Energy Suppliers

It's close enough to a genuine 22 but i should have said, the hallway stat slightly over reads by 1 degree C because its opposite a hallway rad about 1m away. When set to 22c all other rooms are 21c.
In the summer (usual try for May to Oct) the heating goes off and the base load is a consistant 480kWh (+/- 30kWh) a month for showers (24/7 hot water) and cooking. So the split is around 33% hot water and cooking and 66% heating yearly. Yeah i like my 20 minute daily showers in the pumped rainfall shower :(

I could replace the boiler to gain more efficiencies but even at prices in April it hardly seems worth it. Assuming a generous 20% gas saving, which would be around £200 a year at current usage and prices of 7p per kWh, it'll take 10+ years to see payback and by then i'd guess a more complicated boiler is likely to want replacing anyway.
 
Thermostat at 22 degrees wtf

It's not crazy when you have 2 elderly parents living with you who feel the cold, and still have blankets over them even with the temp at 22 degrees.

The lounge area is open plan into dining/kitchen and with a staircase in the lounge so it's hard to contain the heat downstairs as you can't shut the lounge off to warm up.
 
Hmm! Is this what's coming.


Turn down window: midnight - 2am on 17/03/2022

Your target: reduce your usage by 1.01 kWh
This is 30% less than you'd normally use across the two hours, based on smart meter data showing you normally use 3.37 kWh over the period.

Your reward: If you manage to reduce your power use by 30%, we'll make the remaining electricity you do use in the window free.

Let us know you're up for the challenge by 9pm tonight by clicking the link below.

I'm in!
Why do I need to Turn Down between 12am and 2am this time?

As we look toward a future of more 'off-peak' overnight energy use (like EV charging, filling up batteries etc), a smaller secondary ‘peak demand’ time could start to emerge in the wee hours: so National Grid are particularly keen to experiment with a Turn Down at this time too.
 
I'm currently on EDF's variable rate:

Electricity:
Standing Charge: 51.62p / day
Unit Rate: 28.41p / kWh

Gas:
Standing Charge: 27.22p / day
Unit Rate: 7.476p / kWh

With the impending cap rise, I was looking at their fixed rates. Fixed until 31 March 2023 would see the same standing charge for each but the unit rate would nearly double — 53.12p and 16.769p respectively.

Now, obviously if I stay on the variable rate, prices could go up again between now and March 2023, but if prices are "only" expected to rise 54% from April, it looks like I would be better off sticking with the variable rate. They would have to rise a further ~22% before it was more expensive to stay on the variable rate.

Does my man-maths add up or am I being stupid?
 
Does my man-maths add up or am I being stupid?

Did you recently switch/are you actaully going to see a rise in April? I'm just querying the numbers because your current rate is higher than the proposed April rates I have with british gas (ofgem moved from peoples energy last year)

At those prices i'm not sure i'd be tempted into that fix even on your tarriff

Current:
Electricity:
Standing Charge: 26.825p / day
Unit Rate: 20.076p / kWh

Gas:
Standing Charge: 26.123p / day
Unit Rate: 3.983p / kWh

April:
Electricity:
Standing Charge: 48.527p / day
Unit Rate: 27.358p / kWh

Gas:
Standing Charge: 27.220p / day
Unit Rate: 7.280p / kWh
 
Just had email from shell


*Our flexible tariff prices are based on a unit rate of 27.865p per kWh for electricity and 7.367p per kWh for gas, and a standing charge of 48.12p per day for electricity and 27.22p for gas.
 
Last year, 3 bed terrace. Electric is due to working from home with a massive power hungry workstation. Gas is because this is a drafty 1890 house with bugger all insulation, and a flat-roofed extension out the back with 3 external walls that leaks all the heat out of downstairs.

3,700 kwh electric
18,100 kwh gas

Going to be installing a door to the extension to seal that up, and go round all the windows/doors and fix up some of the tired insulation that isn't sealing very well.
 
Did you recently switch/are you actaully going to see a rise in April? I'm just querying the numbers because your current rate is higher than the proposed April rates I have with british gas (ofgem moved from peoples energy last year)

At those prices i'm not sure i'd be tempted into that fix even on your tarriff

Current:
Electricity:
Standing Charge: 26.825p / day
Unit Rate: 20.076p / kWh

Gas:
Standing Charge: 26.123p / day
Unit Rate: 3.983p / kWh

April:
Electricity:
Standing Charge: 48.527p / day
Unit Rate: 27.358p / kWh

Gas:
Standing Charge: 27.220p / day
Unit Rate: 7.280p / kWh

Just had email from shell


*Our flexible tariff prices are based on a unit rate of 27.865p per kWh for electricity and 7.367p per kWh for gas, and a standing charge of 48.12p per day for electricity and 27.22p for gas.

Thanks both, sounds like my current variable tariff is steep and the fixed rate they're offering is really high.

Might be time to switch.
 
Variable rates do differ slightly between regions.

Problem you'll have is getting a new supplier to take you on as a new customer on the capped variable rate.
 
Just a little FYI as I'm sure some of you would like to know a bit more about the data and data access as no API is ever going to be available directly from the DCC regarding Smart Meter data.

Ive been working on a project at work (EDF Energy) to do with access to data, so far the best live solution we have found is via Chameleon Consumer Access Device (Info Here). Other CAD products are available but the Chameleon is the best we have found, unfortunately I don't have a price for it.

The basics are, the CAD gets the data from your smart meter, connects to YOUR WiFi and uploads the data to the Chameleon cloud in an accessible format for the end user/property owner. The CAD can be purchased by the user (home owner) and added to the smart network as its an allowed device, then giving you live data access and logging from when the meter was first installed to present day (live data as in up to the last 1min).

Some interesting reading from BEAMA
https://www.beama.org.uk/static/uploaded/3979baf2-ebd9-45cf-bd988ac6b1c68211.pdf
 
Last edited:
Ive been working on a project at work (EDF Energy) to do with access to data, so far the best live solution we have found is via Chameleon Consumer Access Device (Info Here). Other CAD products are available but the Chameleon is the best we have found, unfortunately I don't have a price for it.

if edf incorporated such data into their consumer environment - personally that would motivate me to switch

it does look though as monetization of your data (via an intermediary) is the thing as discussed a bit inhugo thread V, it's a bit reminscent of the 3rd party apps to use your banking details (if you authorize them)
some similar options glowstick/n3rgy/geo , which also appear to use an intermediary who accesses dcc data

https://community.openenergymonitor.org/t/a-taste-of-things-to-come-uk-smart-meter-data-access/4820/273






https://geotogether.com/business/products-services/smarter-energy/
 
With oil prices stabilising you'd hope that now any fixes are a bad idea. The April 2023 variable is potentially the point where new fixes might be lower than the SVR.

This is kind of the time I expect the switch to happen.
Past 6 month prices will still be high. But spot Prices may have stabilised.

Obviously this is complete guess work and completely dependent on Russia.
 
With oil prices stabilising you'd hope that now any fixes are a bad idea. The April 2023 variable is potentially the point where new fixes might be lower than the SVR.

This is kind of the time I expect the switch to happen.
Past 6 month prices will still be high. But spot Prices may have stabilised.

Obviously this is complete guess work and completely dependent on Russia.

Sky suggest we might be in for more pain:
https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-...-outstrip-supply-in-the-months-ahead-12567598
 
if edf incorporated such data into their consumer environment - personally that would motivate me to switch

it does look though as monetization of your data (via an intermediary) is the thing as discussed a bit inhugo thread V, it's a bit reminscent of the 3rd party apps to use your banking details (if you authorize them)
There is no monetization of data at all, the data is freely available, you need to pay for the device that is all. The device works as a bridge between a cloud partner and the meters. What data do you want in the consumer part of your account? The CAD give you download access for the entire data set from your own meters, what more could you want? Also it's not just EDF the CAD is independent of supplier as it's purchased by the customer.
 
There is no monetization of data at all, the data is freely available,
.. maybe - the hugo app wants a credit card imprint to validate your address so that they can get your data(not ideal), but it looks like their game is recommending supplier swaps (perhaps less relevant now), moreover I'm not sure they will give you your data in a raw csv/excel format.

-----------------------------

(on a different topic) - Question to other luddites on dumb meters
I submit readings about every 6 months, their estimates are currently running 300 units too much - with April price rises in mind, it seems economic to
submit a reading nearly matching their estimates(or even greater), so they consider those units have been used at the current lower priced rates, and subsequently send in reduced values that agree with the meter (eg. I was on holiday for April, so extra low usage)
 
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