Economy 7 new tariff increase of 147%

Hysteron

I was informed by my supplier, Utility Warehouse of my new tariffs from 1st April and am shocked to find my yearly costs will more than double.

The night rate will increase from 7.56p/kWh to 18.73p/kWh which is a 147% increase, the day rate per kWh will increase from 28.56p to 32.09, and the standing charge goes up from 26.21p to 48.37p. I live in a one bedroom flat and use electric storage heaters as gas is not available. I'm currently using around 20kWh/day for heating and just 4 or 5 kWh during the day for everything else including cooking.

The huge increase in the cost for the off peak hours will mean that my overall bill for the year, I expect will be around double this years bill, at somewhere between £1500 and £1800/year, searching the energy companies tarrifs I see that many are currently offering low off-peak electricity overnight at 7.5p/kWh for electric vehicle charging, does anyone know of any companies offering similar off-peak rates for people without an electric vehicle?

EssexHebridean

I'm afraid to say that I think we've been somewhat fortunate with UW's night rate until now - it was a good 5p cheaper than just about anyone else out there, with the trade-off being that the day rate was a couple of pennies more than a lot of the competitors ones were. My impression is that their rates have always been set up with an expectation that the majority of people won't use a massively high proportion at night - maybe roughly a 50/50 split - 60/40 at most. It would appear that they may perhaps have had to re-evaluate this now having possibly had a lot of customers go over to using far more on the cheap rates as prices increase, and their split has now had to change. 

I'm in exactly the same situation as you - I just haven't heard the rates confirmed from UW as yet. It is painful though. 

Cardew

Hysteron said:

I was informed by my supplier, Utility Warehouse of my new tariffs from 1st April and am shocked to find my yearly costs will more than double.

The night rate will increase from 7.56p/kWh to 18.73p/kWh which is a 147% increase, the day rate per kWh will increase from 28.56p to 32.09, and the standing charge goes up from 26.21p to 48.37p. I live in a one bedroom flat and use electric storage heaters as gas is not available. I'm currently using around 20kWh/day for heating and just 4 or 5 kWh during the day for everything else including cooking.

The huge increase in the cost for the off peak hours will mean that my overall bill for the year, I expect will be around double this years bill, at somewhere between £1500 and £1800/year, searching the energy companies tarrifs I see that many are currently offering low off-peak electricity overnight at 7.5p/kWh for electric vehicle charging, does anyone know of any companies offering similar off-peak rates for people without an electric vehicle?

I haven't looked into electric car charging but if the 'Go Electric 35' tariff on EDF  https://www.edfenergy.com/electric-cars/tariffs can be used as a sort of 'E5' tariff instead of 'E7' it would obviously be much cheaper.

'Pay just 4.5p per kWh during off-peak (12 am to 5 am GMT every day) and from 36.45p per kWh during peak hours'

Worth investigating??

Hysteron

EssexHebridean said:

I'm in exactly the same situation as you - I just haven't heard the rates confirmed from UW as yet. It is painful though. 

I was informed of the new rates from UW by email early last night. I agree with your description of it being painful, there's no way I expected such an increase and when the new rates start dropping through people's letterbox or inbox a great many more people I expect, are going to be even more shocked than I am.

Swipe

Think yourself lucky you are just in a flat and don't use 70 kWh for heating every night like I do.

Hysteron

Cardew said:

Worth investigating??

Thanks for the heads up, I checked it out and once again it is solely for EV owners and not available if you don't have one. I don't really get the idea of this much cheaper rate for owners of electric cars but to the exclusion of everyone else.

MWT

Hysteron said:

Cardew said:

Worth investigating??

Thanks for the heads up, I checked it out and once again it is solely for EV owners and not available if you don't have one. I don't really get the idea of this much cheaper rate for owners of electric cars but to the exclusion of everyone else.

There is another thread around on a similar topic, but the short version is that the EV users represent a year round relatively predictable and dependable load in the aggregate, that can be used both for network balancing in some cases and gives some opportunities for suppliers to reduce costs through half-hour settlement as that is introduced.

Your heating needs peak heavily during the winter and almost vanishes in the warmer months so it isn't quite so helpful in regards to what they are trying to achieve, and outside of heating the other loads are too small to make much of a difference. 

 

Cardew

Hysteron said:

Cardew said:

Worth investigating??

Thanks for the heads up, I checked it out and once again it is solely for EV owners and not available if you don't have one. I don't really get the idea of this much cheaper rate for owners of electric cars but to the exclusion of everyone else.

Do they check you have an EV?

You could rent one and it not registered at your address etc

Hysteron

Cardew said

Do they check you have an EV?

I went as far as getting a quote by email and it didn't specifically ask if I had an EV, however, the eligibility criteria are very clear in that you must own or lease "a plug in electric vehicle".

Living in a flat means that I would have nowhere to charge an electric vehicle even if I could afford one.

QrizB

Hysteron said:

Cardew said

Do they check you have an EV?

I went as far as getting a quote by email and it didn't specifically ask if I had an EV, however, the eligibility criteria are very clear in that you must own or lease "a plug in electric vehicle".

Living in a flat means that I would have nowhere to charge an electric vehicle even if I could afford one.

This is probably no use either, but you can buy an EV for £1700: https://www.lexmoto.co.uk/models/YD1200D-11-E5

On that EDF tariff and using 20kWh/day of off-peak you'll be saving £2.80/day which would pay for the scooter in less than two years.

Edit: or a used one for £1000: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334307044451

Hysteron

QrizB said:

This is probably no use either, but you can buy an EV for £1700:

Thanks for that, very interesting as there is no denying that the scooter is "a plug in electric vehicle" and the fact you bring the battery indoors to charge makes it very useable. My off peak usage is currently around 20kWh in winter and averaging out around 15kWh all year. Still, if you can get a rate of just 4.5p/kWh as EDF are offering then as you say it could pay for itself in 2 to 3 years assuming the gap between the EV tariff and the Economy 7 tariff remains at around 14p.

This approach I'm sure might suit some people though I'm thinking that my best scooter days are probably behind me now