UK Energy Costs

[huxley]

Excuse my ignorance because I know nothing about this but if what you’re generating isn’t making you enough to cover the standing charges, is it possible to disconnect completely from the grid and just power your own house so you have no charges?

Yes ideally, but with the British winters being what they are you cant always guarantee enough generation.

I seem to have dragged this thread off topic. My actual point was after my rambling was that the amount of cheap energy the providers are getting at next to nothing that isnt reflected back in the overall unit price to customers. The only place they take it into account is when OVO and the likes waffle on about the amount of renewable energy they produce. (and then fleece people for)

[Asura]

Excuse my ignorance because I know nothing about this but if what you’re generating isn’t making you enough to cover the standing charges, is it possible to disconnect completely from the grid and just power your own house so you have no charges?

It is. But with solar power etc., some days/months you'll make a lot more power than you need, even more than you can store, and some periods, you'll make a lot less. Maybe you'll get a solid fortnite of overcast days, rain, snow...

You pay the standing charge for the times when you need to draw power.

[Neon Ignition]

The house we're in now has solar panels and is in a very open space getting light all day, we have the meters for it downstairs and from what I can tell the digits don't move that much on it, I'm assuming that for most if they are being pushed to install eco energy solutions, heat pumps, electric charge points and insulate that it's that last one which will make the biggest savings.

[Anpanman]

To power your own house I think you would have to have a few large batteries and a wind generator as well. You may have to get planning permission for the small vertical turbine.

As technology progresses these I'm sure will become more and more viable, it's probably the batteries which maybe more the sticking point as with EV's currently.

[Neon Ignition]

*Wipes brow*
Still going to go through this winter trying to avoid using the heating as its a cost that rockets up lightning fast but on the Electricity front our monthly bill is finally back down to £80

[CMcK]

To power your own house I think you would have to have a few large batteries and a wind generator as well. You may have to get planning permission for the small vertical turbine.

I’ve been looking into and battery and solar panel options. I’m thinking a 7kWh battery would be sufficient for my household consumption excluding charging the car. Solar panels would be useful but would take a long time to amortize though.
Had a 0.5p price cut for off peak electricity the other day so it’s now about £5.40 to fill the car. Time shifting electric use with a battery could yield a big saving pretty quickly.

[Cepp]

I just about managed to lock myself in at the old cheap rates 2 years ago but that's over now and E.On are playing funny buggers with me. They sent me an email saying I'm using an average of £0.00 more than my direct debit covers so I need to make a one off payment of £136 and increase my direct debit (to an amount they have already increased it to), or they'll increase it even further. It doesn't make any sense and I'll be cutting my usage down now so it'll just end up as free money for them. Phone lines are only open between 9am and 5pm which just feels intentional.

[Neon Ignition]

Energy bills in Great Britain ‘to rise by 5% from January as cap hits £1,930’ | Energy bills | The Guardian

[Neon Ignition]

Energy bills in Great Britain to rise by 5% from January as cap hits £1,928 | Energy bills | The Guardian
And with a snap of the fingers the NI tax cut money is gone from your pocket

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/15/british-gas-profits-energy-bills-centrica

[Asura]

https://www.theguardian.com/business...bills-centrica

But market rates! And currencies! And differing timelines for <snorts another line from a hooker's cleavage>, I dunno, the price of wheat?!

[Neon Ignition]

Energy price cap in Great Britain to fall to £1,690 from April, its lowest in two years | Energy bills | The Guardian

[Mayhem]

And of course standing charges are going up to compensate...

[Lebowski]

We just got told despite being in credit that we needed to start paying double what we pay monthly for gas and electric. They can get stuffed, the heatings not being used very much now and if we were to double our monthly DD we'd just end up massively in credit with them.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, we used around £100 per month over the summer and during the last three winter months the most expensive month weighed in at £165. Their recommendation for every month now is £198.

It's sheer profits protectioning now. With the weather going more mild we should be back to £100 next month so won't be changing a thing