Is my Economy 7 Faulty ?

venomx

Got two switches, one for the hot water and one for economy 7.

If i turn the economy 7 on in the evening, the amber light on the switch itself seems to take a few hours to turn on.
Is this because E7 can only be used during the night time and early morning, or do i have a faulty switch ?

Thanks

matelodave

Economy seven comes on at around 12pm to 1 am and then goes off again between 7am and 8am - (seven hours) that why it's called Economy 7 because you only get seven hours at the off-peak rate although its worth actually checking the exact times so you can use it when you want to.

Ideally you need to maximise your use of leccy at those times because the other 17hours are charged at the peak rate which can cost up to twice as much per kwh

[Deleted User]

The best person to help you is yourself because you have access to the meter and can best observe the switch over times.Don`t rely on a suppliers call centre, they will be less than hopeless ! Don `t rely on published times neither
.You can see your meter and its timer switch, if it has one and watch the switchover times for the two rates.. Eco 7 meters can not be relied on to switch over at the published times.Depends what type of meter you have.
The old analogue meters are controlled by a 24 hr circular timer. The cheap rate 7 hrs could be anywhere within the 24 hrs .The digital meters will have their own built in clocks which may be out of synch .I have seen them drift as much as 5 hours adrift from correct time.They stay in GMT and are an hour out anyway in BST
If the meter is controlled by a radio teleswitch control then they are reliable and stick to the published times to a minute or so

dunstonh

If i turn the economy 7 on in the evening, the amber light on the switch itself seems to take a few hours to turn on.

Economy 7 refers to the tariff and you getting 7 hours of cheap rate electricity. You dont turn E7 on or off. The meter does that. Any device drawing power in those 7 hours gets cheap rate.

, or do i have a faulty switch ?

What actually are you switching on?