Economy 7 / Economy 10 / Standard Electricity meters

Scorpio33

Hi,

I am a bit confused. How do I know which electricity meter is best for me?

We have Gas heating (Combi boiler).
I work full time, wife works monday to wednesday.

So I would have thought we use most electricity between 5pm and 10pm monday to Friday.

We don't use any electricity at night (midnight to 7am), and isn't possible to use washing machine / tumble dryer at night due to noise pollution and the location of our neighbours.

Is there a guide as to how I can decide which meter is best?

I would have thought Economy 10 is best as we can use cheaper electric 1pm - 4pm Thursday & Friday and then do washing 8pm - 10pm, but I hear this is more suitable for electric based heating systems?

macman

With gas CH and DHW, almost certainly a single rate tariff. With any split rate system you pay a premium rate outside the cheap rate hours. Typically with E7 you need to use at least 25-33% during the midnight to 7am cheap rate hours-which you clearly will not.
E10 will be very restrictive in terms of your tariff options.
You can do your own E7/non-E7 research using any comp site, you simply need to do onesearch on single rate, then another inputting your estimated percentage split on E7 rate.

Wywth

Scorpio33 wrote: »

Hi,

I am a bit confused. How do I know which electricity meter is best for me?

We have Gas heating (Combi boiler).
I work full time, wife works monday to wednesday.

So I would have thought we use most electricity between 5pm and 10pm monday to Friday.

We don't use any electricity at night (midnight to 7am), and isn't possible to use washing machine / tumble dryer at night due to noise pollution and the location of our neighbours.

Is there a guide as to how I can decide which meter is best?

I would have thought Economy 10 is best as we can use cheaper electric 1pm - 4pm Thursday & Friday and then do washing 8pm - 10pm, but I hear this is more suitable for electric based heating systems?

I wouldn't bother with E10 - it's not widely supported and so will leave you with little option to switch supplier or tariff later.

You say you don't use any electricity between midnight and 7am? :huh:
Don't you possess a fridge? Don't you have anything on standby? Perhaps a set top box or dvd recorder? How about a rechargeable phone? Any electric clocks (such as on a cooker or microwave?)

Scorpio33

Wywth wrote: »

I wouldn't bother with E10 - it's not widely supported and so will leave you with little option to switch supplier or tariff later.

You say you don't use any electricity between midnight and 7am? :huh:
Don't you possess a fridge? Don't you have anything on standby? Perhaps a set top box or dvd recorder? How about a rechargeable phone? Any electric clocks (such as on a cooker or microwave?)

That is what confuses me, we have all the above plugged in 24/7, yet the meter reading for the "night" tarrif hasn't moved in the last year, which makes me think something is wrong with the meter.

Either way, if I switch to a standard tarrif, I will get the meter replaced, so it wouldn't be an issue?

To get this right with gas central heating and no immersion heater Economy 7 or 10 would not be right anway? If that is the case, no wonder my bills are so high!!

Wywth

Avoid E10 for the reason I gave earlier.

To decide upon whether E7 or single rate would be best, you first need to understand how much electricity you use during the off peak period.
If your existing meter does not record this then you will need to use another system such as an appropriate energy monitor.

Then you need to do the comparison; a comparsion site will assist you.

(If you have a dual rate meter that has a low rate registry displayed but does not change, I suspect your meter is faulty. You should report this to your supplier, but if you are currently billed on a single rate supply, they may replace your meter with a single rate meter so you still won't know how much electricity you use at the low rate period ... but you should still report the suspected meter error to your supplier)

Richie-from-the-Boro

E10 or for that matter E7 gives zero practical benefits and a huge financial dis-benefit. There are no wiring issues from your short description, I'm assuming [ "no electricity used between midnight and 7am" ] an electrician in the past moved everything onto the other 'tails' and all leccy is running through the non-E10 side of your CU. Some suppliers will 'aggregate' the two readings and so don't need to actually change your meter they just add the two values and ÷ .

How many meters do you have ? or are you on a single meter like this : -



Your description fits a scenario where everything was done correctly to go from cheap rate leccy to gas fired heating - but they forgot that last and critical bit - switch the supply to a standard metering tariff.

Scorpio33

We have a single meter with two readings (day & night).

We did have the house rewired with a new conusmer unit last year, which ties in with the night reading not moving - so is probably what you say Richie.

Even so, sounds like E10 or E7 are a waste, so I will switch to standard. Think my supplier will change the meter for free as well.

Thanks all.

Scorpio33

Just a thought: who would E10 or E7 actually benefit? I mean, who uses most electricity in the night? I guess it would suit shift workers, but can't think of anyone else who it would benefit.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Scorpio33 wrote: »

Just a thought: who would E10 or E7 actually benefit? I mean, who uses most electricity in the night? I guess it would suit shift workers, but can't think of anyone else who it would benefit.

Millions who use night-store water & space heating

victor2

Scorpio33 wrote: »

Just a thought: who would E10 or E7 actually benefit? I mean, who uses most electricity in the night? I guess it would suit shift workers, but can't think of anyone else who it would benefit.

E7 is aimed primarily at people with no gas, but electric storage heaters, which charge themselves up overnight and release it when required in the day/evening.
E10 tries to be a bit more flexible, but as already said, can make it more difficult to switch as not all suppliers support it.

Wywth

Scorpio33 wrote: »

Just a thought: who would E10 or E7 actually benefit? I mean, who uses most electricity in the night? I guess it would suit shift workers, but can't think of anyone else who it would benefit.

Who would it benefit? Those who take on board advice, especially when they asked for it.

Who uses electricity at night? Most of us, as I previously attempted to demonstrate to you.

Bye