# Are ESB rates cheaper after a certain time in the evenings?



## cork (19 May 2010)

Are EsB rates cheaper after a certain time in the evenings?


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## Berni (19 May 2010)

Only if you have separate day/night meters and are on a nightsaver tariff.

[broken link removed]


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## rockofages (27 May 2010)

If your meter has two separate readings on it then you are on Nightsaver. If not you're on one rate 24/7.


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## theresa1 (28 May 2010)

Do you need to be using alot of Electricity before changing to this tariff? How would it work with Airtricity or Bord Gais Energy?


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## rockofages (28 May 2010)

You need to be reasonably sure you will use electricity at night, eg we use the immersion heater on a timer and the washing machine comes on early in the morning (it has a built-in timer).

Works exactly the same with BGE and Airtricity - they give you a % reduction on the ESB rates.


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## kbie (28 May 2010)

The standing charge used to be more expensive for the Day/Night meter. Not sure if this is the case so need to consider this also.


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## olddog (28 May 2010)

rockofages said:


> You need to be reasonably sure you will use electricity at night, eg we use the immersion heater on a timer and the washing machine comes on early in the morning (it has a built-in timer)..



Day / Night meter :

- Its grand if you use a heat pump. 
- The day time rate is a bit more than the standard day time rate


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## galwaytt (28 May 2010)

I have it, and, frankly, it's a waste of time.

The hours inside which it applies isn't very useful for standard domestic use.  

And if you have it, like I do, any unit you use, during daytime hours costs extra.

There is also an extra standing charge as well as an installation cost for it.

I'm currently thinking of removing it - and have been quoted €180 by ESB to do so.


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## rockofages (28 May 2010)

If you don't try it won't be of any use. You have to make the effort.

It saves us around €20 a bill.


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## galwaytt (28 May 2010)

I've already worked it out - I cannot use enough electricity in the small hours of the a.m. to offset the extra rental, higher daytime rates and installation costs.


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## rockofages (28 May 2010)

If you use your washing machine, dishwasher, immersion heater and tumble dryer at night you'd probably push half or more total consumption over to night rate.

We only use the immersion and washing machine on the low rate and about a third of our total consumption is at night as a result.


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## Moral Ethos (28 May 2010)

About a third of my consumption is at night rate. It is certainly worth it. It needs the effort to transfer load but if done correctly the savings are there.


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## rockofages (28 May 2010)

Yeah, a third seems to be about average with a little bit of effort. A friend has geothermal and is getting about 40% of his consumption onto the nightsaver.


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## galwaytt (29 May 2010)

rockofages said:


> If you use your washing machine, dishwasher, immersion heater and tumble dryer at night you'd probably push half or more total consumption over to night rate.
> 
> We only use the immersion and washing machine on the low rate and about a third of our total consumption is at night as a result.


 
Yes, but in the house I have, I don't have an immersion. I have, but rarely use a dryer (due to the warmth of the house and large utility with clothes horse in it...) dishwasher and washing machine isn't enough to justify the cost, imho. In a house with a lot of downlighters, it makes even less sense - they won't be on at the time of night rate, anyway (too late...)



rockofages said:


> Yeah, a third seems to be about average with a little bit of effort. A friend has geothermal and is getting about 40% of his consumption onto the nightsaver.


 I agree, and for a big load elec item, it's ideal........for everyone else, though..........

What's wrong is that nightrate should NOT be extra for day units. Nightrate hours should be brought way forward, to say, 21:00. And there should be no extra standing charge for the meter. Do that, and watch the load on the grid shift, just like they want it to.

Maybe when ESB gets privatised the light bulb (sic) might go on.......


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## rockofages (29 May 2010)

galwaytt said:


> Yes, but in the house I have, I don't have an immersion. I have, but rarely use a dryer (due to the warmth of the house and large utility with clothes horse in it...) dishwasher and washing machine isn't enough to justify the cost, imho.


You may not have an immersion but do you have an electric shower? If you do and you shower before 9am then you're on the night rate, so it'd be somewhat similar. We also don't use the tumble dryer either (and we have the old manual style dishwasher that doesn't use any electricity at all.) Yet we still get a third of consumption onto the night rate.

Bear in mind if you have a modern washing machine that has a cold water only feed then it has its own water heater.



galwaytt said:


> In a house with a lot of downlighters, it makes even less sense - they won't be on at the time of night rate, anyway (too late...)


Do you have a lot of halogen downlighters? If you do I suspect they're part of the reason why you can't shift a bigger proportion of your total consumption onto night rate. We replaced the handful we have with a combination of CFL and LED (trying to balance colour), and any other incandescent bulb in the house that's on for more than 10 mins a day was replaced with a CFL.


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## rockofages (29 May 2010)

BTW I do agree tho that the ESB etc should do more to encourage off peak use. But then again there are soooo many things they should be doing that they're not.......


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## Leo (31 May 2010)

galwaytt said:


> Nightrate hours should be brought way forward, to say, 21:00.


 
Demend is 80-90% of peak at 9pm, it drops off sharply from about 10pm. Even by midnight, it's still about 75% of peak. From there to 6am is where the real lull is.


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## Moral Ethos (31 May 2010)

And the ESB must keep most of its generators running during the lull hence why the carrot of cheaper electricity if offered.


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