What's best for us? - Advice needed!

xxandyxexx

Hi there,

My friend and I have recently moved into a city apartment. We had our first electricity bill covering the 1st 2 months we've been living there.

My bill came to £80.
We're on Economy 7 plan.

592 Day kWh used.
101 Night kWH used.

Charges =

Day primary units used = 148 kwh @ 16.87p
Second units used = 444 kwh @ 11.19p
Night units used = 101 kwh @ 4.43p

My questions and advice need are what/why is there a primary and secondary on the day units? (i don't understand this...)

and...

Is there a service or provider which would be better for me? (as i can't understand the rates on other websites, as I've never had to pay an electricity bill before).

Thank you.

penrhyn

You are probably on a 'No standing charge tariff'.
The primary day units cost more to make up the equivalent of the standing charge amount.( if that makes sense).

You seem to be using very few night units, do you have night storage heaters, or are you setting your immersion heater to work at night?

Cardew

Agree with penryn above.

Just to elaborate, the first 225 kWh(units) you use each quarter are 'primary' units and charged at a higher rate - they are charged pro-rata hence 148 in 2 months.

The next are secondary daytime units at a lower price and finally night units are those used in a 7 hour period in the middle of the night(between 11:30pm and 8:30am)

As said above you are not using enough electricity at night to make an Economy 7 plan financially viable - presumably because you are not using your storage heating and heating hot water properly(I assume you have storage heating as there is no point being on Economy 7 otherwise)

This is because you pay extra for daytime electricity when on economy 7.

So you need to use more night units - about 30% of the total is the normal 'break-even' point and you are using less than 15% - or change to a 'normal' tariff.

You don't say what area you live in(prices vary across the country), or what company you have, but those are very high prices.

The cheapest tariffs are internet based - look at Southern Electricity 2008 tariff or BG Click 4 for a comparison as they are about the cheapest.