There is no simple answer to how much you can save on hourly metering. It depends on how the home looks, which electrical appliances you have and how much you change your behavior.
In the worst case, hourly metering can result in a higher electricity bill. But if you can charge the electric car at night and shower, wash dishes and do laundry when the electricity is cheap, there are hundreds of Norwegian kroner to be saved every month. If you can control the heating of the house and the hot water to cheap hours, it can be more. The electrical trading company Tibber states that their most active customers pushed the price by 50 percent or more. (SE4 July 54 öre/kWh compared to monthly price SEK 1.54)
As electricity prices have risen, more and more people have switched to measuring and paying for electricity hour by hour, states several electricity companies for SVT.
That’s how much you can squeeze the electricity bill
SVT asked the electricity trading company Greenely, which only offers hourly contracts, to calculate how much you can save. It shows that, based on the prices in August, it is possible to reduce the electricity bill by 25 percent at most. But then they have not taken into account the heating, which is the home’s biggest electricity guzzler.
The calculation compares what a consumer with a variable electricity price, who then pays a monthly average of the spot prices on the electricity exchange, can save by moving their consumption to the cheapest hours. It is a theoretical maximum value, and in reality it will be a significantly smaller saving. It is not possible to spend only on cheap hours. For example, cooking takes place at normal times. SVT has met the villa owner Mikael Ejeklint, who has had an hourly price since February and who managed to reduce his electricity price by about ten percent during May and June.
Requires control
One downside of hourly metering is that the customer must be active, follow the electricity price and change their behavior accordingly. This may mean avoiding showering or running the dryer at certain times. But certain equipment can manage the savings automatically with the help of timers or by following electricity prices online. This could apply, for example, to a heat pump that runs during the hours when electricity is cheap.
– As our gadgets in the home become more connected, it becomes much easier. This is the direction we are moving towards – to be able to use technology to automate large parts of the home to save money without reducing comfort and well-being, says Tanmoy Bari, CEO of Greenely.
Charge the car at night
Charging of the electric car can be easily controlled at certain times, and there is a lot to save there. If you regularly plug in the car at five o’clock when you get home from work, and when electricity is most expensive, it can cost several hundred kroner extra a month, compared to if you charge it at night according to the calculation above.
A dishwasher or washing machine does not use that much electricity (about 1 kWh/time), so there is only a few kroner per wash or dish according to the price comparison.