariff. The comparison sites are that way -->

You would obviously need to have a two rate meter installed if you didn't already have one.

Cardew

melbury wrote:

Well I am amazed! I didn't realize you could choose to have this cheaper night tariff - like I said I just assumed it was for people with night storage heaters. Is the daytime electricity charged at a much higher rate? Can you switch over to it just by asking or do you have to get a new meter fitted?

Sorry, so many questions!

I suggest that before you take the plunge you try to get some idea of how much electricity you can use between midnight and 7am.

Armed with that info you can look at the available tariffs for your area to see if you can make it pay; it is not easy.

Some further points:

In some properties you can get a noise problem with appliances running in the early hours.

Secondly I found we were putting on the dishwasher when it was not full to take advantage of cheap electricity - a false economy. Ditto washing machine.

Depending on your gas costs and efficiency of boiler it is usually cheaper to heat HW with gas.