What appliances use cheaper night time electricity on Economy 7?

KenA

Good morning. I've heard contradicting advice as to what electrical appliances use the cheaper night time electricity when on Economy 7. I was under the impression that it was every electrical item that was connected to the mains, however, a chap mentioned to me that it was only our storage heaters and water boiler, and that everything else was charged at the increased day time rate, irrespective of what time it was used.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

if you're on E7 the whole house switches over to cheap rate, there used to be an old set up that was only for heating and hot water.

House_Martin

The best way to check is simply to observe the night time reading and find out at the same time exactly what time it comes on. Published times can be ignored. find out yourself the exact time, then you know when its safe to use heavy usage things like dryers and irons at the cheap rate.
Digital clocks built into electric meters can vary so much especially the older analogue switches. Only RadioTeleswitch timers are accurate.
I have been in a meter room with approx 60 eco 7 digital meters and they were all mostly coming off (can here the loud click )the night rate at any time between 8.30 and 11 am, and only one or two were on time at 8.30 am (BST ) The digital clocks on the meters are always set at GMT and do not vary altho smart Eco 7 could but so far I have not seen these in operation
Once you establish the correct switchover time for the cheap rate you can then take a quick note of the day reading to see if it advances at all in the 7 hrs. It probably will not , but some set ups it could, depends on how its wired up

Cardew

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,

if you're on E7 the whole house switches over to cheap rate, there used to be an old set up that was only for heating and hot water.

There are quite a lot of properties wired with separate circuits so that only storage heaters and the main immersion heater operate during the 7 hours off-peak period.

I always thought that setup was only on older properties, but a couple of people have posted that they have the same system on new build blocks of flats.

jk0

Some of my rentals are on 'flexiheat' which only gives cheap rate for storage heaters & water. Just recently I replaced a redundant storage heater spur with a 13 amp socket, so my tenant can use anything she wants at the cheap time.

KenA

Does this image of our fuse boxes make anything clearer. The storage heaters and boiler are all on the box on the right, everything else is on the one on the left.

jk0

Oh, well it's the meter we'd need to look at Ken. However if your bills say 'Economy 7' on them, I think you can be pretty certain that everything run at night is on the cheap rate.

thorganby

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,

if you're on E7 the whole house switches over to cheap rate, there used to be an old set up that was only for heating and hot water.

Correct.

jk0 wrote: »

Some of my rentals are on 'flexiheat' which only gives cheap rate for storage heaters & water. Just recently I replaced a redundant storage heater spur with a 13 amp socket, so my tenant can use anything she wants at the cheap time.

If the MPAN starts with 02, the property is on the Economy 7 tariff where everything is charged at the cheap night rate, even if the property has a separate heat circuit for storage heaters, immersion heater etc.

The separate heat circuit is simply enabled by the meter during the cheap rate hours (which could be split e.g. in the south east region) but all circuits in the property are metered at cheap rate during the seven cheap rate hours on Economy 7.

The supply does not switch between normal and cheap rate, only the metering register in use changes and for the record, Economy 7 metering does not "depend how it is wired up".

The OP's question was specifically about the standard Economy 7 tariff, not one of the various non standard supplier/region specific heat tariffs.

KenA wrote: »

Does this image of our fuse boxes make anything clearer. The storage heaters and boiler are all on the box on the right, everything else is on the one on the left.

The two thick red cables will go to separate terminals on your meter - usually 4 & 5, the left hand cable will be permanently live at both normal and cheap rate times and the right hand cable will only be enabled during cheap rate hours to control your four storage heaters and your immersion heater.

KenA

thorganby wrote: »

Correct.



If the MPAN starts with 02, the property is on the Economy 7 tariff where everything is charged at the cheap night rate, even if the property has a separate heat circuit for storage heaters, immersion heater etc.

The separate heat circuit is simply enabled by the meter during the cheap rate hours (which could be split e.g. in the south east region) but all circuits in the property are metered at cheap rate during the seven cheap rate hours on Economy 7.

The supply does not switch between normal and cheap rate, only the metering register in use changes and for the record, Economy 7 metering does not "depend how it is wired up".

The OP's question was specifically about the standard Economy 7 tariff, not one of the various non standard supplier/region specific heat tariffs.



The two thick red cables will go to separate terminals on your meter - usually 4 & 5, the left hand cable will be permanently live at both normal and cheap rate times and the right hand cable will only be enabled during cheap rate hours to control your four storage heaters and your immersion heater.

Thanks for clearing that up, so I'm still better off using appliances during the cheap night time rate, rather than during the day, irrespective of the fact that there are two circuits.

matelodave

Yes, try doing the ironing and vaccying as well as clothes & dishwashing etc and you could save a fortune.

KenA

Haha, thanks. Well, I don't use an iron, vaccying is done using a cordless vac (could possibly put a timer on the charging unit), clothes are done at night, and I'm the dishwasher, but I get the gist!