economy 7 storage heaters

mrsb3611

We have been living in our current house for just over a year. The problem is we have economy 7 storage heaters which is supposed to save you money by where you can use all electric at a set time for half the price over night. I dont agree that its saving us pennies.
There are 4 of us myself hubby and our two kids, which means alot of washing to do! Im sorry but im not going to wait till before bed to put the washing on, if clothes are needed for the next day I will get them washed & dryed!
so as you can guess its costing us alot of pennies.
Don't suppose any of you lovely people have some tips to save pennies...?
either that or anywhere that will do grants to change to a decent boiler and radiators... God how we miss them! Thanks

AbsCaveDave

Hey!
I used to work at Scottish and Southern Energy and used to have a lot of customers calling up about economy 7.
Is your property all electric? If you have Gas but you're still on the economy 7 call your energy supplier and get it switched. It's only beneficial if you have all electric.
If you do, again call your energy supplier, it's been a few years since I worked there so I can't remember exactly all the times and methods to make it work financially but if you give them a ring they can run over the times and switch over times in summer and winter so you know when is best to have them on.
The idea is you draw in the energy/store the electric at the times that the energy is cheaper, over the 7 hours over night, and then use it throughout the day when it normally be more expensive to be 'storing' it.
Give them a ring and someone should be happy to over it with you in more depth haha
Hope this helps! x

PaulF81

Use the timer function that most washers, driers and dishwashers have as standard these days.

mrsb3611

Thanks abscavedave! Yes we have gas too only for the top of my cooker and a fireplace that never gets used.
We have a very old system where I can somehow change the times round but iv no idea I mean iv tryed to change it before but I dunno what im doing hehee!!
I did call Scottish power yesterday to try bring my price down but its gone up again
When I first went with them begining of Jan this year I was paying £65 for both elec and gas. Since then its gone upto £85 then £93 as of next month it sucks
so I'll deff call them again for the times thanks

macman

Your DD has gone up not because of any price increase, but because you are using far more electricity than was originally estimated, and arrears are possibly being recovered, along with increased ongoing usage. your last bill will reveal all.
I suggest you prioritise working out how to use the timer function on your washing machine-reading the manual might be a first step?
The E7 hours vary but are typically 7 hours between midnight and 8pm. It depends on your regional DNO, not the supplier. if you set the w/m for say 2am, you should be fine.
Unless you are using typically 30% of your total kWh consumption on E7 cheap rate, the it's probably not saving you money.
E7 cheap rate is not half the price of peak rate-it's about a third.