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

bigmike20vt · 17 May 2022 at 11:07

I dont think anyone can hold a candle to Octopus Go or Go Faster at the moment.... ...... *IF you can store electricity off peak and then use it on peak*. (7.5p kw/h for 4 hrs a night or 8.25p for 5 hrs off peak)
Their on peak prices are above the price cap however so it is vital to minimise your on peak usage. You absolutely do not need solar to get a house battery and everyone can benefit from a battery if you have off peak electricity.

(however I have heard rumours they have started asking for copies of V5s to prove you have an electric car. There was no such request when i signed up)

I really want an electric car but cant afford a new one, and the 2nd hand ones i can afford do not have the range i want.

Shocky-FM · 17 May 2022 at 11:18

Hmm, having to choose between 250pm variable vs 350pm contract.... :cry:

fez · 17 May 2022 at 11:26

bigmike20vt said:
Dont get me wrong I know things are bad, but I refuse to believe that is representative. 1 in 4 people are not having to skip meals imo.

Thats because its complete BS. Who did they ask? Where did they ask? I bet if you took a survey of the people who used to watch daytime Jeremy Kyle you would get some ******* awful statistics.

We need to help people when they are in genuine need but we also need to educate people on budgeting when they are just awful with money. We shouldn't be in this position and I'm not absolving the government of their massive part in the current mess but far too many people **** money up the wall on stuff and then claim poverty.

fez · 17 May 2022 at 11:38

On a more topical note, my smart meter is reading over £4 for the day already and I have literally done nothing. Its usually at 80p at this time. Any ideas what could have caused this massive spike? We haven't had anything going overnight like washing, tumble drier or dishwasher.

rhobbyh · 17 May 2022 at 11:40

sounds like next door's sneaked a extension lead into yours to heat their hot tub

fez · 17 May 2022 at 11:41

rhobbyh said:
sounds like next door's sneaked a extension lead into yours to heat their hot tub

They are far too nice... but I will have a check

bigmike20vt · 17 May 2022 at 11:42

last time that happened to me my 6 year old had been fiddling with the underfloor heating.. he emptied my 7kw/h battery in a matter of hrs.

(which is why i never use it).

failing that do you have an immersion heater, or has someone left the oven / hob on by mistake? has to be something massive to have used >10kw/h of electricity already.

Puzzled · 17 May 2022 at 11:43

bigmike20vt said:
it is coming down pretty quickly....... i am not loaded... but not skint either.... my 15x350w solar panels with bird proofing and 7kw battery cost £8500 all in. add that on to your mortgage it wont make a huge difference in payments but it will save you money imo...... my system has been going now for just over 10 months and (opens app) in that time i have generate 3132KWh and thanks to the battery only 728kwh was sent to the grid (to which i am paid 4p kw/h)

add to that half of what i have had to import has been able to be off peak electrictiy that i dump into a battery. I like to think of the £8500 an investment rather than an expense (man maths perhaps)

yes i know not everyone can afford it at the moment, but it will only get cheaper....... esp the batteries as there will be loads of old batteries from cold electric cars which need to be gotten rid of somehow.

A 7kw battery isn't going to provide much electric heating or hot water. It won't be great for the life of your batteries either with them being drained so quickly.

Edit. Referring to your earlier posts about using stored energy for heating.

bigmike20vt · 17 May 2022 at 11:47

Puzzled said:
A 7kw battery isn't going to provide much electric heating or hot water. It won't be great for the life of your batteries either with them being drained so quickly.

true (i regret not going bigger on the battery, and i have to pay 20% vat if i upgrade it now - it was 5% at point of panel installation and presumably vat free now if part of solar install?).

however if you use electricty for hot water i think the point would be to use a water tank (well insulated) and heat that off peak, a well lagged water tank will last over a day piping hot, and for heating then (and there may be other options) but if we didnt have gas i would at least consider some form of storage heater, so again using off peak electricity. the battery would be more for running the house over the course of the day.

fez · 17 May 2022 at 11:49

bigmike20vt said:
last time that happened to me my 6 year old had been fiddling with the underfloor heating.. he emptied my 7kw/h battery in a matter of hrs.

(which is why i never use it).

failing that do you have an immersion heater, or has someone left the oven / hob on by mistake? has to be something massive to have used >10kw/h of electricity already.

No tricksy children and the missus says she hasn't done anything. I am trying to think what on earth could have sucked that amount of electricity in such a short amount of time. Immersion heater is off on a switch and never used, just there as an emergency if the gas isn't working.

Only thing I can think is the fridge was left open overnight but it complains bitterly if you do that so it would have been obvious.

HungryHippos · 17 May 2022 at 11:52

bigmike20vt said:
true (i regret not going bigger on the battery, and i have to pay 20% vat if i upgrade it now - it was 5% at point of panel installation and presumably vat free now if part of solar install?).

Yes it's VAT free on battery now but as you said 20% on install after the fact.

bigmike20vt · 17 May 2022 at 11:53

bummer. has it settled down now or is it still rocketing? if you are still burning through it i would likely phone the energy company if you have tried systematically turning everything off

HungryHippos · 17 May 2022 at 11:53

fez said:
No tricksy children and the missus says she hasn't done anything. I am trying to think what on earth could have sucked that amount of electricity in such a short amount of time. Immersion heater is off on a switch and never used, just there as an emergency if the gas isn't working.

Only thing I can think is the fridge was left open overnight but it complains bitterly if you do that so it would have been obvious.

Switch your IHD to show current usage and check it's not weirdly high, if it is turn stuff off until it stops.

fez · 17 May 2022 at 11:56

bigmike20vt said:
bummer. has it settled down now or is it still rocketing? if you are still burning through it i would likely phone the energy company if you have tried systematically turning everything off

HungryHippos said:
Switch your IHD to show current usage and check it's not weirdly high, if it is turn stuff off until it stops.

Its calmed down now so not sure what it was. I can't seem to find a setting to show current usage on the smart meter.

Interestingly its saying my usage today has be 2.36kWh on the electricity and 4.13 on the Gas.

chrcoluk · 17 May 2022 at 12:09

bigmike20vt said:
I dont think anyone can hold a candle to Octopus Go or Go Faster at the moment.... ...... *IF you can store electricity off peak and then use it on peak*. (7.5p kw/h for 4 hrs a night or 8.25p for 5 hrs off peak)
Their on peak prices are above the price cap however so it is vital to minimise your on peak usage. You absolutely do not need solar to get a house battery and everyone can benefit from a battery if you have off peak electricity.

(however I have heard rumours they have started asking for copies of V5s to prove you have an electric car. There was no such request when i signed up)

I really want an electric car but cant afford a new one, and the 2nd hand ones i can afford do not have the range i want.

Octopus agile data here, which I suppose is the closest can get to Octopus Go for the plebs who dont own a EV, it actually doesnt look anywhere near as bad as someone warned me.

My own usage pattern doesnt vary much between day and night.

Check these two links.

https://agileprices.co.uk/?region=H

Octopus Agile Southern England | Energy Stats UK

View historical tariff data for Octopus Agile Southern England back to 2018. Claim £50 of free credit when joining Octopus Energy.

www.energy-stats.uk

I dont know if it actually caps at 35p unit or if thats a graphing restriction, but it seems the actual peak hour is usually no more than 6 hours a day, and even last year it would hit over 30p unit, the difference during the crisis has been off peak prices rising, but as recent as last week the prices look pretty good.

11 may - Average price for day = 15.6p (Avg Peak = 28.7p, Avg Offpeak = 13.7p).

However recent days prices have been creeping up again.

16 may - Average price for day = 24.9p (Avg Peak = 34.5p, Avg Offpeak = 23.6p).

Still cheaper than cap though assuming your usage isnt heavily loaded in evening hours.

bigmike20vt · 17 May 2022 at 12:25

be careful of agile... it was really good before things went mad..... I have a feel for it because my solar software on my phone which gives me access to my generation and usage settings also gives Octopus Agile pricing on the same page. the last week it has been ok, but before that for a month or so it was literally pinned at 34.997 almost all day, just a solid line.

Hopefully that wont happen again, but it could. I have not done enough research to be confident either way but IF it were me and IF i couldnt get on Go or Go faster then i would worry about Agile. at least it is capped however. i read some horror stories from people in the US getting charged bancrutping amounts of fees.

Simon · 17 May 2022 at 12:36

Did you see January, loads of days over 30p average off peak. Far too many unknowns to commit to that i think

Troop · 17 May 2022 at 12:44

The GO tariff and battery are the way to go, saving me a small fortune.

DIY battery, just added 7Kw of Lifepo4 cells.

My last 2 days usage below, Battery running 20hours a day /off during the cheap rate (5P/15P)
Cheap rate is heating the hot water.

So under 15p per day!

Grumpy granny · 17 May 2022 at 12:52

XeNoN89 said:
This is nothing to do with brexit.

Amazing how remainers STILL try to blame everything and anything bad on brexit.

They'd probably find a way to blame an earthquake or meteor strike on brexit somehow!

The UK is an oil producing country so why the heck are we paying so much.

crazyDAJT · 17 May 2022 at 12:56

Grumpy granny said:
The UK is an oil producing country so why the heck are we paying so much.

Most our NS oil goes to export, it’s the wrong grade.

Also it’s a global commodity, so it’s set by the free market. So short of Nationalising the entire energy sector (extraction, refinement, generation and supply) we pay the market rate.

We pay less than a good chunck of Europe