Adding more Economy 7 sockets

[Avocet]

Thanks all. I'll try and get a piccy inside the meter cupboard and post it up later. To answer some of the other questions: As Winston says, I was also under the impression that the whole house switched to E7 but since my kind electricity supplier sent me one of those usage monitor gadgets (the ones with the ferrite thingy clamped round the cable) it doesn't appear to be the case! I say this because it's clamped round only one cable (from the day meter) and it still registers a power draw at night. The main cable that feeds both meters is too big for the clamp so I'm pretty certain I'm only recording either the day or the night (and it reads day and night).

Dishwasher is very OLD - so yes, if I twist the knob to the start of a programme and press the power button, it will start up by itself when power becomes available. Washing machine is newer and that DOES need power or it won't remember to start, but we rarely go to bed until AFTER the E7 has started. That said, I think our E7 is one of those where it comes on quite early (11.00 I think) and stays on for a few hours (maybe until 01.00, then goes off for a couple of hours, then comes back on again. That'll be OK for the dishwasher (it'll finish it's cycle in a couple of hours, but maybe not so good for the washer. I guess I need to find out exactly when it gets power. Any ideas how I can do that without staying up all night watching the meter cupboard? Don't suggest calling electricity supplier - tried that three times, spoke to nice people in some far-away call centre and got 3 different answers! Also, we've changed supplier since and I don't know whether the day/night switchover times are controlled by the supplier or by the hardware in the house!

Comments about fires noted!

 

[JohnW2]

That said, I think our E7 is one of those where it comes on quite early (11.00 I think) and stays on for a few hours (maybe until 01.00, then goes off for a couple of hours, then comes back on again.

That doesn't sound like E7 - which should be a continuous block of 7 hours cheap-rate, whenever it starts. Mine is currently very late - around 01:30 to 08:30 GMT (i.e. about 02:30 to 09:30 'clock time' in the summer). Imprecision in the manual setting of the clocks was obviously somewhat of an advantage, since it avoided the network issues which would have been associated with 'half the country' switching on storage heaters simultaneously!

Kind Regards, John

 

[AndyPRK]

If the whole house isn't cheap rate, maybe you could get that changed ?

alternatively, are the WM and DW next to each other, would one E7 socket serve both if you were to go that route? Are sockets below the counters ?

I guess some nights you would want both WM & DW on?

 

[westie101]

That doesn't sound like E7 - which should be a continuous block of 7 hours cheap-rate

It varies nationally

https://customerservices.npower.com...-are-the-economy-7-peak-and-off-peak-periods?

and I'm not even sure that is correct as I get 11/2 hrs between 22.30 & midnight, the remaining 5 in the 00.30 to 07.30 period.

Those on a teleswitch will see times vary day by day to match with the grid operating needs, it will always be 7 hours

 

[Risteard]

That said, I think our E7 is one of those where it comes on quite early (11.00 I think) and stays on for a few hours (maybe until 01.00, then goes off for a couple of hours, then comes back on again.

That doesn't sound like E7 - which should be a continuous block of 7 hours cheap-rate, whenever it starts. Mine is currently very late - around 01:30 to 08:30 GMT (i.e. about 02:30 to 09:30 'clock time' in the summer). Imprecision in the manual setting of the clocks was obviously somewhat of an advantage, since it avoided the network issues which would have been associated with 'half the country' switching on storage heaters simultaneously!

Kind Regards, John

Sounds a bit like Economy 10. When I worked in Jersey they had an Economy 20 system there.

 

[JohnW2]

That doesn't sound like E7 - which should be a continuous block of 7 hours cheap-rate

It varies nationally ... https://customerservices.npower.com...-economy-7-peak-and-off-peak-periods?[/QUOTE]
That's interesting. In that link, only for one region ('South-East') does it explicitly mention a 'split' 7-hour period, but nor does it say for any of the regions that the 7-hour period is necessary continuous.

This could be a bit of an inconvenience for some consumers. Having the 7-hour 'cheap-rate' period split into two (or even more) segments is all very well for storage heaters, but might be a 'nuisance' in relation to other appliances/equipment, I would have thought.

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

Sounds a bit like Economy 10. When I worked in Jersey they had an Economy 20 system there.

Economy 20?? That surely doesn't mean 20 hours per day of 'cheap electricity', does it? ... or maybe, in a small 'isolated' place like Jersey, what they are effectively saying is that there is a 4-hour (presumably 'peak demand') period each day during when there is a 'premium charge' for electricity?

Kind Regards, John

 

[Avocet]

Yes, I'll have some of that "Economy 20" stuff please! (Might even buy an electric car, in fact)!

The flex from each of the storage heaters goes into unswitched boxes. (I don't know the proper name, but they're like single wall sockets, but without the switch). I therefore take it that they just come on whenever the E7 clock switches to night rate. I guess I could disconnect a storage heater (while it's summer) and put a standard lamp or something in it's place, then just see when the light comes on and goes off? I suppose having a gap in the E7 is good for storage heaters because it gives the heat time to soak through the bricks without overheating the elements inside, as well as stretching the total number of hours of available heat input?

 

[AndyPRK]

They have thermostats to stop overheating, but yes it will increase the useful heating time.

 

[Risteard]

Economy 20?? That surely doesn't mean 20 hours per day of 'cheap electricity', does it?

Indeed it does - but as you suggest it may really be a peak surcharge for the other 4 hours.

http://www.jec.co.uk/your-home/our-tariffs-and-rates/economy-20-(e20)/

 

[JohnW2]

Yes, I'll have some of that "Economy 20" stuff please! (Might even buy an electric car, in fact)!

As I said, if "E20" means what it seems to imply, I think it's probably very misleading. In effect, they would be giving you electricity at 'standard rate' for 20 hours of the day, but charging you extra for electricity you used during the other (I would guess 'peak demand time') 4 hours!

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

Economy 20?? That surely doesn't mean 20 hours per day of 'cheap electricity', does it?

Indeed it does - but as you suggest it may really be a peak surcharge for the other 4 hours.

Indeed. In fact, I would say that as soon as the allegedly 'cheap rate' period gets beyond 12 hours, it becomes rather misleading - since they are then charging you some rate (which I would call 'standard rate') for more than half the day, but charging extra for the remaining few hours of the day!

Kind Regards, John

 

[AndyPRK]

We would need to know the price per unit to make a balanced judgment.

 

[westie101]

Google, as always, is your friend!!!!!


http://www.jec.co.uk/your-home/our-tariffs-and-rates/economy-20-(e20)/

(Don't forget that Jersey is not connecte4d to the UK grid, but the French grid as well as having local generation! At present of the of the 51.5GW demand in France 91.4% id nuclear generation)

 

[JohnW2]

We would need to know the price per unit to make a balanced judgment.

I'm not sure that you do in terms of the 'misleading' nature of the wording. Even if their electricity is generally cheap, so that even the peak rate cost was lower than you would expect, to talk about 20 of the 24 hours being at 'cheap rate' is, to my mind, misleading.

At least one supermarket has received a lot of media flak about this in terms of wine pricing. If a bottle of wine costs a certain amount for 10 months of the year, but a much higher price for the other two months, how would you interpret that - that the (very occasional) high price was the 'standard price' and that there was a substantial discount for 10 months of the year (which is what the supermarket wants you to think), or that the low price was the 'standard price' and that you were being 'surcharged' (or ripped off!) for the other two months?

Kind Regards, John