Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

[bigmike20vt]

Build nuclear and the electric sold all you can eat at fixed prices bands

whilst I accept we need nuclear I still don't think "all you can eat" is a sensible approach . the waste is still a massive problem and so we need to use it as sparingly as possible. I think there will need to be a balance found.
the amount of waste which goes on is unforgivable now. I am no angel in this regard but my parents (my mum especially) is terrible.

 

[Uther]

whilst I accept we need nuclear I still don't think "all you can eat" is a sensible approach . the waste is still a massive problem and so we need to use it as sparingly as possible. I think there will need to be a balance found.
the amount of waste which goes on is unforgivable now. I am no angel in this regard but my parents (my mum especially) is terrible.

Well up till a few months ago most people didn't even have to think about it really. If governments want everyone using electric (think EV's) then there's going to have to be some serious generation going on.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

first mention on the radio/r4 this morning of cowboy solar installers , not unexpected I guess, with the install grants/VAT reductions,
having some credible warranty to hand over to property purchaser akin to (questionable) NHBC would validate install.

Mine has an insurance certified backing (all documents received) so any major issue has that

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Wow December was painful. 300sqm detached house built in the 1500s out of timber, horse hair, lime plaster etc. so about as energy inefficient as you could think. On standard capped rates:

Electric: £383.72
Gas: £511
Rebate: -67
Total: £827.72

Had to turn the storage heaters on for the bit of the house that has them for the first time and they’re £10 a day in electricity (economy 7 does not have such a big differential in night rates these days). Not that it would have helped in a dull December, but solar has been denied multiple times due to the house being listed and its construction means you can’t seal it up like a new build to make an ASHP viable (if permission was even granted) so my advice is don’t buy an old property! I fear unless the heritage people move with the times and relax some things to cope with and take advantage of the modern world then we’ll lose a lot of our old buildings.

£800!

I do like our traditional buildings but. there has to be a middle ground where older buildings can be improved albeit in a tasteful way.

100% agreed. Some of the planning laws around listed buildings are utterly ridiculous. It just makes a lot of them no longer fit for purpose which means no one wants them and they will fall into disrepair.

You can’t even do ground mounted solar in there surroundings which is crazy to me.

You can’t even put rapid chargers in their car parks even they are functioning hotels….

Tesla's bid for electric chargers in hotel car park fails again

A car manufacturer has lost yet another attempt to secure planning permission to install electric chargers.

www.watfordobserver.co.uk

 

[kindai]

This didn't make much sense to me, the ROI is really long, better off buying your own solar system I think.

The Ripple tariffs also seem to conflict with other TOU tariffs, and get worse as you add stuff like solar from what I can tell.

Good in theory, I'd be more interested if they just paid me for generation figures out of the farm rather than trying to bake the figures into my unit rates via my supplier.

I already have an 8kw solar system.

And while I agree the payoff is quite long based on their figures given, im hoping that this 1 years usage being so high means I can "oversubscribe" effectively and hopefully any excess / wastage will be credited to me somehow.

 

[HungryHippos]

I already have an 8kw solar system.

And while I agree the payoff is quite long based on their figures given, im hoping that this 1 years usage being so high means I can "oversubscribe" effectively and hopefully any excess / wastage will be credited to me somehow.

That was my point really, I don't think it would work like that, would be more interesting if it did.

Otherwise they would just credit your energy provider account periodically a bit like the Gov monthly payment is now.

 

[kindai]

That was my point really, I don't think it would work like that, would be more interesting if it did.

Otherwise they would just credit your energy provider account periodically a bit like the Gov monthly payment is now.

Ive dropped them an email asking about it, waiting on a reply.

 

[bigmike20vt]

Well up till a few months ago most people didn't even have to think about it really. If governments want everyone using electric (think EV's) then there's going to have to be some serious generation going on.

at the moment we often go into negative delta overnight because demand drops so much. (it's even happening now and then at the moment ) whilst I don't doubt it won't cover ALL the extra demand strongly encouraging people to charge in those periods will surely make a significant impact.

I don't think the peak demand will go up as much as some of the electric car naysays say it will (,but being fair perhaps it will go up more than the electric car / renewable energy fanboys such as myself hope it will)

 

[HungryHippos]

Ive dropped them an email asking about it, waiting on a reply.

Interested to hear what they say, with the specific tariff stuff though it was a no go for me, as I'm saving a lot by using Octopus Go at the moment along with battery + solar, but even the regular Eco 7 one they offer would provide decent savings.

Seemed to just be incompatible with other green tariffs, in fact having solar and battery seemed to make the Ripple less attractive because you use less and save less as a result.

 

[kindai]

Interested to hear what they say, with the specific tariff stuff though it was a no go for me, as I'm saving a lot by using Octopus Go at the moment along with battery + solar, but even the regular Eco 7 one they offer would provide decent savings.

Seemed to just be incompatible with other green tariffs, in fact having solar and battery seemed to make the Ripple less attractive because you use less and save less as a result.

Thats why im interested on how it works with excess generation.

I think its been specifically designed to be "good enough" for people on a normal sign up, but if you can oversubscribe massively then potentially theres a much more rapid payback if youre not only getting a reduced bill but credits/payments as well.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Just had my octopus dec/jan bill

Gas price change on there is scary. Its discounted back to the same gov cap for now of course, but the raw price has gone from 14.04 ex vat to 16.24 ex vat

 

[ncncore]

Just had our useage for December through and we are massively under gas estimates again and only just over electric. Just not looking FWD to Feb when my deal ends

 

[MissChief]

Just made my usual payment of £150 to Octopus and even though I've also just given my Meter reading last week and they've produced a bill I'm going to be £400 in credit. Utterly ridiculous and if I use their forcast tool as well it says I'm going to be at least that much in debt by this time next year too!

Well after my DD got paid and I supplied a Meter reading I was £464 in credit. I’ve requested a refund of £150, but probably could have asked for more.

 

[Semple]

I do like our traditional buildings but. there has to be a middle ground where older buildings can be improved albeit in a tasteful way.

Not only that, but that must seriously put a dent in the property value. Most people would shudder at the thought of paying £800 in energy bills.

 

[adidan]

Pfft. In Finland yesterday electricity unit price was just over 10 cents, today it is just over 8.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Not only that, but that must seriously put a dent in the property value. Most people would shudder at the thought of paying £800 in energy bills.

One thing is for sure, there has been a significant drop in the "oh I hate new builds and their small windows and low ceilings" amongst the crowd who would diss new builds constantly.
When they say oof my bill is £600 and we have been cutting down on gas a lot, and one of the new build peeps says yeah my bill is up a lot as well, was almost £200 last month, but misses keeps putting the heating on 22.

There has to be a balance of course but a lot of the old housing stock is not going to be fit for purpose in the coming 50 years.

Its why I am convinced solar will be adding value to houses and not detracting now. I mean if you can demonstrate £2k a year of savings its going to have to have some value to the vast majority of potential purchasers.

 

[bigmike20vt]

One thing is for sure, there has been a significant drop in the "oh I hate new builds and their small windows and low ceilings" amongst the crowd who would diss new builds constantly.
When they say oof my bill is £600 and we have been cutting down on gas a lot, and one of the new build peeps says yeah my bill is up a lot as well, was almost £200 last month, but misses keeps putting the heating on 22.

There has to be a balance of course but a lot of the old housing stock is not going to be fit for purpose in the coming 50 years.

Its why I am convinced solar will be adding value to houses and not detracting now. I mean if you can demonstrate £2k a year of savings its going to have to have some value to the vast majority of potential purchasers.

just because new builds are better insulated still doesn't mean I would want to buy one. I looked a few years ago, expensive to buy, no land, all squeezed up next to each other and quite small inside.

for me the added bonus of well insulated and admittedly excellent use of the internal space they do have does not make up for it

I would rather buy an older slightly run down fixer upper and actually fix it up properly if I was looking to buy.
it was actually cheaper to extend our current house and instill have more land than the new builds I could have afforded.

I agree with you however that some houses are so badly made / or inappropriately made for the modern era that they will be barely fit for purpose.

 

[BigT]

Question is though, would you be willing to move now, with the new energy prices likely to be the baseline going forward?

I’ll be sticking around. I agree with you and I figure December 2022 is a baseline for a cold month moving forward and we get three a year like that maybe. The joy for me of living in a property with character outweighs the pain of energy prices and we’ll just make compromises elsewhere like everyone else has to. Fundamentally I live in a property that needs twice the energy spend of the “average” house the Government bleats on about in an obtuse fashion. That’s always been the case though, it’s just that energy prices mean in relative terms of % of my net income it is considerably more these days and that’s true for everyone too.

 

[HungryHippos]

I’ll be sticking around. I agree with you and I figure December 2022 is a baseline for a cold month moving forward and we get three a year like that maybe. The joy for me of living in a property with character outweighs the pain of energy prices and we’ll just make compromises elsewhere like everyone else has to. Fundamentally I live in a property that needs twice the energy spend of the “average” house the Government bleats on about in an obtuse fashion. That’s always been the case though, it’s just that energy prices mean in relative terms of % of my net income it is considerably more these days and that’s true for everyone too.

You'd be well above average anyway with that size of house, 300SQM isn't a small house by any means!

Even a 300SQM new build would cost more to run than most people spend.

 

[BigT]

100% agreed. Some of the planning laws around listed buildings are utterly ridiculous. It just makes a lot of them no longer fit for purpose which means no one wants them and they will fall into disrepair.

You can’t even do ground mounted solar in there surroundings which is crazy to me.

Thing is it isn’t even just the law per se. It’s so open to subjective interpretation by the local listed building consent people that it drives you nuts sometimes. Know the right architect who knows a mate on the council and you’ll get a different result than going it alone with the same proposals.