EDF customers- free electricity on 14 FEB

Having experienced the 4 hours free from EDF I now know that
2 loads of washing @ 30°
1 load of dog bedding at 60°
1 run of dishwasher
2 lots of hot drinks
Dinner cooked in airfryer
Veg steamed in microwave
Plates warmed in microwave

+ whatever was running in the background, lights, fridge, TV etc

Will only have saved me £1.38 .

I took before and after photos of the monitor.
I wonder how it will look on my bill.

Georgesgran

British Gas and Scottish Power already do similar?

I was overjoyed to get a notification from Octopus saying free electricity!!! Couldn’t wait ….

Half an hour free from 8.30 to 9pm one Friday night! Octopus said ‘do the laundry’ or ‘make a meal’. What - beans on toast??

Come on Octopus - surely you can do better?

Do they ? British gas ? really ? in my experience, they'll probably charge me double !

Houseplant Queen. I'm not on any low useage scheme and have a smart meter. Doing the same as you do for the specified period ie no equipment used other than fridgefreezer but pathetic results. Of course you may well use a high volume of electricity on a daily basis hence you'd have a more noticeable reduction.

We are with Eon - I was excited when they announced they were giving away ‘free’ electricity last Christmas until my DH pointed out we were away for three days.

British Gas offer half price electricity every Sunday between 11:00 and 16:00. I try to get a wash load done when I get home from church, then hang it up in the bathroom with the dehumidifier on. If the dishwasher is full it goes on too. It doesn't save much but every little helps. They occasionally offer 'peak save' at random times - usually late afternoon when everyone is getting home from work and cooking. I think you get rewarded for using less than your normal amount. You have to have a smart meter to take part! I try to register everytime, even if I won't be there as the stuff like fridge and freezer are always running. I have been known to go out shopping during a 'peak save' session to reduce my consumption and get the reward.

Bea, I know 7-11 is not in the afternoon. I was referring to the Octopus offer, not EDF’s.

My cheap rate night tariff isn’t dependent on having a smart meter (over my dead body from some of the tales I’ve read). I make full use of it.

Mollygo

MaggsMcG

I think all these free or cheap energy rates are only if you have a smart meter. It's discrimination because I can't have a gas smart meter due to how my meter is situated so they won't let me have an electric only.

I only have an electric smart meter because they couldn’t fit the gas one.
Has anyone heard of free gas with a smart meter?

Mollgo, my first gas meter didn't calculate the Gas used - engineer came out and said builders had installed the gas meter too low in ground..EDF sorted it but did take a couple of years ..but now with new gas meter, the smart meter takes accurate readings of both gas and electricty ...am glad i can see my usage...

Barleyfields

OP is talking about EDF’s big giveaway though, not Octopus. I would find free electricity in the afternoon difficult to work around as I might be out and wouldn’t want to leave the tumble dryer on when I wasn’t around. Overnight cheap electricity suits me well but we’re all different.

7pm -11pm is not Afternoon...

Think this is a useful time so will make use of it...and hope others do too

EDF.
But I can’t recommend them.

Which company is that?

MaggsMcG

I think all these free or cheap energy rates are only if you have a smart meter. It's discrimination because I can't have a gas smart meter due to how my meter is situated so they won't let me have an electric only.

I only have an electric smart meter because they couldn’t fit the gas one.
Has anyone heard of free gas with a smart meter?

jusnoneed

I hadn't heard of it either, just looked it up. You have to register your interest in their Sunday Saver challenge, where you switch your weekday peak hour usage to off peak times ( Sundays). You have to have a smart meter and opt into half hourly meter reads.

There just had to be a catch - I was just contemplating putting on the underfloor heating in every room upstairs and down and really warm up the place.

I think all these free or cheap energy rates are only if you have a smart meter. It's discrimination because I can't have a gas smart meter due to how my meter is situated so they won't let me have an electric only.

Mollygo

Success!
Finally, at 5pm today I got an email confirming that as a signed up member for Sunday Saver challenges, I would get free electricity on 14.2.25. I’m so pleased, that I didn’t remind them that that date is a Friday.

Thanks so much to Bea65 for mentioning this. It spurred me on to tackle EDF again, this time with success.
1. An email confirming that I have actually been signed up for the SSC, including an apology for the technical problems which caused the pause of the offer.
2. Another email reminding me that as I am signed up to the SSC I will receive the Valentine’s Day offer.

I’ve lined up a towel wash,
the weekend clothes wash
use of the tumble drier,
and some batch cooking in the air fryer with the dishwasher to clean up the equipment.
Any other ideas?

You could do all your ironing and of course shower/bath, hair dryer, hoover and all the other jobs using electricity. I think you need help you to get it all in during the 4 hours though.

I do the same HousePlantQueen apart from tumble dryer.

4allweknow

HousePlantQueen I'm with Octopus, signed up to their low usage scheme. No way have I had anything like saving of 2 says electricity costs. Last session I saved 8p. Singke occupant household, no electric heaters, can't remember when I last used an oven. Turn lights off along with all the usual appliances, even switch tv off. What am I not doing to reap such huge rewards?

I am not on a low usage scheme, I am signed up to Octoplus. You have to have a smart meter. It is nothing to do with turning everything off, sitting in the dark, turning off the tv!

octopus send me an email the day before, informing me that there is a period the next day, usually 2 hours in the afternoon when my electricity will be free. So, I leave any planned laundry until then, do a couple of loads, tumble dry, dishwasher on then rather than after breakfast etc., if I get really organised I do some baking, use the oven, and then freeze the results. It is regional though.

As I said, over the past few weeks, I have saved the equivalent of a couple of days electricity. Suits me

Bea65

Barleyfields

I’m not a customer of EDF, but four hours of free electricity one evening wouldn’t exactly fill me with joy.

Obviously you don’t need the savings? How smug!

I’m a customer of EDF and have registered for similar schemes… where they refund you for all the electricity/ gas you don’t use between certain hours…COMPARED TO WHAT YOU USUALLY WOULD AT THAT TIME I didn’t use any apart from maybe lights and a bit of TV … I ‘won’ 7 p !

HousePlantQueen I'm with Octopus, signed up to their low usage scheme. No way have I had anything like saving of 2 says electricity costs. Last session I saved 8p. Singke occupant household, no electric heaters, can't remember when I last used an oven. Turn lights off along with all the usual appliances, even switch tv off. What am I not doing to reap such huge rewards?

Success!
Finally, at 5pm today I got an email confirming that as a signed up member for Sunday Saver challenges, I would get free electricity on 14.2.25. I’m so pleased, that I didn’t remind them that that date is a Friday.

Thanks so much to Bea65 for mentioning this. It spurred me on to tackle EDF again, this time with success.
1. An email confirming that I have actually been signed up for the SSC, including an apology for the technical problems which caused the pause of the offer.
2. Another email reminding me that as I am signed up to the SSC I will receive the Valentine’s Day offer.

I’ve lined up a towel wash,
the weekend clothes wash
use of the tumble drier,
and some batch cooking in the air fryer with the dishwasher to clean up the equipment.
Any other ideas?

I am currently waiting on hold ( 21 minutes so far) for them to investigate the mention of free electricity on Feb 14th.
This time I have been told that Sunday saver challenge was paused in January and again in February because of technical problems but it will resume in March.
Eventually the person came back and told me that yes I would qualify for four hours free electricity between 7 pm and 11 pm on the 14th of February.
When I asked why other people have been informed about this and I hadn’t, there was some confusion and he was unable to explain the reason.
I have asked for an email confirming what the person on the phone has just said.
So step one will be do I get that email.
Step two will be, does the four hours free electricity show on my bill after February 14th (which is a Friday)

Bea65

Yes do the Sunday saver too but, forget sometimes 😊

I asked about Sunday saver. They said they paused it throughout January and when I asked what about February, they said it was paused indefinitely.

OP is talking about EDF’s big giveaway though, not Octopus. I would find free electricity in the afternoon difficult to work around as I might be out and wouldn’t want to leave the tumble dryer on when I wasn’t around. Overnight cheap electricity suits me well but we’re all different.

Barleyfields

I don’t understand how free electricity for 4 hours once a year can be better than a reduced rate for 10 hours every single day of the year.

It is not 4 hours once a year. So far, with Octopus, I have had 14 "batches" of 2-2.5 hours per day of free electricity, always in the afternoon. No need to mess about with delayed starts or running appliances during the night. I just do the washing in the afternoon instead of the morning. Really not difficult! The days and times vary by region I believe

jusnoneed

There is a link on home page of their site Mollygo.

No mention on the My account page.

I don’t understand how free electricity for 4 hours once a year can be better than a reduced rate for 10 hours every single day of the year.