Watching late-night or early hours football could provide UK households with a practical opportunity to cut their energy bills, as even just doing the washing when cheaper electricity rates apply can net a decent saving.

At a time when energy costs are back at worrying highs, research by E.ON Next shows the potential to save money on a time-of-use tariff – in this case, its Next Smart Saver deal, which has three rates: peak, off-peak and super off-peak.

The men’s football World Cup staged in Canada, Mexico and the US has started, with various kick-off times. Julian Lennertz, the chief commercial officer at E.ON Next, says: “Millions are set to be awake for night-time games, unaware it’s also one of the cheapest times to use electricity.”

At the moment, these tariffs – an energy deal that charges you different rates at various times of the day – are used by relatively few households. However, experts say that is likely to change as the ownership of electric cars rises, and consumers hope to cash in on schemes offering free electricity.

On the Next Smart Saver deal, electricity costs 39p a kilowatt hour (to the nearest penny) during peak hours (4pm-7pm). Off-peak, the rate drops to 18p, and then to 13p during super off-peak (2am-5am).

With running a washing machine typically responsible for 14% of a household bill, E.ON Next compared the cost during a match, when the tariff’s cheapest rate applied on 35 World Cup match days, versus the government’s energy price cap, and found it would save the nation £93m.

Jan Rosenow, a professor of energy and climate policy at the Environmental Change Institute, who did the sums, says: “Most people don’t realise that when they run appliances, can be just as important as which appliances.”

The tariff could save households up to £230 a year (versus the price cap) if they switched five typical daily household activities, such as watching TV, ironing and using the tumble dryer, from peak to off-peak, Rosenow says.

In a similar vein, EDF’s dynamic electricity tariff FreePhase works by alerting customers the day before what prices will be for the next 24 hours. There are three time bands: green (super off-peak, 11pm-6am), amber (off-peak 6am-4pm, 7pm-11pm), red (peak 4-7pm).

Customers can then choose to shift their electricity use, such as laundry, cooking and charging devices, to exploit cheaper rates. EDF says FreePhase saved customers £152 in the first five months of this year versus the standard variable tariff.

The renewed focus on bills comes ahead of next month’s energy price cap increase, which will raise the average gas and electricity bill to £1,862 a year from July.

While time-of-use tariffs can save you money, experts warn there are pros and cons.

Joanna O’Loan, a knowledge manager at the Energy Saving Trust, says: “If you have an electric vehicle, storage heating, a heat pump, home battery or smart appliances, they are often worth considering.

“But this level of flexibility isn’t possible for everyone, and without it, savings can be small, or even negative.

“At the moment, time-of-use tariffs are used by a relatively small number of households. Ofgem estimates that only 2-3% are currently on one, most of them for electric vehicles.

“More households use older off-peak tariffs like Economy 7, typically linked to storage heating. These don’t require a smart meter but only work well if you regularly use more electricity overnight. For many, higher daytime rates will cancel out the savings.”

To access newer smart time-of-use tariffs, you need a smart meter. O’Loan says: “Without one, your supplier can’t track when you use electricity or apply the right rates.”

Ben Gallizzi, an energy expert at Uswitch, says that interest in these tariffs is growing but while they “charge significantly less during off-peak hours … users need to watch out for the more expensive peak rates between 4pm and 7pm”.

Gallizzi adds: “If you use a lot of energy during the day, one of these deals may not be best for you – but if you can charge an EV overnight, or set your washing machine, dishwasher and tumble dryer on a timer, you could see some savings.”

For those looking for a fix, he says, the cheapest available at the time of writing is from Outfox Energy, at £1,611 a year for the average household, £251 below the July price cap.