Should i switch to Economy 7/10

gda1971

We have 3 kids under 9 and so we regularly have the washing machine, the dishwasher and the tumble drier on what feels like simultaneously. I appreciate that we could be hanging clothes up to dry but that is an argument i lost years ago.

My question is this: If I schedule these power sucking machines to run at night rather than during the day, would it be worth the hastle of switching to a dual rate meter and going onto Economy 7.

Also, does Economy 10 need a similar type of meter - would this be better?

Or should I wait for time based tarrifing to become available in conjunction with a smart meter?

I have read numerous threads regarding the pain of swapping out meters so want to make sure it is worth the pain.

Thanks.

Wywth

gda1971 wrote: »

We have 3 kids under 9 and so we regularly have the washing machine, the dishwasher and the tumble drier on what feels like simultaneously. I appreciate that we could be hanging clothes up to dry but that is an argument i lost years ago.

My question is this: If I schedule these power sucking machines to run at night rather than during the day, would it be worth the hastle of switching to a dual rate meter and going onto Economy 7.

Also, does Economy 10 need a similar type of meter - would this be better?

Or should I wait for time based tarrifing to become available in conjunction with a smart meter?

I have read numerous threads regarding the pain of swapping out meters so want to make sure it is worth the pain.

Thanks.

You'll need to make an accurate estimation of exactly how much low rate electricity you would use, which would be difficult without a dual rate meter, and then run a couple of comparisons on the comparison sites to see if you would benefit.

Using no electricity will always be cheaper than using some no matter how cheap it is

HappyMJ

gda1971 wrote: »

We have 3 kids under 9 and so we regularly have the washing machine, the dishwasher and the tumble drier on what feels like simultaneously. I appreciate that we could be hanging clothes up to dry but that is an argument i lost years ago.

My question is this: If I schedule these power sucking machines to run at night rather than during the day, would it be worth the hastle of switching to a dual rate meter and going onto Economy 7.

Also, does Economy 10 need a similar type of meter - would this be better?

Or should I wait for time based tarrifing to become available in conjunction with a smart meter?

I have read numerous threads regarding the pain of swapping out meters so want to make sure it is worth the pain.

Thanks.

Economy 10 is utter rubbish...don't even think about it. It's uncompetitive overpriced and basically useless.

Economy 7 is worthwhile if you can move more than 20% of you electricity usage to the 7 hours between 12 midnight and 8am. The exact start and finish times depend on your region. At 20% night usage you would really only break even and not save anything. The biggest savings are made by those who have electric night storage heaters who can move at least half of their usage to the night time hours.

The easiest way to save is to get onto the best online managed direct debit tariff you can find based on your region and your usage.

FAI

gda1971 wrote: »

We have 3 kids under 9 and so we regularly have the washing machine, the dishwasher and the tumble drier on what feels like simultaneously. I appreciate that we could be hanging clothes up to dry but that is an argument i lost years ago.

My question is this: If I schedule these power sucking machines to run at night rather than during the day, would it be worth the hastle of switching to a dual rate meter and going onto Economy 7.

Also, does Economy 10 need a similar type of meter - would this be better?

Or should I wait for time based tarrifing to become available in conjunction with a smart meter?

I have read numerous threads regarding the pain of swapping out meters so want to make sure it is worth the pain.

Thanks.

E10 meters are different from E7 meters.
Have a look at a recent thread called "Economy 10 and phase 3 - feasible or not" which I started.
You can find EDF E10 tariffs online. They are not on comparison websites.
I got SSE E10 rates today and E.ON rates too - both with difficulty and these are below.
E10 suppliers are very few and tariffs few so not much choice.
E7 tariffs are published in online comparison sites e.g. energyhelpline.
The key thing to estimate is what percentage of your usage you can realistically expect to use overnight.
If you look at the thread I mentioned you will see that the Scottish Fixed price to Nov 2014 tariff has a break even point at about 12%. This means if you choose the E7 version of this tarrif and use less than 12% electricity overnight you will pay more than on the non-E7 version of the tariff. But for every % overnight usage over 12% you bill we be reduced compared with the non-E7 version.

E10 tariffs. For these you have to do the maths yourself. These are for the READING (RG) area so will differ slightly in your area.

SSE (E10 discounted tariff): standing charge 14.09 per day (monthly DD and paperless) high rate 16.61p/kWh; overnight 8.39p/kWh

EON (1 E10 tariff only): standing charge 21.56 per day + high rate 12.86p per kWh , overnight 6.34 p / kWh