Times for Economy Seven

Dollydaydream_2

Hi, having just received an increase in my fuel bill I decided to check exactly what times my meter switched to Economy Seven so that I could be sure I was using my most power hungry devices at the right time. Imagine my surprise to find that I switch to the lower price at 9.30AM and off again at 5.00pm. Scottish power, do not know that I took the imersion heater out years ago, but this seems to me to be a very sneaky way of getting me to pay more. I am out at work all day, so am paying the higher rate for all of the electricity I am using. In addition they have never said anything about changing the times on my meter. I know that it has been a couple of years since I checked but I know that it used to end around 7AM not start at 9.30 AM. After all this ramble my question is, are they allowed to change the times like this[FONT=&quot]ʔ [/FONT]

Richie-from-the-Boro

HiYa Dollydaydream,

- yes
- it was always, and remains a variable time
- your post makes no sense if you are on E7 my friend
- and why would you even be on E7 or E10 without water heating ?

Dollydaydream_2

When I moved in nearly 30 years ago, the [FONT=&quot]previous owners were on E7, for the emersion heater. I continued to use it, using the washing machine, slow cooker etc even getting u[/FONT][FONT=&quot]p early to do the ironing before it switched off. It allways used to end at 7 or 8 in the morning, de[/FONT][FONT=&quot]pending if we were on GMT or not. I am annoyed that the times have been changed without any warning. I now intend to move right away from E7[/FONT]

Dollydaydream_2

Having looked again at the times for E7 for the different suppliers, and I accept that they vary from supplier to supplier, not one of them have the times during the day time. It is supposed to be a time during the night when the demand is less. The information given also seems to imply that the time is set when the meter is installed, but my meter has been changed, that is what I find so annoying.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Dollydaydream wrote: »

Having looked again at the times for E7 for the different suppliers, and I accept that they vary from supplier to supplier, not one of them have the times during the day time. It is supposed to be a time during the night when the demand is less. The information given also seems to imply that the time is set when the meter is installed, but my meter has been changed, that is what I find so annoying.

OwDo Dollydaydream,

The times are largely inherited from the old Regional Electricity Boards days. The E7 bit is usually switched on and off by a radio 4 signal called a timeswitch, the times vary all over the country and over the demand-year. The used to be static in the old days, till the leccy boards along with British Steel, British Petroleum, Rolls Royce, British Airways, hissing [gas] sid, water etc were sold by Maggie.

Before you dump E7, if you have no cheap water heating what do you use for heating your rooms ?

Dollydaydream_2

I now have a combination boiler for heating and hot water so no longer heat my water by electricity.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Dollydaydream wrote: »

I now have a combination boiler for heating and hot water so no longer heat my water by electricity.

If your whole house is heated by gas you would almost certainly benefit from ditching the E7 tariff and getting the best deal you can on :

- dual fuel, pay by DD, an internet based account, and submit your own meter readings often type tariff
- speak to your supplier and ask for a quote, then find a cheaper quote elsewhere
- depending on your supplier you may need then to change your electricity meter type

Best of luck.

Haarlem

I live in the old East Midlands Area.

I have a radio teleswitch which is low rate 01.00 to 08.00 all the year round. Always been this and I check it regularly.

I have gas heating and water heating, although through choice I have an electric shower. I definitely save using appliances at the right time. Without much effort my lifestyle fits these times.

If the original poster has low rate during the day because of a timeswitch that is out of sync with GMT, then they should really benefit.

There is a lot of bad information given on this Forum about E7. Supplier call centre staff are fed much too "general" information. The only way to understand when you get the cheaper rate is to check your switching equipment. I do agree that this is not always easy unless you know what to look for. I can confidently do this as I am a retired metering manager (with contacts still in the distribution industry) from the days when customers got a straight forward deal on energy, and were served by staff who knew what they were taking about.

[Deleted User]

Hi dollydaydream, you will have an old analogue timer switch with its 24 hours circular dial with a pointer at the bottom. Its rare for me to find any of these old things which are set at anywhere near the correct time. You benefit by getting your cheap units slap bang in a high useage time, The suppliers know of this but dont care about it, its not their equipment but will be owned by the regional distributor who certainly dont care either. It cost money to go round adjusting all these timers back to the correct time. Meantime the public are having their showers, setting dryers and washing machines, night storage heaters etc expecting to be in the cheap rate but are paying the high rate.
I have suggested to British Gas that meter readers could quickly adjust these analogue timers back to the correct times as we are going round reading the meters. It would only take a couple of minutes, have not had any reply to my suggestion.
The usual advice on here is to ditch eco7 tariffs if you dont achieve 30% of your total useage in the cheap tariff hours.

Haarlem

sacsquacco wrote: »

Hi dollydaydream,
I have suggested to British Gas that meter readers could quickly adjust these analogue timers back to the correct times as we are going round reading the meters. It would only take a couple of minutes, have not had any reply to my suggestion.
The usual advice on here is to ditch eco7 tariffs if you dont achieve 30% of your total useage in the cheap tariff hours.

Meter readers used to do this when they were employed by the distributor and accurate records available to the meter reader.

I agree if the time is way out then it needs putting right. However a variance of +/-1 hour may be how the distributor wants to shift load to cater for demands on a particular substation. Probably more relevant on circuits which still have a high number of customers with heating or commercial loads.

The 30% split is a good rough guide, and fairly easy to achieve for many users if they wish to make savings.

One point when the standard for smart meters is agreed, and start to be fitted in large numbers, then suppliers will introduce more time of day tariffs, and customers will want to manage their usage to take advantage of the best rates. Those with experience of E7 will probably have an advantage on how to take advantage.

Wywth

Dollydaydream wrote: »

Hi, having just received an increase in my fuel bill I decided to check exactly what times my meter switched to Economy Seven so that I could be sure I was using my most power hungry devices at the right time. Imagine my surprise to find that I switch to the lower price at 9.30AM and off again at 5.00pm. Scottish power, do not know that I took the imersion heater out years ago, but this seems to me to be a very sneaky way of getting me to pay more. I am out at work all day, so am paying the higher rate for all of the electricity I am using. In addition they have never said anything about changing the times on my meter. I know that it has been a couple of years since I checked but I know that it used to end around 7AM not start at 9.30 AM. After all this ramble my question is, are they allowed to change the times like this[FONT=&quot]ʔ [/FONT]

Economy 7 gives you 7 hours cheap rate electricity - that's why it's called Economy 7

The hours are normally continuous, but I think the odd region splits this up into two sessions with about a 2 hour gap.

Unless you are switched by teleswitch, the switch will be in accordance with the clock on your meter (which may be indicating the incorrect time - like all non-radio controlled clocks they are not entirely accurate, but the switching period will remain constant in duration as that does not rely on clockwork )

However, all your timings do not relate to 7 hours low rate period so beats me.