I think it is also due to electric cars charging at night on HC, so the "less popular" hours are being increasingly used. Plus, as Norman mentioned, electricity from solar panels Our HC are during the night, I believe this is true for all new contracts, at least with EDF. Before, we had lunchtime HC too, but when we moved, in the same village, only night time HC was available. EDF have a calculator to enable you to see if you have the best tariff. For us, the current HC hours works well, as both the dishwasher and washing machine are programmed to run at night.