Economy 10 is the efficient answer

Claire McCluskie, senior marketing specialist of Sangamo, looks at how the Economy 10 tariff can help reduce energy consumption and cut costs.

We are constantly being reminded of the need to reduce our energy consumption, and a growing demand from consumers for more ways to save suggests that the message does seem to be getting across.

With rising fuel costs, and consumers feeling the effects of the recent recession, cutting energy consumption is one of today's top priorities.

The ordinary consumer may well be more concerned with their electricity bill than with cutting CO2 emissions, but by adopting the Economy 10 tariff, they will be helping with both.

The Economy 10 tariff has been around for six years now, and is already provided by many UK electricity suppliers.

It is designed for use with electrical boilers, which in turn can be used in conjunction with a range of products such as air and ground source heat pumps, storage heaters and underfloor heating.

The tariff gives households to hours of discounted off-peak electricity spread throughout the day. Users have the benefit of seven hours of discounted electricity in the evening and overnight, with an extra three hours in the afternoon.

Matching the storage periods to the times when heat is required means that less heat needs to be stored during the day, when there may be little or no demand. This reduces energy consumption and, subsequently, energy costs.

The afternoon and evening periods both provide a top up to heating systems at off-peak prices. If a consumer is on Economy 7 and they find they are running out of hot water, or if their storage heaters are cooling off by the evening, then Economy 10 could well be a viable solution.

In addition to the energy used by heating and hot water, any electricity used by domestic appliances during the off-peak times is also charged at the lower rate.

Times of day that are allotted to Economy 1- vary across suppliers, and are switched automatically. It's common for the switching times to be locked to either GMT or BST when the meter is installed.

Some metering systems use a radio teleswitch controlled by the supplier to vary switching times, so Economy 10  requires a special multi-tariff meter to enable the supplier to measure the consumption of electricity between the set Economy 10 hours as specified.

Very often, a time switch is used to set boilers, night storage heaters, and other appliances to switch in automatically during the cheaper period, allowing them to heat as much water as possible with low-cost electricity.

The UK government has set a target if cutting CO2 emissions by 34% of 1990 by the year 2020.

Many measures are being introduced to help achieve this, including the phasing out of inefficient light bulbs and encouraging consumers to reduce stand-by losses on appliances by switching them off completely.

 

Source - HVP Magazine

Posted Date: 09th Apr 2010