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How do I find the cheapest Economy 10 deal?

On the subject of Economy 10 tariffs, our expert says...

Thanks for getting in touch. I’ve spoken to the big six energy suppliers and at present only EDF (www.edfenergy.com) and E.ON (www.eonenergy.com) are offering Economy 10 tariffs to new customers. However, neither has a great deal of information about these tariffs on their websites.

My research also drew a blank when it came to comparison services that list Economy 10 tariffs. This means that to work out which tariff is cheapest for your home, you’ll need to do put in a little legwork.

To see whether you could save money by switching tariffs you’ll need to give both EDF and E.ON a call to find out what rates they offer in your area – energy prices vary depending on where you live. Specifically you need to find out what their peak and off-peak electricity unit rates are and what the daily standing charge is on their Economy 10 tariff.

Once you have these rates you need to take a recent energy bill and look at how much electricity you are using and the rates you are being charged for each unit. Comparing these with EDF and E.ON’s rates should give you an idea of whether you could save by switching.

According to Nick McHugh, spokesperson at Npower (www.npower.com), it’s unlikely that energy suppliers will launch new Economy 10 tariffs in the near future. This is because, with the expected wide-scale roll-out of new smart meters, energy providers will soon have the opportunity to introduce more intelligent “time of day tariffs” which are likely to have more flexible discounted periods.

So, if you like benefiting from cheaper rates when you use your electricity at certain times, these tariffs are definitely worth looking out for in the future.

Good luck Marlene.

What are Economy 10 tariffs?

Economy 10 tariffs, sometimes referred to as “Heatwise” tariffs, allow customers to benefit from off-peak electricity rates for 10 hours a day. These 10 hours are split into periods of two, three and five hours which occur in the afternoon, evening and overnight. The exact timings of these periods depend on the supplier.

Economy 10 tariffs are designed to match the times that heating is required, with the afternoon and evening slots providing a top-up to heat stored overnight.

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