Night time tariff

monkeysnapper

Not sure if this is in right place, do many of you have your electricity tariff on night time , and does it save you much or any money doing this. I ask because I'm thinking of switching to this but with working very early in morning ill need to put timers on washing machines / Emerson heaters ect . I wouldn't be up past 10pm most nights never mind 11pm .

Sorry again if this is in wrong forum

Davy

You can save money, but you need to make an effort to switch your usage over to the night-time hours. The % you need will depend on your annual Kwh consumption. Their is a slightly higher standing charge that applies also over a single tariff meter, about €50 extra over 12 months. Also if you want to switch back, I think their is a change of roughly €190 so its not something to rush into.

frankmul

In order to make the change to night saver worthwhile you need to use an average of 3 units a night. You can check what you are doing at the moment by reading you meter before you go to bed and around 8 in the morning. The difference is the amount of electricity you have used. Do this for a week or so and it will give you an idea if you will make a saving or how much you need to do in order to make a saving. You maybe surprised how much electricity you are using at night.

mchammer

frankmul wrote: »

You maybe surprised how much electricity you are using at night.

I am currently on the night time tarriff - i have a geothermal heatpump which is pretty heavy on juice so i run it at night time exclusively... I'm always on the lookout for ways to cut back on the esb bill as it can get pretty high during the winter with the heat on etc..
I came across this vid on youtube where the guy is basically harnessing the power at night time and storing in deep cycle batteries for use during the day for selected appliances. It works as a backup system too if the mains goes down. Its pretty nifty in farness and just thought i'd share it and see if anyone has done anything similar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka0MfipmdBw

M cebee

i was thinking about that recently
charging batteries at nite for day use
think you need a good sine wave inverter for general use tv's and the like

Dardania

what's the payback period?

M cebee

k

Dardania wrote: »

what's the payback period?

will depend on how much it's used

mchammer

M cebee wrote: »

k
will depend on how much it's used

He mentions payback in less than 2 years.. not sure if he does in this vid, but have been subscribed to his vids for a bit and I recall hearing that... hard to believe but I guess if u use it everyday it should save quite a bit.. the capacity of the inverter makes a huge difference as once you go over a kw or 2 for inverters the price increase is exponential...

frankmul

Is the efficiency of battery's not around 60 - 70%. This might make it hard to justify doing this.

M cebee

frankmul wrote: »

Is the efficiency of battery's not around 60 - 70%. This might make it hard to justify doing this.

it would alright if the efficiency on the conversion was that low
+ initial cost and maintenance
i assumed it would be higher

mchammer

Good FAQ for deep cycle batteries here...


http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Battery_FAQ.htm

Typical efficiency in a lead-acidbattery is 85-95%, in alkaline and NiCad battery it is about 65%. True deep cycleAGM's (such as Concorde) can approach 98% under optimum conditions, but those conditions are seldom found so you should figure as a general rule about a 10% to 20% total power loss when sizing batteries and battery banks. Newer Lithium-Ion batteries have efficiencies of over 90% under ideal conditions, but drops rapidly under less than ideal charge/discharge conditions.

jprboy

Definite savings to be made but it all depends on how you go about it. Rough estimate but we have made savings of at least 25% since going with the night time tariff. In our house:

• Like mchammer also have heat pump. Unless the weather is very cold this is only ever on at night
• Heat pump is off during summer so then immersion for hot water and only ever on at night
• Dishwasher* - mainly used at night time
• Washing machine* - trying to use it mainly at night but needs a bit more planning and communication between me and OH
• Clothes dryer* - minimal use and then try, if possible, to only use at night
• Overnight light on landing is energy efficient

*Health & Safety warning - all appliances carry a potential fire risk, albeit low. At the very least make sure you have working smoke alarms in all rooms.

monkeysnapper

jprboy wrote: »

w. At the very least make sure you have working smoke alarms in all rooms.

Yes this is a point we have also discussed , thanks