How Much Cheaper Is Eco 7?

paul_h

Harpoon wrote:

Is there an eay way to find out if you get "extended" E7, E10, E14 or E-Whatever?

I don't know of any other way apart from emailing them like you are doing. I know that few companies now offer non-standard economy tariffs, i.e. other than economy7, and some may offer these only in certain regions.

Have you considered emailing Scottish Power/Manweb?

L.F

I'm with Swalec and I've calculated that the breakeven night-time usage before Economy 7 is cheaper ranges from 18% for a total of 3,000 units usage per year down to 14% for 7,000 units usage.

I use about 6,000 units per year, so my breakeven is 15% night-time usage.

paul_h

L.F wrote:

I use about 6,000 units per year, so my breakeven is 15% night-time usage.

That sounds about right, I reckon that will be a fairly representative figure for many people.

If you are seriously thinking about making maximum use of off-peak electricity, it's worth checking out other suppliers for you area - some offer more favourable economy7 rates than others.

Cardew

L.F wrote:

I'm with Swalec and I've calculated that the breakeven night-time usage before Economy 7 is cheaper ranges from 18% for a total of 3,000 units usage per year down to 14% for 7,000 units usage.

I use about 6,000 units per year, so my breakeven is 15% night-time usage.

As I said in an earlier post, whilst this might be correct for your area, there really is no 'one size fits all solution'

If you look at the Swalec site you will find(like all other suppliers) their tariff varies according to the area of UK in which you live.

Harpoon_2

paul_h wrote:

I don't know of any other way apart from emailing them like you are doing. I know that few companies now offer non-standard economy tariffs, i.e. other than economy7, and some may offer these only in certain regions.

Have you considered emailing Scottish Power/Manweb?

Ah, okay, thanks Paul. I've e-mailed SP/MW, lets see how quickly they come back to me. Still waiting on Powergen.

,hills

I havn't got a clue what is cheaper, and I lost the plot reading the thread.
All I can say is that I have been in a rented accomodation for 12 years and it has econ 7.
I only have electric, it is a 3 bed house and I am on British gas,
I am on a pay meter.

On average I pay £1.70 per day during Spring/Summer months and now it will be nearer £2,50 per day because of the cold setting in and having 2 very young kids, needing to keep the heating on, and only having electric heaters and no central heating/radiators.

Hope it's of use, but there again I'm probably not using everyones expertise from the forum.

Cardew

,hills wrote:

I havn't got a clue what is cheaper, and I lost the plot reading the thread.
All I can say is that I have been in a rented accomodation for 12 years and it has econ 7.
I only have electric, it is a 3 bed house and I am on British gas,
I am on a pay meter.

On average I pay £1.70 per day during Spring/Summer months and now it will be nearer £2,50 per day because of the cold setting in and having 2 very young kids, needing to keep the heating on, and only having electric heaters and no central heating/radiators.

Hope it's of use, but there again I'm probably not using everyones expertise from the forum.

If you only have night storage heaters(which would be normal if you are on econ 7) then almost certainly it will be cheaper for you to stay on econ 7.

However if you can change your tariff to Direct Debit, or pre-payment if BG won't allow Direct Debit, it will be cheaper.

It might pay you to look at different suppliers. Although BG are generally competitive for electricity, their econ 7 rates are not as good as others.

charlieheard

paul_h wrote:

No I haven't.

As you say, doing the calculation this way would be would obviously be incorrect.

Oh yes you have! (Panto season ) From your earlier post below, it looks to me as if you have used 728 at high price and 4272 at low price :

paul_h wrote:

I have used an annual usage of 5000kWh as an example, this seems to be about the average looking at the bills most board members seem to be paying, we actually use more than this which increases our saving (and reduces our break even point) on economy 7.

NPOWER STANDARD TARIFF (EMIDS REGION) -
First 728kWh @ 14.17p/kWh, then 5.7p/kWh

NPOWER ECONOMY 7 TARIFF (EMIDS REGION) -
First 728kWh @ 15.41p/kWh, then 5.9p/kWh - Night units @ 2.7p/kWh

Taking an representative domestic usage of 5000 kWh/annum,

On standard tariff, cost is -
728kWh x 14.18p = £103.23
4272kWh x 5.7p = £243.50
TOTAL = £346.73 per annum

On economy 7 tariff, assuming 11% usage at night, cost is -
728kWh x 15.41p = £112.18
3722kWh x 5.9p = £219.60
550kWh x 2.7p = £14.85
TOTAL = £346.63 per annum

Cardew

charlieheard wrote:

Oh yes you have! (Panto season ) From your earlier post below, it looks to me as if you have used 728 at high price and 4272 at low price :

As its Panto season can the audience join in?

Paul H has indeed used 728 at the high price. That is the total per year. i.e. 182 for each of 4 quarters. Which is what I assume Npower charge at the high rate(tier 1) BG charge that for the first 225 per quarter(900 per annum)

The only time the 728 pa would not apply is in the unlikely event that you used less than 182 units in any given quarter - which Paul H did point out.

At this point the Panto audience are cheering Paul and booing Charlieheard.
"Oh yes they are!"

paul_h

Oh no I haven't!

LOL :rotfl:

Sorry, couldn't resist


As Cardew says, 728 units is the 'per annum' threshold figure, and works out the same as 182 units 'per quarter'. Thought I'd explained that bit...

i.e. (728+4272) per annum = 4 x (182+1068) per quarter.

For my own supplier the figures would be 800 pa and 200 pm.

Besides that, the night units you clock up are calculated separately and have no bearing on the primary/secondary calculation anyway... :doh:


Audience participation is always welcome