Time of Economy 7

Officer_Dibble

I'm surprised Octopus' E7 times are varying so much with a Smart Meter. Their website doesn't mention any potential deviation - fixed 0030-0730 GMT, 0130-0830 BST.

https://octopus.energy/help-and-faqs/articles/what-happens-to-my-economy-seven-e7-tariff-when-i-have-a-smart-meter-installed/

matelodave

I'd guess there will be some staggering of E7 on and off times so they don't all switch simultaneously. 

I dont actually know but I would think that the grid will have a massive surge load if all of them switched on at exactly the same time and big voltage spike as they all went off. A bit of load spreading would make it easier to manage the network

Officer_Dibble

I've not been on E7 for long, but I've been cutting it pretty fine in switching to grid at 0030 and switching to battery at 0730 and the consumption all seems to be going to the right bit of the tariff. Might just be lucky.

There'd only be a surge if the E7's switching storage heaters on automatically with the switch. Any surge for non-automated use is going to be staggered anyway.

matelodave

When I moved into my bungalow, there were 20kw of storage heaters plus a 3kw immersion heater - 23kw = 92amps, all of which switched on at the same time when the time switch flicked over. We didn't have a tele-switch. The meter was subsequently change to a  non-switching two-rate meter which was then reprogrammed to a single rate when we took all the storage heaters out

I wonder how many houses with off-peak heating, all switching at the same time in a locality would it take for the network to at least twitch.

valiant24

macman said:

I read somewhere that electric AGAS's are being decommissioned at a rate of knots, and nobody wants them for anything but scrap value, as they are so expensive to run.
What is the charged capacity?

Mine costs about £7/night to run IF I can confine its rapaciousness to the cheap rate.
Ref charged capacity: I've no idea, sorry.  How could I find this out?  Would it be measured in pints? ;-)

valiant24

Swipe said:

You can download your data in a csv from https://data.n3rgy.com/consumer/home and check the peak/ off peak times to the nearest 30 mins. Don't rely on the IHD. My IHD tariff change countdown doesn't even appear every single day.

Hi.  Thanks for your interest.  I'd love to progress this.  But I'm out of my depth.  I have no idea what an MPxN is (as required in your link), nor what is an IHD.
Thanks!
V

valiant24

>> If you have a 5-port meter, the best way to check the actual switching times is to have a switched E7 circuit outlet with an indicator light. (Ideally you'd run the AGA off a switched circuit and then you wouldn't have to worry !)

I don't know what a 5-port meter is.  When the engineer came he talked about my supply only having 4 cables whereas most have 5.   Could this be something to so with it?

Previous engineers have said that most homes don't need a meter at all - the power company "sends a signal" that Economy 7 has started and the AGA duly starts charging until the "end signal" is sent.  We don't seem to have that in rural England.

[Deleted User]

valiant24 said:

>> If you have a 5-port meter, the best way to check the actual switching times is to have a switched E7 circuit outlet with an indicator light. (Ideally you'd run the AGA off a switched circuit and then you wouldn't have to worry !)

I don't know what a 5-port meter is.  When the engineer came he talked about my supply only having 4 cables whereas most have 5.   Could this be something to so with it?

Previous engineers have said that most homes don't need a meter at all - the power company "sends a signal" that Economy 7 has started and the AGA duly starts charging until the "end signal" is sent.  We don't seem to have that in rural England.

That means your entire house switches between peak and off-peak, rather than having some circuits that only work at off-peak times.

The previous engineers were either wrong or you've misunderstood what they said.  Everyone needs a meter.

Swipe

valiant24 said:

Swipe said:

You can download your data in a csv from https://data.n3rgy.com/consumer/home and check the peak/ off peak times to the nearest 30 mins. Don't rely on the IHD. My IHD tariff change countdown doesn't even appear every single day.

Hi.  Thanks for your interest.  I'd love to progress this.  But I'm out of my depth.  I have no idea what an MPxN is (as required in your link), nor what is an IHD.
Thanks!
V

MPAN is the unique number for your meter (you can get it off your bill), IHD is the In House display gadget you get with a smart meter

dunstonh

It's really important to me to know exactly when Economy 7 starts and ends, but it's absolutely beyond me to find this out.

Your region will have a band for the start/end times.  And then there may be some spreading of around +/-30 minutes either said of it.

Then you have those on digital meters who find them rather poor at time keeping and they need to be checked monthly to ensure devices match the meter timer.

I read somewhere that electric AGAS's are being decommissioned at a rate of knots, and nobody wants them for anything but scrap value, as they are so expensive to run.
What is the charged capacity?

I have an electric AGA but no chance of getting rid of it.  The later electric ones work more like a conventional oven. I have the 30amp which is the economy 7 version.  it draws about 37 kWh per day.  If you are on a tariff that is 14p off peak then that is £5.18 a day.    Probably about £1.50 - £2.00 a day more than using a conventional hob/oven/kettle etc.  Add in the heat the AGA generates and your heating bill is slightly reduced for that room.  And include the clothing you can dry in front of it then its not much of a difference.   

For us, the AGA generates enough heat for the kitchen during the day.  A woodburner keeps the office warm and a second woodburner is started later in the day.    Those three items mean the central heating isnt needed and reduces the oil bill.

So, for most people, there is absolutely no need to get rid of the AGA.  If you are on E7 tariff that has a closer day/night ratio, then it wont be as attractive.  

An electric AGA is a luxury item but the more you use it for things, the less the cost difference is.        Going back to the articles saying people are ripping them out, I read those too, but it appeared it was people in metropolitan areas that had installed AGAs because they were fashionable and they were not making any where near full use of them.   Whereas those in rural areas where you have someone spending a lot of the day in the kitchen, they are much more effective.  Or putting it another way, an AGA is the right tool in the right place.   It is an expensive folly in the wrong place.