Electricity high at night - ECONOMY 7

Gerry1

samfoster0794 said:

Would I be right in saying that my night usage is 76% of my overall usage?

Yes, assuming that the bill is based on actual meter readings and that the meter has been read correctly.

Robin9

That's actually very good and if the figures come from actual readings all looks quite good. 3000 units a year  is 9 a night which suggests to me that the immersion is on - couple with 900 in the day which is 3 units a day - thats very good indeed and suggests that the immersion is not on during the day.

Gerry1

As the day usage is low, I suspect that the immersion heater is on an E7 circuit and if so it will only operate at cheap rate times even if the local switch is always left on, as it should be with such an arrangement.  There may be a second immersion heater higher up, possibly labelled Boost, for use only if you run out in the day.  This should seldom if ever be used, and never left switched on permanently.

tim_p

That daytime reading seems suspiciously low. Less than 3 kWh / day? What’s used for cooking? Any hungry appliances used during the day? Dishwasher? Washing machine? Tumble drier? Hoover?
or is everything done at night? 

Robin9

This might be a case of day/night readings being reversed - which is working very well  for OP

samfoster0794

Thank you all for your help.

@tim_p - I work shifts and on my 4 days off I am always in. Xbox on, laptop plugged in, tv on. Cook quite a lot throughout the day with an electric oven/ hob. Washing machine only on during the day, hoovering in the day. No dishwasher or tumble.

samfoster0794

Gerry1 said:

As the day usage is low, I suspect that the immersion heater is on an E7 circuit and if so it will only operate at cheap rate times even if the local switch is always left on, as it should be with such an arrangement.  There may be a second immersion heater higher up, possibly labelled Boost, for use only if you run out in the day.  This should seldom if ever be used, and never left switched on permanently.

That is a very good shout! Thank you. I do have a timer switch above the main immersion switch that can activate boost. So this is probably why the night time is a lot more than day time.

stewie_griffin

I suspect like Robin that this is a case of transposed readings. If you're on an Economy 7 tariff then this will be massively in your favour.

bsms1147

Are you certain these are actual (and correct) readings and not estimates?

Are you certain that the rates are the correct way round (check that the day rate increments only during the day and vice versa)

Gerry1

If the Boost timer is just like as kitchen 'pinger' that's fine because it will turn itself off after an hour or two.  However, if you have a motorised time of day job on a permanent supply that's trying to shadow the E7 times then it's potentially problematic for three reasons.

• It needs to be programmed correctly.  Many E7 meters have a two-hour daytime rate period in the middle of the night.  That can be very useful for 'double dipping' late in the evening an early in the morning (.e.g. electric showers) but it can result in massive bills if it's only been programmed for seven unbroken hours.

• It can end up adrift by hours because of power cuts.

• The E7 meter times may not be as published.  With a radio teleswitch there is a variance of +/- 15 minutes which can change.  And if it's a mechanical timer then it can be hours adrift.

You need to familiarise yourself with your system, in particular whether the main immersion circuit is live 24/7 or only at cheap rate times.

But as others have pointed out, it's seems horribly likely that the day and night rates have been transposed and that there will be a humongously large catch-up bill coming down the tracks.  Not sure whether the back billing rules will get you partially off the hook but I suspect not.