Please help - Confused!!

Curley

I'm just looking at my electric bill (my first and only one at the moment).

It shows that i'm on the 'Economy 7' tariff. Only problem is, I've got a condensing combi boiler. I've also had a quick look at my electric meter but it's got two rows of numbers? So is that why i'm being charged for the economy 7 tarrif? If that's the case i've been charged more than I should be.

Cardew

If it is your first bill you will probably not have been charged too much more than if you were on a daytime tariff.

The two rows of figures are for the 'daytime' and 'night time' electricity. The latter being for a 7 hour period usually between the hours of 11pm and 8am.

The 7 hour rates are much cheaper than daytime rates; the trouble being the daytime rates are higher than on a normal 24 hour standard rate.

It is very difficult to make Economy 7 work out cheaper than a standard tariff - unless you have storage heating. The 'break even' point varies by area and company - but is normally more than 30% of electricity used in the 7 hour period.

Contact your company and say you wish to change to standard tariff.

Curley

Thanks Cardew, i'll give them (npower) a call on Monday. It clearly states on their website that:-

The tariff has:

• A higher unit rate for electricity used during the day, but has
• A much cheaper rate for units of electricity you use during a 7-hour period at night

I use very little electric at night, just a lamp for cockatiels (as well as fridge/freezer etc).

My first bill is actually a 6-month bill, but I thought they were all quarterly?
So in this 6 month period, my night time charges only come to £7.16, but my day time charges come to £145.

I've actually been on a couple of comparison sites and it looks like I may be better off with Atlantic so i'll be considering switching in a short while anyway.