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PARTLY

As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly find your cheapest off-peak electricity hours.

Most people should hand this to a purpose-built tool.

Can you do it?

15 minutesto a draft.

30 minutesto something you’d act on.

Cost, all in£0

Skill neededchat-fluent

Who has to check ityou

What the alternative costsNo suitable tariff-comparison product is listed among the available tools.

If this goes wrong, you run appliances in a more expensive period and pay more than expected on your electricity bill.

What to actually do

  1. Use a tool built for this

    The route this page recommends

  2. Do it yourself

    Second choice

    A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

    How to actually do it

    1. Open your electricity supplier's app, tariff page or latest bill and find the unit rates and the time windows to which they apply.
    2. Copy the tariff name, rates, days, time zone and any weekday, weekend or seasonal restrictions into the prompt, removing account numbers and other private details.
    3. Paste the completed prompt into a chatbot and ask it to compare only the rates shown in your supplied information.
    4. Open the supplier's tariff page or app again and compare each proposed cheap period with the original rate and time window.
    5. Write the verified periods into the timer or scheduling app for the appliance you want to run, keeping the appliance's safety instructions and any minimum run time intact.
    6. Check the next available bill or usage display against the tariff period before relying on the schedule for regular use.

    Prompt

    Using only the tariff information I paste below, identify the cheapest electricity hours for running appliances. Do not guess, use general UK off-peak assumptions, or claim that a period is cheap unless the supplied information supports it. First list the tariff name, unit rates, days covered, time windows, and any differences between weekdays, weekends or seasons. Then identify the cheapest available periods and sort them from cheapest to most expensive. State clearly if the information is incomplete, expired, unclear or does not show enough detail to compare periods. Do not include standing charges when comparing the cost of electricity used during a period. Give the result as a simple timetable in UK local time and quote the exact source text or row supporting each period. Tariff information: [paste your supplier tariff page, app details or bill here]

    Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.

  3. Hand it to a person

    The distant third

    A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

What it gets wrong

  • It cannot access your supplier account, smart meter or current personalised tariff unless you provide the relevant information.
  • It cannot know whether a copied tariff page is still current or whether your meter has been switched to a different tariff.
  • It cannot reliably resolve an unclear time zone, daylight-saving rule or tariff exception without confirmation from your supplier.
  • It cannot decide whether running a particular appliance unattended is safe or suitable.
  • It cannot guarantee that the cheapest electricity period is the cheapest overall option once appliance timing, comfort and standing charges matter.

What caps this at PARTLY: real time truth, private data access and stakes of error.

How we scored this

Five axes, each scored nought to two by hand: ten means AI carries the task cleanly, and the thresholds that turn a total into YES, PARTLY or NO are published in the methodology. Each axis name links to its definition.

AxisScore (0–2)
Output1
Inputs1
Verification2
Liability2
Effort delta1
Total7 / 10

The methodology and its thresholds are published in full.

FAQ

Can ChatGPT tell me when electricity is cheapest?
Partly. Give it your current tariff's rates and time windows and it can compare them, but it cannot see your supplier account or know whether the information you provide is current.
What information does AI need to find my off-peak hours?
Paste the tariff name, unit rates, applicable days, time windows and any weekday, weekend or seasonal rules from your supplier. Do not rely on a generic phrase such as off-peak because different tariffs use different periods.
Can AI find the cheapest time to run my washing machine?
It can identify the cheapest tariff periods if you provide the relevant rates and restrictions. You still need to check the washing machine's safety instructions and set its timer yourself.
Can AI access my smart meter electricity prices?
Not through an ordinary chat unless you provide the data yourself or use a separate service connected to your account. Copy the relevant tariff information from your supplier app or tariff page, and remove account details before sharing it.

Nearby answers

All Energy & bills rulings

Assessed by gpt-5.6-luna (gpt-5.6-luna) on 2026-08-13, second-checked by an independent model. Wrong somewhere? Email [email protected] and it gets re-checked.

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