Hi
I’ve any older electric meter, digital but not a smart meter,
The time is showing 30 minutes incorrect,
I believe it may be due to the transmitters being switched off and faded out,
The Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS), which allows some older electricity meters to switch between peak and off-peak rates.
I wanted to keep my setup simple charge the battery from 12 until 6am on the cheap rate and use it though the day,
I could just change the charge time by 30 minutes,
I’ve spoke to Octopus and they only want to put in smart meters, and offered me the flux tariff, bu the prices dont look much better that what I am on now!
Any advice appreciated!
Thanks
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What tariff depends a lot on what your home consumption is, your battery capacity and how much you generate.
Pretty much with any supplier now you are going to need to get a smart meter, but that doesn’t mean you need to have a smart tariff.
Economy 7 is still available, gives a cheaper overnight rate and then you can run your home from the stored electricity during the day/evening. If you don’t have solar or don’t have a lot of solar then this could work for you.
Although it’s a smart meter, it operates in dumb mode, only supplying daily day/night readings.
Flux is not good value any more, it used to be, but the export rates are now considerably worse than the 15p export you can pair with any other tariff (including Economy 7).
Intelligent Octopus Flux is another option if you have decent solar size, gives the same rate for import as export and a premium export rate in the evening peak.
Another option is Next Drive from Eon. Although aimed at EV owners it is available to battery owners as well, a cheap overnight rate as you wanted, but you would need a smart meter for that.
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Thanks for the reply its much appreciated,
Ive no solar my battery is great charging nightly and supplies the house all day until next charge,
My only concern was the incorrect time on the electric meter and i could have been charging on peak rate when i was thinking it was showing past 12pm
The electric meter is 30 minutes out so ive changed the charging start time to 1 am cheap rate,
I think i will stay with Economy 7 tariff as the cheap rate period is longer, and i dont really want a smart meters!
I dont like being told ive got to have one, i like putting in the readings myself,
Dont trust giving to much control to the companies & other people
There is nothing wrong with the meter ive got!
After researching all of the tariffs etc. I cant see any benefit, or savings!
Once i worked out the clock was wrong and knew that it actually benefits me as i get cheaper electricity around breakfast time which i wouldn’t if i had a smart meter!
Interesting, thanks for the reply. I’ve always viewed a smart meter (ignoring the absolute b*lls up the Govt made of the rollout) as a positive thing. I’ve got a property in Spain where 100% of the country now have them, and everyone is on a time-of-use tariff where there are 3 periods per day. It really encourages people to shift heavy use to cheaper periods.
I’m on Octopus Intelligent Go, and find the free/cheap periods very useful. None of that would be possible with a dumb meter.
As for giving away control; the DNO/supplier can enter your property (right of implied access) and remove your mains fuse, so there’s really no difference to remotely disconnecting you.
The only “scary” thing I can see is if suppliers start charging for apparent power - that has the potential to be very expensive.
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To ebyard
Good afternoon
I am glad that you liked my reply,
Ive removed implied rigth of access for some certain revenue collectors, thats another long story!
When we moved into this property the heating was on Economy 7 so we have always had 2 different rates,
Which i like so before i got the giv energy system i had time clock switches that would put the washing machine, etc to run after 12pm, on the cheap rate,
I am on Octopus the rate i get are slightly more than yours but my cheap rate period is longer,
If the meter was to be changed i am lead to believe you can still opt for a new dumb metet, i could be wrong!
If the provider did provoke me i would then leave them so they would lose out
In my current negotiations with Octopus they have been quite helpful as i realised the clock on the meter was wrong, there caveat was if i had the smart meter fitted they would then pay me compensation!
My only difficulty is trying to teach my wife to shower at a certain time and i would save a fortune, but i give up on that one!