How to effectively shift to greener times

WHEN you use power matters. By using more green energy when it is available in the grid, you can accelerate the renewable energy transition and help shut down coal faster.

That’s right: when it comes to renewable energy, the more you use, the more we all get.

In fact, shifting more of your energy use to greener times (“loadshifting”) is the only way to actually use more renewable energy in your home or business. It’s why we created Amber in the first place.

Here’s a quick glance at which appliances are most energy hungry and worth shifting to times when energy is greener.

A renewable rule of thumb

We recommend checking the app daily for the best and worst times to use energy as various factors can cause this to change each day.

However, generally speaking, the best time to run your most energy-hungry appliances is during the sunniest/brightest part of the day, between 11am - 3pm.

The worst time is when energy demand peaks, solar energy subsides in the grid, and coal and gas generators power up to meet demand - usually between 5.30pm-8pm.

Electric hot water

• If you have a controlled load tariff, use hot water as normal during high price periods, as you’ll be using hot water generated during lower cost periods
• If you don’t have a controlled load tariff, you may want to cut back on having a hot shower during a particularly high price time, as it may cause your hot water heater to switch on.

If you’re an Amber customer for your electricity and you have a controlled load tariff, this will be visible via the Amber app.

If you’re not a customer and are using our free renewables tracking app, the easiest way to see whether or not you have an active controlled load tariff is to look at the usage breakdown on your energy bill.

Your controlled load may appear as "off-peak", "controlled load", or tariff 31, 33, 61 or 63, depending on what state you live in. Alternatively, contact your energy retailer, which should be able to give you the details of your current plan.

Making the most of greener energy when you’re not at home

Some appliances have built-in timers that you can set so that you can still make the most of these times even if you’re not around to start your machine, or you can get a power point timer for your appliance.

Bear in mind that not all appliances will work with power point timers. Easiest way to test if your appliances will work with the timer is to start it, turn it off at the wall, wait a couple of seconds and turn it back on at the wall. If it starts back up again, a power point timer will do the job!