Octopus night rate times always GMT/UTC

HotTubBobOhYeah

We're on an Octopus fixed rate which offers a night rate of 11.31 p/kWh between 00.30 and 07.30. BUT, that is only between October and March when the UK is not on British summer time.  During the period March to October, when the clocks go forward, the night rate is between 01.30 to 08.30.
They don't tell people this. We were only informed of this when our smart meter stopped recording night usage completely and they said it was because we weren't using any electricity at night! After 3 months of emails and us providing evidence, they admitted it was the meter's fault. 
Just thought people might like to know, because for ages we've been setting the washing machine and dishwasher to come on 00.30 thinking we were getting night rate, but weren't. 

Keep_pedalling

I am sure the information was supplied and it is not exactly hidden.

https://octopus.energy/help-and-faqs/articles/what-happens-to-my-economy-seven-e7-tariff-when-i-have-a-smart-meter-installed/

This will be the case with a lot of suppliers for legacy tariffs like E7. Modern smart tariffs that use 1/2 hour meter reads don’t have this issue. 

Are you actually using the night rate to heat your home? 

spot1034

Nothing new or unusual here. This has been the way E7 tariffs have operated for decades - the primary reason probably being that old style mechanical meters which have their own switch ( I had one many decades ago which clicked so loudly when it changed that you could hear it all over the flat) obviously couldn't incorporate the concept of the clocks changing, so the night time period was an hour later during the summer. 

Scot_39

HotTubBobOhYeah said:

We're on an Octopus fixed rate which offers a night rate of 11.31 p/kWh between 00.30 and 07.30. BUT, that is only between October and March when the UK is not on British summer time.  During the period March to October, when the clocks go forward, the night rate is between 01.30 to 08.30.
They don't tell people this. We were only informed of this when our smart meter stopped recording night usage completely and they said it was because we weren't using any electricity at night! After 3 months of emails and us providing evidence, they admitted it was the meter's fault. 
Just thought people might like to know, because for ages we've been setting the washing machine and dishwasher to come on 00.30 thinking we were getting night rate, but weren't. 

Standard for old metering, going back to analogue timers, many rts systems and their digital replacements.

The smets spec had configuration to allow it to change to stay clock time iirc for tariff rates and any alcs load controls, but afaik not normally used.

Edit 29/7 the one possible exception I can remember being BG and its 5 hr ev tariff that supposedly stayed clock time at least on their own installed meters but not those inherited from some posts on topic.  Now did they do same for E7 - dont remember any posts ?

Modern  half hourly billed tou may be different.

But the meters themselves still use UTC timing regardless for the raw data iirc, so it would be tgd processing of bills that would timeshift it.

My old smart meter ihd (so meter?) gets things like daily and weekly stats wrong between midnight and 1 am in summer as a result.

Swipe

I prefer it like that. At least when it stays on GMT on the meter all year around, you get to make use that delayed hour in a morning when the clocks go forward in Spring.

HotTubBobOhYeah

HotTubBobOhYeah said:

We're on an Octopus fixed rate which offers a night rate of 11.31 p/kWh between 00.30 and 07.30. BUT, that is only between October and March when the UK is not on British summer time.  During the period March to October, when the clocks go forward, the night rate is between 01.30 to 08.30.
They don't tell people this. We were only informed of this when our smart meter stopped recording night usage completely and they said it was because we weren't using any electricity at night! After 3 months of emails and us providing evidence, they admitted it was the meter's fault. 
Just thought people might like to know, because for ages we've been setting the washing machine and dishwasher to come on 00.30 thinking we were getting night rate, but weren't. 

We're not on E-7 and have never been on E-7. We have never heated our home using electricity, and the meter is a smart meter. We used to be on a standard rate, which was the same price all day, but Octopus put us on this different rate a year or so ago. I dont know why, but it's cheaper at night which works for us as we can use it for the D/W, W/M and heat the hot tub. The time difference during BST was NEVER made clear to us, and why would I look at an announcement about E-7 times when we are on their Fixed Rate deal, not E-7?

Swipe

You are on E7, you just didn't realise it until you posted here.

HotTubBobOhYeah

Swipe said:

You are on E7, you just didn't realise it until you posted here.

Thanks. Maybe you're right. But, the thing is that there are many different split rates available on Octopus. Not all have the same hours as I quoted. Our bill doesnt say E-7. It says "Octopus 12M Fixed December 2024 v1". I note Cosy Octopus, and Agile Octopus, both offer different off-peak times, and neither are called E-7 either. The point of my post was to alert people who don't realise that the hours change during BST, because there was no information on that point given to us, even when I originally asked them on the phone. If I had known we were offically on an E-7 tariff then I could have searched for that info online.

Swipe

I'm on E7 with EonNext and previously with EDF and none of my numerous tariffs have ever made any mention of Economy 7 in their names either. 

HotTubBobOhYeah

And may I ask what rates you are getting? We have 26.99/11.31 p/kWh and 63.45p/day

Swipe

HotTubBobOhYeah said:

And may I ask what rates you are getting? We have 26.99/11.31 p/kWh and 63.45p/day

On a fix until mid Nov 28.19p/10.92p - 63.62 SC West Mids region.

I think I'm then going to risk it and go with Utility Warehouse in October for the half price night rate. Their current rates are approx 37p/5p and 50p standing charge as 90% of my winter usage is on night rate with my storage heaters.