Might we see Power/Gas cuts this Winter?

[@Lee]

Thought there was a double posting for a minute...

Edited 17 June, 2022 by @Lee

[lol-lol]

49 minutes ago, Aspman said:

Our ASHP heating and hot water uses something like 20kWh per year. That's a lot of solar panels and batteries.

The house isnt even very warm with that going.

 

If the power goes off we'll be heating the house with the log burner

 

I was just using electricity for lighting and the electrical sockets and the fan over and charging the Zoe . Top of oven is gas and new 90% efficient boiler heats the water.  I use solar to power the Bluetti Solar generator and a spare panel to charge the two 400 wh ie 1.5 MJ battery packs I have and they have 500W invertors attached, Blueeti has a 1kW invertor which is good as the fridge freezer spikes at about 1100 watts when changed over the mains to the Bluetti. 

 

Currently using 350 kWh on a quite month and 550kWh on a busy month when I am doing hundreds of miles of driving.  So on Octopus the 370 kWh electricity cost me £45, 200 kWh of night time at 5p a kWh means about a tenner, the 175 kW during the day cost me about £25 and then there is standing charge of about a tenner too.

 

Gas is the more painful a £65 but then £110 for a 4 bedroom detached with EV charging, where we are home most the time, I am pretty pleased about.

 

20kWh would cost me a quid on night time rate and that for the year so only 8p a month for the lecky cost and just the standing charge and other electrical items.

 

I was quite pleased to be able to go on the Octopus website and change my DD down from £150 pm to £140 pm, the most it would let me as I go a few tens of pounds in their debt last few months but with summer and only using £100 pm or less perhaps can lower it further and then there will be the head on crash with the cost of living reality with unit costs of 8p and 35 p per kWh and 48 pence standing charge, ouch, that is going to be painful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ootohere]

I have daily electric and gas at £2.17 a day now and that is by not being at home.  £50 a month direct debit and £80 in credit so the credit will be used by the time the £400 is credited later this year.  Greedy barstewards are not getting to sit with my money but they want to put DD to £120.   This is crap they are playing.   They tell people they can no longer get the gas disconnected.  That is a lie.  Let's see just how hard done by the energy companies really are when people do stop DD,s and Standing orders.  

[lol-lol]

34 minutes ago, roottoot said:

I have daily electric and gas at £2.17 a day now and that is by not being at home.  £50 a month direct debit and £80 in credit so the credit will be used by the time the £400 is credited later this year.  Greedy barstewards are not getting to sit with my money but they want to put DD to £120.   This is crap they are playing.   They tell people they can no longer get the gas disconnected.  That is a lie.  Let's see just how hard done by the energy companies really are when people do stop DD,s and Standing orders.  

 

£120, good God.  

They use the excuse that the DD should be an annual average figure but that can mean the supplier building up tens or hundreds of pounds worth of credit but with the £400 in October should mean that the suppliers are not chasing but then I suppose their algorithms will be calculating about £2k typically between October and March for the average user and if they feel they have the right to build up £500 plus credit, including the £400 government bung and a DD of well over £100 even for lower use user and over £200 for the average user that keeps the account in positive territory is going to be between tough to impossible for millions of UK energy users.  With shopping costs and re-mortgage costs for some it is a perfect storm especially when no one I have heard has got an inflation benefits or pay rise.

 

More people might be doing self enforced no electricity use even if the government does not get in to rationing and blackouts.

 

 

Edited 17 June, 2022 by lol-lol

[Aspman]

On 17/06/2022 at 12:22, roottoot said:

@Aspman My Electric car uses 20 kWh just to travel 60 miles.    Having you got your figures right? 

 

20 kWh might just take me 30 miles when the weather is at it's coldest. 

 

 

 

Ah yes 20,000 kWh not 20.

 

About to put up the monthly dd to £500 to ty to cover some of this winter. We're using around £6 a day right now with no heating, inc standing charge. That's at 25p a kWh. When our deal finishes it'll probably double.

 

I've very lucky to be financially able to cope with the current increases but I really can't see how the majority who will be on or near average can absorb increases at this rate with their income being cut in real terms.

Edited 18 June, 2022 by Aspman

[Ootohere]

Lets see just what happens as people are unable to pay for their energy and have to stop Direct Debits or paying agreed arrears and repayment plans.

 

There are going to have to be lots of additional meter installers required to install pre-payment meters in the UK.

http://energylivenews.com/2022/06/27/scottishpower-introduces-late-payment-fees-on-energy-bills

 

 

[PetrolDave]

12 hours ago, roottoot said:

There are going to have to be lots of additional meter installers required to install pre-payment meters in the UK

There aren't enough meter installers at the moment, my sister-in-law has been trying to get Octopus to install a smart electricity meter  for 3 months now (so she can sign up to SEG and get paid for the unused electricity generated by her newly installed solar panels) but they've cancelled the appointment twice. They're due today, but she's not holding her breath as the previous cancellations have been at the last minute...

[Ootohere]

Energy / Utilities companies claim / state / tell customers that Gas Meters and Gas Supplies can not be disconnected & removed, or that they would have to pay to have the Gas Disconnected to stop paying Daily Charges. 

 

Some do charge. Some do not yet.

http://octopus.energy/blog/disconnecting-your-gas-supply

 

 But then actually having a property disconnected is a big thing but if you can not afford 28 pence a day to not use something then you can not use it and £400 credit on your account from the Government is just going to pay £100 a year or so at the current Price Cap that will likely rise about the time £400 goes on as credit to peoples accounts, or reduces their debt to the Utility Companies for the Standing Charge even if you use no gas. 

Edited 28 June, 2022 by roottoot

[cheezemonkhai]

Remind me wasn’t the higher per unit cost for the first X units and cheaper after found to be unfair on the power?

 

I think it sounds a lot fairer at present as aero usage = no standing charge to be paid.

Obviously it doesn’t encourage people to use less though, but I imagine in the current standing charge climate it might be fairer.

[@Lee]

According to this Bloomberg piece, the Government is preparing for gas and electricity blackouts this coming winter. Might be worth stocking up on candles given the historic lack of planning from the Government.

 

Quote

The UK is planning for several days over the winter when cold weather may combine with gas shortages, leading to organized blackouts for industry and even households.

Under the government’s latest “reasonable worst-case scenario,” Britain could face an electricity capacity shortfall totaling about a sixth of peak demand, even after emergency coal plants have been fired up, according to people familiar with the government’s planning. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-09/uk-braces-for-blackouts-gas-cuts-in-january-in-emergency-plan#xj4y7vzkg

[lol-lol]

54 minutes ago, @Lee said:

According to this Bloomberg piece, the Government is preparing for gas and electricity blackouts this coming winter. Might be worth stocking up on candles given the historic lack of planning from the Government.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-09/uk-braces-for-blackouts-gas-cuts-in-january-in-emergency-plan#xj4y7vzkg

 

I have my banks of batteries which I will look to charge when the power is on, probably when there is excess and of course it is cheap ie 7p per kWh on my tariff, and then have enough to get me through the day.

It is the electrical power to the boiler and heating circ pump is the more difficult.  Device I can have running off the various solar generators batteries and they will produce some incidental heat of course.  

 

Might be a lot more people getting in the warm cars, driving very economically to work and then soaking up the warmth at work.

Maybe sneak-fully charging up their various battery banks to take home with them and use that downloaded electricity to get them through the night.

Most tough for those that have not got that option and have to battle the cold solely at home.  Excess death stats might be a harrowing one this upcoming winter.

 

[@Lee]

31 minutes ago, lol-lol said:

Might be a lot more people getting in the warm cars, driving very economically to work and then soaking up the warmth at work.

It won't be just workplaces where people go to get warm. 

You might hear the term 'warm banks' a bit more in the near future. Imagine that. In Britain, a first world country, a member of the G7 and the fifth richest economy <Clarkson voiceover> IN THE WORLD and people might have to rely on the generosity of others JUST TO KEEP WARM. Doesn't that warm your cockles.

Well, somebody's cockles are getting warmed and they probably work for an energy company or have a job in Government. Where's all the wealth gone if the UK of GB & NI is the fifth richest economy in the world. (Rhetorical question. Offshore)

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/what-are-warm-banks-and-where-are-they_uk_62f20bc7e4b001e175d6eec0

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/07/britain-social-emergency-leaders-political-vacuum?CMP=share_btn_tw

Edited 9 August, 2022 by @Lee

[Ootohere]

Wind up radios and wind up torches and wind up threads is what the public need.

 

Many healthy adults in the UK will manage just fine if they put on a coat, hat and gloves as well as dressing warmly in the coldest of a UK winter inside a building.

If there is still a water shortage in the south of the UK no need to worry about it being cold when bathing or showering. 

 

Cooking on portable / camping gas stoves inside a house is not the smartest of ideas and neither is candles especially during a draught / fire and emergency staff strikes. 

[Ootohere]

There is something far wrong with both candidates for the UK Prime Minister with one against Solar and the other against onshore wind.

Somehow they can not see the bigger picture or the crisis that they have now and into the future.

 

 

 

[cheezemonkhai]

The bigger picture for them right now is the NIMBY members of the Tory party, such that they get the keys to No 10 and not the other one.

I know it's not the real bigger picture, but you know.

[Ootohere]

Which ever one goes to No 10 or takes the bigger flat in No.11 is not even that important as the one they make the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the others they put in front bench cabinet posts.

 

Lots of their supporters in parliament have been taking donations from lots of people in the Energy Business. 

Some even have major investments in energy companies. 

[@Lee]

On 09/08/2022 at 19:00, roottoot said:

Wind up radios and wind up torches and wind up threads is what the public need.

 

Many healthy adults in the UK will manage just fine if they put on a coat, hat and gloves as well as dressing warmly in the coldest of a UK winter inside a building.

If there is still a water shortage in the south of the UK no need to worry about it being cold when bathing or showering. 

 

Cooking on portable / camping gas stoves inside a house is not the smartest of ideas and neither is candles especially during a draught / fire and emergency staff strikes. 

Liz Truss said the other day that she will stop people from “filling fields with paraphernalia like solar farms” and that “What we want is crops, and we want livestock.”

Somebody should tell the dim-witted prospective Prime Minister that it's possible to have both. In fact it may be more beneficial as there is shade for crops that like that and that shade helps with water retention so less need to use as much water/ less need for as much rain.

https://www.dw.com/en/farmers-reap-double-benefits-with-solar-power-in-fields/a-58284134

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/14/1054942590/solar-energy-colorado-garden-farm-land?t=1660578434059

[Ootohere]

She will be driving so seldom through Scotland she should not be offended.

Luckily lots of what they go on about has nothing to do with what will happen in Scotland other than the surplus energy will be sold there.

http://agcc.co.uk/news-artcle/aberdeenshire-set-for-scotlands-biggest-ever-solar-farm

lol. Sorry.

http://www.agcc.co.uk/news-article/aberdeenshire-set-for-scotlands-biggest-ever-solar-farm

 

 

http://www.scottishenergynews.com/exclusive-british-solar-renewables-sells-scotlands-largest-solar-farm-in-60m-deal

 

 

Edited 15 August, 2022 by roottoot

[Ootohere]

There in Scotland's top biggest companies are ones just registered in Scotland and there is an issue really with Energy Security, but that is just how things are because it was allowed to be so,

Edited 15 August, 2022 by roottoot

[cheezemonkhai]

Scottish power are a subsidiary of the Spanish power company though. It’s bonkers we sold it off.

[@Lee]

Fossil fuel being transported half way around the world by a ship burning 000s of tons of fossil fuel.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62570900.amp

[Ootohere]

All the better for Germany who will get it imported from the UK terminals. 

Good that there is a drop in the VAT in Germany on gas to 7% from 19%. .

 

[@Lee]

Probably a good idea to have some rechargeable or battery powered LED lights and maybe even a UPS for the freezer then if Johnson's spokesperson is dismissing the idea. 
 

 

 

[Ootohere]

Obviously there will not be because those with Smart Meters are getting put on a promise 'Rewards' for not using the Dish Washer, Washing Machine, and maybe even the Electric Car charging during peak times after the usual working day / tea time.

 

Those with no money for the Pre Pay meter or food needing cooked will not be affected anyway if there are power cuts.

Obviously they should have insulated their properties and that would have saved them £1,000 a year even though they only paid £700 a year for energy pre 2022 as they have no dish washer or washing machine or electric car. 

[@Lee]

Or pop to the GP to get a prescription for money off their fuel bill. That's team Truss' latest crackpot idea that may have already been U turned on. 
If you can get an appointment that is as GPs are already stretched enough.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/aug/21/gps-could-prescribe-money-off-energy-bills-under-treasury-plan