ESB Nightsaver?

RicardoSmith

Anyone using ESB night saver? I was told I need another meter, an increase to €18 for standing charges before I can use it. Then you need to be using more than 1500 units a month before you'll see savings. But personally I think our bills are quite high and how can using a cheaper rate at night not reduce our bill?

Anyone know where I can see the info on the esb site. I couldn't find it.

Specky

It's the same electricity...but you just need a meter that records the amounts you use during the day and the amounts you use at night seperately.

I don't have it because we're not mad electricity users anyway but I'd say you'd want to leave it to later in the year if you want to see a noticeable improvement. Bright evenings, warm weather, spending more time away from home etc, all factors which should make your summer bills lower anyway.

Usually the big eaters of electricity are electric cookers, electric heaters and tumble dryers. They're all pretty inefficient. Thing is you need about the same amount of energy to heat your house with electricity as you would with gas or oil or solid fuel, so it boils down to the cheapest fuel...and there probably isn't much in that short term.

If, however, you can reduce the amount of energy required to heat your house then you will save regardless of the fuel you use. Obviously good insulation makes a difference but you could also look at alternative forms of energy to supplement the stuff you buy. Roof mounting solar panels or heat exchangers under your lawn sound a bit "tomorrow's world" but they aren't actually all that expensive if you're looking at making an investment in your property for the medium to long term. It can be expensive to retro-fit energy management systems into old houses but on newer houses it can be relatively easy.

RicardoSmith

We have gas, we don't use the lecky for heating. Other than the use of an immersion occasionally. We've got a new dryer. I reckon that could be the cause of it.

Specky

yep. I'd say you're right. Dryers should be "emergency-only" devices unless you enjoy handing over parge portions of your salary to the ESB.

Borzoi

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
We have gas, we don't use the lecky for heating. Other than the use of an immersion occasionally.

Having a night saver meter really only makes sense if you have elerctic night storage heaters, and it still makes it an expensive heating system

But Specky is right tumble driers are huge lecky users

RicardoSmith

But surely running devices like washing machines, dishwashers and even the dryer if you have to at night should be cheaper?

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
But surely running devices like washing machines, dishwashers and even the dryer if you have to at night should be cheaper?

Yes it is cheaper. That's what the ESB want you to do:)

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by Bond-007
Yes it is cheaper. That's what the ESB want you to do:)

Then why would they tell me whe I rang to switch to it that I wouldn't make any savings switching to it because my usage is so low. My wallet doesn't think its low.

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
Then why would they tell me whe I rang to switch to it that I wouldn't make any savings switching to it because my usage is so low. My wallet doesn't think its low.

Don't mind them and ask them to change you over. If you are prepared to wash and dry your clothes at night then you will deffo save money.

Samba

Just a little warning, my flat m8, being the headless chicken that he so often is did the following.

He would be away during the week and back on the weekends, there were many a morning I awoke and stepped out into the hallway contemplating how on earth it was so Cosy!

Much to my disgust, the idiot was leaving his heater on from the Friday - Friday, 24/7.

This particular heater was an electric and not storage.

The Bill for a period of 4 months amounted to the guts of €700.
(natually this was during the winter months)

Best thing to do with those heaters (most of them are storage) is to flick them on at the start of Nightsaving time (8pm?) and they should give you heat for the rest of the day from electricity used during the cheaper hours. The difference in price is very noticebable somthing like 11 for peak and 4 c per unit off, you can call ESB and ask them to send you out a handy little energy use guide, i.e how many units what appliance uses etc.


Back to the topic, generally the off peak and peak service is provided to those in Apartment blocks, where Electric heaters are mostly used

ThreadKiller

Originally posted by Specky
yep. I'd say you're right. Dryers should be "emergency-only" devices unless you enjoy handing over parge portions of your salary to the ESB.

Not necessarilly, we use our dryer a couple of times a week & our bill isn't unreasonable

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by Bond-007
Don't mind them and ask them to change you over. If you are prepared to wash and dry your clothes at night then you will deffo save money.

I'm normally up late anyway.

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by Bond-007
Don't mind them and ask them to change you over. If you are prepared to wash and dry your clothes at night then you will deffo save money.

BTW it works from 12 midnight to 9am in the summer and 11pm to 8 am in the winter.

De Rebel

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
But surely running devices like washing machines, dishwashers and even the dryer if you have to at night should be cheaper?

Its also dangerous. Tumble driers have been known to catch fire. Should never put those on when you are in bed. Goes for a lot of other electrical devices as well.

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by De Rebel
Its also dangerous. Tumble driers have been known to catch fire. Should never put those on when you are in bed. Goes for a lot of other electrical devices as well.

Its a pretty rare occurance that. I've never heard of one going on fire. Do you have any stats on that?

De Rebel

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
Its a pretty rare occurance that. I've never heard of one going on fire. Do you have any stats on that?

I know of 3. All modern, all recognised brand names. Thats stats enough for me.

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by De Rebel
I know of 3. All modern, all recognised brand names. Thats stats enough for me.

Do you have particularly unlucky friends? I've never heard of it. Heard of things being burnt out etc, but none ever actually going on fire. So thats 3 electrical fires eh? I wonder do they all know a dodgey electrican?

De Rebel

The tenor of your response is that you believe that I am lying. I'm not. Dealing with each of your sneering points in turn...

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
Do you have particularly unlucky friends?

One is my elderly mother. One is a friend of hers. Other is a work acquaintance. I wouldn't regard any of them as particularly unlucky.

I've never heard of it.

Well now you have.

Heard of things being burnt out etc, but none ever actually going on fire.

Sample pictures here and here

So thats 3 electrical fires eh?

Yes.

I wonder do they all know a dodgey electrican?

I don't know why you felt it necessary to add that, but I'll treat it with the contempt you deserve.

RicardoSmith

Someone needs a hug......

slave1

I go the nightsaver in at the end of March.

My first bill included 1 month of using a storage heater in my garage conversion.
The washing machine goes on only at night rate (every night), same for dishwasher (every 3rd night) and dryer (here and there, not in the last month or so though).
Immersion is on a timer 5.30-8.30 in the AM.
Electric showers are 90% at night rate.
Taking into account the extra rental I saved €52 on the first two monthly bill.

The only big user of day rate I am left with is the cooker/microwave/kettle
BTW with storage heaters you can rent a timer than ensures they only work on night rate, about a yo yo for 2 months.

ChipZilla

Originally posted by De Rebel
Its also dangerous. Tumble driers have been known to catch fire. Should never put those on when you are in bed. Goes for a lot of other electrical devices as well.

When he was a kid, a friend of mine's mother used to tell him the immersion would blow up if he left the switch on.:o

Specky

Yes this does appear to show evidence of fires that occured in tumble driers but the instance of properly functioning electrical appliances, properly installed and being used in accordance with their waranty catching fire are very rare.

Tumble driers are a potential source of fire because it is their job to get hot, and as a result they draw a lot of current.

The high current causes the cable feeding power to the appliance to heat up, and if the correct type of cable is not used this can catch fire or can cause flamable objects in its vacinity to catch fire.

Sometimes, where high current appliances like driers are installed in unsuitable places they keep blowing the fuse/circuit breaker (a device designed to prevent excess current and therefore to prevent fires). This results in silly people changing the fure for a larger one until the "problem" goes away.

The relatively high power requirements of a drier or similar appliance do cause a considerable amount of "wear and tear" on the electrical parts within the appliance and it is possible that old appliances may become dangerous. The frequency of service for such appliances should be proportionate to your degree of nervousness. They probably aren't going to spontaneously combust on you but if you think they might then put your mind at ease and replace of service.

Also if something with a low flash point is inadverantly left in the drier (some paper, a tissue etc etc) this can start to smoulder, cause a hot spot, and ignite the other materials in the drier.

I don't want to be pedantic or anything but one of those examples was from Australia (which is a different continent with different electrical safety regulations) and the other two were from nursing homes (which have very high powered driers that are very heavily used because of the quantity of laundry done each day). It would appear (don't have time to read these in minute detail) that in the cases of the UK fires these were caused by something in the drier catching light. This is more likely to be a result of a low temperature combustible material being left in the drier, the drier being overloaded or the temperature setting being incorrectly adjusted than any electrical or mechanical fault with the appliance itself.

In summary, I would be reluctant to leave electrical appliances running unnattended where there is a possibility that some human error might cause them to malfunction without supervision to notice the problem before it escalates.

I do not think that RicardoSmith's comments regarding not heard of such instances, you (or your acquaintances) being very unlucky or that you should look at your electrician are so unreasonable as to warrant the attack he received. Surely your world is not so small as to think that your series of misshaps are the normal way of things and that we should all abandon the use of the demon electricity as a result of your experiences?

RicardoSmith

What sort of timer did you get for the immersion? Would like one of those.

We only use the drier for a few minutes with clothes that are already partially dried. So I wouldn't be using it at night that much. The main things would be the washing machine and the dishwasher.

slave1

What sort of timer did you get for the immersion? Would like one of those.

Couldn't tell you name/model off the top of me head, I told the nice electricity man what I wanted and he installed it for me, I can't tell you how much either 'cause I got a lot of other work done at the same time.

Phone any electrical wholesaler and they will guide you better.

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by slave1
Couldn't tell you name/model off the top of me head, I told the nice electricity man what I wanted and he installed it for me, I can't tell you how much either 'cause I got a lot of other work done at the same time.

Phone any electrical wholesaler and they will guide you better.

No worries. I think I saw them in B&Q

De Rebel

Boy am i regretting my initial post. I know three people who had tumble dryers go on fire. I saw a thread about leaving tumble dryers on overnight. I thought it might be of use to others to add my experience.. That was all.

I have no wish to drag this out. Specky obviously took some trouble to prepare a considered post and it warrants at least a brief response:

I accept that the two cases in the photos deal with specific circumstances. I did not set out to provide a comprehensive analysis of tumble dryer fires. I was addressing somebody's skepticism ("I've never heard of it")and simply wanted to provide some evidence that such an event can occur. Those were the first 2 photographs that appeared when i entered "tumble dryer fire" in google.

I'm not trying to be smart here but I think Specky echoes, in much more eloquent terms, my original concern when he says "In summary, I would be reluctant to leave electrical appliances running unattended where there is a possibility that some human error might cause them to malfunction without supervision to notice the problem before it escalates."

I'm happy to leave it at that.

shoegirl

I recommend you visit the ESB site and work out roughly how many units you use. There is also advice on how much uses what. So if you can use the washer, drier and other expensive to run electrics only at night you'll probably save a packet.

Nightsaver though is really suited to folks with electric storage heating.

rolo454

NightSaver DAY hours: 08:00am - 23:00pm (GMT) NightSaver NIGHT hours: 23:00pm - 08:00am (wintertime); NightSaver DAY hours: 09:00am - midnight NightSaver NIGHT hours: Midnight - 09:00am (summertime)

Source: https://www.esbelectricireland.ie/switchchange/elecExisting.htm?execution=e1s1#six

Calahonda52

Seems they can't make up their mind

https://www.electricireland.com/residential/help/billing/i-have-a-day-night-meter-what-time-does-the-night-rate-start
The Night Rate applies 7 Days a week from 12AM – 7AM or 1AM – 8AM (GMT)
7 hours
vs
https://www.electricireland.ie/news-media/article/news/2014/05/21/all-you-need-to-know-about-the-nightsaver-meter
In winter-time, customers on a NightSaver tariff can avail of cheaper (or "off peak") electricity from 11pm to 8am. In summer-time (right now – and up to when the clocks go back in late October) the night-rate hours are midnight until 9am.

9 hours

I was told today by an energy consultant that there is no longer any summer time wintertime shift so am puzzled.

nosilver

13 year thread resurrected

Is this a boards record?

Stheno

nosilver wrote: »

13 year thread resurrected

Is this a boards record?

Nope

EndaHonesty

Resurrected first in 2011 after a 7 year sleep.

Resurrected for the second time in 2017 after a 6 year sleep. A pattern is forming.

See you all here in 2022... :pac: