Gas/Electricity Price Increases

[mavhc]

At least it's easier to make your own electricity at home than making your own oil/gas.

 

Predictable comments are predicted.

[jmak]

At least it's easier to make your own electricity at home than making your own oil/gas.

 

Predictable comments are predicted.

Other than the upfront cost it's win-win.

 

Electricity bill is terrifying - but much lower than oil would have been.

 

Even buying from the grid has given over 70% reduction in (operational) CO2 emissions (combined impact of better efficiency and annual average renewable generation).

 

Plus burning oil to heat is nasty - like poor quality diesel in an old car with no smog kit at all.

[elsiegee40]

Other than the upfront cost it's win-win.

 

Electricity bill is terrifying - but much lower than oil would have been.

 

Even buying from the grid has given over 70% reduction in (operational) CO2 emissions (combined impact of better efficiency and annual average renewable generation).

 

Plus burning oil to heat is nasty - like poor quality diesel in an old car with no smog kit at all.

 

Did you have a lot of work to do insulating your house for thr ehat pump?

[Ditto]

At least it's easier to make your own electricity at home than making your own oil/gas.

 

Predictable comments are predicted.

That reminds me of the time an IT director asked the software development team if we could foresee any saw any unforeseen problems. I guess experience suggest the answer is yes, even if we didn't know what they'd be!

[jmak]

Did you have a lot of work to do insulating your house for thr ehat pump?

Short answer: No - none

 

Useful link: https://www.heatgeek.com/find-a-heat-geek/

 

Longer answer: We live in a Victorian solid walled house. We have modern standard loft insulation and mostly double-glazed windows (not up to modern standards). The walls remain uninsulated.

 

Even Longer Answer: You need to find an installer who does a proper heat demand assessment - we found one who'd done a lot of Victorian houses. They measured every wall, door, window and created a model based on that including specification and what direction they face.

 

Our technical solution is based on good flow rate and #very# big radiators (some are triple 2m long radiators). We had illustrations with options for different flow temperatures, what would need to be installed and how much it would cost to install vs estimated running costs.

 

Information that'll only mean much if you're already looking at ASHPs: our system is designed for a flow temperature of 45°C for 21°C internal temperature at -3°C outside. This year the highest flow temperature was about 41°C and the heat pump (while not efficient) will achieve 65°C, so I'm confident we won't be cold. CoP for us so far is 4.15 (pretty good, never mind for a Victorian uninsulated house).

 

I'm not saying you shouldn't get your house insulated first, but it's not critical - a full system design is critical. Our house would be somewhere between very difficult and expensive to inadvisable to insulate. There's quite a strong school of thought that insulating solid walled buildings that were designed to "breathe" is a bad idea. In any case it would have been far more expensive and disruptive than what we did.

 

If you'd like more information, PM - that's probably enough of a thread derailment [emoji57]

[JATSO]

Gas moved from £400 per therm to £800 per therm in the spate of 2 hours this morning, it dropped a bit.

One analyst on the radio this morning said gas is going to become even more expensive (don't we know it already) and is the one to worry about more than oil.

 

https://tradingeconomics.com

Edited March 7, 2022 by JATSO

[Ditto]

Just had my EDF price increase. Estimated annual increase £1500 - right off to negotiate a pay rise.

[Koldov]

I'm in a bit of a quandary as my energy supplier hasn't updated my tariff...

 

I finished my last fixed rate deal at the end of January and in February I was expecting to go onto the standard variable tariff and for my account to reflect this. When it didn't change I made the effort to point this out to their customer service and asked what was happening and why hadn't it changed to the standard variable tariff (what those rates were and why hadn't they informed me etc.) but they weren't really interested.

 

They suggested it may change when I enter my next meter readings, which I duly did at the end of February but it still charged me at the January fixed rate...

 

So, you can see my dilemma...

[mavhc]

I once got free electricity for over a year because "the battery in my electricity meter had gone flat", not sure why it needed a battery, pretty sure it has mains power....

[maark]

This is not advice and carries some risk however I have invested in this:

https://rippleenergy.com/

Basically shares in a co-operative wind farm - you get returns back through your electric bill and have to sign up to one of the approved suppliers.

It's a long term investment and depends on electricity price how soon you get your money back. Wind farm on stream end of next year with 20 to 25 year lifespan.

[Garacesh]

This is not advice and carries some risk however I have invested in this:

https://rippleenergy.com/

An interesting concept, but not one I'd know enough about shares or investing to take the plunge on.

 

Our bill has "only" gone up by fifty quid a month.

And actually it's more than that, just that we've paid for way more gas than we use, so our gas bill has dropped substantially.

[Koldov]

Yes, looking at our latest bill we appear to be in credit at the moment, won't take long for to be swallowed up when the new tariff rates hit...

 

In other news, the OH complained about being (and I quote) 'a bit nippy' last night... 'Oh, really' I said... 'I feel OK'...

 

Then I saw her hand move towards the radiator... 'HAVE YOU SWITCHED THE HEATING OFF?'...

 

[Garacesh]

Then I saw her hand move towards the radiator... 'HAVE YOU SWITCHED THE HEATING OFF?'...

 

Annoyingly the opposite in our house. Housemate puts the heating on "for a bit" to dry clothes.

"a bit", allegedly, is equal to three hours now.

 

I'm like, dude, c'mon. Putting the heating on for one hour extra increases the heating bill by 50% for that day. Three makes the bill 250% of its usual cost.

Just wash your clothes earlier!

 

Although, that being said, given our gas bill has just dropped, maybe I've been worrying for nothing

[MbroTech]

This is not advice and carries some risk however I have invested in this:

https://rippleenergy.com/

Basically shares in a co-operative wind farm - you get returns back through your electric bill and have to sign up to one of the approved suppliers.

It's a long term investment and depends on electricity price how soon you get your money back. Wind farm on stream end of next year with 20 to 25 year lifespan.

 

I looked into that, but they haven't built it yet, and the planning consent has some conditions on it - https://www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/Document.aspx?id=714736 - but I hope it does come off as it may be a good model for the future.

 

However you'll still be hit by the approved suppliers standing charge which has all but doubled.

[jmak]

This is not advice and carries some risk however I have invested in this:

https://rippleenergy.com/

Basically shares in a co-operative wind farm - you get returns back through your electric bill and have to sign up to one of the approved suppliers.

It's a long term investment and depends on electricity price how soon you get your money back. Wind farm on stream end of next year with 20 to 25 year lifespan.

I keep looking at this. From what I can see the wholesale price of the electricity generated by your share of the co-op less running costs which they quote at around 2p/unit is credited to your account.

 

In their illustration, they have the wholesale price at 6p/unit, so you'd get 4p/unit credit. Currently the wholesale price is around 25p/unit so you'd get a significant amount back. It would protect you against rising prices - but not for around 18 months so there'll be a over a year of pain before it gets better.

 

The other risk is that it doesn't generate as much as expected - same as buying your own solar panels. If the sun don't shine, you won't make as much as you planned. In this case you'll be praying for wind....

 

I'm also looking at the Tesla plan with Octopus. You need a power wall and approved solar panels (no specific size). Current offer is 12p/unit both ways. I'd everything you but it's at 12p even if you don't generate any solar. You don't need a Tesla car, but the power wall is quite a hefty upfront cost.

[Theblacksheep]

I keep looking at this. From what I can see the wholesale price of the electricity generated by your share of the co-op less running costs which they quote at around 2p/unit is credited to your account.

 

In their illustration, they have the wholesale price at 6p/unit, so you'd get 4p/unit credit. Currently the wholesale price is around 25p/unit so you'd get a significant amount back. It would protect you against rising prices - but not for around 18 months so there'll be a over a year of pain before it gets better.

 

The other risk is that it doesn't generate as much as expected - same as buying your own solar panels. If the sun don't shine, you won't make as much as you planned. In this case you'll be praying for wind....

 

I'm also looking at the Tesla plan with Octopus. You need a power wall and approved solar panels (no specific size). Current offer is 12p/unit both ways. I'd everything you but it's at 12p even if you don't generate any solar. You don't need a Tesla car, but the power wall is quite a hefty upfront cost.

 

Givenergy do an 8kwh pack and inverter for £4k. Buying 8kwh of off-peak electricity for 7.5p on octopus go. Current electricity prices means a payoff in 5 years and depending on your power usage, alot lower average per kWh price for electricity.

 

tesla pack is very good, but it's 10k.

[BOOT]

...and now there's been another interest rate hike.

[mikeprice]

Saw a news article yesterday saying that people are refusing food like potatoes and carrots from Food Banks because they are frightened of the amount it will cost to cook them

 

SO - we had mashed potatoes tonight and I now have a working Smart Meter

 

took 30 minutes to cook - meter said it was at 2p per hour - hence about 1p to cook them

 

but people are scared of using any gas because of the scare stories

 

and, of course, I have the money to try an experiment - but they don;t so they have to listen to what people say

 

and some of the people are not very responsible in what they say

[southhamster]

Saw a news article yesterday saying that people are refusing food like potatoes and carrots from Food Banks because they are frightened of the amount it will cost to cook them

 

SO - we had mashed potatoes tonight and I now have a working Smart Meter

 

took 30 minutes to cook - meter said it was at 2p per hour - hence about 1p to cook them

 

but people are scared of using any gas because of the scare stories

 

and, of course, I have the money to try an experiment - but they don;t so they have to listen to what people say

 

and some of the people are not very responsible in what they say

It would probably be more with an electric cooker though?

[elsiegee40]

It would probably be more with an electric cooker though?

 

People need microwaves to make it cheaper. ‘Boiled’ potatoes etc in a couple of minutes. I cook most of my veg in the microwave

[jmak]

It would probably be more with an electric cooker though?

Probably, but I think Mike's point still holds. I believe electricity is about 4 times the price of gas power unit of energy, but electric hobs generally get more of the heat into the pan. I also don't know what kind of potato Mike was using that took half an hour to boil!

 

So that suggests something like 4p...

[elsiegee40]

I also don't know what kind of potato Mike was using that took half an hour to boil!

 

 

Fair point. If you want potatoes, carrots or anything else to cook quicker, thus saving energy, then cut them into smaller pieces. With mash in particular, it really doesn’t matter how small the pieces are.

 

My standard size cut potato usually takes 15-20 minutes to cook.

[mavhc]

Food is much smaller than houses, so takes less energy to heat. Cooker 2kW maybe, boiler more like 30kW

[HarryMonkey]

And user a steamer on your hob, put your taters in the water at the bottom and your veg in the two tiers. Cooks everything on one burner/hotplate and you don't lose the goodness from the veg by boiling it out.

 

(And you can add the water to your gravy granules to save boiling the kettle).

[JATSO]

Get a dehumidifier for drying clothes they use very little electric and works a treat overnight in a room with the doors shut.

Using a slow cooker to cook meals is far cheaper than the hob/oven and probably the microwave. https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/collections/top-100-best-slow-cooker-recipes