When we have the idea of hiring a rate for electricity in our home, we always have different doubts about when is light more expensive. There are numerous types of rates depending on the number of hours that we are going to use the greatest number of electrical appliances that consume more electricity. Therefore, there are ways to adjust our day to day to pay more or less on the electricity bill.
In this article we are going to explain to you when electricity is more expensive and which rate is the most advisable depending on your lifestyle.
Different electricity rates
Among the rates and hours that a home may have, we have the rate with hourly discrimination. These are quite unknown rates and only 5% of consumers have it contracted. It is one of the rates that helps you save the most amount of money over time.
Time discrimination is a type of rate that is used to have two or more billing periods depending on the time of day. As we know, we do not all have the same work or stay-at-home hours. Thus, it is necessary to adjust our majority electricity consumption those hours where the price of light is cheaper. In this time discrimination we have periods of the time of day that coincide during the hours of the night where the kilowatt hour is cheapest. This rate achieves a significant saving on the bill.
Having an electricity rate with this hourly discrimination means that we can know when electricity is more expensive and choose the billing periods with two different prices. That is, you will not always be paying the same price for the electricity that you are consuming. An example of this is that you can pay electricity for 14 hours a day at a lower price. Normally, these hours are focused on the main moments of the night. During the night more lights are turned on and more electricity is consumed, in general.
When is light more expensive in time discrimination?
If we want to get the most out of our bill, we must adapt certain consumption habits at the cheapest hours. That is, to accustom the use of electrical appliances such as the washing machine, microwave, dishwasher, etc. those moments of the day to day where electricity is cheaper. If the highest consumption is during the hours of highest price, we will be increasing the electricity bill in a notorious way.
Time discrimination offers different advantages and is a good option to save in the long term. However, you will have to change some habits in your day to day to achieve these savings. That is, for people who do it too well they may think that they are becoming something like "slaves to the clock."
Now that we know that the billing periods are two (the cheapest part and the most expensive part) we must choose what hours are the tips and the valleys. The periods where the peaks are are those where the price of electricity is more expensive. On the contrary, those periods where the valleys are are the cheapest. We must ensure that the majority of our electricity consumption is in the valleys.
Let's see it with an example:
- Tip period: it is the moment in which it coincides with the daytime hours when the electricity price is more expensive. That is, in winter it would be from 12 noon to 10 at night. In summer it would be from 1 noon to 11 at night. During this period of the day electricity is more expensive.
- Valley period: It is that period of the day that coincides with the night hours. In winter we would have from 10 at night until 12 noon. In summer, we would have from 11 at night until 1 at noon. During this period of time the electricity will be cheaper.
This schedule is maintained throughout the week so electricity consumption will have to be carefully monitored on weekends.
Differences between time discrimination and night rate
Surely some of the people you know have a nightly rate and you have wondered if it may be a good option. The main difference that exists between the hourly discrimination and the night rate is that the hourly rate is the new name for the night rate and communes improvements both in the common price and the section of hours. The government decided to change the name of this rate in 2008, so the difference is the name and some innovations that we will see below:
- In the night rate, the price per kilowatt hour during peak hours it was 35% more expensive.
- It was also priced in the off-peak kilowatt hour 55% cheaper.
- The off-peak kilowatt hour lasted un 8 hour period.
Time discrimination brings some innovations such as:
- In hourly discrimination the kilowatt hour in rush has a price 35% more expensive.
- Kilowatt hour in off-peak hours it is 47% cheaper.
- The kilowatt of the valley hours lasts a period of 14 hours.
As you can see, the main variation is that the period that lasts for the cheapest hours is almost double that of the night rate. Although the kilowatt hour is a little more expensive than before, we can enjoy this service 7 hours more than before.
In this way, we can know when electricity is more expensive and adjust our life habits to those times of the day when kilowatt hours are cheaper. For example, using higher power appliances such as microwaves, radiators, dryers, washing machines, dishwashers, etc. During the night hours so that electricity consumption is reduced and is noticeable in the long term in the price of the bill.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about when electricity is more expensive and what methods are available to lower this price.