"time-of-use" tariff using a Smart Meter

usedtobefaster

Hi,

I'm wondering if anyone can help me.

Our house has smart meters for gas and electricity therefore I can accurately monitor our usage and get accurate billing from my energy supplier (first utility). The other possibility that the smart meter brings is the option of switching to a "time-of-use" tariff. Can anyone suggest any energy supplier that can offer a "time-of-use" tariff based on a smart meter, from what I can see so far most suppliers refer to Economy 7 (or 10) meters.

The downside of this idea is we have a hot tub which consumes a lot of power all day and I'm thinking that the consumption cost during the peak hours on a "time-of-use" tariff would wipe out any possible savings. Anyone got any thoughts on this.

Thanks for any suggestions.
Paul

Bark01

Unfortunately when you swap suppliers most SMART meters revert to being dumb meters as the software/hardware isn’t universal. The final spec for full SMART roll out has not been decided yet. Once the spec is decided then SMART meters installed after this date will be transferable and its likely your current SMART meter will need to be replaced. SMART meters at the moment are really a beta test.

As far as I’m aware no one really offers tailored ToU tariffs for SMART meters. Most suppliers ToU offerings are for specific legacy meters designed for specific heating systems and wouldn’t be made available for SMART. EC7 and E10 are widely available and its possible your smart meter could be converted to a ‘dumb’ E7/E10 meter. You won’t find E10 prices on comparison sites but if you go to each suppliers web site and search for tariff information labels (or TILs) then you should be able to find the prices. I’d suspect that you’ll have much more luck swapping to an EC7 than an E10

In general the tipping point for where an EC7 becomes the better option is ~20-35% of consumption on the off peak. This can vary quite a bit between suppliers/products/regions so you’ll need to work this out for yourself to be sure. If you r using <10% off peak then I doubt it’s better to be on a ToU, if your using >40% on the off peak then it probably will be better for you.

Another point of note is that in the old world the times where the peak/off peak change would be set by your local MOP not your supplier, I ‘m not sure how this changes if you have a dumb SMART meter but you may have difficulty getting a new supplier to confirm your times before you sign up so you may find the off peak hours you end up won’t suit you.

Sterlingtimes

I hope that time will offer some options in this regard.

With Ovo's Smart Gateway, I am getting 1 minute granularity on my readings. The overnight "notching" shows the effect of the fridge and two freezers raising consumption above the base load. Green is today and orange is yesterday. X axis is time in hours of day and y axis is kW.



Same illustration below with a timed reading at 01:31.



The 7 hour slot works out at 894 kWh per year out of my predicted grid importation of 5,283 kWh per year in a solar household. Economy 7 wouldn't really work out.

Perhaps in your situation you could deploy solar to heat the hot tub.

System

No time soon is my guess as suppliers are 'currently' (no pun intended) restricted to a number of tariffs. That said, suppliers are thinking about it. The Executive Summary in this document is worth a scan:

http://www.smartenergygb.org/sites/default/files/UCL%20research%20into%20time%20of%20use%20tariffs.pdf

spiro

Hengus wrote: »

No time soon is my guess as suppliers are 'currently' (no pun intended) restricted to a number of tariffs. That said, suppliers are thinking about it. The Executive Summary in this document is worth a scan:

http://www.smartenergygb.org/sites/default/files/UCL%20research%20into%20time%20of%20use%20tariffs.pdf

The 4 tariff rule is supposed not to include smart tariffs.

Sterlingtimes

The electricity distributor rather than the supplier would need the data to manage the network although the electricity supplier would need the data for differential charging. One possible model would be to charge for a pre-set amount of electricity for a period of time, and then charge a heavy premium for amounts that exceed the threshold. This could be worked monthly.

spiro

Sterlingtimes wrote: »

The electricity distributor rather than the supplier would need the data to manage the network although the electricity supplier would need the data for differential charging. One possible model would be to charge for a pre-set amount of electricity for a period of time, and then charge a heavy premium for amounts that exceed the threshold. This could be worked monthly.

My understanding is this is how they do it in Italy which already has all smart meters. You sign up to a maximum use band and if you exceed this you get cut off until you contact your supplier and agree to cut your consumption or sign up to a higher band. The highrr the band the more you pay per kwh. This allows the generators to know the maximum power tbey need for any village/town/city.

usedtobefaster

Thanks for the responses.

So in summary - not at the moment and it's likely my current smart meter(s) will need replacing when the final spec is agreed.

Powering the hot tub through solar would be the way to go but the issue here is the capital requirement to fit the solar system in the first place.

Thanks for the help everyone

lstar337

usedtobefaster wrote: »

Thanks for the responses.

So in summary - not at the moment and it's likely my current smart meter(s) will need replacing when the final spec is agreed.

Powering the hot tub through solar would be the way to go but the issue here is the capital requirement to fit the solar system in the first place.

Thanks for the help everyone

The upfront costs are not that high currently, if you get the right deal.

Rent a roof schemes also let you use as much of your generation as you can.

Ask in the Green and ethical forum to get a full rundown of your solar options.