What are Utility Warehouse E7 Off Peak hours Eastern Region

michaels

Hopefully a straightforward question but due to my incompetence I don't seem to be able to find the answer on the UW website and their CS don't seem to know and it is not on my bill or any of the paperwork I have had from them.

What are the E7 night rate hour sin Eastern region and how do they change for BST/GMT when the clocks change.

Thanks

QrizB

What are the E7 night rate hour sin Eastern region and how do they change for BST/GMT when the clocks change.

Timings vary from meter to meter. The only way to be certain is to check your supply times yourself.

E7 remains on GMT all year around.

Edit to add: in this recent post @TroubledTarts said that Eastern region was "7 hours between 2300 and 0700"

squirrelpie

Edit to add: in this recent post @TroubledTarts said that Eastern region was "7 hours between 2300 and 0700"

Hmm. I live in the East and am on E7 and my time is 00:30-07:30 GMT. Confirmed twice by asking my supplier and repeatedly by observation. So Troubled Tarts statement isn't quite correct.

dunstonh

I'm with UW Eastern, and it's 12:30 to 7:30 GMT for me. Right to the second. Unlike my previous two meters, which would drift

michaels

Thanks both. Can you confirm whether they change for BST/GMT clock change?

Swipe

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82021002#Comment_82021002

As mentioned by QrizB, all Economy 7 regions stay on GMT all year around regardless of supplier. You need to observe your meter changing to get the exact time. You can see this happen on your IHD by checking the current tariff price if you can't get access to the meter. Never rely on the information given by your supplier regarding E7 times.

Ildhund

@Swipe wrote:

You need to observe your meter changing to get the exact time. 

Since we're probably talking about a modern (i.e. SMETS2) smart meter here, it's worth pointing out that there are usually two timetables in the meter governing an Economy setup:

1. The Tariff Switching Table, which tells the meter when to start and stop recording usage on the offpeak register as opposed to the peak register. The one labelled R1 or R01 or similar should be for peak usage, R2 or R02 for offpeak - otherwise DCC will choke on the readings.
2. The ALCS Calendar, which switches power to the offpeak ('switched' or ''restricted') circuit on and off. [It's called a calendar because it contains switching times for every day of the year. They could well be different for, say, a small business that doesn't need to have working-day heating on at weekends and during holidays, but for most domestic customers there's no need for this.]

They should normally be identical for all days, but can easily be mismatched is the tech doing the configuration isn't careful, and we've seen plenty of cases of mismatches both here and in other forums.

There's an additional complication: the actual times will be delayed from their nominal values by an offset unique to the individual meter. This can theoretically be up to 30 minutes, but in practice is less than about 16 minutes. This is significant for those wishing to take advantage of cheaper rates to run other power-hungry appliances like tumble dryers and dishwashers.

It can be really tedious to check the actual timings, especially for Economy 7 when the changes happen in the middle of the night. The meter will be able to show what the current tariff rate is at any time, so watching it carefully from the start of the nominal change to offpeak will reveal what the offset it. Most meters also have an indicator on the display to say when the ALCS is on (i.e. closed). If it doesn't close at exactly the same time as the tariff rate, there's a mismatch which needs dealing with - often involving frustrating conversations with customer service who don't understand the problem. Again, for Economy 7 it will often be more convenient to watch for changes at the end of the nominal offpeak period at breakfast-time - the delay is the same.

Happily, this exercise usually only has to be done once, because the delay won't ever change: it's built in to the meter in the factory and finalized by the engineer on installation. But it's an exercise that should be carried out for every new meter installation.

Swipe

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82021335#Comment_82021335

Yep, just check it in the morning to get the exact offset times. There's no real need to check it in the middle of the night as you'll only ever get 7 hours off peak on E7 (that's assuming you are not in a region that splits them).

michaels

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82021346#Comment_82021346

Being retired I am much more likely to be awake at 00:30 than 07:30….

And no ACLS for us, just a standard meter with one output.

I can read the tariff file from n3rgy which suggests the following:

• 00:00 to 00:30 → Off-peak
• 00:30 to 07:30 → Peak
• 07:30 to 00:00 → Off-peak

Not sure if these are GMT or BST though, if it is the former it will have cost us about £5 extra per day since the hour change (so £300), but will argue that because UW haven't actually managed to bill us correctly or share the information then how could I have known to amend our usage timings.

The same file has the unit rates completely random though.

WiserMiser

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82020605#Comment_82020605

Troubled Tarts isn't wrong. Those aren't the start and finish times, they're the earliest start and the latest finish.

You get seven hours somewhere within that window.

Swipe

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82021800#Comment_82021800

As stated, they will be GMT times, so add +1 when in BST. Now you have the generic times, you'll still need to find the exact offset switch times of your own meter (normally up to 15 mins over the generic times). But because we are in BST, that would mean staying up until past 1:30am, so maybe checking at 8:30am might suit better. If you switch your IHD to show 'credit tariff per kWh' you can see it change to the off peak/peak rate there. If you see the countdown on your display, ensure that it ends at the exact same time as the credit tarif price change to confirm that the ALCS and the Tariff price schedule are in sync. Most IHDs will only stay on that price screen continuously for 5 mins though, so be mindful not to miss it if it switches back to the default display.

I actually got an email from UW just before the clocks changed to remind me:

As the clocks change to British Summer Time (BST) on Sunday, 29 March, it's important to know that your off-peak hours will stay on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) all year round.

What does this mean for you?

To make the most of your cheaper off-peak rate, remember to use your appliances during GMT hours when the reduced rate is active.

For example, if your off-peak period is set between 12.30am and 7.30am GMT, you'll need to use your energy between 1.30am and 8.30am BST to benefit from the cheaper rate.

Remember, the clocks return to GMT on 25 October. Adjust your behaviour then, too, to take advantage of the cheaper rate