I’ve just been hearing some comments about the possible saving from Off Peak Electricity, and that many people make no savings at all, when using off peak electricity.

It would appear that correct education from the Electricity providers is the key.

Some people have been told that using electricity after 10pm will save them money.  Unfortunately for many it isn’t that simple, although for some, with the newer smart meters, it does actually work in such a simple way.

We save money by using off peak electricity, and have been doing so for many years, at least since 2002 here in Queensland, and I am pretty sure it was the same in New South Wales before that.

We have two meters, one for Peak Electricity, operating 24 hours a day, which supplies us with the normal lighting, cooking and heating requirements.  The second meter, the off peak meter, has the hot water system and the pool pump connected to it.  This provides power to us for about 18 hours per day, but cuts off during the peak periods, at the Electricity suppliers discretion.

About 25% of our own total electricity consumption is via the off peak meter.
The rates that we currently pay (in cents per kWh) are:

• 21.351 Tariff 11 – Peak Domestic
• 12.626 Tariff 33 – Off Peak Controlled Supply

Another option, that we don’t use, is the Super Economy Off Peak:

• 8.712 Tariff 31 – Night Rate (Super Economy)

I’ve never worked out if this would be beneficial to us, but if someone was to run most high usage electrical usage during the night, it would pay to check this out.

Looking at our last bill, we saved about $60 by using the Off Peak Tariff 33, with a bill that cost us $580 for three months.

If we had Tariff 11 and 31, I think we would save another $25 per quarter, but would have to have the water heating and the pool pump running only at night.

Some States have different systems and off peak times, and rates, to the one I use in Queensland.  Therefore the above will not apply to everyone.

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