spongebob59
Journeyman Pro
Does anyone know if it cheaper to run dishwasher/ washing machine overnight of the standard variable tariff ?
Octopus energy
- Thread starter spongebob59
- Start date
Bunkermagnet
Journeyman Pro
My understanding is you need to have something like the old Economy 7 tarrif. I have a 2 stage tarrif, was with Shell but unfortunately now being switched to Octopus and we pay more for day rates, but a lot less overnight.
I am not sure its now really worth it, but will leave it for a while
PJ87
Journeyman Pro
Standard variable unless it's an eco 7 set up it's the same price all day
Can you post your tariff details and rates found on the app? Feel free to pm me if you don't wanna post
Click usage , then go down to electric , then click your tariff
spongebob59
Journeyman Pro
We're on the standard variable , theres only two of us so im not sure there would be much to be saved if we run the washing machine (maybe twice a week) and dishwasher (once a week) overnight, but i was asked the question by the boss so thought id try and find out.
PJ87
Journeyman Pro
If it's just standard variable then no it won't be cheaper as it's flat rate
If economy 7 and it's just 2 of you unless you had storage heaters or such you wouldn't save much using the night rate over the more expensive day rate
But yeah on standard variable you will pay 29p (roughly) a kw as of today
spongebob59
Journeyman Pro
Ta
rudebhoy
Q-School Graduate
On a tangent, I've been sorting out my daughter's electricity for her new flat. She was on a prepayment meter, but I've signed her up on DD tariff with E-on.
She got her first bill - £180. That's for a 2 bed all electric flat, and they are out at work all day. I was surprised it was so high as that's more or less what we are for the same period in a 3 bed semi, with me at home a lot. Our heating / hot water is powered by gas.
I had a look at our tariffs, and was shocked at how much more expensive electric is compared to gas. Our electric is 28.98p per kwh, with a standing charge of 51p per day. Gas is 7.30p per kwh, standing charge 23p per day.
So electricity is 4 times more expensive than gas? I knew it was more expensive, but didn't think it would be that much. Wow.
She got her first bill - £180. That's for a 2 bed all electric flat, and they are out at work all day. I was surprised it was so high as that's more or less what we are for the same period in a 3 bed semi, with me at home a lot. Our heating / hot water is powered by gas.
I had a look at our tariffs, and was shocked at how much more expensive electric is compared to gas. Our electric is 28.98p per kwh, with a standing charge of 51p per day. Gas is 7.30p per kwh, standing charge 23p per day.
So electricity is 4 times more expensive than gas? I knew it was more expensive, but didn't think it would be that much. Wow.
PJ87
Journeyman Pro
We are still waiting electric to be uncoupled from gas
ATM electric Costs have to be held high when gas goes up due to contracts paid out to providers and such
For example wind and solar haven't got any more expensive to produce. We have more of both. Used more green energy last year but costs remain high
It's all due to the price of gas
Thanks Vlad
jim8flog
Journeyman Pro
One of the things to take in to consideration though is that gas is less efficient than electric for many things, a lot of Kwhours go out the flue with gas.
@pauljames87 is there any chatter about uncoupling happening? It's mad that they are tied together, makes no sense. Even more so as electricity becomes produced increasingly by renewable methods.
PJ87
Journeyman Pro
Leaving politics out of it as much as I can... The minister in charge at the time announced "we are looking into it" I don't think he is even the minister for that department now
And we have a different pm (3rd one) since it was announced
So I doubt it's going to change
This is from the government
Will renewable energy prices be separated from gas prices?
The UK Government has said it will investigate how to separate electricity prices from gas prices with its Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA).
A consultation ran from July to October 2022, a summary of responses was published in March 2023, and another consultation in autumn 2023 will put forward reforms.
Some of the proposed changes include:
Introducing incentives for consumers to draw electricity from the grid at cheaper rates when demand is low or more renewable energy is available.
Creating separate markets for renewable and fossil-fuel generated electricity, so renewable energy prices can be set independently from gas.
Reforming the capacity market to increase low-carbon flexibility technologies that are more responsive to changes in demand and supply, such as electricity storage.
rudebhoy
Q-School Graduate
It's not 4 times less efficient though, is it?
PJ87
Journeyman Pro
It depends. If you have a heat pump set up correctly modern heat pumps are at least 350% efficient IE 1kw goes in 3.5kw of energy goes out
Where as gas is about 88% I believe off top of my head as some is lost
cliveb
Head Pro
I fully support the decoupling of electricity prices from that of gas.
But what confuses me is this: if the price of electricity is based on the price of gas, how come it's 4 times the price to the consumer? Surely generating electricity from gas can't be that inefficient?
So is the government subsidising gas for the consumer? I suspect not, since the Octopus Tracker rate for gas (which is determined by the daily wholesale price) is typically about 60% of the standard cap. If the Ofgem cap requires a subsidy, the Tracker rate wouldn't be lower than the cap. Would genuinely like to know the cause of this apparent inconsistency.
jim8flog
Journeyman Pro
This was part of the move away from generating electricity from coal but the lack of foresight from previous governments means that we are stuck with it for many years to come.
New nuclear power stations should have been started 25 years ago.
However even in Countries which have a lot of Nuclear e.g France they still have seen big increases in charges.
PJ87
Journeyman Pro
This country has a real issue with changing the norm. So many people against wind farms and solar farms "they ruin the view" even though the view is manufactured by farming over the years anyways .. and pilons been around decades
I mean we have battery story being built in Havering and people are up in arms about "the scenery" even tho the local area will benefit
So much lack of understanding about them aswell. Solar farms most of time are on land unsuitable for farming at present or animals actually benefit from them (use them for shade and graze around them)
But you know got to get rid of the green stuff and just burn our way to an early grave (then moan about the weather being so much different)
Golfmmad
Tour Winner
Had a new boiler fitted last year. Today got an email from British Gas to say that my yearly service ends in February and I will have to arrange a service with a registered gas engineer. And it ends: "Just so you know, you had your first years service when the boiler was installed".
Hang on a minute, how can that be? A service at installation??
They will be getting a call tomorrow to find out what the heck they mean!
Hang on a minute, how can that be? A service at installation??
They will be getting a call tomorrow to find out what the heck they mean!
cliveb
Head Pro
What we need to say to these nimbys is this:
"You can have the view, or electricity in your house. Not both. Please choose".
D-S
Well-known member
Not entirely relevant to this thread but this article is interesting about newer generations of heat pumps, certainly this was new to me.
Will hotter heat pumps win over homeowners?
Could a new generation of heat pumps overcome British fears that they can't heat a home.
www.bbc.co.uk
Mudball
Assistant Pro
Not entirely relevant to this thread but this article is interesting about newer generations of heat pumps, certainly this was new to me.
Will hotter heat pumps win over homeowners?
Could a new generation of heat pumps overcome British fears that they can't heat a home.www.bbc.co.uk
We are with Octopus... and doing some extensions. So keen to look at Heat Pumps. Got a quote for about 4.5k.
However, i would be more inclined to have a hybrid heat pump - gas combi heating situation. That way heat pump can heat till 40-50 degrees while gas takes it to 70 degrees. Not many doing it at the moment. Have written to Octopus to find out if they can.
Talking of NIMBYs... my local area voted down proposal to install mobile cell tower on an crossroads - since it hampers the view. But never shy of letting off a bit of steam about poor mobile reception in the area.
