Octopus times for Night & Day Rate

gbullock

Hi I live in Cornwall and use Octopus variable tariff and a smartmeter. The times quoted in writing to me by Octopus for day rate are 00:30 - 03:30 and 08:30 - 22:30 and for night rate are 03:30 - 08:30 and 22:30 - 00:30.
Having a change to day rate during the night seems a bit odd. This has been queried with Octopus but they are clear this is correct. It makes setting of appliances a bit more chancey at night. Has anybody else come across this type of split? The smart meter tells us nothing about the times and usage data is not showing which rate applies when.

QrizB

Exactly which Octopus tariff are you on?

If it's Economy 7, then yes it's uncommon but you are getting your seven hours of cheap rate electricity every night. Many people would prefer your split arrangement as you get an earlier start at 2230 (so you could have eg. a cheaper shower before bed) plus a later finish at 0830 (so your breakfast kettle and toaster are cheaper).

If you have storage heaters and/or an immersion heater, they should be switched automatically by the 5th terminal on your smart meter or by an associated contactor powered by the smart meter.

Is the problem more related to wanting to run your washing machine and dishwasher at cheap rate?

gbullock

The Tariff is Flexible Octopus. No night storage and immersion on a timer. My query is more about the 7 hours being split as this foes not seem to be a common feature and I'm wondering if it is a geographic issue or more worrying whether Octopus have it wrong. We don't really have a way of checking other than sitting in front of the smart meter during the night to watch which register starts to change at the appointed times

Scot_39

gbullock said:

Hi I live in Cornwall and use Octopus variable tariff and a smartmeter. The times quoted in writing to me by Octopus for day rate are 00:30 - 03:30 and 08:30 - 22:30 and for night rate are 03:30 - 08:30 and 22:30 - 00:30.
Having a change to day rate during the night seems a bit odd. This has been queried with Octopus but they are clear this is correct. It makes setting of appliances a bit more chancey at night. Has anybody else come across this type of split? The smart meter tells us nothing about the times and usage data is not showing which rate applies when.

Split economy 7 is real, but not a uk wide thing iirc.

Split in one of the Southern regions and part of another region at one of tge old boards.

 I thought from memory of other posts it was a 2 off peak 2 peak 5 off peak  is not that uncommon for split economy 7. But could be wrong.

Yours is 2 off 3 peak 5 off.

It is rarer,  but definitely not unheard of to have an off peak period ahead of midnight a gap and then a period off peak early am. 

Say good for heating up bedrooms or washing before hand.

The 330 830 curious - I thought maybe 2230 0030 230 730 - but would have to search past threads here to find - was I though the and normally always gmt in that case  - which would thrn be 330 830 dst clock time  but ggen the 22300030 would shift too..  

It's possible the numbers are correct but your meter might also have an upto 15 minute offset programmed around regional profile.

If it's a restricted circuit controlling your hw and storage heating the exact times shouldn't really matter.


But if worried about setting timers or whether can actually say run the washing machine or dishwasher off peak  at 2230,2245 or is that 2330 dst etc - or at other end -  have electric shower at 8:15 am in winter - I'd check your meter timings accurately - which rate / register is active when - despite the antisocial hours.

There are clues on most meters - a little 1/r1 or 2/r2 in display and even on my old ihd there are countdown timers in minutes 90m iirc - before a tariff rate switch.  And in the details it shows the live unit rate at the time - so my off peak rate during my 3 off peak windows and my peak rate otherwise - as soon as tge next 10sec update occurs - as cycle through kWh to £1.

And look to repeat check when clocks shift.  Many older meters inc digital - and many smart replicate it - do not switch off of gmt for tariff or restricted load switching.

Or if can get the 1/2 hourly data - does  it show consumption in kWh and cost per slot.

Other Octopus users have produced graphs from either the portal or an app with use and cost even unit rate charted across 48 1/2 hr slots in a day.

As you have no storage heating  do you actually use enough electric off peak to remain on economy 7  - you typically neeed c35-40% total off peak or you quickly end up paying more on average per kWh than on single rate. 

QrizB

gbullock said:

The Tariff is Flexible Octopus. No night storage and immersion on a timer. My query is more about the 7 hours being split as this foes not seem to be a common feature and I'm wondering if it is a geographic issue or more worrying whether Octopus have it wrong. We don't really have a way of checking other than sitting in front of the smart meter during the night to watch which register starts to change at the appointed times

Do you have a working in-home display for your smart meter? If so, it will (or should) show you the tariff and times.

Mine looks like this:

(Mine's wrong, but that's a peculiarity of my personal tariff choice. Yours should be correct.)