Official MSE Economy 7 Guide discussion

jazzybear

My husband runs 4 freezers but we put all other electric appliances on at night washing and tumble dryer we have gas central heating and gas hob electric oven but only 2of us so all I can say is It maybe the freezers?
We use energy saving lighting have tried everything not to use electric in day but still big usage We got SP to check meter and they said ok

HappyMJ

jazzybear wrote: »

My husband runs 4 freezers but we put all other electric appliances on at night washing and tumble dryer we have gas central heating and gas hob electric oven but only 2of us so all I can say is It maybe the freezers?
We use energy saving lighting have tried everything not to use electric in day but still big usage We got SP to check meter and they said ok

It'll be more than the freezers. How old are they? If quite old they may use in excess of 1,200kWh a year each.... Could you sell them and buy one large efficient one? Having one is much more economic than having 4. The cost of freezing a cubic foot would be dramatically reduced....as long as the space is actually used. It may even be worth simply dumping them for scrap to get an A rated one if you can't find buyers for them.

Even your gas bill is very high considering there is only 2 of you. That's the normal usage for a family with a old G rated boiler. Changing the boiler to an efficient one and you should get your usage right down. How do you run your heating? On all the time or timed?

I wouldn't be worrying about saving a few pennies on the tariffs at the moment..you should be able to get your usage down and will save much more in the long run.

jazzybear

We have 3A rated freezers they are for his hobby we only have heating on timed as we have log burner our boiler is 10 years old and serviced every year,we aren't wasting energy we leave the heating off until its really cold as we can't afford it

HappyMJ

jazzybear wrote: »

We have 3A rated freezers they are for his hobby we only have heating on timed as we have log burner our boiler is 10 years old and serviced every year,we aren't wasting energy we leave the heating off until its really cold as we can't afford it

3A is the current. Do they have an estimated annual usage sticker on them? If they don't do you have the models of them. How old are they? The annual usage should then be able to be estimated by searching online. New freezers use half what old ones do. By buying a large new one your usage could be cut right down.

In that case with an alternative source of heat and an A rated boiler your usage is extremely high. Something is being wasted somewhere...I would be taking weekly meter readings to monitor the usage and get it down.

Freeflyer_2

I am hoping someone can give me advice on whether to jettison our Economy 7 or not. We actually have Economy 10, which means that we get a slight top-up in the late afternoon during the winter months. Our problem is that we have now both retired so are at home much of the day, so use more electricity during the day than we used to. This has never actually been a problem but we have now decided to get new heaters installed. Would it be best to get new storage heaters and keep with Economy 10? Or should we change to a normal tariff and buy ordinary heaters? As we use things like computers, cooker, etc. during the day, we might be better off going down this route.

lstar337

Freeflyer wrote: »

I am hoping someone can give me advice on whether to jettison our Economy 7 or not. We actually have Economy 10, which means that we get a slight top-up in the late afternoon during the winter months. Our problem is that we have now both retired so are at home much of the day, so use more electricity during the day than we used to. This has never actually been a problem but we have now decided to get new heaters installed. Would it be best to get new storage heaters and keep with Economy 10? Or should we change to a normal tariff and buy ordinary heaters? As we use things like computers, cooker, etc. during the day, we might be better off going down this route.

I think you would be best off with modern storage heaters, with an E7 tariff.

Convectors on a flat rate are going to be the most expensive to run, followed by old storage heaters on E10, and modern storage heaters on E7 will likely be the cheapest to run.

But there is the equipment cost to consider too. Convectors are cheap compared to storage heaters.

If you are going to use them for a long time (to recoup your costs), then modern storage heaters and E7 is the way to go.

HappyMJ

Freeflyer wrote: »

I am hoping someone can give me advice on whether to jettison our Economy 7 or not. We actually have Economy 10, which means that we get a slight top-up in the late afternoon during the winter months. Our problem is that we have now both retired so are at home much of the day, so use more electricity during the day than we used to. This has never actually been a problem but we have now decided to get new heaters installed. Would it be best to get new storage heaters and keep with Economy 10? Or should we change to a normal tariff and buy ordinary heaters? As we use things like computers, cooker, etc. during the day, we might be better off going down this route.

Using ordinary oil filled or convector heaters will cost more than storage heating for the same heat...Used sparingly for not much more than a few hours each day (due to the occupants sleeping or being at work for the majority of the time) it may be cheaper than storage heating but as you are home all day I would find that unlikely. E7 will be cheaper to use than E10. You can switch tariffs and take advantage of online discounts and discounts for paying by direct debit.

Susan_Crane

I am glad I found this forum as I have often wondered whether I would be better off not having Economy 7. I have no night storage heaters and only 25% of my total usage is at the cheap rate. I have just had solar panels installed and I am currently running my dishwasher and washing machine (on separate days) between 7.00 am and 8.30 am when I am still on the cheap rate electric but I do get some solar power.

I had already thought that even if I ran this equipment when I was at maximum generating time (assuming sun was shining etc) it would still cost me more than running at the cheap rate as I was unlikely to be able to generate enough electricity to avoid using National Grid electric.

I think that I will continue to do this when the clocks change although because of the change in hours, I will not benefit from any solar power during the cheap rate electric hours.

Currently my day time electric costs 23.350p per Kwh and my cheap rate costs 5.68p per Kwh which is less than a quarter of the day rate. It does seem hard to easily find information about the number of Kwh your appliances use.

One little bonus from the solar panels is that the company supplied a device which uses any otherwise unused electricity generated to heat the immersion hot water so whereas previously I always used the gas boiler for the hot water now I only use free electric (until it does not heat up enough in which case I will put the gas on for an hour).

HappyMJ

Susan_Crane wrote: »

I am glad I found this forum as I have often wondered whether I would be better off not having Economy 7. I have no night storage heaters and only 25% of my total usage is at the cheap rate. I have just had solar panels installed and I am currently running my dishwasher and washing machine (on separate days) between 7.00 am and 8.30 am when I am still on the cheap rate electric but I do get some solar power.

I had already thought that even if I ran this equipment when I was at maximum generating time (assuming sun was shining etc) it would still cost me more than running at the cheap rate as I was unlikely to be able to generate enough electricity to avoid using National Grid electric.

I think that I will continue to do this when the clocks change although because of the change in hours, I will not benefit from any solar power during the cheap rate electric hours.

Currently my day time electric costs 23.350p per Kwh and my cheap rate costs 5.68p per Kwh which is less than a quarter of the day rate. It does seem hard to easily find information about the number of Kwh your appliances use.

How much??? I'm spitting me tea out...23.35p/kWh is one of the worst rates I've seen. Even Ebico is pretty bad at about 20p/kWh and 7p/kWh but they have no standing charges so are good for very low users.

I'd be switching tariffs as soon as possible...there must be something much more competitive than 23.35p. The average rate is 13p/kWh and 6p/kWh plus standing charges as per the article.

John_Pierpoint

seggy wrote: »

Hi I have had solar panels installed this year. I have Economy 7and storage heaters and all electric. I am still working out how to best run everything to be very economical. I run appliances in the afternoon on a sunny day and at night on dull days and in the winter I'm unsure of my savings as I haven't done a year yet Any advice gratefully received.

The answer to your question depends to a certain extent on the peak power of your PV panels and their inverter..

Things that use heat tend to take 3kW and you may have a PV system in the range 3.6 - 4kWp.

I've had a 3.6 kWp system for 19 months and it tends to displace economy 7 during the summer months. During the winter it makes not much at all.
In the summer, when the sun is shining at lunchtime I can heat a tank of water and wash a load of clothes or wash a load of dishes for nothing.
HOWEVER, I tend to be at home during the day time.
You can buy gizmos that track the output of the panels and put any spare electricity into the hot water tank BUT they tend to need professional fitting and cost a £ three figure sum.

It is during the equinox seasons that the decision on day time versus night time use is most difficult - there is no simple rule of thumb.
[It drives my wife mad trying to do the simple algorithm of look at the time 11:00 - 15:00 ? Look at the sun ? Check the watts on the panel monitor on the mantle piece ? Set load of washing for now or 01:30 tomorrow. CHECK THAT ONLY ONE LARGE APPLIANCE IS ON. - there is no point in having a roast meal cooking in the oven and putting on the dish washer at the same time.]
I do have red flashing generation and reporting meters side by side so it is easy to see if the house if running on free electricity and relatively easy to see if the electricity is (say) 80:20 generated versus imported.