The "new" version of Economy 7 | eeVeeWorld
The "new" version of Economy 7
I recently decided to switch energy supplier to Octopus Energy. The main reason is that they have tariffs that are likely to save me money over time as I am now charging my EV at home.
If anyone remembers Economy 7 tariffs which required 2 separate meters. One recorded electricity use between midnight or some other arbitrary time for 7 hours and the other recorded all other times. You got a cheaper rate for the 7 hours and a slightly higher rate for the rest. Today, with the new smart meter rolling out nationwide, there are several new options available.
The new smart meters (known as SMETS2) can record electricity usage over 30 minute periods. Every day around 4:30 pm, the wholesale rate of electricity is published and automatically downloaded by various apps that can control things such as you EV charger. With low rates overnight and very high rates between 4 pm and 7 pm (capped at £0.35/kWh) the app can control when to charge your car so you are paying only the lowest rates. There are even some times when you get credit for using electricity!
I've now started with Octopus and I'm waiting for a date to get my smart meter installed so that I can take advantage of the low rates overnight. There is another tariff they offer which is called GO. That offers a very low rate between 00:30 and 04:30. Again, an ideal time to use electricity for charging the car and anything else that is a heavy user of power such as dishwashers and washing machines.
You can find out more and share £100 if you sign up at Octopus Energy.
I have a modern(ish) E7 meter - just one box. It's adjustable for the tariff times of your particular provider. There are now E10 tariffs and meters available which allow a more complex tariff regime (possibly the 30-min slots you describe). I'm with Bulb, and they'll only fit flat-rate smart meters as yet. Shame, as the company is good to deal with but I do need more control over electricity use - and my house is all-electric.
If I ever move again, I'll definitely be looking to install solar panels and battery storage as well as a heat pump. At the moment, I have to rely on oil for the hot water and heating, Calor gas for the cooker and electricity for the oven. The only advantage is whenever there is a power cut, we still. have gas for boiling water and cooking. The joys of rural living.
We had a large living room added to the annexe which doesn't have underfloor heating like the rest of the property and as the MiL lives there, she has the electric radiator heating on full tilt most of the time. If ever there was a need to get on to cheaper rates... that's one good excuse.
Just checked mine. My annual use is over 13,000kw/h - for a tiny two-bedroom cottage! As it's listed, I can't do PVs, and as it has no wet heating (and I'm not fitting it), heat pumps are not a lot of use. I'm improving the insulation gradually, but it's not an easy task on an old building. My shed has better insulation than the house! I'll be building a new office/studio in the new year which will be much, much better and will allow me to reduce the heating in the old house as I'll spend most of my time in it.
Before I got the EV, we were using around 12,000kWh/year. Whilst not driving too much at the moment, adding 20-30kWh a week will soon add up. I'm not sure what the kW rating on an oil-fired boiler is, even if it is running at 98.3% efficiency. I reckon I use around 1,500l of oil a year and then Calor is not a lot. Maybe 25kg a year. Overall, our energy usage is fairly high even though the property is well insulated. It's a big area... 3500 sq m. Hence the desire to become more economical. At least the car is only costing around 2.5p/mile to operate.
My house is less than 100 sq m! Are you sure yours is 3500 sq m? That's a decent warehouse!
Sorry, I meant 3,500 sq ft or 350 sq m. Even so, 13,000kWh is a lot for 100 sq m.
Yeah, I know! It's because I'm heating much of South Suffolk!