Clocks going forward, cold weather ending: your NightSaver meter/storage heater(s)!

EI: Una

Attention NightSaver customers! With the clocks going forward by one hour this weekend, it is worth bearing in mind how this will affect the cheaper night rate hours, and (if you have them installed) night storage heaters.

In winter-time, customers on a NightSaver tariff can avail of cheaper (or "off peak") electricity from 11pm to 8am. This weekend we enter "summertime" so the night-rate hours go forward too, changing to midnight until 9am. This will happen automatically, however if you heat water during off-peak hours (e.g. in the case of dairy farmers and Gold Shield homes) you may need to adjust your own time-clocks that control your water heaters. Also remember you can benefit by using the tumble-dryer, washing-machine or dishwasher before 9am.

If you are not a NightSaver customer and are thinking you could benefit from this tariff, the good news is that the meter is free to install.*
As a rule of thumb, to make a saving on this tariff, roughly a quarter of your usage would need to be concentrated during the night-rate period - this would equate to three or four units with average usage of 14 units per day (or 5,300kWh annually). What would use up 3-4 units? The below diagram is a useful starting point, showing what a single unit covers.



With the weather gradually starting to get warmer (well, hopefully!) your heating needs will also change. If you have standard storage heaters (which would usually be "synced" with a NightSaver tariff) one energy-saving tip is to keep your output control setting at 1, and lower the heat "input" control as the weather improves.

But what are storage heaters you ask, and how do they work? This can vary depending on make and model, so we cannot provide one-size-fits-all operational guidelines, but generally speaking, storage heaters generate heat during the night-rate hours and release this "stored" heat throughout the following day. Usually they have two controls: a charge control (often called "input") which controls the amount of heat stored, and the draught control (often called "output") which controls the rate at which heat is released. These controls are user-operated.

Don’t forget that our Appliance Calculator can provide accurate details on various types of heaters, and how much they cost you. You can download it for Android and iPhone, and there’s also an online version here.


* If you have a digital meter, the NightSaver mode need only be activated - no physical replacement of the meter is necessary.