Official MSE Economy 7 Guide discussion

glocal

pineapple wrote: »

I've wondered about this myself.
Even my new heaters give off some heat though the output is switched to minimum. So I only switch on the heaters when I am going to bed and I switch them off around 6am when I get up. This means they are on 5/6 hours and it's fine.

See also https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/72114475#Comment_72114475

CherM

Hi
I've moved house and experiencing economy 7 for the first time! Storage heaters all running ok. Problem I have is with the hot water. It is set to come on and off in the off peak hours to heat up but the water gives me 1/3 of hot water for a bath and that's it all day, I have two thermostats at least I think that's what they are? One at the top and one at the bottom of my tank, please can someone advise Thankyou!

footyguy

CherM wrote: »

Hi
I've moved house and experiencing economy 7 for the first time! Storage heaters all running ok. Problem I have is with the hot water. It is set to come on and off in the off peak hours to heat up but the water gives me 1/3 of hot water for a bath and that's it all day, I have two thermostats at least I think that's what they are? One at the top and one at the bottom of my tank, please can someone advise Thankyou!

Electric immersion heaters operate the same whether you are on E7 or not.
They effectively work like a big kettle.They only heat as much water as the tank holds (and only to the temperature set by the appropriate thermostat)

Some hot water tanks have dual immersion heaters, either side entry or top entry. Hot water rises, so only water above the heater actually heats up. Ensure you are using the lowest heater if you want a tank full.

Humbug40

I am moving into a top floor flat with economy 7 and storage heaters so I want to get the most out of them. They look quite old and only have input and output dials. At night do I set the input to max and the output to low but what if I go to bed before the cheap period starts? Then when Do I need to wake up before the cheap period ends and manually turn the input down? Also I am retired so I am home during the day so I am concerned about my energy consumption during the day.

molerat

The heaters should only come on (charge) during the off peak period set by either the meter or in some cases a timer fitted in the consumer unit. You leave output set to low, only turning it up when needed, and the input according to the season. Max should only be necessary in the coldest period, you just need to play around with it until you get it right for you.

abjem21

jives11 wrote: »

That's a good article. I have E7 though I don’t have storage heaters. I reckon its worth while but marginal, probably saves me £50 per year. You have to understand how the tariff works with a higher day rate. For each regional supplier the deal is different. I'm with Ecotricty and I need to consume 29% or more during off peak for it to be worthwhile, and I manage about 35% I do have some top-up water immersion heating plus white goods with timers. also where I am E7 runs til 7:50 am at present (BST).

Two comments I'd make :

1) E7 and Solar. There is a relationship here, if you have Solar PV then E7 may be more attractive . Why ?

E7 is all about the ratio of offpeak (night) use to TOTAL day use. Hence anything that reduces the amount of onpeak, helps to tip that ratio in the right direction. Solar will typically reduce your daytime consumption.

2) While Night Storage heaters are out of fashion, Electric Cars are not. E7 would seem ideal if you have electric vehicles which you can charge over night.


My hope is that E7 will evolve with Smart Meters into a full dynamic Time of use tariff , where I can pay less if I choose to consume during low demand/low CO2 periods of the day, which is dynamic , so windy , sunny days or low demand periods will be cheaper

I am so glad I back-read a few pages before I made my post, which I had typed out before I read this helpful post, here is my tale.
We have lived in the same house for the last nearly 30 years and had economy 7 since the day we moved in. We had storage heaters fitted in our previous home and didn't think there was anything odd with the fact this house was already on economy 7.
When we moved in the heating in this house was provided by a parkray solid fuel room stove heating 7 radiators and the hot water tank from November to April, the cooker is electric (Off gas grid) and the hot water was exclusively heated by the electric immersion heater from April to November albeit, also on a timer.
For most of the time we have lived here it has worked out broadly the same overall cost as if we were on a single rate, (we always ran the washing machine overnight), so we left it on economy 7. However just over 5 years ago we had a 3Kw solar panel system fitted on the roof and consequently our daytime usage fell so now economy 7 started to make more sense for us as we are only effectively paying for the dear rate electricity from sunset to the cheap rate time.
This has now been improved further for us now as I have now bought a Nissan Leaf all electric car to do my commute to work (18,000 miles per year) which is drawing about 17kw to 20kw per night to cover 75miles per day @ 6.2p per kw my commute is now only costing a little over £1 per day when I was spending £7 per day on fuel. The saving is almost entirely covering the cost of the P.C.P. lease on a brand new car, let alone the free road tax and minimal servicing costs. Discussions on economy 7 always seem to first focus on storage heaters, if more people did the maths on what they can save maybe there would be more electric cars on the road. There was some talk that a system could easily be devised where the remaining energy in the battery on an electric vehicle could be returned to the grid (or individuals home) in the evening to discharge the battery completely (so if an owner has solar panels they would buy little or no electricity at the dear rate) before re-charging the next night on the off peak rate, which would also help supplement the grid during the peak demand. Obviously I would be very happy if this could be made to work:j

janzbro

Hi, looking at reducing or energy bills (arent we all).
we are off the gas grid and exclusively use electricity.
We have 4kw solar PV system - which takes care of the day time usage (from 8 until about 4) apart from in winter.
Heating and hot water is supplied from a GSHP and obviously runs when its colder (night and when hot water is used). when it is online the compressor uses a fair amount of juice (approx 3kw per hour)
Would running on economy 7 make sence.

Carole615

Hi, I'm on E7 standard tariff and have just discovered that my water heater is coming on too early to qualify for cheap night time rate. I have a suspicion that my night storage heaters come on at the same time. I have temporarily solved the water heating problem by turning it on an off manually but am at a loss as to how to manage the night storage issue. My supplier has just ramped my monthly direct debit up by a staggering £15 a month (due to price rise not extra usage) I'm disabled and on a very limited budget I am very keen to get that amount down significantly if possible. The only cheaper supplier doesn't run the warm home discount scheme which I am eligible for and this means that changing won't save me any money. (its a 1990's house with original heaters one of which has a convector heater) I'm private renting with a landlord who isn't very keen to spend on anything that isn't life threatening and I can't afford an electrician. Can anyone please tell me if its possible to change the start time on the heaters.

molerat

Carole615 wrote: »

Hi, I'm on E7 standard tariff and have just discovered that my water heater is coming on too early to qualify for cheap night time rate. I have a suspicion that my night storage heaters come on at the same time. I have temporarily solved the water heating problem by turning it on an off manually but am at a loss as to how to manage the night storage issue. My supplier has just ramped my monthly direct debit up by a staggering £15 a month (due to price rise not extra usage) I'm disabled and on a very limited budget I am very keen to get that amount down significantly if possible. The only cheaper supplier doesn't run the warm home discount scheme which I am eligible for and this means that changing won't save me any money. (its a 1990's house with original heaters one of which has a convector heater) I'm private renting with a landlord who isn't very keen to spend on anything that isn't life threatening and I can't afford an electrician. Can anyone please tell me if its possible to change the start time on the heaters.

Your off peak devices are either switched on by a timer in the fuse box which will be adjustable by you or directly connected to the off peak circuit which if connected to an old mechanical time switch may be coming on at the wrong time but will still be charged at off peak. You need to find exactly how your system is wired. You can check how it is being billed by looking at the meter when the heaters come on and see which register increases.

DREKLY

As Molerat says, SOMEWHERE there is a timer that switches you E7 on,
and if it's an old mechanical timer (black rounded box with 24hr large dial)
or a smaller timer with pins that can be repositioned to different clock times,
.... BOTH can be incorrectly adjusted....
Most E7 timers now seem to be turned on by a radio signal sensor,
but the best way to see WHAT time it comes on, is to observe the dual meter, and see when rate 2 (the E7 tariff) starts blinking, you will of course have to find out where that dual (white?) meter is situated,
it could be outside your premises in a hall cupboard - ask your landlord
for help if you can't see it yourself.... you are paying him, after all !
Good Luck