The cost for a unit of electricity from our supplier FPL is based on a high-peak rate (when demand is at its highest), and low-peak rate (when it is at its lowest). A unit of electricity that powers things in your home costs more in the high-peak and least in the low-peak.

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So this article is about knowing when the low-peak starts and finishes. This can be important if you want to reduce your bills. In the low-peak, for example, you can have the washing machine do its work, and the same with the dish washer. Both machines use the hot water out of your tank, and so not only are the machines needing power to run their motors, but the hot water tank has been re-filling with cold water, which has to be heated up again - using more electricity.

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So why not run these in the off-peak times when the cost of that electricity is cheapest? To do so means you need to know when these times are. There are different cheap-rate times in the winter compared with the summer. In order not to have to think of the winter times and the summer times and then to change our habits to twice each year, what we can do is to look at the cheap-rate times that are common to both seasons - and to just run the machines in these times. So what are the times?

 

We have done some investigating and found that these are the cheap-rate times that run throughout the year, irrespective of the season:-

                                                     In the morning : 10.00 am until 12.00 noon

                                                     In the night :       10.00 pm until 6.00 am

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Weekends and National holidays are regarded the same as off-peak (cheapest rate) costs.

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We have tried to get some figures for the costs of units of electricity. These may not be the latest (as at October 2018) but do give a general guide to help you to make decisions. 

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                                                     High peak rate 13.74 cents per Kilowatt Hour

                                                     Low peak rate   7.31 cents per Kilowatt Hour

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So it can be almost half the cost to run electrical equipment during these periods above.

If we can gather the most up-to-date costs or any additional information, we shall publish it here.

Happy washing !

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