Why am I using 71% of energy use at night?

Dariel_Newton

Hi all
I've just been told that I'm using 71% of my total energy use at night. I'm totally confused by this. I'm on Economy7 , but don't use the storage heaters or leave my emersion tank on overnight. I'm all electric, so shouldn't my highest use be during the day? Anyone know what might be going on here?

molerat

Your old mechanical timer is out of sync or the supplier has the day / night readings the wrong way round. Or it could be correct.

Dariel_Newton

It can't possibly be correct tho' I have the water heater on during the day, cook etc. Could you explain what you mean by 'out of sync? How do I know if the day/night readings are the wrong way round? Yikes.

molerat

Old mechanical timers can tell the wrong time so switch at the wrong time - they have a standby clockwork motor to run the timer whilst the power is off but this can run out during extended power off periods or it is just bust. What type of meter have you got, modern electronic ones or radio switched ones are usually accurate for switch over timing.

Put a high load on - kettle, electric fire, cooker - and see which register is increasing.

macman

Surely, the moot point here is why you are staying on E7 if you don't use the NSH's, and heat your hot water on peak rate? Neither make any sense.
How do you heat the property?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

Dariel_Newton wrote: »

It can't possibly be correct tho' I have the water heater on during the day, cook etc. Could you explain what you mean by 'out of sync? How do I know if the day/night readings are the wrong way round? Yikes.

this is a type of mechanical timer,



if you look at the 9 o'clock position, the pointer is at 18, 6pm, this should be the current time, it may be that yours is 10/12 hours out.

This is a type of E7 meter,



low for night, normal for day, it may be that your readings have been reversed.

You might find that heating the water at night will be about a 3rd of what it is during the day.

Scrounger

Dariel_Newton wrote: »

Hi all
I've just been told that I'm using 71% of my total energy use at night. ...I'm on Economy7 .

I wouldn't be in too much a a panic to change anything as 71% registered as 'off-peak' is definitely saving you money.

Scrounger

Katie-Kat-Kins

You do realise that correcting this is likely to be expensive?


Is the total number of units about right and just the timing that is off or do you suspect that energy is being used that you are not aware of?

House_Martin

Dariel_Newton wrote: »

Hi all
I've just been told that I'm using 71% of my total energy use at night. I'm totally confused by this. I'm on Economy7 , but don't use the storage heaters or leave my emersion tank on overnight. I'm all electric, so shouldn't my highest use be during the day? Anyone know what might be going on here?

Most likely its a transposed reading, but excellent photos by Frugal to explain about the old mechanical timer switch . As a meter reader for nearly 20 years nearly all these old things are out of synch with the pointer no where near the correct time. Only the OP can see if the timer switch is out of synch. Suppliers like to keep within 2 hours of correct time..They are always out by an hour in BST even if its spot on.
Night Storage users spot any problems because they end up paying a lot more , so they investigate.
All the others keep quiet because they are getting half price day units.
The suppliers will attempt to re bill if they can and can be in debt with serious money if its gone on for years..I have seen a rebill of 2k to one lady..She could nt pay it so Npower fitted a prepayment meter with debt on it.
I think I would switch supplier if I thought they would go back years and rebill me.

Dariel_Newton

You make a very good point! I guess I didn't really get that you could switch back to non-economy 7! I will look into that. I installed a wood burner to heat the house, which it does really well, as I didn't like the storage heaters at all. Thanks

Dariel_Newton

Ok, so tested the meter this morning. Put lot on : water heater, oven etc and watched the meter. 1. is daytime and 2. is nighttime (according to my supplier) 1. did go up, so I'm assuming that the meter is set up properly. That being the case I'm still completely baffled as to why I'm using so much energy at night. The meter is not one of the old fashioned ones.
Maybe I should just switch out of E7 and not worry about it, but it kind of bugs me not knowing where the energy is going.