With the switch to smart meters, the old night storage tariffs are gradually going away. But there’s a range of new “EV” (aka “Night Boost”) that can potentially work great for storage heaters. Here’s what you need to know, plus live tariff rankings.
⚡️ How storage heaters impact your electricity usage
Traditionally, night storage heaters have their own special electricity meter with a lower unit price, which works only at night.
The situation is different with smart meters. With a smart meter, your night storage heaters will be on the usual electricity connection. But you can get a special electricity tariff that has deeply discounted unit rates late at night. These are generally called “EV” or “Night Boost”.
A typical night storage heater takes around 7 hours to charge to 100%.
✅ What makes a good electricity tariff for storage heaters?
First, you should look for a long EV band with a low unit rate.
Unfortunately, the longest EV bands currently on the market last only 4 hours. That’s not enough to fully charge most night storage heaters, leaving you with two options:
- Accept that charging will be less than 100%
- Finish the charging on a night rate
In the second case, the night unit rate will also be very important.
🏅 Live Rankings of Tariffs for storage heaters in Ireland
Note: Results include Urban tariffs for all meter types. Run a custom price comparison.
⚖️ Custom price comparison for storage heaters
The rankings above are based on average usage plus 35 kWh of nightly storage heating from 2am to 7am.
If you’re serious about saving money, we recommend doing a custom price comparison using your smart meter data. This replaces assumptions with real data, giving you more accurate results and bigger savings.
💸 Getting the best value from storage heaters on a smart tariff
Compared to traditional storage heater tariffs, EV tariffs have major pros and cons when it comes to night storage heating.
Pro: Very low unit rates during the EV band
Con: Band is shorted than old night storage bands
Hopefully, we may start to see some suppliers offering smart tariffs tailored to night storage heaters or manufacturers producing heaters that charge more quickly. But in the meantime, you have several options to make night storage work economically on smart tariffs:
- Get larger night storage heaters so that even charging them to 55% (which can be completed within an EV band) is enough
- Use a supplementary heating system on the coldest days, when night storage heaters alone are not enough
Night storage vs other heating fuel costs
As you can see from the table below, EV tariffs with night storage are amount the cheapest sources of heat in Ireland currently. However, running a storage heater on a normal night rate does not compare well to other popular options.
| Energy Source | Approx Cost Per Unit After Losses | Annual Cost for 10,000 kWh of Heat |
|---|---|---|
| Oil | €0.15 | €1,500 |
| Natural Gas | €0.14 | €1,400 (+ gas standing charge) |
| EV rate electricity | €0.07 | €700 |
| Heat pump | €0.08 | €800 |
| Night rate electricity | €0.17 | €1,700 |
| 50% EV + 50% night electricity | €0.12 | €1,200 |
If you choose an EV tariff
If you decide to go for an “EV” tariff with night storage heating, you’ll have access to a deeply discounted EV rate. So save extra by using it to run you:
- Immersion heater
- Washing machine
- Dishwasher
- Home battery charging