I have a smart meter and am on economy. 10 tariff. My electric underfloor heating and immersion are connected to the meter via a consumer unit connected to port 5 and the rest of the electric useage is via a separate consumer. unit connected to port 1. The meter switches correctly to energize port 5 at the proper times, and port 1 is energized 24 /7. My question is when the meter energizes port 5 and I am charged off peak rate is the energy being consumed via port 1 being charged at the off peak rate as well or is everything still split by the meter so 1 is only ever charged at peak and 5 is only charged at off peak or is everything charged at the off peak rate and then when 5 gets switched off as per tarrif the meter charges everything still on at peak?
I have a question about my smart meter and off peak tariff
Best answer by Firedog
… if we leave the washing machine tumble dryer etc until after 1-00pm we wondered whether we would be washing at cheap rate instead of the morning on peak rate …
Yep, that’s one of the big advantages of the E10 plan - you can do all sorts of stuff at cheap rate during the daytime offpeak periods.
A word of caution: the switch to offpeak won’t happen on the dot (you wrote 1-00pm). Every meter has a unique built-in delay of a few minutes (theoretically 1 - 30 minutes, but normally in practice less than 15) just to make sure that a lot of heavy loads on a possibly dodgy network branch don’t fire up at the same instant. You should watch carefully to see just how big your meter’s delay is so you remember not to switch the dryer (or iron or electric shower ...) on until the switch to offpeak has actually taken place. The delay happens at the other end of the period as well, so you have a few minutes’ grace after say 4-00pm to finish the hoovering before peak rate starts again.
The late evening session has similar advantages: you could for example have a fan heater in the bedroom to get it warm and cosy before bedtime and possibly again in the morning if your first session is 4-30 - 7-30am. You could even use smart plugs to automate switching the heater and electric blanket on before bed for real indulgence.
+7- Super User
This is the way it’s supposed to work: at the start of an offpeak period, the meter’s internal switch (the ALCS) turns on power to the heating equipment on port 5, the meter stops recording on its peak rate register and starts recording on the offpeak register. So yes, all consumption during offpeak hours is billed at offpeak rates. A single-element meter can only record what is passing through it on one register at once.
We have seen a few cases where this isn’t the case with new installations, because of an initial mismatch between the ALCS timings and the tariff switching timings. The fault is usually corrected quickly by remote control.
Why do you ask?
the eco 10 rate gives us 3 hours off peak in the afternoon so if we leave the washing machine tumble dryer etc until after 1-00pm we wondered whether we would be washing at cheap rate instead of the morning on peak rate even though the kitchen appliances are connected to the consumer unit fed by port 1.
+7- Super User
- Solved
… if we leave the washing machine tumble dryer etc until after 1-00pm we wondered whether we would be washing at cheap rate instead of the morning on peak rate …
Yep, that’s one of the big advantages of the E10 plan - you can do all sorts of stuff at cheap rate during the daytime offpeak periods.
A word of caution: the switch to offpeak won’t happen on the dot (you wrote 1-00pm). Every meter has a unique built-in delay of a few minutes (theoretically 1 - 30 minutes, but normally in practice less than 15) just to make sure that a lot of heavy loads on a possibly dodgy network branch don’t fire up at the same instant. You should watch carefully to see just how big your meter’s delay is so you remember not to switch the dryer (or iron or electric shower ...) on until the switch to offpeak has actually taken place. The delay happens at the other end of the period as well, so you have a few minutes’ grace after say 4-00pm to finish the hoovering before peak rate starts again.
The late evening session has similar advantages: you could for example have a fan heater in the bedroom to get it warm and cosy before bedtime and possibly again in the morning if your first session is 4-30 - 7-30am. You could even use smart plugs to automate switching the heater and electric blanket on before bed for real indulgence.
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