Can I get day/night rates eletricity?

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Jax

92 posts

Master Geek

#204414 30-Sep-2016 17:31

I had a thought to cutover to Flick electric and run a timer on the Hot water cylinder to make use of night rate.. as per comments here:

http://news.flickelectric.co.nz/2015/11/26/how-to-save-more-with-flick/

I called flick and gave them my address (Auckland, North Shore) and they said it wasn't available.

What determines if night rate is or is not available for a given premise?
Would calling other retailers make ant difference? or is this something controlled by the lines companies?

Cheers

timmmay

20575 posts

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#1643400 30-Sep-2016 17:47

Line company most likely. Flick pass on the various prices for electricity (market price, line price, etc) plus an explicit margin, they wouldn't deny off peak rates if they were available.

I have to say though, both the Auckland rates include off peak power. North and West. Central and South.

Auckland line charges are a fair bit more than Wellington too. Guess the power has to go further.

GregF

52 posts

Master Geek

#1643401 30-Sep-2016 17:48

We're on Flick - and the only requirement was having a smart meter.

AFAIK we don't run a day vs night rate - Flick is all about 'real time wholesale rates'

So - we set the dishwasher / dryer / washing machine etc to run at 3am, when national demand, thus wholesale rates, are at their ebb - but not because its a 'nighttime' rate.

Check out wits.co.nz for realtime spot prices - you'll see how 7:45-8:30am and 5:30-7:00pm are high use, thus high rate times - and 2-4am is cheap as.

Cheers, Greg.

Hammerer

2476 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#1643425 30-Sep-2016 18:21

On Flick you get the wholesale rates plus network charges plus margin plus EECA levy. If the lines company has day/night network charges, as many do, then you get a lower rate during night hours.

P.S. Flick FAQs say:

How do you break down charges for day / night meters or controlled / uncontrolled meters?

Your prices will be exactly those costs provided by your network company. So if you choose to take advantage of your network company's day/night or controlled prices, which can be cheaper, then you’ll receive the direct benefit of these price incentives. Changing tariff may require a fee from the network or metering company. If this is the case, we’ll let you know before we charge it.

Jax

92 posts

Master Geek

#1643511 30-Sep-2016 20:46

Thanks for the input - I think I may have been mistaken re: day/night rates (although that seems to be a thing depending were you live?) but following the link I can see how the unit price fluctuates on any given hour of a day:

https://www.electricityinfo.co.nz/comitFta/ftaPage.prices?pNode=OTA2201

And if you can control your appliances, you can try to time them to the greatest benefit (although interesting the link above shows 6:30am as the cheapest time)

I'll give them a call to explain more to me, but it still looks to be beneficial for my plan for nighttime HWC heating.. Cheers

Hammerer

2476 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#1643546 30-Sep-2016 22:26

Make sure that your aware of the risks of buying from Flick. The Electricity Authority has a guide which is worth reading:

http://www.ea.govt.nz/development/work-programme/risk-management/hedge-market-development/implementation/managing-electricity-price-risk-guide

If you can control your usage then using night rates is a good option. It works well if you have nobody home during the day and don't need to use a lot of heating before night rates kick in. Night rates where I live are 11pm-7am.

Last time I looked here I'd save 3-4c a unit at night rates which is a substantial saving (50-70%) on network charges.

timmmay

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#1643630 1-Oct-2016 06:47

We have someone home during the day, it's actually not cost us much more on Flick. It probably helps that we're coming out of winter. We still do sensible things like preheat the house starting at 6am when rates are at their lowest, then turn the temperature down a bit. Hot water is on a timer. Dishwasher and clothes drier runs overnight, usually.

Right now I'm paying 7.9c/kwh inc GST, a lot better than the 22c/kwh regular providers charge. During the day, the past week, we've been paying around 14.5c/kwh inc GST. It does sometimes peak, but not for long. All in all I think most people who can tolerate some risk will do better on Flick long term, and will win most weeks.

mentalinc

3226 posts

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#1643648 1-Oct-2016 08:43

Example 1/2 hourly prices for the last 40 days or so...

Yellow line is spot price. Green line is the inclusive of other costs that are kWh based

30 day average inclusive rate for me has been 12.66c per kWh.. so a lot lower...

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jamesrobert

90 posts

Master Geek

#1643669 1-Oct-2016 09:34

And don't forget Electric Kiwi. A free hour of power (off-peak). Brilliant.

Aredwood

3885 posts

Uber Geek

#1645538 5-Oct-2016 01:43

@Jax Im in Auckland with Flick Electric on the Smart plan option (standard user) as per the links from @timmmay This is the closest that you can get to night rate in Auckland. On the smart plan - the per unit lines fees are much higher during peak times. But cheaper during offpeak. And Offpeak applies all day Saturday and Sunday. My latest flick bill - I used 19.21 units of peak time power. But used 162.74 units of offpeak power. This week sets a new record for highest total power usage for me since joining Flick 181.95 units. Bill was $34.36. When I was on the normal plan, bill would be around $35 for 150 units. Note that I have gas cooking, And timers on various things. To load shift as much of my usage as possible to offpeak times. But this means extra savings due to lower average wholesale price paid. (5.0240c/kWHr raw wholesale price for this bill) And if a price spike occurs, they are almost always during peak times. So I miss the spikes as my peak usage is really low.

The really big spike that had people complaining about $25+ usage for just 1 day, Cost me approx $2.60 extra that day due to my really low peak usage. That plan is not recommended if you have average peak usage. Join up to Flick on a normal plan at first. So you can learn your usage patterns, and then calculate if going onto Smart user will right for you or not. Best part about it is often my per kw/hr rate is less than 10c per unit during offpeak. (Including all fees and GST)

Fun fact - as at 1st April 2016. There were only 7 people in all of Auckland on the Smart user option. According to Vector's yearly pricing disclosure. I changed to it just after April - So im probably number 8.

In other lines company areas, the lines company will install a ripple control receiver next to your electricity meter. And use it to control your hot water cylinder so it only runs at night. And there is usually a second electricity meter that only measures the power used by your hot water cylinder. Meaning the power used by the cylinder is billed at a cheaper rate than power to the rest of your house. Look at the Flick prices for South Taranaki for an example of this.

Jax

92 posts

Master Geek

#1646106 5-Oct-2016 19:34

Aredwood:

@Jax Im in Auckland with Flick Electric on the Smart plan option (standard user) as per the links from @timmmay This is the closest that you can get to night rate in Auckland. On the smart plan - the per unit lines fees are much higher during peak times. But cheaper during offpeak. And Offpeak applies all day Saturday and Sunday. My latest flick bill - I used 19.21 units of peak time power. But used 162.74 units of offpeak power. This week sets a new record for highest total power usage for me since joining Flick 181.95 units. Bill was $34.36. When I was on the normal plan, bill would be around $35 for 150 units. Note that I have gas cooking, And timers on various things. To load shift as much of my usage as possible to offpeak times. But this means extra savings due to lower average wholesale price paid. (5.0240c/kWHr raw wholesale price for this bill) And if a price spike occurs, they are almost always during peak times. So I miss the spikes as my peak usage is really low.

The really big spike that had people complaining about $25+ usage for just 1 day, Cost me approx $2.60 extra that day due to my really low peak usage. That plan is not recommended if you have average peak usage. Join up to Flick on a normal plan at first. So you can learn your usage patterns, and then calculate if going onto Smart user will right for you or not. Best part about it is often my per kw/hr rate is less than 10c per unit during offpeak. (Including all fees and GST)

Fun fact - as at 1st April 2016. There were only 7 people in all of Auckland on the Smart user option. According to Vector's yearly pricing disclosure. I changed to it just after April - So im probably number 8.

In other lines company areas, the lines company will install a ripple control receiver next to your electricity meter. And use it to control your hot water cylinder so it only runs at night. And there is usually a second electricity meter that only measures the power used by your hot water cylinder. Meaning the power used by the cylinder is billed at a cheaper rate than power to the rest of your house. Look at the Flick prices for South Taranaki for an example of this.

Thanks for the info - Do you recall the actual day the price spiked?