This is getting ridiculous (energy prices - Strictly NO referrals!)

[robgmun]

So over 9,000kWh electricity and 12,500kWh gas. Be interesting to see @robgmun's figures for comparison.

Roughly 17K combined.

 

[Surveyor]

Roughly 17K combined.

And the split?

 

[Energize]

In winter they are running a lot to keep the water at 25c
Last year my 12 month gas use was : 12,586 kWh

As a fish keeper myself, I think you'd be surprised at how little they are actually on. Water has a large specific heat capacity, it takes a lot of energy to reduce the temperature of water, for a 250L tank for example it takes 0.29KWh to change the temperature by 1 degree, given the small surface to volume ratio of aquariums they lose little energy to the environment.

The SC is about 45p per day / £13 a month, which is less than 10% of the average bill. I think the SC cost impact is being exaggerated.

It would be about 20% of my bill if I had not fixed last year.

 

[theone8181]

How do you get £2400 a year in that consumption then if it’s lower than average ? Edit. Sorry that’s a diff person. Wouldn’t worry at that use

I honestly thought it was the same too .

 

[robgmun]

And the split?

Not sure but i roughly think it's a 90/10 split for electric. We barely use gas in our house.

 

[Freakbro]

So ~15 KWh / yr and you took umbrage at the idea of cutting back on your electricity usage because

Then we'd be sitting in the dark with nothing to do.

Bless Rob, for someone who was joyously proclaiming a drop in living standards was worth it for their ideology (the unmentionable B word) you seem very sensitive to a drop in your living standards!

I feel your pain though, it must be horrific to now be that poor to have to turn off that Dolby atmos system!

 

[the shadow]

Summer Days of 28,30 i doubt the fish tank heater will switch on

 

[bigmike20vt]

this bring back memories of my fish keeping days
obviously it's all size depending. it's also quote hard to be exact. in summer I had the opposite problem ... keeping the damn thing cool, and even in winter when it used an eye watering amount of energy ,. it did mean I had the radiators on downstairs a lot less due to having a giant storage heater in the lounge

my tank was fairly large(4x2x2 and s 3x1.5x1.5 foot sump)

but on average I worked out it added about £35 a month onto my electricity bill -- less in summer , more in winter.
(that was with fairly cheap electricity back then)

sometimes I think about getting another, then I remember the hrs spent cleaning it each week, lugging 50l of RO water from work twice a week, the chemistry sets all over the house and bags of salt, the constant hum of the pumps .... and the burst which flooded the lounge (not to mention the expense) then I decide not to bother

if I make a million in crypto I will buy one and pay someone to look after it

 

[Richie]

Absolutely needs to be a standing charge.

Just like car tax and tax on fuel.

Personally I love a big standing charge vs unit. No way I'd want it shifted to all unit.

Standing + unit is a good balance.

Although I agree, it's the level of SC that I think is excessive.

Previously my SC for both gas and elec was the same. I understand that Elec is higher for bailing out the consumers of failed businesses but, if I use the gas standing charge to be the same as the Elec and any extra is the bailout, are the energy companies telling me that the cost to maintain and build the network has quadrupled in 2 years?

 

[bigmike20vt]

I wonder if SC goes up much more it will be another nudge to get people to ditch gas and go full electric. with a well insulated house and a home battery (which long term I imagine everyone will have one - and they should be cheap as all those old electric car batteries will have to go somewhere and makes a good 2nd life) it may be cost effective to ditch gas and go electric. the saving in SC not having gas could be one extra encouragement.

 

[200sols]

Although I agree, it's the level of SC that I think is excessive.

Previously my SC for both gas and elec was the same. I understand that Elec is higher for bailing out the consumers of failed businesses but, if I use the gas standing charge to be the same as the Elec and any extra is the bailout, are the energy companies telling me that the cost to maintain and build the network has quadrupled in 2 years?

Supplier failures and extra green levies on top increases in the cost of maintenance and supply. They arent ripping you off.

 

[SDK^]

this bring back memories of my fish keeping days
obviously it's all size depending. it's also quote hard to be exact. in summer I had the opposite problem ... keeping the damn thing cool, and even in winter when it used an eye watering amount of energy ,. it did mean I had the radiators on downstairs a lot less due to having a giant storage heater in the lounge

my tank was fairly large(4x2x2 and s 3x1.5x1.5 foot sump)

but on average I worked out it added about £35 a month onto my electricity bill -- less in summer , more in winter.
(that was with fairly cheap electricity back then)

sometimes I think about getting another, then I remember the hrs spent cleaning it each week, lugging 50l of RO water from work twice a week, the chemistry sets all over the house and bags of salt, the constant hum of the pumps .... and the burst which flooded the lounge (not to mention the expense) then I decide not to bother

if I make a million in crypto I will buy one and pay someone to look after it

Summer Days of 28,30 i doubt the fish tank heater will switch on

I have an energy monitor display plug on each tank so know exactly how much power they are using.
Anyway, my point was; a person using more electricity than me, without fish tanks or an EV, thinks the only way to reduce his power consumption is to sit in the dark Pretty sure there will be other ways !

 

[bigmike20vt]

oh sure., I wasn't disputing you. it blows my mind how some people use the energy they do. I considered myself (before solar) a very high electricity user - and a little below average gas - but according to the average apparently I was never an especially high electricity user either ... I dispute that tho as I think I used a lot (I still do but it's just most is not from the grid any more)

btw word to the wise and a little segue. if you care about your electricity bill never ever get electric under floor heating. we put it in our conservatory. it costs so much to run we only ever use it a hand ful of days a year (Xmas day when we have family over mostly)

 

[Richie]

Supplier failures and extra green levies on top increases in the cost of maintenance and supply. They arent ripping you off.

I had already accounted for supplier failures but if it makes it easier and I put that back in - my actual Elec SC has increased 7-fold from 2 years ago.

 

[Freakbro]

btw word to the wise and a little segue. if you care about your electricity bill never ever get electric under floor heating. we put it in our conservatory. it costs so much to run we only ever use it a hand ful of days a year (Xmas day when we have family over mostly)

Yep, my partner was complaining for ages about why her electric was so high and I tracked it down to the underfloor heating in the conservatory. Dropped her usage about 20% by turning that off! (It was incorrectly set anyway and was on a lot of the time!)

A friend of mine lives in a detached 4 bed, which is electric only, no gas. The only heating she has is underfloor, I dread to think what her bills are now as they were hundreds / month when leccy was cheap

 

[Simon]

I wonder if SC goes up much more it will be another nudge to get people to ditch gas and go full electric. with a well insulated house and a home battery (which long term I imagine everyone will have one - and they should be cheap as all those old electric car batteries will have to go somewhere and makes a good 2nd life) it may be cost effective to ditch gas and go electric. the saving in SC not having gas could be one extra encouragement.

Seems excessive To save £90 a year ? 25p a day.

Edit sorry seem to have messed up the quote and can’t fix it so it’s right person

 

[Chuk_Chuk]

I wonder if SC goes up much more it will be another nudge to get people to ditch gas and go full electric. with a well insulated house and a home battery (which long term I imagine everyone will have one - and they should be cheap as all those old electric car batteries will have to go somewhere and makes a good 2nd life) it may be cost effective to ditch gas and go electric. the saving in SC not having gas could be one extra encouragement.

If people can't afford to heat their homes, they definitely can't afford to upgrade their homes to be full electric.

 

[bigmike20vt]

I can imagine us actually going back to water storage for heating.. which would be annoying as i only ripped out all the pipework for it a few years ago. really well insulated tanks that you can heat water in when electricity is cheaper off peak............ hell you could probably heat a lump of concerete and use that as a heat store to fill off peak (may be a little heavy to put in the attic however)

 

[Simon]

Exactly. I looked at a electric boiler for my flat to replace a broken gas one. No thanks with energy prices so stuck with gas.

Any saving in SC would be gone after the first kWh was burnt, let alone the stupid prices for a boiler with a decent warranty.

I really don’t understand why people are so upset about 20p a day extra in the context of massive unit price increases

 

[fez]

If people can't afford to heat their homes, they definitely can't afford to upgrade their homes to be full electric.

Yeah, its kind of how most of this stuff works. About the only thing most people can do that makes a big difference is putting in more insulation in the loft if they have very little.

Everything else is a massive investment that won't pay off for years, potentially decades and in our case we would probably have sold the house by that time.