Cost of Economy 7 per kwh?

[Wired2023]

Hi all,

Short version: Could someone who currently is on Economy 7 (or any other day/night tariff) give me an idea of what they are currently charged per kwh, please?

Long version: Moving into an a flat we own (and have previously lived in) that has storage heaters throughout. I'm considering switching them out for electric radiators, as we both work from home and I suspect daytime electricity use would mean going on Economy 7 (or similar) would not actually work out cheaper for us.

We could consider gas central heating but are planning to sell in 5-7 years, so would only just about break even and we have been denied planning permission for an air heat pump (beautiful old building, so I see their point).

Without a day/night-time tariff, the storage heaters are on 24/7 even if set to input only (i.e. output set to off). I think that means they effectively work as electric raditors that are on 24/7, which means they would be less cost effecive than radiators I can turn off at night.

Essentially, I'm trying to figure out what would be most cost effective solution Also, if anyone had their storage heaters replaced with electric radiators recently and would like to share the cost, I'd love to get a better idea of what to expect! 😃

I'd speak to neighbours who have done it

My economy 7 are great value - but are on 2 circuits, 1 only gets electricity at night hours, so changing could mean re-wiring.

As I have a flat that is very square, with people below above and on 2 sides, it's usually warm from others and 2 heaters in 2 rooms heats everything.

Think it's around 17p night and 40p day plus standing charge. £140 per month now . (That's hot water and heating on economy 7 plus whatever other appliances we run overnight -but being respectful of neighbours below so I don't run washing machine at 3am. (But dishwasher at 6am is okay)

Night rate, SO energy in the East Midlands, is 23.18p per kWh.

Oddly, although the day rate went down on 01 July by 6p/unit to 31.87p the night rate increased, albeit only by a fraction of a penny.

We only use E7 for washing etc overnight and when I've sat down and compared costs the saving is pretty small.

I have Economy 7 with Octopus Energy.

Unit rate (day) is 62.37p per kW/h
Unit rate (night) is 35.30p per kW/h.
Standing charge is 34.89p per day.

No idea how that compares to other companies or tariffs. However it is annoying having to wait until after midnight to do my washing!!

I have economy 10 so the off-peak hours are in three chunks.

The rates have changed a lot. In winter it went down to 5.5p for the cheap rate but was nearly a pound for the first 30 units of peak (no standing charge) and 55p for rest of peak.

We are now at about 25p/35p.

I am hoping the cheap rate will come down in October when people start to put on the storage heaters (the peak will then go up but they are by far the most expensive thing to run though are on all the time)

Gosh, my economy 7 rates in Yorkshire are looking quite cheap compared to some of these.

I bought some fairly hefty solar generators last year for peace of mind, and in the winter I charged the batteries up overnight. With that and using washing machine and dishwasher and often a 750w heater overnight, batch cooking in the oven in the early morning etc I've managed to get my off peak usage to around 50% of the bill. (No storage heaters or electric water heating here).

I should have said, that's with EDF.

I'm with Octupus on the flexible tariff. Although I have an economy 7 meter I just stick with the flexible. It may be better for you to switch tariff as it's much cheaper plus you don't have to do the washing etc during the night.

Flexible Octopus southern Scotland rates on economy 7. They seem to be quite different in other regions. Like a pp we have 2 separate supplies, the one for the storage heaters only comes on at night. And then the main one swaps from 12-8am. I use the timer to run the washing machine to finish just before it swaps back to day. And the water heater is on during the night too.

In summer we would likely be better on single tariff rates but the storage heaters would cost a fortune over winter so it's cheaper overall to stick with it. I am annoyed that we pay 2 standing charges when they are so high though because of the way the supplies are set up.

Moggs, if those are truly the rates you are paying - and there isn't any government EPG discount applied - you need to find a new tarrif.
Id suspect both those prices have a discount applied, bringing them more in line with the numbers others are quoting. Otherwise you are paying as much on your "cheap" night rate as a typical tarrif with no night rate, and being totally rinsed with the day time prices.

We are with Eon.next having not been offered any fixed rate yet.
Actually thinking if we can switch to a not split tariff will be better for us

Thank you for the advice - am going to speak to Octopus about changing tariffs. I didn’t realise there were such variations - my own fault: I should have done more research. I thought I was on the cheapest rate but obviously not. Does anyone know why there appears to be such regional variation? Or have I misunderstood? Thank you

It varies quite a bit. Especially standing charges. I think they are higher the less populated you are as the infrastructure costs more per household.

Just to say thank you for all your advice. I I have a new quote /tariff which I think will be much cheaper.

OP did you reach a decision about whether to switch out your storage heaters for electric radiators? We are in the same position as you and pondering the exact same thing.

I'm replaced my storage heaters last year. Mine were quite old and inefficient, the upgrades are so efficient I have saved money on my electricity bill, I don't even turn one of them on at all as the big one heats everywhere!

I replaced 2 with storage heaters (living spaces) and 2 with Rointe electric radiators (bedrooms).

The radiators are amazing, so efficient, cheap to run and heat the space quickly. I only put them on in the evenings, I like that you've got that control over it rather than storage heaters being on all the time.

The 4 heaters cost about £3.5k this time in 2022.

EDF charge are as follows on what seems to be called a 'Deemed Economy 7' rate are as follows on the most recent bill:

Day 37.25p/ kWh
Night 16.25p / kWh
Standing Charge 57.75p / day

Do any off you have a smart meter type Toshiba EMDI-ES-108??
Had ours fitted in July trying to work out how to read r1 and r2.
Have watched you tube tutorials, get to bill advanced. But couldn't get to toumrex but so couldn't get to r1 and r2. Just prev1,2,3 etc, which I think is our July, August and September figures combined.
In house display has never worked, had it sent to us as system crashed after edf . Couldn't get it connected to meter, so now dumb.
If we installed edf will it show day and night readings??
I preferred my old meter could just read the figures off the screen, no messing around with buttons.