Why is my electricity usage at night so high?

slangrish

Hi, was wondering if anyone could help as my latest electricity bill has me left me staggered.

Night Rate 407 Kilowatts 0.115500 £47.01
Day Rate 194 Kilowatts 0.175200 £33.99
Standing Charge 31 Days 0.114600 £3.55

I have Economy 7 meter and am currently on Solarplicity's Standard Variable Tariff
September 2018. How is my night rate usage more than double the amount of units than my day?? Assuming this is 1am - 8am I'm totally perplexed at what could be causing this.

I live in a 10 yr old new build, two bed flat with my wife. We both work during the day and watch what we leave on in the evening before we go to bed.

Does anyone have any ideas? Thoughts appreciated! Thanks

[Deleted User]

heating or hot water?
Those 2 are the usual things that run overnight on E7 tariffs.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Id be worried if it was the other way round! The advantage of 30% cheaper water & room heating means the higher % of overnight use the better.

My most recent SP Price Check

* SP Projected Energy Cost Check on 16/08/2018
* Help Beat Cancer Fixed Price Energy [
- ends 31st Jan 2020]

Your current payment per month is :
£50.00

Your Personal Projection Electricity Only for the next 12 months is :
£696.84pa

Your actual usage in the last whole 12 months was :
- Day 2,455 kWh = 41.87% Day
- Night 5,864 kWh = 58.13% Night
- Total-pa 8,319 kWh

My 3.4 & 2.5kWh NSH are a commbined 41.6kWh of stored heat this available for release over the next 17 day hours or the equivalent of a 2.44kW fire at full output for those 17 hours, and of course for the 7 charging [total of 24 hours] hours - which I did not count. That's 60% cheap night and 40% day core rate.

slangrish

we don't ever have the heating on (floors above and below us keep our flat warm)

our hot water taps runs exceptionally hot. thermostat issue perhaps?

Robin9

The hours at this time of year 0130 - 0830. That means you get breakfast at the night rate. Everything at night - your fridge, freezer, washing m/c - is at low rate.

The usual question - Estimated or Actual readings ?

slangrish

aah ok so breakfast will come into the equation..

This is actual readings,Solarplicity's estimated were ridiculous over Xmas. I'm looking to move to a better tariff at the moment.

[Deleted User]

Nearly everyone with night storage heaters in use will have the night rate higher than the day but don` t assume that the timer switch is accurate .. I see many timer switches , even the newer digital meters, where the start time for the Eco 7 to come on has drifted several hours..Old analogue meters can have the cheap 7 hrs coming on at virtually any time within the 24 hr cycle..Check when the night rate comes on then add 7 hrs to see when it ends

slangrish

thanks for the advice. how would i check this? or would it require a plumber/electrician to find out?

[Deleted User]

slangrish wrote: »

thanks for the advice. how would i check this? or would it require a plumber/electrician to find out?

You can check the meter yourself to work out what time it switches over from day to nights simply by observing the meter..Most digital meters will indicate by some way which rate is active when you view the meter..They can have 2 or 3 rates on the meter .day , night and a total of the two.
the meter may show a little cursor under the reading which is displayed on the meter or it may say "rate now " or the whole reading may blink on and off. There is usually some way a digital meter shows it but there are many makes and models around. Once you can see how the meter switches rates its just a matter of narrowing down the switch over time from day to night rate.
Old analogue meters are easy.
There is a small window at the top right on the meter with an arrow, or a red marker indicating which rate is active..Low or Normal or Day and Night is shown on these meters with Low at the top normal at the bottom

macman

Do you have night storage heaters (even if unused) and an immersion heater?
If you really never use the NSH's, then you need to switch to a single rate tariff, as to benefit from E7 you typically need to be using at least 33% on night rate.
What is your day/night rate % split over a full year? That's the figure that matters, not a single month in winter.
Turn down the tank 'stat, or get it looked at by an electrician if it's too hot.
And why on you on SVT? It's the most expensive tariff.

EachPenny

macman wrote: »

Do you have night storage heaters (even if unused) and an immersion heater?
If you really never use the NSH's, then you need to switch to a single rate tariff, as to benefit from E7 you typically need to be using at least 33% on night rate.
What is your day/night rate % split over a full year? That's the figure that matters, not a single month in winter.
Turn down the tank 'stat, or get it looked at by an electrician if it's too hot.
And why on you on SVT? It's the most expensive tariff.

But the OP is using roughly 66% at night (somehow) and is benefitting from having E7 as a result.

The actual consumption is more important than what appliances are installed and being used.