Is Economy 7 worth it these days?

matttaylor

I've been looking at my girlfriend's energy bills for her because she's spending £2,000 a year in electricity (gas not available) for her small 3 bed flat (originally 2 bed flat but one bedroom has been converted to 2 very small bedrooms for two kids).



She's on SSE's Standard & Off Peak Fx tariff which is currently 15.38p KWh Off Peak and 17.82p KWh Standard.
Off Peak is 4am to 2:30pm.


She has storage heaters and it seems that about 3/4 of her usage is in the off peak time.


I don't have economy 7 and I'm paying 10.39p KWh for standard with another provider which is cheaper that her off peak rate.


To me it seems there is no advantage in having economy 7 at all.


Are there much better deals for economy 7? Am I missing something?


Thanks,


Matt

AndyPK

you also need to compare the standing charge.




There aren't any great E7 deals when I looked in October

dunstonh

I'm on economy 7. I check the day rate and night right usage periodically vs the total under single rate and for us economy 7 works out cheaper.

I don't have economy 7 and I'm paying 10.39p KWh for standard with another provider which is cheaper that her off peak rate.

Obviously, whether E7 is better or not will depend on when and how you use your electricity. We are very high users of electricity with a £2500 a year bill (and we don't use electric heating or water). We have overnight lit barns and stables and outside lighting and an electric AGA (which draws its charge during the E7 hours). A horse walker that needs its own nuclear plant when running and much more. So, her usage, in cost, seems high by comparison.

Do the heaters only draw their charge during the E7 hours?
Is the meter running correctly (ours was running 2 hours wrong and that is a fairly common issue - either you move your hours on the things drawing the charge or you get your meter replaced)

I just did a check on uswitch and it showed a day rate of 15.939p and night rate of 7.592p with 20.44p standing charge as coming out best on our usage. Her night rate doesnt seem discounted enough. Half is broadly what you expect.

coffeehound

matttaylor wrote: »

I've been looking at my girlfriend's energy bills for her because she's spending £2,000 a year in electricity (gas not available) for her small 3 bed flat (originally 2 bed flat but one bedroom has been converted to 2 very small bedrooms for two kids).



She's on SSE's Standard & Off Peak Fx tariff which is currently 15.38p KWh Off Peak and 17.82p KWh Standard.
Off Peak is 4am to 2:30pm.

Are there much better deals for economy 7? Am I missing something?

Unusual off-peak hours there - that is 10.5 hours rather than seven. Also those unit prices are high as you note. If her meter and switching hardware are compatible with other tariffs, it would be worth putting her actual units use into a comparison site to see what else is available. She would need to bear in mind that usual E7 hours are around midnight to 7am though, depending on region, so some change of use might be necessary.

matttaylor

Thanks for the information. Not having economy 7 myself I'm still discovering the basics and my girlfriend isn't of the technical mind.

Good to know that the meter times could in fact be wrong and good to know that the off peak rate is not as good as it could be.

matttaylor

coffeehound wrote: »

Unusual off-peak hours there - that is 10.5 hours rather than seven.....


... She would need to bear in mind that usual E7 hours are around midnight to 7am though, depending on region, so some change of use might be necessary.

Thanks, yes they are unusual times. When she originally got the package she was told it was an amazing deal, never to be gotten again so understandably she's never really looked at changing.

nigelbb

matttaylor wrote: »

Thanks, yes they are unusual times. When she originally got the package she was told it was an amazing deal, never to be gotten again so understandably she's never really looked at changing.

That off peak rate certainly is amazing. It's more than I am paying as standard rate.

Chino

matttaylor wrote: »

Good to know that the meter times could in fact be wrong

The meter times appear to be correct for your girlfriend's tariff:

"Off-Peak Fx
You get 10.5 hours at the cheapest rate for stored heat on Off-Peak Fx. Those hours are between 4am and 2.30pm."
https://sse.co.uk/help/electric-heating/off-peak

matelodave

Chino wrote: »

The meter times appear to be correct for your girlfriend's tariff:

"Off-Peak Fx
You get 10.5 hours at the cheapest rate for stored heat on Off-Peak Fx. Those hours are between 4am and 2.30pm."
https://sse.co.uk/help/electric-heating/off-peak

It's not an E7 or E10 tarrif then, it's a complex metering tariff which can make it difficult to swap to another supplier unless you have a meter change and possibly some wiring changes as well.

These special tariffs aren't available any more and can be a lot more expensive than a normal E7 or E10 tariff. Only heating and hot water is on the off-peak rate, everything else is on the peak rate. Both peak and off peak rates are usually a lot more expensive than either E7 or E10.

You really need to sit down and do your sums to decide how you use your energy and whether your heating is capable of storing sufficient heat for either a reduced off peak period or only getting it during the middle of the night.

If the heating system gets 10 hours of heat right up to well past lunch time then it's only got to deliver it back until bedtime (say 11pm) which is around 9 hours so smaller heaters can be used

An E7 tariff will stop the heaters charging at 0700 so they've got to store and deliver heat for 16 hours which is nearly twice as long but with three hours less to recover. So you might end up diminishing your savings by having to use peak rate heating later in the afternoon/evening to keep warm.

An E10 tariff might be more appropriate if its available to you as you still get 10 hours but at different times of the day - some of it in the afternoon, however they tend to be more expensive than E7 and not so widely available.

matttaylor

Chino wrote: »

The meter times appear to be correct for your girlfriend's tariff:

"Off-Peak Fx
You get 10.5 hours at the cheapest rate for stored heat on Off-Peak Fx. Those hours are between 4am and 2.30pm."
https://sse.co.uk/help/electric-heating/off-peak

Thanks, I think the poster was saying that it is not uncommon for the meters to be configured wrong by a couple of hours.