Many of our customers have historically been signed up to an economy 7 package.
Given the name I can understand how people would assume that it must be good value. Consumers often forget that to receive a very attractive night rate you must pay more for electricity during the day.
This means that the savings are not always there. To prove the point I have done few basic calculations.
Is 40% of your total electricity usage at night?
Typically economy 7 rates are presently in the region of 15p/kWh during the day and 5p/kWh at night. A typical standard rate is 11p/kWh for any time usage.
This means that for Economy 7 tariff to save the home owner money they must use around 40% of their electricity at night. For homes that are heated with storage heaters this is easily achieved but for home that use gas or even a heat pump this is often not the case.
For most people even putting the washing machine and an hot water cylinder immersion heater on at night will not increase night usage to 40% of their total.
I am not saying that Economy 7 is a waste of time but it is important to realise that it is not always the cheapest option.