Economy7 wiring

Owlman45

Hi,
I am new to the forum and have been reading many posts about economy7 meter reading problems as I experienced some when we moved at the end of last year to a Victorian house that has some old and some more recent wiring. I have not had economy7 before so I am a bit confused as to how it works.
My question is how does the meter switch to night rate on my circuit? My (AMPY) meter has two sets of tails one that goes through Henley Blocks then on to two fuse box/isolators (an old one) for the storage heater circuit. The other set of tails go to the consumer unit that supplies the other circuits for the house lighting, kitchen, shower, etc. I have switched off the isolator for the storage heater circuit and compared meter reading from evening to morning and found we are still using electric at night about 3-6 kWh. Am I correct in thinking that at night all circuits are that have power are on the economy7 tariff or will this depend on how the meter is wired. I have one socket that is only on economy7 as most storage heaters have been removed and I assume previous owner had it done when rewiring house. Thanks for any advice/ knowledge.

misterbarlow

easier to post a photo if you can!!

Owlman45

Hi,
Will try and post photo tomorrow it is not an easy one to explain in words I admit!

Cardew

Owlman45 wrote: »

Hi,
. Am I correct in thinking that at night all circuits are that have power are on the economy7 tariff or will this depend on how the meter is wired. I have one socket that is only on economy7 as most storage heaters have been removed and I assume previous owner had it done when rewiring house. Thanks for any advice/ knowledge.

The majority of E7 properties have all electricity consumed in the 7 hours of cheap rate, on the off-peak meter.

However it was common years ago(particularly in Scotland) to have the house wired so storage heaters and(usually) the immersion heater were the only items running on cheap rate electricity - all other lights/sockets etc were on peak rate 24/7.
This was sometimes referred to as 'White Meter'

Older installations have the meter switched on/off the 7 hours by a mechanical clock(with cams)

Newer installations are switched remotely.

ChumpusRex

On Economy 7:

During the day: All electricity is charged at *DAY* rate. Meter tails intended for heating are de-energised at the meter. Meter tails intended for general use are continuously energised.

During the night: All electricity is charged at the *NIGHT* rate. Both sets of meter tails are energised.

Normally, heating would be connected to the off-peak tails as this avoids heating unintentionally using expensive day-rate electricity. As this can be inconvenient, many installations connect some heaters to the general-purpose tails (usually via a timer or manual switch), which can be used for heating during the day.

lstar337

ChumpusRex wrote: »

On Economy 7:

During the day: All electricity is charged at *DAY* rate. Meter tails intended for heating are de-energised at the meter. Meter tails intended for general use are continuously energised.

During the night: All electricity is charged at the *NIGHT* rate. Both sets of meter tails are energised.

Normally, heating would be connected to the off-peak tails as this avoids heating unintentionally using expensive day-rate electricity. As this can be inconvenient, many installations connect some heaters to the general-purpose tails (usually via a timer or manual switch), which can be used for heating during the day.

^Perfect explanation^

This is exactly how ours is.

Owlman45

Thanks Chumpus,
Your explanation is what I was hoping for. As I said we have tried switching off storage heater circuit and we know we are using a small heater to keep pets warm at night plus fridge etc so that would explain the 3kWh being used at night.
My next job is to work out if we are using the 20% night rate to break even with our day rate consumption (we certainly have over the last few months) but it should drop over the summer. If not I plan to go on to a single tariff that may involve a meter change and as we are planning to upgrade the wiring in the house we would try and do it all together.
Thanks again.

Cardew

Owlman45 wrote: »

Thanks Chumpus,
Your explanation is what I was hoping for. As I said we have tried switching off storage heater circuit and we know we are using a small heater to keep pets warm at night plus fridge etc so that would explain the 3kWh being used at night.
My next job is to work out if we are using the 20% night rate to break even with our day rate consumption (we certainly have over the last few months) but it should drop over the summer. If not I plan to go on to a single tariff that may involve a meter change and as we are planning to upgrade the wiring in the house we would try and do it all together.
Thanks again.

That 20% 'break even' point is pretty low and last time I looked only Scottish Power had tariffs with a 20% break even. Some - like BG - are around 40%.

If you go on a single rate tariff, it doesn't always mean that you need a new meter. Some companies(BG and Eon for example) will add the readings from the two meters and charge as a single total. e.g. 300kWh off-peak and 1,000kWh peak will be treated as 1,300kWh on a single rate.

macman

Looking at recent consumption won't produce a valid comparison. Until the heating goes off (mine's still on) you won't see a big drop in your E7 usage, so your % on cheap rate will be artficially high. You need figures taking both winter and summer usage into account.

Owlman45

At present we are with EDF who don't charge to change a meter but I will continue to monitor our usage over the whole year before we decide what is best option. As with most money saving you need accurate figures to compare tariffs and there will always be some difference due to weather changes.
Thanks again.