[derekb]

What a nightmare! I like to think I'm pretty auxfait with all things programmable - clocks, DVR's, microwaves, phones but I can't make sense of the user interface for editing the charge schedule - can you?

I had a simple schedule set for off peak 12.00am to 0700 and peak 0700 to 1200am.

I want to change it to 12.30am. You can only edit the finish time so easy I thought just edit the Peak finish time to 12.30am but you cant! (I guess because it sees an overlap with the off peak start at 12.00am?).

Just humour me and give it go eh?

 

[Bruce Tanner]

Same here - I'm generally a ”techie” but it confused me for quite a while!

The key thing is to realise it always starts at midnight. So you need to set 12:00-12:30am as peak, 12:30-07:00am as off-peak, and 07:00-12:00am as peak. It will create/delete extra ”zones” as needed.

 

[derekb]

aah what you're saying is a zone can't cross midnight?

 

[Bruce Tanner]

Yes, when that penny finally dropped it became much easier!

 

[Richard Gledhill]

No individual zone can cross midnight so you have to do it using two zones...

 

[derekb]

Bruce you're a star! Its all fallen into place (and I've just tried it).
"No Zone can cross midnight" is indeed the key. So I now have 3 zones - Peak 12.00am to 12.30am, off peak 12.30am to 07.00 then another Peak 07.00 to 12.00am.
The trouble is as you're trying it and getting it wrong it adds zones and until the penny drops (or rather until you told me) you stumble on and you end up with 5 or 6 apparently random zones that you can't delete.
Finally armed with your "No Zone can cross midnight" tip and starting methodically from midnight I got them right and it then knows to delete the unnecessary zones leaving me with three.
I had an Economy 7 meter fitted yesterday so now off to change supplier (wish me luck....)

 

[Bruce Tanner]

Well I only knew the answer because I''ve recently had economy fitted myself! Switched to Good Energy a couple of years ago and can't fault them. Their off peak time in summer is 1:30 to 8:30 which is conveniently late in the morning

 

[Richard Gledhill]

I went through the exact same lightbulb moment I've been on Economy 7 for years; our dishwasher and tumble dryer are on time switches to run in the middle of the night. We're with Scottish Power who are very cheap for Economy 7 and seem ok so far. The off peak time all year round is (I think) 11pm to 8:30am.

 

[derekb]

Bruce I just had a look at that Good Energy - love the 08.30 off peak time that really means you could actually use some electricity off peak (other than charging your car) however they seem really expensive.
Richard - I've always wondered about using a tumble dryer on a timer doesn't it mean you have to load it up with wet clothes that sit there or is that not a problem?

 

[Richard Gledhill]

No problem at all - they'll have been spun in the washing machine first anyway so are very damp, not dripping wet...

 

[SteepJim]

I just checked with Good Energy and my Economy hours (Hampshire) are midnight to 7.00am. However, the meter clock is still on GMT which means it is effectively 1.00 am to 8.00am. Its good to know that my kettle is boiling on cheap rate in the morning, but I will have to reset my charging timer on the car!

 

[Bruce Tanner]

Before I switched to Good Energy the supplier was nPower . At the time the (non-economy 7) unit price was about the same but the quartly standing charge was slightly more expensive, but only a few £. Since then I've gone on E7 and had one price rise so I don't know how it compares now. I'm happy to pay a bit extra for the knowledge that I'm driving around on 100% renewable energy though (nearly all my Ampera miles are electric).

Richard I would double check those times - the 7 in Economy 7 means 7 hours off-peak! Some suppliers do Economy 10 though.

 

[Richard Gledhill]

I think the notion of 7 hours is rather variable and arbitrary these days to be honest - it's whatever hours they feel like offering.

 

[Lee Dalton]

I'm glad I don't use these delayed charging schedules ! Far to complicated