Am I on cheap rate electricity?

Jubudz

Hi.  My Sainsbury Energy/EON smart meter shows two rates.  One for day & one for night-this being the lower number.  My bills also show this to be the case.  Does this mean my electricity is cheaper at night?  If so, between what hours please?  I didn't think the modern version of Economy 7 existed anymore & it was one rate for all.  Many thanks. JP

Swipe

You'll have to listen for the thud of the meter relay or watch the meter to find out the time it switches. This time of year before the clocks go back it's probably better to catch this in the morning. It's different for all regions and also slightly different for each household.

https://www.businessjuice.co.uk/energy-guides/economy-7-times/

[Deleted User]

Jubudz said:

Hi.  My Sainsbury Energy/EON smart meter shows two rates.  One for day & one for night-this being the lower number.  My bills also show this to be the case.  Does this mean my electricity is cheaper at night?  If so, between what hours please?  I didn't think the modern version of Economy 7 existed anymore & it was one rate for all.  Many thanks. JP

Does your bill show two different prices for the two different meter readings?

Economy 7 still exists.

Jubudz

Hi.  Solved.  Thanks for your replies.  Yes, the bill does show a cheaper rate for night & a visit to Eons website shows the cheap rate is for 7 hours between 11pm-7am or 12pm-8am depending on location.  I need to find out which applies to a TN4 postcode.

QrizB

Jubudz said:

Hi.  Solved.  Thanks for your replies.  Yes, the bill does show a cheaper rate for night & a visit to Eons website shows the cheap rate is for 7 hours between 11pm-7am or 12pm-8am depending on location.  I need to find out which applies to a TN4 postcode.

Don't put too much faith in the website, individual meters vary from the nominal times for a variety of reasons.

The way to be sure is to stay up late and see when it changes over, then get up early to see it change back again.

valiant24

Jubudz said:

Hi.  Solved.  Thanks for your replies.  Yes, the bill does show a cheaper rate for night & a visit to Eons website shows the cheap rate is for 7 hours between 11pm-7am or 12pm-8am depending on location.  I need to find out which applies to a TN4 postcode.

Yes.  Exactly. "For my location".
It really pisses me off mightily that it's harder to find out exactly what time my Economy 7 starts in my combination of rural SW England and British Gas.
For a short while, before they went bust, with PEP Energy I had a smart meter (British Gas can't provide one for Economy 7) and I could easily see when it kicked in.  All that is gone now.
And Economy 7 rates vary widely, even under the "price cap".  I think British Gas's night rate is pretty good as it happens.  So there's a market where Economy 7 could benefit hugely by switching ... but it's not allowed.
It's a disgrace which is widely ignored, even by the estimable Martin Lewis.

[Deleted User]

valiant24 said:

Jubudz said:

Hi.  Solved.  Thanks for your replies.  Yes, the bill does show a cheaper rate for night & a visit to Eons website shows the cheap rate is for 7 hours between 11pm-7am or 12pm-8am depending on location.  I need to find out which applies to a TN4 postcode.

Yes.  Exactly. "For my location".
It really pisses me off mightily that it's harder to find out exactly what time my Economy 7 starts in my combination of rural SW England and British Gas.
For a short while, before they went bust, with PEP Energy I had a smart meter (British Gas can't provide one for Economy 7) and I could easily see when it kicked in.  All that is gone now.
And Economy 7 rates vary widely, even under the "price cap".  I think British Gas's night rate is pretty good as it happens.  So there's a market where Economy 7 could benefit hugely by switching ... but it's not allowed.
It's a disgrace which is widely ignored, even by the estimable Martin Lewis.

The way to find out exactly what time your E7 starts is to listen to your meter.  Whatever is written anywhere else might not be true.

Switching is allowed.  And I thought other posters on here said that BG's night rates were terrible.

valiant24

>> The way to find out exactly what time your E7 starts is to listen to your meter.  Whatever is written anywhere else might not be true.

Yes.  That involves sitting out in the cold - and tonight wet - for any time between 10pm and 1am staring at the meter.  Constantly pressing "Cycle" on a meter which displays only one reading at a time to see when Reading 1 stops increasing and Reading 2 starts.  A great night out! ;-)

>> Switching is allowed.  
Switching is impossible.  Every switch site and supplier site will tell you that, "in the current environment", there is no advantage to switching and you must stay with your current supplier, and blocks any further interaction.

>> And I thought other posters on here said that BG's night rates were terrible.
Hmm, have you any facts and figures on this?   BG's current night rate is 20.338p/KWh - which is !!!!!! - but tomorrow reduces to 15.954p which I think is quite good?   83% of my use is night-time so I expect to benefit.

Even if BG's rates are bad you cannot, as I said earlier, switch anyway.   To repeat, it is a disgrace.

[Deleted User]

valiant24 said:

>> Switching is allowed.  
Switching is impossible.  Every switch site and supplier site will tell you that, "in the current environment", there is no advantage to switching and you must stay with your current supplier, and blocks any further interaction.

Even if BG's rates are bad you cannot, as I said earlier, switch anyway.   To repeat, it is a disgrace.

Both EdF and Octopus are accepting incoming switches.  They have never stopped.  You are aware that there are other methods to contact energy suppliers apart from automated service?

valiant24 said:

>> And I thought other posters on here said that BG's night rates were terrible.
Hmm, have you any facts and figures on this?   BG's current night rate is 20.338p/KWh - which is !!!!!! - but tomorrow reduces to 15.954p which I think is quite good?   83% of my use is night-time so I expect to benefit.

I have several facts and figures on this, as do several recent threads on the site.  I would suggest you start by looking at EdF's rates if you are such a heavy night-time user, as they reach down below 7p in at least two regions.  To save you searching unsuccessfully, they can be found here:  
https://www.edfenergy.com/sites/default/files/government_energy_price_guarantee_prices._standard_variable_deemed_and_welcome._credit_meters.pdf

I would suggest a little less accusations of disgrace and a little more research.  You can, as I said earlier, switch.  Try giving someone a call.  Nobody is stopping you.

Spoonie_Turtle

When we had E10 we could see and hear when it changed, not just at the meter - our lights would dim slightly at the time of the switch, the shower would get cooler if someone was using it at the time, and the microwave sound would change. 
(We never questioned it but reading how people don't know their off-peak rate times is making me doubt whether that's the usual experience.)

valiant24

Deleted_User said:

I have several facts and figures on this, as do several recent threads on the site.  I would suggest you start by looking at EdF's rates if you are such a heavy night-time user, as they reach down below 7p in at least two regions.  To save you searching unsuccessfully, they can be found here:  

https://www.edfenergy.com/sites/default/files/government_energy_price_guarantee_prices._standard_variable_deemed_and_welcome._credit_meters.pdf

I would suggest a little less accusations of disgrace and a little more research.  You can, as I said earlier, switch.  Try giving someone a call.  Nobody is stopping you.

Thank you for this.  It's very helpful
I see from the EDF link that you sent me that their night rate is about 1p/KWh less than BG's.
Last year Dec-Mar we used about 3,200 KWhs at night, so switching to them could save about £34/qtr switching to EDF, less (1,300 * .75p) = £8.30 day so a total of about £22.  (I'd be way better off switching to PAYG but don't know how to do that!).

I just went to the EDF website and got this:
"We’re sorry we can’t offer you a quote online today. Due to ongoing energy market volatility we don’t have any fixed energy tariff deals available. It is more than likely that you will be better staying with your current energy supplier right now".  Yes I suppose I could call but I don't see why it would be any different.

I still maintain that's it's quite ridiculous how difficult it is for a consumer to find out exactly when his/her night rate kicks in.

Cheers
V