Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

[CaptainRAVE]

Surely that defeats demand reduction in one go. It may be cheap but you are still contributing yo greenhouse gases even marginally.

Planners design systems for the amount of demand which may come on at once. You are not really helping.

Our plan is 100% renewables. If that isn't the case then I can't help it. These things would be on in the day if not the night anyway. Net win for me

Once we get our EV charger installed that’ll be going on too.

At 6.7p at night vs 25p in the day, it’s a no brainer to push as much into the 12am-7am window as I can.

 

[darkgen]

Surely these 100% renewable only tariffs are all nonsense. Yes, your provider may generate x amount via renewable sources but the energy used by consumers still comes through the same service infrastructure. It's not as if your household exclusively receives electricity from green energy generation only.

 

[Jokester]

This is the one I have, puts out 600w, which is plenty really considering even with some lights, TV etc house uses less than that.

Well impressed that photo taken just now, put a bit of petrol in it and it fired up first time no fuss, haven't run this for well over a year plus it's freezing this morning.

Yeah, that's the sort of thing I'm thinking about, something that can keep things going for a few days when there's any big outages again. Would need to have a proper look into it if it's even possible, but would also allow me to maybe boot strap the solar panels onto it to provide additional power as well.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Surely these 100% renewable only tariffs are all nonsense. Yes, your provider may generate x amount via renewable sources but the energy used by consumers still comes through the same service infrastructure. It's not as if your household exclusively receives electricity from green energy generation only.

More than likely. Personally I’m not fussed where the energy comes from, as long as they keep the night tariff cheap.

Wouldn’t have thought we’re generating much wind power at the moment, seems pretty still out there.

 

[darkgen]

More than likely. Personally I’m not fussed where the energy comes from, as long as they keep the night tariff cheap.

Wouldn’t have thought we’re generating much wind power at the moment, seems pretty still out there.

I agree. The consumer just wants the cheapest option available to suit the needs of the household.

I rile at these so called "green tariffs" which are just smoke-screens to make certain demographics feel they're doing their bit and championing the cause. The individual households, outside of solar / PV, can do absolutely nothing outside of trying to get the cheapest provision possible and not be blind-sided by a myriad of so-called green tariffs promising this or that when in fact the provision comes from all the same pot whether clean or dirty. It is entirely up to policy makers, providers, suppliers and government to strategise and source energy in the best and cleanest way possible

And yes, bloody cold too!

 

[bigmike20vt]

How much are these batteries, one's plug in wall, then consume during day at higher rates?

sorry probably me being dumb but I don't understand.

price wise things change all the time however if I was buying new now I would be looking at fogstar (15kwh for £3k)

you don't plug them into the wall however, typically they wire into the hybrid inverter of a solar system.
then you charge them overnight with an energy deal which gives off peak prices or if you have agile you charge when the electricity is cheap or directly from your solar panels

 

[bigmike20vt]

Greg got gifted his market position by the tory government - hasnt he put up sausage roll prices though.

can I have a source for that? if you mean the failed companies that octopus took over then other companies could have taken them afaik it wasn't gifted to them

besides octopus were on the rise anyway. they are a world wide company not just UK based and as I understand it it is their kraken software which really Kickstarter them.

 

[Hagar]

Our plan is 100% renewables. If that isn't the case then I can't help it. These things would be on in the day if not the night anyway. Net win for me

Once we get our EV charger installed that’ll be going on too.

At 6.7p at night vs 25p in the day, it’s a no brainer to push as much into the 12am-7am window as I can.

Burning air con produces as much greenhouse gas however renewable the source. The consumer end is still dirty.

 

[bigmike20vt]

Burning air con produces as much greenhouse gas however renewable the source. The consumer end is still dirty.

how so? if the power comes from solar or wind where is the greenhouse gas being produced

 

[jpaul]

can I have a source for that? if you mean the failed companies that octopus took over then other companies could have taken them afaik it wasn't gifted to them

whole thing is weird .. govt had put aside/expected £5BN to cover Bulb, what ?, additional cost to purchaser for energy that hadn't been hedged, above the EPG cap, they are financing for all consumers,
and, with gas price drop , unhedged energy is cheaper so govt expects to get £1.2Bn profit from buyer instead ?
so, generally, the hedging has cost all consumers lots of money, but no one anticipated the warm winter&lpg re-stock rates (hindsight's a great thing)

article I'd read https://www.reuters.com/business/en...akeover-rival-unlawful-court-told-2023-02-28/

 

[Minstadave]

Burning air con produces as much greenhouse gas however renewable the source. The consumer end is still dirty.

Yeah you've lost me there too. If you're powering AC off solar you're not producing any greenhouse emissions.

 

[Hagar]

how so? if the power comes from solar or wind where is the greenhouse gas being produced

It takes carbon to build the supply, it takes carbon to maintain the supply similarly with the grid. The cheaper the fuel the more that is used. Ergo keep the price high lads.

 

[pastymuncher]

Has anybody manaaged to successfully use the Octopus single fuel switching tool to change their tariff? I am considering to come off the tracker for gas as it has hit the highest ever for us yesterday and it's been over 6p per unit for over two months now. January last year averaged 3.92p per unit!! However, every time I try to use the single fuel switching tool it comes up with a error almost straight away and I have tried on two different browsers and the app on my phone which would suggest it is the tool at fault.

On a side note, my Tracker fix (didn't even realise it was fixed) is coming to a end and they have offered me a renewal on different terms without giving the new prices. No doubt this is going to make the tracker even more expensive so how much more is it costing you guys who have renewed your gas on the tracker? I suspect the SC will be going up again. Just gas not electric as I am on Intelligent Go for electricity as I have a EV.

I am actually tempted to switch my electricity to Tomato as it works out much cheaper for me (20p per day on SC alone) on their EV tariff but I am afraid that they won't be around for long as they are so much cheaper than everyone else and I can't afford to be stuck on a variable tariff with a EV if they go belly up.

 

[Richie]

This is the one I have, puts out 600w, which is plenty really considering even with some lights, TV etc house uses less than that.

Well impressed that photo taken just now, put a bit of petrol in it and it fired up first time no fuss, haven't run this for well over a year plus it's freezing this morning.

Yeah, that's the sort of thing I'm thinking about, something that can keep things going for a few days when there's any big outages again. Would need to have a proper look into it if it's even possible, but would also allow me to maybe boot strap the solar panels onto it to provide additional power as well.

Is there an easy way to allow a generator to connect to your home "grid" itself e.g. into a socket which then supplies power to all the sockets in that ring, or is it simply plugging a gang lead into the generator and using the 4 gang (for example) as a temporary "ring" ?

 

[Jokester]

Is there an easy way to allow a generator to connect to your home "grid" itself e.g. into a socket which then supplies power to all the sockets in that ring, or is it simply plugging a gang lead into the generator and using the 4 gang (for example) as a temporary "ring" ?

I was thinking of backfeeding through a socket, but I would imagine the CBs at the dis board aren’t able to cope with that. Almost certainly against regulations I would think and would need to ensure the mains incomer was off as well before starting up.

Given that grid security looks increasingly iffy in the next 5 years might be worth having a proper look into and maybe doing some thing proper with a dedicated incomer circuit for it at the board. Ideally want something that can only be brought onto the board when the mains incomer is Locked off.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Is there an easy way to allow a generator to connect to your home "grid" itself e.g. into a socket which then supplies power to all the sockets in that ring, or is it simply plugging a gang lead into the generator and using the 4 gang (for example) as a temporary "ring" ?

Yes and no. Yes it exists, no you need an electrician to come and modify your installation.

They’ll need to install a change over switch which physically disconnects you from the grid. This is to protect workers working by on the lines from electric being back fed into the system from your generator which could kill someone.

I was thinking of backfeeding through a socket, but I would imagine the CBs at the dis board aren’t able to cope with that. Almost certainly against regulations I would think and would need to ensure the mains incomer was off as well before starting up.

Given that grid security looks increasingly iffy in the next 5 years might be worth having a proper look into and maybe doing some thing proper with a dedicated incomer circuit for it at the board. Ideally want something that can only be brought onto the board when the mains incomer is Locked off.

Please don’t do the former.

See above, you can install a changeover switch and a generator plug if you want to power your whole home in a powercut.

The hardware isn’t expensive for a manual change over switch, it’s only expensive if you want something automatic.

My battery storage system has a gateway which physically disconnects me from the grid within 20ms of a drop out and it then continues to power the house. It was quite expensive ~£800 IIRC.

The manual switch is basically just a breaker that switches you between grid and generator.

 

[One More Solo]

The deal the government gave Octopus to acquire Bulb effectively fixed Octopus’ costs to acquire wholesale energy at the prices it would have fixed at had it been able to do so. In the end it worked out well for the government because Octopus paid well over the odds for energy after wholesale prices reduced, and the government pocketed the difference.

There is no way anyone would have taken on Bulb without that mechanism - they had massive exposures to their fixed tariff customers due to a lack of hedging.

@jpaul @bigmike20vt

 

[BUDFORCE]

Is there an easy way to allow a generator to connect to your home "grid" itself e.g. into a socket which then supplies power to all the sockets in that ring, or is it simply plugging a gang lead into the generator and using the 4 gang (for example) as a temporary "ring" ?

Nah I just run a couple of extensions leads on reels.

The main reason I got it is both the wife and myself work from home, my employer particularly are not particularly sympathetic.

All I need to power is the fibre ONT, router, network switch, 2 laptops, and 4 screens, and all of those are located on two places in the house.

I have used it in anger once as well, we had no power for about 3 hours one afternoon and it did the job.

But I could run other stuff on it of needed.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

I was thinking of backfeeding through a socket, but I would imagine the CBs at the dis board aren’t able to cope with that. Almost certainly against regulations I would think and would need to ensure the mains incomer was off as well before starting up.

Given that grid security looks increasingly iffy in the next 5 years might be worth having a proper look into and maybe doing some thing proper with a dedicated incomer circuit for it at the board. Ideally want something that can only be brought onto the board when the mains incomer is Locked off.

Don't you have solar?
Some inverters have the ability to add other generation sources as well as solar although typically hybrid ones rather than plain inverter only models.

How old is your system, it may make sense to add home batteries and a new inverter for you.
As B2sk8 says then add a manual or auto switchover and then you panels and batteries would provide if the grid goes down.

My inverter (Solax X1-Hybrid-G4) can accept a generator as an input so if we started to get grid issues I would get one and feed it into that.

If you get home batteries you would benefit from them all the time rather than on a one off basis.
You can manage the minimum allowed under normal circumstances and if there were real significant grid issues there would likely be rolling blackouts which you could easily manage.
Solar would give you the opportunity to to up even with the grid down if you had batteries and grid isolation.

 

[Neil79]

How much credit do people have on their energy bills? I have around £500 atm, but thinking of putting a bit extra in? I pay around 80-120 a month