UK Energy Costs

[nonny]

Now I'm a bit confused by this
The way it sounds is the Property owner gets the £400 grant but doesn't make it clear if the property is rented this actually gets passed to the Tennant or stays with the owner

If that's the case then where is the incentive for the owner to give this to their Tennant?

Surely they could just Keep it & pocket it while the Tennant still has the ridiculous prices to pay

Again I could be totally wrong here (I normally am) but that is how it reads to me

Neil

I was under the impression it would be credited to your account with your energy provider, so if you're renting and are still paying energy bills you'll still receive like anyone else.

[huxley]

I was under the impression it would be credited to your account with your energy provider, so if you're renting and are still paying energy bills you'll still receive like anyone else.

From the beeb article

The discount will be made automatically by your energy supplier. There is no need to apply.
Over the course of six months from October, direct debit and credit customers will have the money credited to their account. Customers with pre-payment meters will have the money applied to their meter or paid via a voucher.

[MartyG]

Truly I've looked at what would be involved in getting a small solar cell for my front garden, but we live in a rented place so I've realised I could only charge our various USB devices, and it wouldn't really save me much money.

I've looked into solar a few times now, the ROI just isn't there at the current costs. It would take 15 to 20 years to break even on the installation. Possible that'll be a little bit less come the end of the year, but not enough to get panels in place. If the ROI was 5 years, that would be more viable.

[huxley]

with energy prices expected to keep rising from now on. wouldn't it be prudent to plan ahead and go for a solar installation?
I bought my first house last year (2 bed detached). My mother who was a big advocate of renewables left me some money. I used some of that for a 3kwh system (8 panels and a 6.5kwh battery). My aim was to try and add value to my property foremost. However....
Yesterday the system created just over 20kwh, 10 kwh was used running the house and charging the battery. the other 10kwh went back into the grid , @ 3.5p per kwh = 35p. My gaming pc was mining ETH on Nicehash which in return gave me back about £2.20 for the day.
Energy from the grid yesterday cost me 9p. There is always a small residual draw on the grid.

Mine is just an example. If more people had solar then we should see a rise in "social" energy sharing. One of my neighbours has a solar set up with a car charger which is going onto a shared network.

Sorry went a bit off topic.

[MartyG]

I've done the cost calculations, even with the rises it's still 15 to 20 years to recoup the costs. The cost of installation simply isn't viable unless you know you're going to remain in the property for that time. That's not even taking into account maintenance and replacement costs. And like aftermarket car parts, the value add to house value is not significant compared to the costs.

This is just for basic installations too - if you want more sophisticated stuff like battery storage, you're looking at 30-35 years ROI.

Unless there's a government grant that covers around 60-70% of the costs, the price alone makes it out of reach for most people. And loans for this? Absolutely not.

[fallenangle]

I looked into solar panel installation too a long time ago and not surprised that ^ is still the case.

The life expectancy of the panels was always cited as around 15 years too so, at best, it only pays for itself. In short - financially out of reach of the majority and financially pointless anyway but may be 'greener'.

[CMcK]

I looked into installing a battery last year and using the 4 hours of 5p per kWh electricity I get at night to top it up and charge the car. It was just over £8000 for a 10kWh battery! The battery in my car is 62kWh, which has an inverter and entire vehicle around it, costing just under £30k. Even at £4000 for a home battery it would take a long time to recover that cost.

[huxley]

Its a long term investment for sure. I disagree that it doesn't add value to the property in some instances. My parents 25 year old system with a 10 year guarantee was still running strong when we sold the house last year. Signing over the original fit contract to the new buyers was a deal breaker.

[MartyG]

The stats show that it averages around £2000 to the value of a property, which as I said above, is less than the costs of the systems (I never said it didn't add value, just that the value isn't significant). On the grand scale of things, that's 0.7% of the average house price.

[huxley]

The stats show that it averages around £2000 to the value of a property, which as I said above, is less than the costs of the systems (I never said it didn't add value, just that the value isn't significant). On the grand scale of things, that's 0.7% of the average house price.

Yea that makes sense, my parents example comes outside that I guess. Their system was making a massive return due to the original fit contract.

[fishbowlhead]

Yea that makes sense, my parents example comes outside that I guess. Their system was making a massive return due to the original fit contract.

Bare in mind the return on electricity put into the grid from your solar panels is going to be massively reduced to next to nothing, or nothing, fairly soon. In a bid to squeeze more profit from the grid going forward.

[huxley]

Bare in mind the return on electricity put into the grid from your solar panels is going to be massively reduced to next to nothing, or nothing, fairly soon. In a bid to squeeze more profit from the grid going forward.

Yea the SEG price hasn't gone up in line with the recent hikes. The only stipulation on price is "SEG tariff rates must always be above zero". I dont expect it to go up ever.
I`m not using my system to make money, as pointed out it would take ages and might need servicing along the way which would wipe out those gains.
I`m trying to be self sufficient as possible. My next plan is to use the excess exported electric to heat water, ideally getting rid of the gas combi and having the gas cut off all together.

[Neon Ignition]

RAC calls for radical intervention as petrol prices hit record high | Petrol prices | The Guardian
The RAC calls for immediate intervention on petrol prices after they rose by 6p in one weekend

Unless I'm missing something it'll be pure profiteering due to the Jubilee mixed with the EU ban. The market looks like it needs tight regulation

[Lebowski]

I'm not sure why their is not more of a fuss kicked up about standing charges. Electricity and gas prices have gone up yes but access to the grid hasn't so why are standing charges also going up on average by 50% per household? The same number of customers still require gas and electricity so the excuse that their are less company's in the market to look after the network is mathematical bull**** designed to placate idiots.

[Asura]

I'm not sure why their is not more of a fuss kicked up about standing charges. Electricity and gas prices have gone up yes but access to the grid hasn't so why are standing charges also going up on average by 50% per household? The same number of customers still require gas and electricity so the excuse that their are less company's in the market to look after the network is mathematical bull**** designed to placate idiots.

Yeah, this is utter bull****. It's purely because they know if they raise prices, a lot of people will try and reduce their power usage, which affects their revenue.