Energy price rises-Shocking!

[beamishken]

Originally Posted by Orwell boy

Yes i have made an assumption without thinking ,we are in the Anglia region and meters have been the norm for a while ,system is broadly ....new houses ,all metered ,everybody else meter if you want one ,also anybody moving to another house gets meter regardless therefore the only people without meters are those who have not moved for a while and hav,nt requested a meter .

So this means a structure for charging is needed and if you have mains sewerage then this is where the percentage out comes in ,it therfore allows those with cesspits to pay 0% sewrage ,,but if you gather your own water in then you are flushing for free !

Think the sewerage out meter has,nt been invented yet for the masses ,probhably quite lucky for a few on here [emoji38]

They were bringing in meters many years ago in north east england where we lived & like you say they would install for free & mandatory for new connections. In the majority of cases the meter v council tax comparison the meter was usually cheaper, we had several meters fitted in our own properties. There was no relation to the sewage charge then but it makes sense I guess. It probably also deters folk from watering their gardens with mains water as they get a double whammy of extra water charge & extra sewage charge. Seems like a fair system & obviously encourages folk to catch water for gardens or toilet flushing.
Here in Scotland it seems you either have a commercial metered supply which is very expensive or a domestic council tax based system.
When we bought the current farm in north ayrshire it was on a meter & bills were eyewatering, we managed to convince them there was no agricultural use to the water system & after a long battle we now pay via council tax.
Seems Scotland are behind England on their water charging regimes.

Sent from my SM-G950F using RIB Net mobile app

[Matt]

In addition to the hive setup, have also now installed a Hive TRV in the conservatory (doesn't need heating when the kids are at school or asleep). Fingers crossed it works better than the reviews suggest it might.

[Matt]

So I have about a week's usage so far on the hive thermostat & 1 of their wifi TRVs in the conservatory. It doesn't seem to have got appreciably warmer outside, but based on the numbers I see from the hive app from the first few days to the latter few, it looks like we've reduced the boiler from maybe firing 10 hours per day to 6 hours per day. So a 40% reduction. Will keep tracking, but it seems consistently lower...thanks ribnetters for making me get off my arse to sort it all out.

Combo of - reducing the indoors temperature by 1 degree. Accurately setting the on and off times (varying by weekday vs weekend) we need so it's warm only when we want it to be and invidividually controlling the conservatory so it's off most of the time.

[Matt]

P.S. Is it a definite that if I swap to smart meters now, they are portable across different suppliers these days?

[Oldman2]

Originally Posted by Matt

P.S. Is it a definite that if I swap to smart meters now, they are portable across different suppliers these days?

Yes I believe so, it was only the older meters that couldnt be moved over to new suppliers & they now have the ability to be read by all suppliers. Any meters fitted now should be migration proof.

[Matt]

Cool. I think I will book that in too then - make minimising energy usage my new "challenge" - and it's convenient having all the data online. I think I might keep turning the thermostat down and reducing the time it's on until the wife squeeks. And then turn it down a bit more.

[Oldman2]

My fixed deal for 2yrs is due to end in March and now the cap has been set I can see roughly what I am in store for price wise. In my opinion, If you were on a fixed price for 1 or 2yrs thats due to end soon the new fixed price deals being offered by your present and a few other firms are going to look outrageously high as they are seemingly building into the new fixed offers the ability to possibly still make a profit in year 2.

Ask what the variable rates are, you may find that a better short term option than locking yourself into a high price 2yr plan with even higher than usual early exit fees. Apply for the warm home discount if you think its available to you and grab whatever other offers like the £200 and £150 as they filter through. Energy prices are never going back to pre covid levels and anything that disrupts supplies from Russia or USA is only going to hike prices even more. The market price for gas is so volatile that ships at sea can be re-routed to a different country get a better price for landed gas. Its so variable that I see the regulator is considering 3 monthly price cap revisions now.

[Matt]

Yeah, I was on a fixed rate deal with People's Energy until they went bust. It was happy days.
I doubt prices will get back to their previous levels in the medium term even, but hopefully they'll stabilise soon.

[Limecc]

Eon fitted my Smart (gas) meter and promptly cut off my supply before they left. The gas pipe to my boiler was running inside the cavity wall which is illegal. Cheers!

[Matt]

Charming. My MIL got my gas supply cut off because she thought she could smell gas. Had to take the DO NOT USE tape off and reconnect it myself. FFS.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Nasher

I'm lucky enough to have Lady Nasher about the house who deals with that sort of thing.

Although she did mention the other day that I'd been doing a lot of welding in the garage and I ought to be aware the cost of Electric is going up.
I'll need to prepare some Man-Maths justifications by the sound of it.

Nasher, next time you fire it up, show her the Amps display and say look, it uses much less power than 240v. However, if she teaches maths or physics then I am afraid your stuffed. 12v battery and bit of McGivering ?

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Matt

Yeah, I was on a fixed rate deal with People's Energy until they went bust. It was happy days.
I doubt prices will get back to their previous levels in the medium term even, but hopefully they'll stabilise soon.

Matt, presumably you have a chimney if your home is 100 years old. We fitted this 8 years ago when we moved in. Cost us £3300 all in, but I recon with free wood we save about £250 year on the gas heating by using it regularly. So we are about half way to breaking even. It can supply 5kw flat out but once warmed we turn it way down or the house goes over 20c. The chimney breast and the second one upstairs also warm up and act like a huge heat sink staying warm until the following morning. They burn really hot so don't smoke if using dry wood or coke brickets. Finally the dry heat and air circulation going up the chimney means we don't have to open windows each day, just briefly when showering. The wood burner does the rest.

We are currently burning a pear tree that came down in a old dears garden down the road in a storm. I offered to cut it up and remove it, if I could then burn it. She was delighted and the deal done. Cut logs dry about 1" a month in the UK, so they have been under the car porch for 18 months drying nicely.

At the back of my mind is the fact that it also provides heat in the event of a power or gas cut in the future. The winters of 1973/4 were tough with those electrical power cuts.

Pete

[Matt]

Looks like a combination of turning the heat down 1 degree (but still boosting it when the twins grandparents come to visit) and fine tuning the schedule by day of the week and so forth, we've reduced our gas usage by 20% (assuming roughly like for like on the outside temperatures between 19/12 and now). A good drop, but had hoped for 30%. I'll tell the Mrs to get some more jumpers.

Now need to start looking at electricity usage.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by The Gurnard

Reading your posts and energy bills reminds me why I left the city to lead the good life.

I hadn't paid proper attention to your post at the time, but I'd just like to say how much respect I have for decisions such as this to have a simpler and I am sure more fulfilling life. It is something, with hindsight, I should have paid more attention to at the beginning of my career.

Originally Posted by The Gurnard

I have five solar panels on the house roof too.. which is enough to continually run a small one bar electric fire if I so wished.

In the summer.
What about the winter?

Originally Posted by The Gurnard

....and cant heat myself up with a good woman so rely on my wee woodburner. The wood burner heats the living room very nicely for free ...

Definitely the wisest choice financially.

Originally Posted by The Gurnard

So living the good life is still pretty cheap for me ..and I get boating any time I want..which is what I live for.

There's a lesson there for all of us.

[The Gurnard]

Yup.. everyone is different in their outlook Matt and tend to tailor their life from past experiences.

I was an average city guy who worked every hour under the sun so I could enjoy the pleasures of a family life and have lots of materialistic possessions .

Then I went home from work one day to a letter on the mantelpiece .. our joint bank account was empty .. and next day a lawyers letter arrived telling me I had to sell up the house and all possessions as my wife wanted half of everything.

That is how simple it is to loose everything you have every worked for and taught me the true value of money. I had no warning at all. Of course there are other ways to learn that lesson.. and Im certainly not unique nor looking for sympathy ..I have my health which money cant buy.

So I tailored my life to suit myself and not suit others .. I love boating all my life ..and am as happy in a wee SIB as the more expensive boats I had in a previous life . I also realised I had made my employers a lot of money .. but knew I was never going to be as rich as them.

I retired early..at 58 years old to follow my own destiny .. and it costs little ..which is as well as I don’t have much pension.. this year it is supplemented by state pension so I have no money worries at all. I lead a very rich life.

Storm after storm since January has mostly kept me off the water ..but as soon as the wind drops and the rain stops ..Im off up the sea loch. I live a 5 minute walk from the beach.

This video was made on Saturday ..I had 10 hours oif calm between Storm Eunice and Storm Franklin ..so did my logging run. Its a hard life living in the promised land ..but I have no worries about energy bills and dont care about how much life savings are loosing just now..because of Russia ..Partygates ..and climate issues ..its all behind me now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSVktiwpz5M

[Maximus]

Another lovely Video Donny. ....sure is "a Loch for all Seasons"my friend!

[Maximus]

double post

[The Gurnard]

Thanks Maximus .. and as you possibly know by now ..another advantage of living in the promised land is that being part of a small community is a far friendlier experience than living in the busy city where everyone is too busy to stop for a chat

When its too windy to go up the loch.. I really enjoy watching the locals watching their otters. Its a great way to get to know people ..and I confess that I even enjoy chatting with the hairy beavers that also enjoy watching the cool otters.



Yup..city life .... money ... and possessions was for me ... like wearing a mill stone round my neck.

Fortunately everyone is different ... so in general .. city folks don’t all want to go to live in the country ..or that is where the cities would be

[Orwell boy]

Thanks for sharing a spring treat with us all ,as you say spring is very exciting opportunity ,like you must replace a fence post or two while the weathers poor to free up the good days for the rib........thankyou

[Steve509926]

Lovely video Donny. It will be interesting to see the changes in the scenery when we're up there in August.