Night time rate of electricity

Mangold

We are with SO Energy. They have 2 electricity rates - one for day time and one for night time. We set some of our appliances for use at night which reduces our bills. It seems not all providers do this, so is it worth changing supplier if yours doesn't offer a night time rate?

MorningcoffeeIV

It depends on your energy needs. 

No point in paying more during the day if that's when the majority of the usage is.

Astria

It's worth doing if you can schedule your energy usage during the night time off-peak usage, yes.

I was actually considering charging my solar batteries during the night and using them during the day, but tbh, they are currently a little small for that task, but I could upgrade them later if there's any good deals going about.

lohr500

@Mangold.  Based on the last 3 or 6 months, what are your day and night usage numbers in kWh and what are your day and night rate costs per kWh?

As per MorningcoffeeIV's comments, you will more than likely be paying a higher price for your day time use than if you were on a single rate tariff. So unless you can shift a significant amount of your usage to the night time rate and/or have storage heaters and heat your water using electricity, you may end up paying more.

dunstonh

Mangold said:

We are with SO Energy. They have 2 electricity rates - one for day time and one for night time. We set some of our appliances for use at night which reduces our bills. It seems not all providers do this, so is it worth changing supplier if yours doesn't offer a night time rate?

Most suppliers offer it.     The most common version is economy 7.  There are also shorter versions of those with EVs.

However, whilst the night rate can be very attractive, the day rate is more expensive.  And generally, the more attractive the night rate is, the less attractive the day rate is.   So,  you need to have sufficient use off-peak for it to work out better than single rate.

macman

Mangold said:

We are with SO Energy. They have 2 electricity rates - one for day time and one for night time. We set some of our appliances for use at night which reduces our bills. It seems not all providers do this, so is it worth changing supplier if yours doesn't offer a night time rate?

The bulk of your energy usage, maybe 80%, is for heating and DHW. If you can't use this overnight on E7, which means NSH's and an immersion heater, then it's unlikely to be economic, though there are some exceptions.

Gerry1

If you have a two-rate tariff (e.g. E7 or E10) but doing the sums shows that single rate would work out cheaper, most suppliers will happily bill you at single rate without needing a meter change.