What time night meter kicks in?

masterboy123

Hi,

I have day and night electricity meters.
What time the night meter kicks in to use the cheaper electricity?

brightspark

11pm-8am during Wintertime.
12 midnight to 9am Summertime.

(The timeclocks don't go forward/back when the rest of us change)

masterboy123

Holy moly..i thought the night meter starts at 8 PM these days and we were using washing machine, heating after 8 PM...

brightspark wrote: »

11pm-8am during Wintertime.
12 midnight to 9am Summertime.

(The timeclocks don't go forward/back when the rest of us change)

brightspark

Should be a clock beside the meter

From the pic of your meter in the other thread, I see that there is an indicator just to the right of the 1/10 red units, if it's up you are on day meter, down night meter.

masterboy123

Can't see any clock. There are other 9 meters of this building beside our meter.

brightspark wrote: »

Should be a clock beside the meter

karolmc100

Can someone tell me what does it cost to install a night saver meter and how much do you need to be using to justify
installing one

..Brian..

masterboy123 wrote: »

Hi,

I have day and night electricity meters.
What time the night meter kicks in to use the cheaper electricity?

Brightspark is correct.

11pm-8am during Wintertime.
12 midnight to 9am Summertime.

Wintertime is from the end of October to the end of March. Summertime end of March to end of October. ie, when the clock go back or forward.

karolmc100 wrote: »

Can someone tell me what does it cost to install a night saver meter and how much do you need to be using to justify
installing one

There is no charge for changing from a 24 hour meter to a nightsaver meter. You request it via your electricity supplier. However if you find you were better off on a 24 hour meter it will cost the bones of €200 to switch back.

Normally, unless you have night storage heating, you're better off on 24 hour meter. On a nightsaver meter you'll be paying a higher unit rate during the day and a higher standing charge. This is offset by the night units being about half price of the day units.

To find out if this is a viable option for you, you will need to do a bit of homework.

If you go out to your meter at 11pm. Make a note of the meter reading.
Go out to your meter at 8am, make a note of your meter reading. Subtract the first from the second and you have your consumption for the night.

Do the same thing the next night and when you take your reading at 11pm, you can work out your day consumption (the difference in the reading from 8am to 11pm).

Rinse and repeat for a few days under normal usage and you will get a rough average.

Now simply do the maths.

If you're using 10 units in a 24 hours period and (this will depend on who your electricity supplier is, but it will scale accordingly and will serve well as a demonstration) you're on Electric Ireland's standard unit rate (€0.1931 for a 24 hours meter. €0.2062 for day and €0.1019 for night on a nightsaver meter), you can work it out as follows;

• 10 units @ €0.1931 = €1.93
• Standing charge €0.3825 per day

Total charge €2.31 per day excluding PSO levy. 24 hour meter


Now if you're using the same 10 units in a 24 period and 7 units are during day hours and 3 units are during nights hours it looks like this;

• 7 units @ €0.2062 = €1.44
• 3 units @ €0.1019 - €0.31
• Standing charge €0.53 per day

Total charge €2.28 per day excluding PSO levy. Nightsaver

Blow that up to a 30 day month and you get;

24 hour meter €69.30 per month
Nightsaver meter €68.40 per month.

Plus €3.57 per month for your PSO levy (Public Service Obligation levy, ie tax)

Now all of the above is based on 30% of your consumption being consumed between 11pm and 8am. At 30% it's about even-stevens, there is a savings to be made, but in the above example it only €12 per year. This is where you need to find out how much you use at night. If you're only using 10% of your daily consumption at night, it's obviously a pointless exercises. If you're using 50% if your consumption at night, then it starts to look more attractive.