Is Night Rate a No Brainer or Does it Depend?

mmclo

So I've just joined the club 161 24KW LEAF

Nightsaver electricity does seem like an obvious move but I suspect I'd be lightish user and there are only a few other devices I could arrange to be used during the hours

Can anyone recommend a way to work it out? The bill provides KW's I think so I could just observe the increase from when I start home charging?

Also want to move providers which is long overdue, I know its ESB networks who do the meter but I presume I should get it installed first. Hard to use bonkers.ie to check this as you have to select whether you currently have one but presumably any savings are due mainly to when you use your power as opposed to which provider?

Then of course on street is free and I've two very available slow chargers near me! But I know that's all to change

Since the move to nightly rate we have been using twice as many units in night compared to the day by charging and using washing machine and dishwasher at night.

extra 1c per unit at daytime cost us 650 x 1c = 6.5€
reduced rate of 7c per unit at nighttime saved us 1300 x 7c = 91€

There is a small increase in standing charge which I didn't include but you get the picture. This over about 4..5 months btw.

Oh yeah, congrats on the new Leaf! Please let us know what you think of it after driving it for a while.

cros13

It's a no brainer for almost every EV owner (unless you work a night shift). The rule of thumb is that 30% of your electricity usage needs to be during nightsaver hours for it to be worth it.

The leaf on it's own will take care of that for you.

oinkely

I just changed supplier and am going to ask for a night meter as soon as my welcome pack arrives. Did some maths and at our usage, circa 3000kw per year i need to use about 30% at night to make the change worthwhile. This is taking account of the additional standing charge. I have usage monitor that very roughly calculates how much is used at night currently, and this is is around 30% without any extra effort on our part. I reckon we will get to about 50% night time usage by using the delay timers on the dishwasher, washing machine, bread maker and dehumidifier, which we rarely do at the moment.

Then, when I get the leaf for my wife we should get will over the 50% night time usage. Certainly seems like it makes sense for me, even without an EV in the household at the moment.

oinkely

I just changed supplier and am going to ask for a night meter as soon as my welcome pack arrives. Did some maths and at our usage, circa 3000kw per year i need to use about 30% at night to make the change worthwhile. This is taking account of the additional standing charge. I have usage monitor that very roughly calculates how much is used at night currently, and this is is around 30% without any extra effort on our part. I reckon we will get to about 50% night time usage by using the delay timers on the dishwasher, washing machine, bread maker and dehumidifier, which we rarely do at the moment.

Then, when I get the leaf for my wife we should get will over the 50% night time usage. Certainly seems like it makes sense for me, even without an EV in the household at the moment.

Congrats , hope you have many EV smiles !

I work shift but I drive 135-140 Kms per shift so the 50 extra for the meter was paid back very quickly even though I have to charge during the day when I come off nights, we use the washing machine at night, and sometimes the dryer , we got a pretty good AEG washer dryer and we can set it to wash and dry so we can take full advantage of the night meter though sometimes there is stuff that can't be dried so we have to sort it after the wash meaning sometimes we need to run the dryer during the day.

I'm getting the 30 Kwh Leaf so the work charge point should do all my work commute. Still , should make the meter worth while considering it costs only about 50 Euro's extra a year. I'll need it for all that lovely time off shift.

heliguyheliguy

it's not worth it for me, So I guess it depends.
Do the math very carefully and also take into account the inconvenience of paying extra to use electricity on day rate.

I recently switched to energia for two reasons their standard rate is the same as the esb's standard night rate and for now 100% of their power is from renewables.

steelboots

You have to be using approx 33% of your elec at night, but depends on supplier as they have different standing rates etc... Before I got my Leaf (well the loan of one) I was using 40% at night by using delay timer on Dishwasher, Washing machine & clothes dryer (water heated by gas) (2 adults + 4 kids). If your charging you leaf most nights then I suspect you should switch.

Rafal

My household of two has saved lots of cash by using night electricity the same way: delaying washing machine, dryer and the dishwasher till night, plus morning bathroom electric underfloor heating still hitting the cheaper window. Night electricity in Ireland runs over a pretty long span of time, unlike in the UK, making it all possible: 11pm till 8am.

Adding EV charging to it is an obvious decision for us, but I would expect it should be similar even for those who have not benefited from delayed appliance starts, because EV is likely to become your largest electricity consumer, unless you mostly charge away from home, or drive minuscule distances only.

homer911

We've had an EV since August 2014 and still don't have a night meter

We have both Fast and slow public chargers close to where we live and there is a slow charger beside the local shopping centre where my wife seems to live, so home charging is fairly limited, and usually needed during day.

I guess I'll review this when charging for charging comes into operation.

heliguyheliguy

I notice a lot of people on night rate run their washing machines and dishwashers at night.
Is this necessary to generate savings?
How convenient is this really?

Rafal

heliguyheliguy wrote: »

I notice a lot of people on night rate run their washing machines and dishwashers at night.
Is this necessary to generate savings?
How convenient is this really?

Very convenient. Load dishwasher during the day, have clean dishes nice and warm in the morning. With clothing it is a little different, but still uses the night time to do something that you would have to wait for during the day. You just need to figure out the rhythm, and decide if the washer or the dryer is the better one to run overnight. I assume your appliance has a built-in delayed start timer, otherwise it could be a bit cumbersome.

Since anything that heats large amounts of water/air uses much electricity, it helps generate savings when shifted to the night tariff.

heliguyheliguy

heliguyheliguy wrote: »

I notice a lot of people on night rate run their washing machines and dishwashers at night.
Is this necessary to generate savings?
How convenient is this really?

Very convenient, dishwashers, washing machines, immersions etc all consume a fair bit of electricity, pretty much anything that has an element.

We use the timer to set the machine to come on so the wash finishes in enough time so that it doesn't run into the day rate again but so the clothes aren't sitting for too long either.

Because we have a washer/dryer it's not so easy to set this for night because you have to then only wash the clothes that can be dried and not all clothes can be dried. But it's handy because you can set it to wash and it will then dry automatically, this does save a good bit on energy bills.

We don't have a dishwasher, but most modern ones have a delay timer also.

With the Leaf , using the washer, dryer at night as much as possible we use over 50% of our electricity at night, this is good considering I have to charge during the day when at work.

My consumption will drop considerably when I get the 30 kwh leaf because all my commute mileage will be met with the work charge point, perhaps I will still pre heat off the mains.

With the Leaf , using the washer, dryer at night as much as possible we use over 50% of our electricity at night, this is good considering I have to charge during the day when at work.

My consumption will drop considerably when I get the 30 kwh leaf because all my commute mileage will be met with the work charge point, perhaps I will still pre heat off the mains.

pwurple

heliguyheliguy wrote: »

I notice a lot of people on night rate run their washing machines and dishwashers at night.
Is this necessary to generate savings?
How convenient is this really?

It is very convenient. My appliances all have timers built in to them anyway, so it's just another button press (delay 2 hours) when setting it off on it's program. Plus no racket when I'm up and about. The fridge freezer runs 24/7 anyway.

Cooking is the main electrical thing we do during daytime hours.

Also convenient are electric showers on night rate. Before 8am in winter, or 9am in summer. Both of us work fairly normal office hours, so that's when we have our showers anyway.

Our electricity usage on a bimonthly basis hovers around 500 units day, 400 units night.