Time of Economy 7

dunstonh

Oysterseeker said:

I have the old style clock system...they took the radio linked one out  ....so time drifts but at least I can clearly see when it switches from night to day rate. I run around the house switching heaters on and off, boiling kettles, doing washing. Pot of tea made at 7.35 winter, 8.35 summer...it switches at 7/8.42..so no way could I handle the inconsistency outlined by you all here and I'm avoiding a smart meter like the plague. East Midlands.

Smart meters fix the time drift problem.    

Scot_39

Officer_Dibble said:

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/

Never understood how they can do a single figure when the DNO regional windows are different.

There's still one region where - some are still on a split 7 hours 2 time periods with a 2 hr gap ?? 1st starting like 1030 pm  - last ending 730 am.  One poster even said he was able to request whether 7 hr block or the 2+5?? Split.

CSI_Yorkshire

Scot_39 said:

Officer_Dibble said:

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/

Never understood how they can do a single figure when the DNO regional windows are different.

There's still one region where - some are still on a split 7 hours 2 time periods with a 2 hr gap ?? 1st starting like 1030 pm  - last ending 730 am.  One poster even said he was able to request whether 7 hr block or the 2+5?? Split.

Because the actual rules only say (paraphrased) "seven hours between 'X'pm and 'Y'am" or something equivalent.  It only defines the window, and nothing holds a supplier to any particular set of timings.

The old DNO times are only the usual times in each region and are not consistent.

Flumoxed

Our times were 21:57-23:27 and 01:28-06:28.
On 2/4/2024 they suddenly changed, the first block moving onward 30 minutes and the second block by 60 minutes.
First of all that is not 7 hours.
Secondly, it did not change with the change to BST.
Thirdly we had no notification of a change.
Fourthly, Octopus, when questioned say that the times are one block of 00:30-07:30.
Fifthly it was sheer luck that we spotted it happening.
Are we being short-changed, lied to or are they just incompetent?

Flumoxed

I should add that we are in the North-West area, which I believe is supposed to be a one time block area.
I understand that domestic and business properties have different possible time settings, but we should be domestic.

[Deleted User]

There's obviously something that's not right. If you answer a few questions, I'm sure we can help you understand what's gone wrong. Then you can decide how to progress it with Octopus. Firstly, do you have a smart meter? Secondly, how did you ascertain the switching times?

LYNDBO

Just ask octopus , mine is from midnight to 7am

Qyburn

dunstonh said:

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.  

We installed an oil fired Aga in a previous house, and really liked it. Since moving we've been without because of the rising costs. 

However even as a Aga fan those comparisons are out of whack, as they suggest a conventional cooker and kettle would use over 12kWh per day.

Flumoxed

We have a RTS system to control the meter, which is rather old. We also have 2 Tesla batteries with a very useful app, which gives more useful data than a smartmeter.

The times I have mentioned above are what I can see the meter actually doing as it switches from one rate to the other. 

[Deleted User]

Flumoxed said:

We have a RTS system to control the meter, which is rather old. We also have 2 Tesla batteries with a very useful app, which gives more useful data than a smartmeter.

The times I have mentioned above are what I can see the meter actually doing as it switches from one rate to the other. 

Thanks - that helps. A few points which I'd invite others to confirm / check:

1. Because you don't have a smart meter, Octopus will bill you either on estimated readings or using readings you provide them with. So if your meter switches to night rate from 21:57-23:27 and 01:28-06:28 (or whatever they are now) then those are the hours you will pay for electricity at the cheaper night rate.

2. You need to make sure that your use matches up with that. If you have a "bog standard" set up you'll have night storage heaters and/or an immersion heater that are switched on and off by the meter so there shouldn't be a problem there, they will only use cheap rate electricity and you will be billed accordingly - worth checking this. If you've set up other things with timers you need to make sure those timers match the timers you've observed from the meter.

3. So from that perspective you should be billed correctly, and as you were expecting if I've understood your post properly.

4. However, as you point out, you appear to be only getting 6.5 hours at the cheaper rate. I'd suggest you double check this to make absolutely sure that is the case. If it is, then that points to a problem with the metering (i.e. the meter itself and/or the RTS system that controls it). You will need to report this to Octopus as a meter fault. The RTS system is being phased out so it's likely that rather than fix any issue the meter will be replaced with a smart meter.

To sum up, I suggest you do 3 things:

1. Check that you've got the switching times right, and if you're only getting 6.5 hours report this to Octopus as a fault with the meter.

2. Check that any storage heaters or immersion heaters are switched on and off by the meter as it changes rates. If not, if you update this post accordingly someone here can help you troubleshoot that.

3. Make sure that anything else you want to use cheap rate electricity has timers set to match the meter switching times.

Hope this helps, Mike