Going "Off Grid"

[Psycho Sonny]

I don't understand the appeal either but whenever I get my electric bill through I think how nice it would be to generate my own electricity and sell the excess back to the greedy buggers.

Electricity is cheap it's gas which is 80% of my fuel bill.

Also generating your own is a waste of time. The cost of the install is so expensive payback times are around 25 years. During that time you will also need to have replaced the inverter twice which is taken into the above calculation.

Also you will still need to pay for electricity as panels don't generate anything at night or in winter. So like I said before unless you had a massive battery (prohibitively expensive) as well as a massive panel install (again prohibitively expensive) you could never be off grid.

The time to buy solar panels was when FIT was really high. The initial year or two.

Now there is no point unless you want to be seen as green.

 

[Schlong&Stable]

Does it really make sense to band gas for new builds? OK if you have a heat pump, that might work out fine for you, although they are expensive to run in the first place. If you don't have a heat pump, you'll be paying for electric heating which is maybe 12p/kWh. Gas it maybe 4p/kWh and with boiler efficiencies at 90%+, that gas system is going to be a hell of a lot cheaper for the use than the electric heating. Using a gas power station instead of a gas boiler in your home isn't necessarily more efficient, particularly when you consider distribution losses through that system.

As you might realise, it really grinds my gears that the government believes electric heating to be better. It's just not.

Gas isn't banned in new builds currently, oil is.

Ground source pumps are slightly cheaper than natural gas and if battery storage improves significantly in the next 5-10 years will be a great alternative. Imagine having your own solar array generating power through the day to warm your house from the ground at night.

 

[alexakasloth]

Electricity is cheap it's gas which is 80% of my fuel bill.

Also generating your own is a waste of time. The cost of the install is so expensive payback times are around 25 years. During that time you will also need to have replaced the inverter twice which is taken into the above calculation.

Also you will still need to pay for electricity as panels don't generate anything at night or in winter. So like I said before unless you had a massive battery (prohibitively expensive) as well as a massive panel install (again prohibitively expensive) you could never be off grid.

The time to buy solar panels was when FIT was really high. The initial year or two.

Now there is no point unless you want to be seen as green.

Who are you with/ what is your usage if you do not mind me asking?

Our bills are the opposite, most of my bill is for electricity and very little is for gas.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Who are you with/ what is your usage if you do not mind me asking?

Our bills are the opposite, most of my bill is for electricity and very little is for gas.

Peoples energy.

All my showers are power showers. All my heating is gas. I don't use a tumble dryer. All of my lights are led (non smart bar two).

Large detached property.

Electric usage will be high if you have electric showers, electric heating have a hot water immersion heater, etc.

Basically heating water or air.

Kettles, hair dryers, tumble dryers, etc all use large amounts. Or people still using non led lights.

 

[Threepwood]

Gas isn't banned in new builds currently, oil is.

My gas man was pretty sure it had been pushed forward banning new build gas boilers from 2025 to 2020, with the vast majority of devlopers going for heap pumps anyway in anticipation.