I have Economy 7 electricity, the meter is fully digital at a guess less
than 10 years old.

Recently I've been keeping careful note of the readings and in the last
week the cheap rate reading has increased by 4 units even though the
storage and immersion heaters which are the only appliances fed from the
cheap rate circuit have been switched off for the entire period.

After reading some old postings to this group I'm now no longer sure I
understand how Economy 7 is metered. There are two consumer units in my
flat - one with the storage and immersion heaters attached, which only
becomes live during the night; and one for all other circuits which is
permanently live. I had assumed that all electricity usage through the
night CU is billed at cheap rate, and all usage through the main CU is
billed at normal rate irrespective of the time of day.

Am I right, or is _all_ electricity usage billed at cheap rate for the
period the cheap rate supply is active? This would make sense as the
only things running during the night are a fridge/freezer, alarm clock,
battery charger, and maybe one or two short uses of the electric shower
- 4 units for a week sounds about right.

Alternatively, should I be getting in touch with Powergen to tell them
that the meter is faulty?

Thank you.
--
Ian Harding

"Ian Harding" wrote in message
...
I have Economy 7 electricity, the meter is fully digital at a guess less
than 10 years old.

Recently I've been keeping careful note of the readings and in the last
week the cheap rate reading has increased by 4 units even though the
storage and immersion heaters which are the only appliances fed from the
cheap rate circuit have been switched off for the entire period.

After reading some old postings to this group I'm now no longer sure I
understand how Economy 7 is metered. There are two consumer units in my
flat - one with the storage and immersion heaters attached, which only
becomes live during the night; and one for all other circuits which is
permanently live. I had assumed that all electricity usage through the
night CU is billed at cheap rate, and all usage through the main CU is
billed at normal rate irrespective of the time of day.

Am I right, or is _all_ electricity usage billed at cheap rate for the
period the cheap rate supply is active? This would make sense as the only
things running during the night are a fridge/freezer, alarm clock, battery
charger, and maybe one or two short uses of the electric shower - 4 units
for a week sounds about right.

Alternatively, should I be getting in touch with Powergen to tell them
that the meter is faulty?

Thank you.
--
Ian Harding


I believe the latter is correct.

On Sat, 02 Oct 2004 14:54:34 +0100, Ian Harding wrote:

I have Economy 7 electricity, the meter is fully digital at a guess less
than 10 years old.

snip

Am I right, or is _all_ electricity usage billed at cheap rate for the
period the cheap rate supply is active?

*All* units consumed during the cheap-rate period are charged at the low
rate. What you will have is one consumer unit that is restricted to the
cheap-rate units only (heating).


--
wanderer at tesco dot net

On Sat, 2 Oct 2004 15:10:54 +0100, Dave Jones wrote:

"Ian Harding" wrote in message
...
I have Economy 7 electricity, the meter is fully digital at a guess less
than 10 years old.

Recently I've been keeping careful note of the readings and in the last
week the cheap rate reading has increased by 4 units even though the
storage and immersion heaters which are the only appliances fed from the
cheap rate circuit have been switched off for the entire period.

After reading some old postings to this group I'm now no longer sure I
understand how Economy 7 is metered. There are two consumer units in my
flat - one with the storage and immersion heaters attached, which only
becomes live during the night; and one for all other circuits which is
permanently live. I had assumed that all electricity usage through the
night CU is billed at cheap rate, and all usage through the main CU is
billed at normal rate irrespective of the time of day.

Am I right, or is _all_ electricity usage billed at cheap rate for the
period the cheap rate supply is active? This would make sense as the only
things running during the night are a fridge/freezer, alarm clock, battery
charger, and maybe one or two short uses of the electric shower - 4 units
for a week sounds about right.

Alternatively, should I be getting in touch with Powergen to tell them
that the meter is faulty?

Thank you.
--
Ian Harding


I believe the latter is correct.

What, that he should get in touch with PG? I don't think so.

--
wanderer at tesco dot net

On Sat, 02 Oct 2004 14:54:34 +0100, Ian Harding wrote:

Am I right, or is _all_ electricity usage billed at cheap rate for
the period the cheap rate supply is active?

Yes, this is why people buy time switches for their tumble driers,
washing machines, dishwashers etc so that these power hungry devices
don't cost so much to run. Especially when you consider that E7 day
rate power costs more than non E7 power(*).

(*) But there is such a spread in tarrifs these days you may well find
a non E7 tariff that has costs higher than other E7 ones.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Ian Harding wrote:

I have Economy 7 electricity, the meter is fully digital at a guess less
than 10 years old.

snip

Am I right, or is _all_ electricity usage billed at cheap rate for the
period the cheap rate supply is active?
E7 has a few options
If you have just one fuse board then all your supply will be at E7
rate at night with an extra charge for day units.
but if you have a seperate fuse board for your Storage heating then
the rest of the house will be at normal rate during the night, to
complicate things some didgi meters will add extra units every night
for standing charge, some dont
Tip. your meter will never be read by anyone that understands how it
works, if the timer meter is seperate, remove the seal, set the
pointers for 24hr use, and you will be on E7 all day.
dont tell anyone!.

"Ian Harding" wrote in message
...
I have Economy 7 electricity, the meter is fully digital at a guess less
than 10 years old.

Recently I've been keeping careful note of the readings and in the last
week the cheap rate reading has increased by 4 units even though the
storage and immersion heaters which are the only appliances fed from the
cheap rate circuit have been switched off for the entire period.

IT depends on how it has been wired.

My E7 meter (Old analogue one, although it was fitted about two years ago!)
is wired so everything is on cheap rate at night, and everything is on
normal rate in the day.

Do you have a radio teleswitch/timer, or it is all contained in the meter?
I have a seperate timer box, controled by radio, if I had a seperate circuit
I wanted to be only live at night, this circuit would be wired through this.

Sparks...

Incidentally, they seem quite happy to change the meters if, for example,
you switch tariff. There is also a predetermined "life" of meters. We
recently got a letter saying our meter has reached the end of its useful
life and is to be replaced on Wednesday.

_____
www.wych.com

On Sun, 3 Oct 2004 00:21:56 +0100, "Sparks"
wrote:


My E7 meter (Old analogue one, although it was fitted about two years ago!)
is wired so everything is on cheap rate at night, and everything is on
normal rate in the day.

Many years ago, I lived in a student house that had economy 7 on a
manual analogue timer. The timer paused when we had a power cut so
that economy 7 ran from around 4.00pm until 11.00pm.

We told the local electricity company several times, including letters
sent recorded delivery. They never contacted us to resolve the
problem.

Graham

On Sun, 03 Oct 2004 10:19:32 +0100, wrote:

Is it necessary to switch tariff before changing suppliers?

Donno. But trying to switch suppliers and tarrif at the same time
strikes me as asking for trouble. Having just switched I don't have a
great deal of confidence in the process, it worked but the amount of
conflicting snail and email I got was not good.

I am currently on economy 7 and I believe the break even to justify
the higher daytime rate is that at least 30% of all units used
should be night time, I am now well under this.

I did the sums via a spreadsheet on Norweb E7 figures a while back the
break even point once you where above a total of 15 units/day was
under 25% to be used at night rate. Dropping to 23% at 20 total
units/day and a tad above 22% at 25 total units/day.

I think Dave L posted that there was no disadvantage in the tariffs
with no standing charge but a possible (albeit unlikely) advantage
if you used less than the higher rate allocation in the billing
period,

Not that unlikely, two of the meters here use f'all electricity as the
parts of the building they feed are unoccupied. Leaving them with
PowerGens new no standing charge tarrif will save =A350/year. Though I
really ought to check the E7 one... For an occupied place I agree it
is unlikely that you will save anything. You'd have to be using less
than an average of 2 or 3 units/day.

... do all suppliers use the same maths in allocating a higher rate
to offset the loss of standing charge?

I'd say yes but I've not looked at all the myriad of tarrifs from the
umpteen suppliers out there. Use a few of the "switch your utility"
sites to see what they turn up as good suppliers then look at the
tarrifs and plug the figures into a spread sheet to do the maths.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Sparks wrote:
IT depends on how it has been wired.

My E7 meter (Old analogue one, although it was fitted about two years ago!)
is wired so everything is on cheap rate at night, and everything is on
normal rate in the day.

Do you have a radio teleswitch/timer, or it is all contained in the meter?
I have a seperate timer box, controled by radio, if I had a seperate circuit
I wanted to be only live at night, this circuit would be wired through this.

There is a single meter, the display cycles through the two separate
readings and a total by pressing a button. There is no other equipment
in the meter cupboard.

It does sound as if my meter is recording everything used at night as
cheap rate. I wasn't sure if this was how Economy 7 worked, but from
what you and others have said it sounds the most likely explanation.

--
Ian Harding

On Sun, 03 Oct 2004 16:47:04 +0100, Ian Harding
wrote:

There is a single meter, the display cycles through the two separate
readings and a total by pressing a button. There is no other equipment
in the meter cupboard.

It does sound as if my meter is recording everything used at night as
cheap rate. I wasn't sure if this was how Economy 7 worked, but from
what you and others have said it sounds the most likely explanation.

Hi,

Maybe the meter has an 'economy 7 only' output to save having storage
and immersion heaters on timers.

cheers,
Pete.

There is a single meter, the display cycles through the two separate
readings and a total by pressing a button. There is no other equipment in
the meter cupboard.

It does sound as if my meter is recording everything used at night as
cheap rate. I wasn't sure if this was how Economy 7 worked, but from what
you and others have said it sounds the most likely explanation.

Out the bottom of the meter, how many cables are there?

If there are only 4 (L&N in and out) then it is defiantly counting
everything at night rate!

If there are 5 or 6 then it still may be counting everything on the cheap
rate, but only activating the second output at night.

Sparks...

Sparks wrote:
There is a single meter, the display cycles through the two separate
readings and a total by pressing a button. There is no other equipment in
the meter cupboard.

It does sound as if my meter is recording everything used at night as
cheap rate. I wasn't sure if this was how Economy 7 worked, but from what
you and others have said it sounds the most likely explanation.


Out the bottom of the meter, how many cables are there?

If there are only 4 (L&N in and out) then it is defiantly counting
everything at night rate!

If there are 5 or 6 then it still may be counting everything on the cheap
rate, but only activating the second output at night.

I've just had a look. There are two output circuits so it must be
switching the night one but metering all night units at the cheap rate
as you say.

--
Ian Harding

Where are the tails from the night storage heaters CSU connected to? Do they go directly to the time switch?
eminen

On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 09:28:23 +0000, eminen
wrote:


It does sound as if my meter is recording everything used at night as
cheap rate. I wasn't sure if this was how Economy 7 worked, but from
what
you and others have said it sounds the most likely explanation.-

That is how Economy 7 works. Time clock (with spring or battery
reserve) tells meter to be on day or night rate. Typically 0:30 to
7:30 winter, 1:30 to 8:30 summer since time clock stays on GMT. All
electric is on the current rate.

Usually time clock has an output to big contactor that switches in the
E7 storage heater distribution board where each heater feed has its
own MCB. That switches on your storage heaters.


--

Malcolm

Malcolm Reeves BSc CEng MIEE MIRSE, Full Circuit Ltd, Chippenham, UK
, or ).
Design Service for Analogue/Digital H/W & S/W Railway Signalling and Power
electronics. More details plus freeware, Win95/98 DUN and Pspice tips, see:

http://www.fullcircuit.com or http://www.fullcircuit.co.uk

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