Economy 7 is a
differential tariff
Differential tariff is an example of Energy demand management, demand side management where the price per unit of energy varies with the consumption. If a power utility uses differential tariff, it may change the rate per kWH of energy used during ...
provided by
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
suppliers that uses
base load
The base load (also baseload) is the minimum level of demand on an electrical grid over a span of time, for example, one week. This demand can be met by unvarying power plants or dispatchable generation, depending on which approach has the best m ...
generation to provide cheap off-peak electricity during the night.
Houses using the Economy 7 tariff require a special electricity meter which provides two different readings - one for electricity used during the day, priced higher, and the other for the night, priced lower. The night (off-peak) period lasts for a total of seven hours, hence the name; however it may not be a continuous period, as it may alternate between the two prices during the night.
The term was coined by Jon Marshall. The first mention of Economy 7 is in 1978:
In more recent years the difference between day and night rates has become smaller, with a reduction of about 33%
(though dependent on the supplier). The Economy 7 tariff results in either or both of an increased standing (fixed) charge or increased daytime rate.
Timing and switchover
Appliances such as night
storage heater
A storage heater or heat bank (Australia) is an electrical heater which stores thermal energy during the evening, or at night when electricity is available at lower cost, and releases the heat during the day as required. Alternatively, solar s ...
s and
hot water boilers are often on a separate circuit which is only switched on only when the night rate is activated, however any electrical appliance on an ordinary circuit during this period also runs at the lower rate of billing. Some appliances such as
dishwasher
A dishwasher is a machine that is used to clean dishware, cookware, and cutlery automatically. Unlike dishwashing, manual dishwashing, which relies on physical scrubbing to remove soiling, the mechanical dishwasher cleans by spraying hot wat ...
s and
washing machine
A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, washer, or simply wash) is a machine designed to laundry, launder clothing. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water. Other ways of doing laundry include dry cleaning (which uses ...
s include timers to allow them to be set to run during times when the night rate is active, but are connected to a normal circuit.
In newer houses, a digital meter automatically switches to record both ranges.

The specific times when Economy 7 applies vary between different regions, seasons, and sometimes individual meters. For example, the seven-hour period might start at 1.30am during
British Summer Time
During British Summer Time (BST), civil time in the United Kingdom is advanced one hour forward of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), in effect changing the time zone from UTC+00:00 to UTC+01:00, so that mornings have one hour less daylight, and eve ...
and 12:30am during
Greenwich Mean Time
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the local mean time at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being ...
(winter). Some regions use
radio teleswitching to control consumers' systems and vary the timing. This uses data superimposed on the 198 kHz
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
long-wave signal.
Pricing
Electricity supply in the United Kingdom is
deregulated
Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental Economic regulation, regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 19 ...
and the several providers offer different tariffs, much as telephone or internet service providers do. Economy 7 can offer some consumers savings, but a careful analysis should be done. For example, if the price is double the normal tariff during the 'day' period, and half the normal during the 'night' period, then to break even the consumer would need to use over two-thirds of their energy during the 'night' period. Typically this holds true when electricity rather than gas is used for domestic heating and hot water, or, in some cases, if the supply is used to charge an
electric vehicle
An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...
overnight. An Economy 7 tariff can end up costing significantly more than a standard tariff without restructuring current energy usage.
Similar tariffs
* White Meter is a very similar product used mainly in Scotland. The traditional setup offers up to eight and half hours of off-peak electricity overnight. Newer variants are also available which offer an overnight charging period for storage heating that is automatically varied to take account of forecast temperatures for the following day.
*
Economy 10 offers ten hours of off-peak electricity spread over a 24-hour period.
* TwinHeat is a product offered by Scottish Power in North Wales and Merseyside which offers four hours of off-peak electricity overnight and three during the afternoon. Originally introduced as 'Menter' in the early 1990s, the product was designed to avoid the need for expensive supply network upgrades in rural Mid Wales by spreading high local demand for electric heating across multiple off-peak periods.
Scaling the peak
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See also
* Economy 10
*Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
Total energy consumption in the United Kingdom was 142.0million tonnes of oil equivalent (1,651TWh) in 2019. In 2014, the UK had an energy consumption ''per capita'' of 2.78tonnes of oil equivalent (32.3MWh) compared to a world average of 1 ...
*Load balancing (electrical power)
Load balancing, load matching, or daily peak demand reserve refers to the use of various techniques by electrical power stations to store excess electrical power during low demand periods for release as demand rises. The aim is for the power supp ...
References
External links
Economy 7 at uSwitch.com (price comparison site)
A Brief Explanation From Northern Ireland Electricity
(PDF)
{{Energy in the United Kingdom, sources
Electric power in the United Kingdom
1970s neologisms