Is it worth swapping tariff?

steve_ess

Recently got an electric vehicle so was looking at changing over to a EV tariff offered by Scottish Power. All looked good until I found out that normal daytime tariff goes up to 34.56p from 29.12p (18% increase) Looking for best way to calculate if swapping over is going to save me money due to the increase. We are quite a electricity usage heavy household i.e dishwater, tumble dryer, electric cooker etc so am concerned it may end up being more expensive. If anyone has got any tips or other suppliers that offer good EV deals please drop me a note.

la531983

Yes but whats their nighttime rate?

Robin9

steve_ess said:

................................. We are quite a electricity usage heavy household i.e dishwater, tumble dryer, electric cooker etc ...................

thats quite typical rather than heavy -  heavy comes when you use  electricity for heating.  What is your actual annual consumption  (in kWh not £) - it will be quoted on your bill but you can double check by taking actual not estimated readings about a year apart and doing some sums

steve_ess

la531983 said:

Yes but whats their nighttime rate?

8.5p for 5 hours between 12 & 5 am

Alnat1

I guess it depends how much you will use charging your car and whether you can also run some appliances during the cheap slot. Most washers/dishwashers now have a timer or delay option.

Some people have installed battery storage (no need for solar) and charge this up overnight to use during the day. Could that be an option you might consider?

Scot_39

Try to work out how much energy you are likely to need for the EV - from your expected mileage - then compare it to your current non EV electricity consumption.

There are other ways of shifting some load - but even a tumble dryer or washing machine (that might annoy neighbours) wil only tpyically use 1-2kW - and in dryer case especially - often not advised by fire service etc. 

As with some plans the low off peak EV rate also applies to the home - in same way say a modern E7 plan on single metering would.

Then work out likely average cost 

Either Single rate

or

(EV use x EV tariff + home use x increased (if any(**)) day rate tariff) / total use

Essentially you on above plan 

save 29.12-8.5p on EV (or EV and off-peak other) charged units - so 20.62p

but 

pay 34.56p-29.12p = 5.44p more for other non EV rate units.

So need about 1 in 4 ratio on EV rate or better to save.

For very low mileage drivers of smallest most efficient EV's it's not always a given if premium day overrides savings.  Just as for those using less than say 40% off-peak a typical E7 could be cheaper on single rate.

But even that premium rate seems higher than some others - the article below use c3p or 0p (Octopus / Ovo).

(**) Ovo iirc have a bolt on EV deal - that only applies purely to EV - done as a rebate from EV logged consumption (need right charger car etc) - but it doesn't seem to charge a daytime premium from some reports I have skimmed (not got an EV so not paying 100% attention.  It used to be 10/kWh but dropped to 7p/kWh - current rate ?

That was basis of this comparson against one of Octopus smart tariffs

https://www.octopusreferral.link/intelligent-octopus-v-ovo-charge-anytime/

Others might do something similar.

rp1974

Hi OP,also recently got an EV,my second one so in the same situation as yourself.
With Eon Next and had smart meters fitted last June with a view to move onto an EV specific tariff,however as my EV consumption is minimal and given a higher daytime rate to compensate for cheaper EV charging there's very little difference really,overall.
I cant timeshift using noisy appliances due to being in a mid terrace and having neighbours,that said I'd never use washing machines,tumble driers etc whilst asleep in any case,others views may differ.
Much will depend on which EV you have,how efficient it is and mileage driven as to wether an EV specific tariff would work better for you,as mentioned earlier the OVO charge anytime might be worth considering.