Night rate meter etc

Padraig Mor

I'll be picking up my new Leaf nest Tuesday and need to sort how much I'll be paying for electricity! I presume most people are using lower night rate electricity - and to avail of this, I need a new Day / Night meter? Is this only installed by ESB Networks (i.e. not a consumer electricity vendor)? AFAIK there used to be a charge to install one, but it's currently free? Does this lock me into a contract of any sort, or can I change my electricity provider immediately? And what sort of rates are people paying? We currently use about 4400kWh electricity per year - is installing the meter 'worth it' for us, given that I expect to do half or more of my charging at work?

Sorry for all the questions!

cros13

You order the meter from your customer supply company and the order is then submitted by them to ESB Networks.

There is no charge to move to a night rate meter but there is a charge to move back if you need to.

Airtricity charge around 7.8c per unit discounted on the night rate and your day rate goes up by 1 cent. Unless you are running a home office during the day you will definitely save money.

Padraig Mor

Padraig Mor wrote: »

We currently use about 4400kWh electricity per year - is installing the meter 'worth it' for us, given that I expect to do half or more of my charging at work?

How do you use so much leccy ? my usage was about 2,000 Kwh before the leaf or about 6.5 kwh per day.

Since about February my daily consumption has gone up to about 14.5 kwh.

Use the washing machine/dishwasher at night and I set the immersion from 6-7 before the day rate kicks in saving more.

I pay per month by bord gais and pay per month based on the average. about 18 C day and 8 cent at night.

Unfortunately when I'm on nights I've to charge at peak times during the day but work are finally installing the charge point ! though could be another 3 months before it's ready the way things go in here !

Padraig Mor

[Deleted User] wrote: »

How do you use so much leccy ? my usage was about 2,000 Kwh before the leaf or about 6.5 kwh per day

I think you're more frugal than most! I can't remember the exact figures, but I'm pretty sure our 4400 kWh is a decent bit below the national average. Family of four (and occupied during day) - not sure how that compares to you.

Padraig Mor

Padraig Mor wrote: »

I think you're more frugal than most! I can't remember the exact figures, but I'm pretty sure our 4400 kWh is a decent bit below the national average. Family of four (and occupied during day) - not sure how that compares to you.

2 Adults and 1 almost 14 month old .

Still can't imagine using twice the leccy though ?

pwurple

We've two adults and 2 children, average yearly usage was 3600 units, so about 10Kwh per day. Don't have any bill since we got the car mind you, so no doubt it's gone up. House is has a shockingly low BER though, so I know it's not efficient.

Energy usage in the house will be vastly different per home. Appliances like older fridges can use heaps of power. We borrowed an OWL energy monitor for a while. We had a few appliances that were sucking power. Electric showers instead of pumped ones... even light bulbs. All that stuff adds up.

Yeah I don't understand people that have electric showers over pumped ones instead because it wastes tremendous amounts of energy heating the water when you can pump it from your hot water tank, we use the oil most of the year for heating which provides more than enough hot water.

This house is efficient and if the Sun shines in in winter it holds a good bit of heat for the night, it is small though and mid terrace.

What do you use for heating ?

About 500-600 A year heats the house with oil. I hate Gas, if you don't use it you still have to pay rental.

pwurple

For heating, we've got a weird legacy system. A back boiler which can be manually switched to oil. So, our fireplace can heat the radiators, as well as our oil boiler.

I prefer gas. Oil has a heap of disadvantages. Having to dip the tank, people can (and do!) rob the bloody stuff by siphoning it off. Oil tank can get damaged and leak, destroying the foundations of a house. I prefer a gas hob for cooking as well. Much faster than electric.

Solar panels are the job for heating hot water though. It's scaldingly hot at the moment.

Ps, just switched electricity providers. Panda Power, their quote was far cheaper than anything else on the market for a night meter.
Quote yesterday was
Day rate 14c per unit
Night rate 7c per unit
Standing charge 46c per day
They claimed 100% renewable sourcing (including "recycling" dubliner's domestic waste into electricity)

Airtricity were
Day rate 17c per unit
Night rate 8.6c per unit
Standing charge 57.24c per day. And that was with a years contract and all their discounts for ebilling, dd etc.

cros13

pwurple wrote: »

Solar panels are the job for heating hot water though. It's scaldingly hot at the moment.

Solar Thermal doesn't make any financial sense since the Solar PV prices dropped.

Their lifespan is too short, sometimes as little as 5 years, especially considering a standard two panel evacuated tube setup costs as much as 6KW of Solar PV.
Whether flat panel or evacuated tube they are too susceptible to damage from hail or other weather
They only produce hot water, in a largely uncontrollable quantity.

Solar PV gives you electricity... which is much more flexible in it's use.
The panels usually last 20 years or more.
The panels are highly resistant to hail and adverse weather

cros13

pwurple wrote: »

Ps, just switched electricity providers. Panda Power, their quote was far cheaper than anything else on the market for a night meter.

I'm afraid you are looking at the wrong rates, you quoted the ex. VAT for Panda and the inc. VAT for Airtricity as well as rounding down the Panda rate and rounding up the Airtricity. The real night rates difference is 0.45c per unit (8.08c vs 8.53c) and the standing charge is lower on Panda by between €5 and €15 per year rural/urban on a night meter.

Panda is still the cheapest.... but only by a little... and not for me because I get a 7.4c multi-property rate from Airtricity.

pwurple

That's what I get for talking to people on the phone instead of checking written rats. That's actually fairly annoying. Grr.

Era, it's still the cheapest I guess... But I don't like being misled on the phone.

GreyDad

[Deleted User] wrote: »

2 Adults and 1 almost 14 month old .

Still can't imagine using twice the leccy though ?

Just wait til you've got two teenagers

GreyDad

GreyDad wrote: »

Just wait til you've got two teenagers

lol, even so I can't understand how you could use "Twice" the leccy we use ?

Ok I use a fair chunk of leccy now not to mention all the free juice I get from the fast chargers.

GreyDad

Double your 2-adult washing machine, dishwasher, hot water and lighting costs (they don't understand the concept of 'off') and throw in twice as many computers, TV's and add games machines you never had before. Easy.

Oh, and you'll need to double your fridge and freezer capacity to store all the extra food they eat.

Enjoy the 'calm before the storm' of any child under 5

LOL ok. At least we now have the night meter !

GreyDad

You'll need more solar

Enough for small town I'd suggest

pwurple

GreyDad wrote: »

Enjoy the 'calm before the storm' of any child under 5

Oh sweet jesus, don't say that. I'm run ragged with children under school age. It's supposed to get easier!

GreyDad

pwurple wrote: »

Oh sweet jesus, don't say that. I'm run ragged with children under school age. It's supposed to get easier!

Errrr.... :rolleyes::(

unkel

GreyDad wrote: »

Double your 2-adult washing machine, dishwasher, hot water and lighting costs (they don't understand the concept of 'off') and throw in twice as many computers, TV's and add games machines you never had before. Easy.

Oh, and you'll need to double your fridge and freezer capacity to store all the extra food they eat.

Enjoy the 'calm before the storm' of any child under 5

Double or treble or more, indeed

And thank feck I have a pumped shower system and replaced my gas boiler recently for an extremely efficient German condensing boiler, before my 3 girls turn into forever showering teenagers!

I like your username BTW

GreyDad

unkel wrote: »

... before my 3 girls turn into forever showering teenagers!

With 2 boys that is one problem I most certainly do not have...

I like your username BTW

Thank you - it's actually a pun on the 90's rock band Gay Dad

I think a lesson in water and energy conservation wouldn't go astray !!!

Better yet, make then contribute to the bills or a PAYG meter, if they want leccy put money in the meter, I guarantee bills would drop fast !

GreyDad

Deleted User wrote: »

I think a lesson in water and energy conservation wouldn't go astray !!!

Bwahahahaha!! These are teenagers we're talking about remember