Switching away from Economy 7 during the summer

Rich21222

Hi there,

I moved into a new flat last year (renting) which has storage heaters, and economy 7 tariff, which is due to end in June.

Luckily, due to the tariff I've been largely safe from the increased costs of energy, but that will be ending in a few months and I want to see what my options are.

I've been considering if it's a sensible approach to switch away from economy 7 during the summer and to instead use the standard rate, as I'll have the storage heaters off until October, and I don't tend to use the water heater during the off peak rate anyway.

That would mean paying for energy at the normal rate, instead of the economy 7 "peak rate" during the summer, and then I could look at switching back to Economy 7 in October.


Would this be a sensible approach? This is my first home using Economy 7, so I may well misunderstand the situation.

I'm with Outfox the market right now, and their guides suggest I can switch away from eco7, and just combine the two meter readings into 1 when I need to provide them, so it wouldn't mean changing out the existing meter, as far as I understand.

MattMattMattUK

Rich21222 said:

Hi there,

I moved into a new flat last year (renting) which has storage heaters, and economy 7 tariff, which is due to end in June.

Luckily, due to the tariff I've been largely safe from the increased costs of energy, but that will be ending in a few months and I want to see what my options are.

I've been considering if it's a sensible approach to switch away from economy 7 during the summer and to instead use the standard rate, as I'll have the storage heaters off until October, and I don't tend to use the water heater during the off peak rate anyway.

That would mean paying for energy at the normal rate, instead of the economy 7 "peak rate" during the summer, and then I could look at switching back to Economy 7 in October.


Would this be a sensible approach? This is my first home using Economy 7, so I may well misunderstand the situation.

I'm with Outfox the market right now, and their guides suggest I can switch away from eco7, and just combine the two meter readings into 1 when I need to provide them, so it wouldn't mean changing out the existing meter, as far as I understand.

Your major issue is that it may well involve a meter change and you probably will be unable to move back come October. 

How is your water heated, is it a tank or a heat on demand system?

Gerry1

Many suppliers will happily bill an E7 meter at single rate, so if Outfox the Market agree then it's no problem.  Just do the sums.

However, when the NSHs are in use with E7, it makes no sense whatsoever to heat the water at peak rate.

Section62

Rich21222 said:

I've been considering if it's a sensible approach to switch away from economy 7 during the summer and to instead use the standard rate, as I'll have the storage heaters off until October, and I don't tend to use the water heater during the off peak rate anyway.

That would mean paying for energy at the normal rate, instead of the economy 7 "peak rate" during the summer, and then I could look at switching back to Economy 7 in October.

Would this be a sensible approach? This is my first home using Economy 7, so I may well misunderstand the situation.

You'll need to consider the difference in rates between the E7 tariffs available to you, and the non-E7 ones.

It used to be that the E7 day rate and SC were significantly more than they were for non-E7, but in recent years the difference (for some tariffs for some suppliers) has become negligible (even zero).  You need to do the calculations using the figures you have and what's available to you.

I've gone through a similar thought process several times over the years.  I've never seen a saving large enough to make it worth swapping back and forth.  But then I heat all my hot water using E7 all-year round, never during the peak hours.

Rich21222

MattMattMattUK said:

Rich21222 said:

Hi there,

I moved into a new flat last year (renting) which has storage heaters, and economy 7 tariff, which is due to end in June.

Luckily, due to the tariff I've been largely safe from the increased costs of energy, but that will be ending in a few months and I want to see what my options are.

I've been considering if it's a sensible approach to switch away from economy 7 during the summer and to instead use the standard rate, as I'll have the storage heaters off until October, and I don't tend to use the water heater during the off peak rate anyway.

That would mean paying for energy at the normal rate, instead of the economy 7 "peak rate" during the summer, and then I could look at switching back to Economy 7 in October.


Would this be a sensible approach? This is my first home using Economy 7, so I may well misunderstand the situation.

I'm with Outfox the market right now, and their guides suggest I can switch away from eco7, and just combine the two meter readings into 1 when I need to provide them, so it wouldn't mean changing out the existing meter, as far as I understand.

Your major issue is that it may well involve a meter change and you probably will be unable to move back come October. 

How is your water heated, is it a tank or a heat on demand system?

Going by this page, it looks like it wouldn't need a meter swap: help.outfoxthemarket.co.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/360016772779-Can-I-switch-to-Outfox-the-Market-with-an-Economy-7-two-rate-meter- but i'll probably have to ask them.


A tank unfortunately, but it's not set on a timer so we never really get to take advantage of the off peak rate. We can get by with 10-20 mins on peak rate which doesn't typically cost us too much.

Rich21222

Gerry1 said:

Many suppliers will happily bill an E7 meter at single rate, so if Outfox the Market agree then it's no problem.  Just do the sums.

However, when the NSHs are in use with E7, it makes no sense whatsoever to heat the water at peak rate.

Not sure what NSH refers to, but we don't tend to use much water from the tank, just heating it 10-20mins during the day for washing the pots. there's no timer on the tank so we don't take advantage of the off peak rate

pochase

So do you have an electric shower in addition to the hot water tank? 

QrizB

NSH - Night Storage Heaters. A box of bricks that gets hot at night on cheap rate then keeps your home warm during the day.

Rich21222

Yeah - it's an electric shower, we don't tend to use the bath either! so the immersion heater is only on when we need to clean up

So, checking out the standard variable rates as they are now:
Standard:
33.07p per kwh

Eco 7:
Day: 35.40 per kwh
Night: 22.84 per kwh

Guess I just need to do some maths after a few months without using the heaters and see if it's worth switching to standard when the tarriff ends

might just be more trouble than it's worth

Gerry1

An electric shower on expensive daytime E7 rates...

An immersion heater without a timer, also used on expensive daytime E7 rates...

Two own goals. 

EssexHebridean

This time of year is a winner for E7 showers as unless you are late risers you'll be able to have at least your weekday showers on the cheaper night rate. It always strikes me as ridiculously harsh that at just the time it's colder and darker in the mornings I also have to get up at least 15 minutes sooner to have a cheaper shower! 

I'll be honest - I'd be VERY wary of switching away from E7 - I can't see too many suppliers being willing to do it as a short-term thing very often, and I'd be massively concerned that come October, they refused to switch me back again or made a high charge for doing so. 

If you're only usuing the immersion to wash up/do the cleaning then just boil a kettle, it'll be cheaper unless you wash up umpteen times a day. Alternatively, your immersion probably has a timer of some sort - so make use of it to heat the water overnight every second day or something. You can also make use of the night rate for lots of other things including at this time of year even if in an upper floor flat, a washing machine.