Is Electricity cheaper after 9pm/midnight onwards?

LiveOnce

Hi guys,

Can anyone confirm is electricity is cheaper after 9pm/midnight? I have known people who leave their washing machine to run after that time because apparently it's cheaper.

Is this some urban legend or something true?

Torry_Quine

If you are on E7 meters which usually means you have storage heaters then you pay less for 7 hours overnight but more during the day.

LiveOnce

How do I check if I have an E7 meter?

Torry_Quine

LiveOnce wrote: »

How do I check if I have an E7 meter?

Do you have storage heaters as it's unlikely if you don't?

E7 meters will have two readings which you will see on your bill.

yangptangkipperbang

Torry_Quine wrote: »

Do you have storage heaters as it's unlikely if you don't?

Not necessarily....... a lot of newer flats and apartments have E7 (or similar) just for hot water, using heat stores. I have this and it is costing me less to heat my water that it did when I was using gas.

Torry_Quine

yangptangkipperbang wrote: »

Not necessarily....... a lot of newer flats and apartments have E7 (or similar) just for hot water, using heat stores. I have this and it is costing me less to heat my water that it did when I was using gas.

Didn't know that, but isn't any saving offset by the higher cost of electricity durig the day?

yangptangkipperbang

Torry_Quine wrote: »

Didn't know that, but isn't any saving offset by the higher cost of electricity durig the day?

I have had this system for almost a year and have not "worried" about my energy costs.
Like anything in this area it is impossible to do a meaningful comparison. I am paying 13p and 6p per unit on my "E7" tariff (changed to this supplier 4 months ago). My supplier appears to be charging 14.47p on a non E7 tariff !!

My apartment is very well insulated - but I must admit to being very pleasantly surprised at my low electricity bills.

twiglet98

It depends whether you use electricity for heating and/or hot water.

If you do, a dual-rate or Economy 7 meter makes sense, and it gives you cheaper electricity overnight (when night storage heaters use it most), or your electric immersion heater can be on overnight. The cheaper night rate is offset by a much higher daytime rate, and using the washing machine on cheap rate won't be enough to make it worthwhile.

scaredofdebt

Even if you're on Economy 7 (or Economy 10 etc) then you may still be paying more overall compared to a standard single rate tariff.

You pay more during the day for the electricity on these tariffs so unless your night time usage is high enough for the cheaper night rate to offset the day rate, you may be worse off.

I have spoken to a few people that have Economy 7 despite having had the storage heaters removed by previous occupants and aren't aware they are paying more for it.

Your supplier can check if Eco 7 is better for you based on your historic consumption.

[Deleted User]

The break even point for Economy 7 is around 35% used during the night as it depends on which supplier you're with and what the rates are.
As stated above it works best if you have night storage heaters and then you can save more if you use an immersion heater/washer/dryer overnight as well.

The overnight period is usually from 0030hrs to 0730hrs GMT.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

scaredofdebt wrote: »

I have spoken to a few people that have Economy 7 despite having had the storage heaters removed by previous occupants and aren't aware they are paying more for it.

this is why you get folks on here, moving house, then complaining about the supplier not telling them they were on the wrong tariff.

When folk get storage heaters out and install gas central heating, in most cases, should get the meter changed.

Though, if they are still staying in the house may be happy with the set up, it's when they move and new folks move in that the problems start.