A 21 pence a kWh for electric tariff @ home just now is damn good for an EV if you get 3 miles per kWh so 40 kWh will take you 120 miles for £8.40

(that is where i am at currently if i did charge at home, but actually i am only getting 2.7 miles per kWh so 108 miles.)

 

Even if anyone with that now as a tariff gets that increased in April it will still be costing them less than running a Petrol or Diesel. 

Paying 40 pence plus for public charging is not a that much of a saving.

Where we will be by October with any electric / gas, petrol or diesel prices is anyone's guess. 

 

Where we are with the risk of shortages or rationing if there is a war in Eastern Europe is also anyone's guess but very possible.

 

Edited 25 January, 20224 yr by roottoot

48 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

That's the problem. All of today's finance is worked out based on a zero levy paid against the environmental damage done by fossil fuel.

So at a personal level, there's no reason for me to get heat pump when it's cheaper and easier to continue burn natural gas for home heating.

The energy market is fundamentally broken with regard to the environmental targets but no one is able to or willing do anything about it.

 

I do understand my particular deal with Bulb is difficult to find nowadays. I was planning to switch to Octopus around now for the Go tariff if the market haven't imploded. I hear the Octopus Go tariff is now 7.5p for cheap periods (from speakev forums), which still isn't too bad.

 

Of course, smart meter is required...

 

Yes, that was the 8p/30 p tarrif I was talking about, between 7.5 and 8.5p depending on 4/5 hours.

However our neighbour got an EV and they won't take him, saying they are not accepting new customers (Which I understnad).

 

To be honest, I think they need to drop the VAT to 5% on all the green heating/generation products for say a 5 year period, then after the 5 years start raising the price on gas. They could allow green energy to come in for a 5% VAT charge but fossile fuel generated electric gets 20%.

 

A combination of market forces and government policy nudging people in the right way.

 

As an example, I can't have a ground source heat pump and air source is too noisy due to proximity of neighbours.

So we have a river/canal near to the house, but we can't use water source due to the abstraction/discharge licences.

So a closed loop water source isn't an option as planning and construction costs would mean about 30k.

Even if they came in on budget, the house would need major upgrades to underfloor heating systems to make it run or at the very least large oversized radiators.

The electric bills go up (by more than the saving on gas) and I have to pay for the pump, then spend anpother 20-30k upgrading the (less than 10 year old) house.

 

Basically I can see why people don't want to.

 

We're waiting to hear if it's single or three phase, then going to spend money on solar, immersion controller and possibly a battery.

Once that substantial investment is made, then we have an option to look at using electric more freely.

 

I kind of guess my point is that yes it's broken. There are no grants or tax rebates on solar or heat pumps and really on moving away to electric cars.

Electric cars are ideal for low mileage drivers, but the high entry costs mean that for these people you might as well buy a petrol car and wait a few year.

If this goes on ad-infinitum, then we're all in trouble.

 

11 minutes ago, cheezemonkhai said:

Electric cars are ideal for low mileage drivers, but the high entry costs mean that for these people you might as well buy a petrol car and wait a few year.

It's the classic catch 22 problem.

EV is good for lower mileage because of range, but to get the savings, you need to be driving a certain amount.

 

The highest possible saving is achieved by doing what I was doing: buy cheapest possible EV and max out its range during commute pre-Covid on most weekdays.

Now, my wife drives it ~10 miles a day for school run, fuel cost doesn't really come into play.

 

Good to hear your plan on your house. I think energy storage is key going forward with more and more renewables on the grid. It can be immersion heating, storage heater or battery, anything to automatically off-set your usage against electricity cost. Just installing solar, like I have, is pointless now without FiT.

Hopefully useful to some.