A provider with cheap electricity overnight? But....

Snozzle

Any help would be appreciated.... I've spent the last couple of days trying to see if there is a provider that has an option to select cheaper fuel (primarily electricity) overnight (or a least a few hours) BUT that isn't linked to charging your car.

I'm thinking the household could easily have the dishwasher, washing machine, de-humidifier and slow cooker on overnight each night but on looking at the comparison sites / energy suppliers that I can get to work I'm not finding anything suitable.... am I missing something??

We are a larger family and our usage is quite high as much as I attempt to keep it lower.

Thanks

ArbitraryRandom

Comparison sites haven't been great for a while (they tend to only compare fixes and there's not many of those around). 

The type of arrangement you're looking for is called a 'time of use' tariff - where energy is cheaper at some times and more expensive at others. 

There's a range going from the traditional e7 tariff (where you have 7 hours overnight at a lower rate but the rest of the day higher) to the extreme other end being the 'agile' (where the price of your energy changes every 30 mins based on demand and supply - with the prices being published a day in advance), and many in-between. 

The exact tariff that would be best for you would depend on your actual pattern of energy use and how flexible you can be/how much you can shift to the cheaper rate. 

Do you currently have a smart meter?

EssexHebridean

Well the most basic option would be a classic economy 7 tariff, but you do need to be aware that your daytime rate will be higher than you are used to currently as well, so that would need to be taken into account when you decide whether it would be right for you. E7 gives 7 hours “off peak” energy overnight though, so plenty of time to load shift some of the things you are considering. 

It’s also worth looking at the various smart tariffs on offer - Agile from Octopus usually offers substantially lower prices overnight, but again, you’d need to research it properly before committing to that.

Robin9

What do you reckon your night time use is compared with day time. For E7  to pay it needs to be at least 30-40% and that implies an electric heating load eg storage heaters plus water heating by immersion.

Snozzle

Yes we have a smart meter.

I have previously looked at Agile but it doesn't recommend it at the moment due to high costs and says we are unlikely to save.  All my research has kept bringing me back to just using all the appliances during the day.  I'm not sure what the night time usage would be but planned tonight and tomorrow night to take a note of the smart meter readings before putting everything I can on overnight to see how much usage I could shift to lower rates before going back to comparing just putting all the machines on during the day.  If it's not going to save a noticeable amount it's not worth doing.

Snozzle

Thanks for the advice.

dealyboy

E7 seems the most natural home for you given that you can run the appliances you list on timers, the break even point is 42% off-peak. This is also the view of esteemed Forumites.

Economy 7 rates vary by supplier and region, what region are you in?

EssexHebridean

It should probably also be mentioned that it’s recommended that people do not run appliances overnight while they sleep. In real terms I think most of us who have been E7 users will have done precisely this without incident insofar as washing machine and dishwasher are concerned, however, when we were E7 if running a wash cycle into drying too, I did always set it to run late enough in the night that the drying element kicked in close to the time we would have woken up anyway. If running stuff overnight it is also even more vital to have working smoke alarms. 

Snozzle

We are in Southern Scotland, and as is the law here have fire alarms interlinked throughout all the relevant rooms in the house.(as I mooch off to test them!).

Interesting re the washer dryer (we have a washing machine only).  We are currently putting the de-humidifier on through the night.

Great safety points - seems like yet another reason to stick with running things throughout the day.....Thanks!

dunstonh

Any help would be appreciated.... I've spent the last couple of days trying to see if there is a provider that has an option to select cheaper fuel (primarily electricity) overnight (or a least a few hours) BUT that isn't linked to charging your car.

its been around for generations. Economy 7.

I'm thinking the household could easily have the dishwasher, washing machine, de-humidifier and slow cooker on overnight each night but on looking at the comparison sites / energy suppliers that I can get to work I'm not finding anything suitable.... am I missing something??

Probably not enough shifted to off peak there.   We have circa 70% off peak and its a no brainer.    With the right supplier, you could get as low as 35%+ .

You could test it in advance.  You have a smart meter. So, you can easily work out the units you use between 12.30 to 7.30  (or whatever it is for your region).    Then compare it to the units used during peak hours.
Then multiple the off peak units by the off peak price and the peak units by the peak price.       

Slinky

We've had our washing machine plugged into a Tapo for several months. I tend to use a 30 degree wash for 1 hour 3 minutes. Looking at a previous month, the machine was used 13 times, and used 2.401kwh of electric; less than £1 worth. It may be worth checking out just how much some of your appliances are actually using, before making the decision about whether it's worth switching to a TOU tariff.  The dishwasher is a different kettle of fish. 10 economy cycles used 8.734 kwh.