At 01:08 PM 1/4/01 -0500, Trei, Peter wrote:

2. The 'storage heater'. The CEGB (central electricity generating board) rates were far lower at night than during the day or evening.

Interestingly, this time-dependency has also forced other technology. Some years ago, the fuzzy logic people were touting a (german?) dishwasher which was extra quiet because it used their tech... which is important because Europeans apparently do their heavy-wattage usage at night, to save costs. A foreign concept to Yanks :-) Your electric meters must cost more. I once lived in UC grad housing that had no electric bill (free electricity :-) because it would have cost too much to install individual meters.