Cheap electricity rates.

Spies

Could you not switch to economy 10 instead of economy 7?

Gerry1

I haven't checked but I suspect that the dryer uses more electricity than the washing machine.  Modern washing machines use very little water so there's not much to heat up.  Use the 30°C programme.

Check whether there's a 'rinse hold' programme.  It may be possible to use that, it should be fairly quiet.  You can then restart it in the morning and do the spinning.  You can then wait until late evening and do the drying on E7, assuming the dryer is reasonably quiet.

Northern_Wanderer

I think this is an excellent example of the problems that people will experience when time of use/ surge pricing tarrifs become more mainstream, and come April 1st for those on Economy 7 or 10 tarrifs. I suspect there will have to be protections in place to prevent people from using their washing machines or other noisy equipment at times when it will negatively impact other peoples wellbeing, i.e. at night when people are trying to sleep or relax. But the powers that be don't consider these things.

I do appreciate that Economy 7 daytime rates are higher than a single rate tarrif but unsociable behaviour is problematic.

MWT

Northern_Wanderer said:

I suspect there will have to be protections in place to prevent people from using their washing machines or other noisy equipment at times when it will negatively impact other peoples wellbeing, i.e. at night when people are trying to sleep or relax. But the powers that be don't consider these things.

Nothing is really changing in that regard, E7 has been around for decades so there isn't anything new for the powers that be to consider...

The main impact of the newer more granular ToU tariffs would be to shift demand out of the 16:00-19:00 period so that isn't going to impact on the typical night-time sleep period.

However no one solution works for all as night-shift workers have to deal with noise during their sleep period all the time...