Mechanical switch

The cheaper rate is usually from 11pm or midnight for seven hours.
As a minor point, although I have often seen that stated/suggested, my E7 'cheap rate' has always (for 30+ years) started at 00:30 GMT (hence 01:30 BST in the summer), and the fact that those times are now printed on the case of my E.ON meter, I can but assume that those timings are fairly common.

Kind Regards, John
 
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was looking to switch the lights off around midnight rather than dusk dawn. It’s about 8 led lights but every penny counts.
Using the lighting-down times provided by Cambridge University Boat Club (probably as good a metric as any for where you live), the difference between midnight and those totals about 1945 hours.

So over the course of a year you'll save 1.945 units for each watt of outdoor lighting you have.

Should be easy for you to work out what your £saving would be.
 
As a minor point, although I have often seen that stated/suggested, my E7 'cheap rate' has always (for 30+ years) started at 00:30 GMT (hence 01:30 BST in the summer), and the fact that those times are now printed on the case of my E.ON meter, I can but assume that those timings are fairly common.

Kind Regards, John

I think there are a lot of variations around the UK, my E7 starts at 22:30 - 00:30, 02:30 - 07:30 and stays the same year round, a nearby property I visit is 00:00- 07:00

Edited for typo
 
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I think there are a lot of variations around the UK ...
Yes, I presume that must be true, since I heard/read a lot about timings appreciably different from mine. However, as I said, the fact that the times are now printed on E.ON meters presumably means that it is universal for them.
... my E7 starts at 22:30 - 01:30, 02:30 - 07:30 ...
You mean it's in two bits , with a 1 hour gap in the middle? If so, I can see that could be pretty inconvenient at times (and nor does it make a lot of sense, because I would not expect high demand between 01:30 and 02:30!).

Also, if I understand you correctly, that seems to add up to 8 hours, not 7 - do you have some sort of "E8" ?!

... and stays the same year round
That obviously was not practical in the days of electromechanical time switches, but I don't really understand why they don't do it with electronic meters - one can but imagine that variations in demand (hence the periods of low demand) are dictated primarily by current 'clock time', not GMT.

Kind Regards, John
 
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Ok so to be precise I’ve moved from a 3 bed to a 4 with an extension so bigger house but not that we are using any more rooms at once. Here’s the actual readings to compare. The worry is the bill Has grown and currently £50 pm more direct debit and gas heating won’t of kicked in until recently so I expect it to go even higher.

Old house bill electric only
3rd nov 2017 to 25 jan 2018 83 days
Day rate 174kwh x 16.92p
Night rate 1437kwh x 7.682p

New house bill electric only
22nd aug 2018 to 13th nov 2018 83 days
Day rate 1393kwh x 17.295p
Night rate 417kwh x 8.257p

So how has this seemingly switched? According to Scottish power it’s not possible for the rates to of been entered the wrong way around. The system wouldn’t of allowed it. I assume there are tolerances. Added to this the old bill would of been deepest darkest winter.
 
Old house bill electric only
3rd nov 2017 to 25 jan 2018 83 days
Day rate 174kwh x 16.92p
Night rate 1437kwh x 7.682p
.....According to Scottish power it’s not possible for the rates to of been entered the wrong way around. The system wouldn’t of allowed it.
Well, I still can't make any sense of it. The total amount of electricity used, about 19.4 kWh/day is appreciably lower than many would see, particularly in Winter, but, if you didn't have storage heating, for 89% (a bit higher now we have the accurate figures) of your total usage to be at night rate really defies belief - and I'm a little surprised that Scottish Power didn't question it. What on earth were you using through the night which used nearly all of your total electricity consumption?

If the figures were 'could not have been entered the wrong way around' I wonder if it's possible that the meter had been metering them 'the wrong way around'? If that had been happening, maybe you had been enjoying abnormally low electricity bills for years. If that is a possibility, you might not want to pursue it too strongly with your supplier since, even though it will have been due to their equipment/error, it's not impossible that they would try to recover previous 'underpayment' from you!
New house bill electric only
22nd aug 2018 to 13th nov 2018 83 days
Day rate 1393kwh x 17.295p
Night rate 417kwh x 8.257p
That's far more like what I would have expected to see for a house without storage heaters.

Kind Regards, John
 
Old house bill electric only
3rd nov 2017 to 25 jan 2018 83 days
Day rate 174kwh x 16.92p
Night rate 1437kwh x 7.682p

19kWh per day for a 3 bed house with gas heating seems rather high.
The day/night split is next to impossible - only about 2kWh per day on day rate, which is where most of the usage should be.
Unless it was some manky old timeclock thing set totally wrongly, and the 'night' part was actually something like 4pm to 11pm, or some other period which covered most of the day.

New house bill electric only
22nd aug 2018 to 13th nov 2018 83 days
Day rate 1393kwh x 17.295p
Night rate 417kwh x 8.257p

Far more realistic, most of it on day rate. Almost 22 kWh per day is a significant increase on the previous ones, and even with a larger house is probably excessive.

You are being gouged on those prices, mainly because they are an E7 arrangement, and if you are billed quarterly it's years past the time to change to monthly billing on one of the many fixed for a year or so type of deals available at www.uswitch.com and similar places.

To cut the usage in general, items need to be switched off when not in use, and high consumption items used as little as possible - tumble dryers being top of the list for waste.
Although a lot of modern items use very little on standby, there are examples of things which do not - game consoles, computers and similar things use significant amounts of power all the time, and should be switched off completely when not in use.
 
The day/night split is next to impossible - only about 2kWh per day on day rate, which is where most of the usage should be.
Indeed. As we have both said, if mis-recording is discounted, about the only credible explanation would seem to be that the timing of the dual-tariff metering in the OP's previous house was totally up the creek. That's why I suggested that he maybe got used to inappropriately low electricity bills in his previous house, and is therefore now a bit shocked to be being billed on the basis of a much more credible day/night split in his new house!
19kWh per day for a 3 bed house with gas heating seems rather high. .. . Far more realistic, most of it on day rate. Almost 22 kWh per day is a significant increase on the previous ones, and even with a larger house is probably excessive.
My comments took on board the fact that the OP had an immersion (not sure why, with a combi as well) which is fired up for two periods per day. Depending on how long those periods are, how much hot water is used and how well insulated the cylinder is, that could easily account for several kWh/day - which is why I suggested that (on the basis) 19-22 kWh/day total was probably a bit on the low side.

Kind Regards, John
 

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