E7 tariff free at night, solar panels yet STILL paying £117 a month! How?

Miranda7

I don't geddit! My economy 7 is free at night, thanks to Ebico's Night Owl tariff. So that's all my storage heating and hot water, free. During the day I get some free energy from my solar panels.

Yet my bills have climbed and climbed! How is this possible?

I run the washing machine about three times a week, the Megaflow hot water boiler is on about 1-2 hours in the day (I have to keep my night usage down below 60% as 'fair usage', I tumble dry 3-4 times a week. I have a large freezer in the shed (the tumble dryer is also in the shed) and a normal size one in the kitchen, plus a large fridge. Fish tank has a heater, filter and air pump going 24/7. I have all low energy bulbs.

Is there anything in this set-up people can point to as being particularly leccy-heavy? If not, I'll have to unplug stuff and see what they use one by one I guess. But just in case someone can shed any light...

r2015

Fish tank has a heater, filter and air pump going 24/7

this .

jk0

Is it possible you are now being charged for night rate? If the 0p teaser rate only lasted a year, you might now be paying for night units.


Only you can analyse your meter readings and bills.

Neil_Jones

A tropical fish tank and its equipment is not cheap to run:

http://www.tropicalfishsite.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-run-a-fish-tank-aquarium/ wrote:

So the total kilo Watt hours (kWh) to run our standard aquarium (worst case scenario) is 3168.2kWh

At the time of writing the cost of a kWh is around 12 pence so the cost of running the aquarium for a year is 0.12 x 3168.2 = £380.18 so roughly £1 per day

as an Eco7 setup will usually have a higher unit rate during the day so a 12p unit rate looks quite cheap. also remember we're at the back end of December where you'll only get about 8hrs of daylight as it is.

Robin9

Miranda7 - could you post your actual readings as of end Nov and of today please plus your unit rates.

PeterGr

Try and separate thoughts about your tariff and direct debit payments from your energy consumption. Monthly meter readings are a start and would give you an annual total, your trend of this month v last month, and this year v last year. Taking more frequent readings for a week or two will show the daily variability, and contribution of washing machine and tumble dryer, and for a small outlay an energy monitor could give you kWh data for different appliances.


With the information you can see what there is that will reduce your consumption. You can also then be confident about what your bills and payments will be. 'Free' night rate is offset by standing charges and the higher daytime rates.

Miranda7

Blimey - didn't realise the tank was costing so much. I'll have to look at ways of reducing that. I have a smart meter, so I have daily readings online. The only thing that's new from last year is the fish tank...

I switched to the V2 Night owl on Christmas Eve, so definitely still free at night. But as you say, lots for standing charge and daytime.

Hmmmn....

Miranda7

Robin9 wrote: »

Miranda7 - could you post your actual readings as of end Nov and of today please plus your unit rates.

Tariff Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ebico Night Owl
Product Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fixed Rate
Payment Method . . . . . Regular Direct Debit
Unit Rate (Day) . . . . . . . . . . . 17.1880p/kWh
Unit Rate (Night) . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0000p/kWh
Standing Charge 40.21p/day (£146.77/year)
Online Discount . . . . . . . £0.00/year per fuel
Tariff End Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Dec 2018
Price Guaranteed Until . . . . . . .24 Dec 2018
Early Exit Fee . . . . £30.00 per fuel (inc VAT)
Estimated Annual Usage . . . . . . 13,230kWh

That changed to V2:

Ebico Night-Owl V2
Tariff start date:
25 Dec 2018

Tariff end date:
24 Dec 2019

Standing charge:
101.09p/day

Day unit rate:
18.0474p/kWh

Night unit rate:
0p/kWh

Here are my readings for the last month (R2 is the left hand readings, R1 on right)

27 Dec 2018 1640.6 Accepted
18P5501427 27 Dec 2018 3184.8 Accepted
18P5501427 26 Dec 2018 1626.3 Accepted
18P5501427 26 Dec 2018 3148 Accepted
18P5501427 25 Dec 2018 1612 Accepted
18P5501427 25 Dec 2018 3110 Accepted
18P5501427 24 Dec 2018 1589.4 Accepted
18P5501427 24 Dec 2018 3071.5 Accepted
18P5501427 23 Dec 2018 1570.5 Accepted
18P5501427 23 Dec 2018 3035.8 Accepted
18P5501427 22 Dec 2018 1556 Accepted
18P5501427 22 Dec 2018 2999.8 Accepted
18P5501427 21 Dec 2018 1528.8 Accepted
18P5501427 21 Dec 2018 2961.6 Accepted
18P5501427 20 Dec 2018 1514.6 Accepted
18P5501427 20 Dec 2018 2924.4 Accepted
18P5501427 19 Dec 2018 1499.4 Accepted
18P5501427 19 Dec 2018 2884.8 Accepted
18P5501427 18 Dec 2018 1478.4 Accepted
18P5501427 18 Dec 2018 2849.4 Accepted
18P5501427 17 Dec 2018 1462.8 Accepted
18P5501427 17 Dec 2018 2809.4 Accepted
18P5501427 16 Dec 2018 1440 Accepted
18P5501427 16 Dec 2018 2776 Accepted
18P5501427 15 Dec 2018 1424 Accepted
18P5501427 15 Dec 2018 2739.9 Accepted
18P5501427 14 Dec 2018 1397.2 Accepted
18P5501427 14 Dec 2018 2697.5 Accepted
18P5501427 13 Dec 2018 1377.2 Accepted
18P5501427 13 Dec 2018 2657 Accepted
18P5501427 12 Dec 2018 1358.1 Accepted
18P5501427 12 Dec 2018 2617 Accepted
18P5501427 11 Dec 2018 1346.8 Accepted
18P5501427 11 Dec 2018 2574.6 Accepted
18P5501427 10 Dec 2018 1335.2 Accepted
18P5501427 10 Dec 2018 2533.8 Accepted
18P5501427 09 Dec 2018 1317.7 Accepted
18P5501427 09 Dec 2018 2498.6 Accepted
18P5501427 08 Dec 2018 1301.4 Accepted
18P5501427 08 Dec 2018 2462.9 Accepted
18P5501427 07 Dec 2018 1286.6 Accepted
18P5501427 07 Dec 2018 2438.7 Accepted
18P5501427 06 Dec 2018 1262 Accepted
18P5501427 06 Dec 2018 2404 Accepted
18P5501427 05 Dec 2018 1246.6 Accepted
18P5501427 05 Dec 2018 2364.5 Accepted
18P5501427 04 Dec 2018 1237.6 Accepted
18P5501427 04 Dec 2018 2323.9 Accepted
18P5501427 03 Dec 2018 1222.4 Accepted
18P5501427 03 Dec 2018 2290.4 Accepted
18P5501427 02 Dec 2018 1203.1 Accepted
18P5501427 02 Dec 2018 2255 Accepted
18P5501427 01 Dec 2018 1181.6 Accepted
18P5501427 01 Dec 2018 2217.2 Accepted
18P5501427 30 Nov 2018 1162.8 Accepted
18P5501427 30 Nov 2018 2177.2 Accepted
18P5501427 29 Nov 2018 1145.2 Accepted
18P5501427 29 Nov 2018 2143 Accepted
18P5501427 28 Nov 2018 1128.2 Accepted
18P5501427 28 Nov 2018 2105.2 Accepted
18P5501427 27 Nov 2018 1111.6 Accepted
18P5501427 27 Nov 2018 2061.1 Accepted
18P5501427 26 Nov 2018 1101.6 Accepted
18P5501427 26 Nov 2018 2021.6 Accepted
18P5501427 25 Nov 2018 1068.8 Accepted
18P5501427 25 Nov 2018 1979.5 Accepted

Robin9

In Nov - Dec =

R1 1169 units; R2 572 units (I assume R1 is day; R2 is night)

1169 x 17.188 = £201

plus standing charge 30 x 40.21 - £12

= £213 (I hope inc VAT !) WOW

For next Nov 1169 x 18.0474 = £211

plus s/c 30 x 101.9 = £30

= £241 (even more WOW)

If R1 is night; R2 is day

this is £110 in 2018; £133 in £2019

You are paying a high price for "free " night time. There is no such thing as a free lunch

Miranda7

I've just done some annual calcs:
Day
Sep-Dec 2916.9
Jun-Sep 1167.6
Mar-Jun 1216.0
Dec-Mar 1182.0
Annual total Day rate: 4783
Night
Sep-Dec 1406.9
Jun-Sep 345
Mar-Jun 1649.0
Dec-Mar 3297.0
Annual total night rate: 6698

Miranda7

Also important: Before changing to 'free' night rate I was running tumble and washing machines at night, so 75% of my usage was at night. I started tumbling in the day to reduce usage to 60%.