Energy bills to rise - how much is yours going up by?

[GusB]

Meanwhile my renewable energy & EV remain almost free to use. Please just do & change instead!

Well, good for you!

Perhaps not so good for those on the lowest incomes who haven't a hope of being able to afford to install renewable energy. Those people are probably likely to be in rented accommodation where they don't have the ability to make such decisions anyway.

 

[Lucan]

It's darned cold up here again, 8.5c

That's almost shorts weather here

It's much colder than that here right now, but I see plenty of idiots men walking around in shorts, including some postmen.

I was in a warehouse type agricultural retail shop recently, quite cold inside. I guess it was about 10 deg C but only as I would have expect such a place to be. Outside was several degrees of frost. I was wearing jeans, arran jersey, a thick anorak and boots, and I felt fine. But a guy came up behind me at the checkout looking like he had just walked off a summer beach - shorts, a thin brightly coloured T shirt, and sandals. He was slapping his arms around himself saying loudly "They ought to get some heat in here!".

It is this "Benidorm" culture, where guys like him expect to wear summer clothing all year round, in every room of the house and everywhere they go, which is a lot of the trouble. It seems to be fashionable, whereas I'm not. Woollenwear is something that many people would not want to be seen dead in. I hate to think what that guy's heating bill must be.

 

[najaB]

Woollenwear is something that many people would not want to be seen dead in.

A lot of people are likely to be seen dead due to not wearing it!

 

[Howardh]

It's much colder than that here right now, but I see plenty of idiots men walking around in shorts, including some postmen.

I was in a warehouse type agricultural retail shop recently, quite cold inside. I guess it was about 10 deg C but only as I would have expect such a place to be. Outside was several degrees of frost. I was wearing jeans, arran jersey, a thick anorak and boots, and I felt fine. But a guy came up behind me at the checkout looking like he had just walked off a summer beach - shorts, a thin brightly coloured T shirt, and sandals. He was slapping his arms around himself saying loudly "They ought to get some heat in here!".

It is this "Benidorm" culture, where guys like him expect to wear summer clothing all year round, in every room of the house and everywhere they go, which is a lot of the trouble. It seems to be fashionable, whereas I'm not. Woollenwear is something that many people would not want to be seen dead in. I hate to think what that guy's heating bill must be.

10c outside, 15c inside the house with no radiotors on; got my sewatshirt + hat on and apart from the odd post on the PC, it's reasonably comfortable knocking about doing my odd jobs. But won't be comfortable if I'm sat watching telly, although to be fair there's nothing much to watch!

This morning for £3 got two hour's badminton and a hot shower at the club!! Pity they don't throw in a pint!

 

[reddragon]

10c outside, 15c inside the house with no radiotors on; got my sewatshirt + hat on and apart from the odd post on the PC, it's reasonably comfortable knocking about doing my odd jobs. But won't be comfortable if I'm sat watching telly, although to be fair there's nothing much to watch!

This morning for £3 got two hour's badminton and a hot shower at the club!! Pity they don't throw in a pint!

On Amazon they do heated underwear, socks, vests & long johns. You could charge them up whilst at the club! No more heating bills

Seriously, my mum has a mains heated blanket when she feels cold. She started using one in the oil crisis in the 1970's, never looked back!

 

[najaB]

Seriously, my mum has a mains heated blanket when she feels cold. She started using one in the oil crisis in the 1970's, never looked back!

Oh, they are amazing. One of the best purchases I ever made. Under blankets are best as you can leave them on low all night and they only use pennies of electricity - on low you'd be talking 30W give or take.

 

[01d-and]

It seems that the price of Natural gas has fallen from 210 [not sure what] on the 4th of April to 140 [ not sure what ] yesterday. Are we due a rebate from the energy providers ??

 

[JamesT]

It seems that the price of Natural gas has fallen from 210 [not sure what] on the 4th of April to 140 [ not sure what ] yesterday. Are we due a rebate from the energy providers ??

If it’s UK, then pence per therm? But energy companies won’t be buying gas day to day, they buy long-term contracts to smooth out instabilities. Only today there are news reports about prices rising again - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ps-on-lower-ukraine-flows-russian-lng-worries
Ofgem were talking about the cap having to go up again in October, which suggests the retailers are more likely to be losing money at the current level than making out like bandits.

 

[najaB]

Ofgem were talking about the cap having to go up again in October, which suggests the retailers are more likely to be losing money at the current level than making out like bandits.

I think there's at least a little bit of banditry going on:

Calls for a UK windfall tax on oil and gas giants to soften the blow of the cost-of-living crisis are intensifying across the political spectrum after Shell and BP posted record profits for the first quarter of 2022.

Company filings show that the two firms’ quarterly profits are at their highest point over the past two years, with Shell’s latest profits almost tripling to $9.1bn, compared with the first quarter of 2021. BP’s profits more than doubled during the same period to $6.2bn, as the company said its trading division had an “exceptional” first quarter of 2022.

Shell and BP profits reach a record high

Demands for a windfull tax on oil and gas giants in the UK are growing.

www.newstatesman.com

 

[DannyMich2018]

Quite a few month's ago Eon wanted to increase my direct debit about 50% per month. I have a smart meter so know how much my usage is and worked out that if I did that I'd be too much in credit and be hard to get it back/adjusted. I cancelled the direct debit and pay by bill so I know what I use is what I pay each month. When I moved into my house in 2016 I was with them for gas for a few weeks and how much they charged was criminal compared to what I then paid with British Gas afterwards.

 

[Howardh]

Quite a few month's ago Eon wanted to increase my direct debit about 50% per month. I have a smart meter so know how much my usage is and worked out that if I did that I'd be too much in credit and be hard to get it back/adjusted. I cancelled the direct debit and pay by bill so I know what I use is what I pay each month. When I moved into my house in 2016 I was with them for gas for a few weeks and how much they charged was criminal compared to what I then paid with British Gas afterwards.

My smart meter tells lies. According to it, I'm currently on a much higher tariff (one that I accidentally signed up to and cancelled the same day); but in reality I'm on the standard price-capped tarrif and the smart meter hasn't updated; so it's showing a much higher price than I'm paying in reality. OH, yes, I check daily on-line that the correct usage and payment is going through.
Moral - always check the tariff you are on + useage that sht meter displays, it might not be correct!

 

[GusB]

Quite a few month's ago Eon wanted to increase my direct debit about 50% per month. I have a smart meter so know how much my usage is and worked out that if I did that I'd be too much in credit and be hard to get it back/adjusted. I cancelled the direct debit and pay by bill so I know what I use is what I pay each month. When I moved into my house in 2016 I was with them for gas for a few weeks and how much they charged was criminal compared to what I then paid with British Gas afterwards.

Do you not have an option to remain paying by direct debit (retaining the discount for DD payments), but switch to Quarterly or Monthly Variable Direct Debit? I'm on Monthly Fixed Direct Debit because I prefer to know exactly how much will be collected each month, but I could change to monthly whole bill or quarterly whole bill. My supplier is EDF.

 

[DannyMich2018]

My smart meter tells lies. According to it, I'm currently on a much higher tariff (one that I accidentally signed up to and cancelled the same day); but in reality I'm on the standard price-capped tarrif and the smart meter hasn't updated; so it's showing a much higher price than I'm paying in reality. OH, yes, I check daily on-line that the correct usage and payment is going through.
Moral - always check the tariff you are on + useage that sht meter displays, it might not be correct!

Yes it's annoying. Since it changed to Eon Next the meter doesn't send readings to Eon so have to do them manually. The person from Eon said that's temporary and it should send them soon.

Do you not have an option to remain paying by direct debit (retaining the discount for DD payments), but switch to Quarterly or Monthly Variable Direct Debit? I'm on Monthly Fixed Direct Debit because I prefer to know exactly how much will be collected each month, but I could change to monthly whole bill or quarterly whole bill. My supplier is EDF.

No I couldn't find an option for that otherwise I would have used it. At least not with them for gas!!

 

[jon0844]

My smart meter took a few days to switch tariff, but obviously the actual data was charged correctly.

I also use an app that has access to the meter and gives far more info, as well as allowing me to view data away from home. I have a range of smart devices that can be controlled or turned off remotely - but the downside is that all of them consume some power in standby, which I guess adds up.

At night with a fridge and fridge freezer and other items in standby, my power consumption is around 100W. There's no way to significantly reduce that, as the biggest saving is getting rid of one of the freezers.

The app is called Loop and once set up it can also show actual savings you could get if you installed solar and/or batteries. You can alter your parameters to suit.

 

[TheBigD]

Just moved house yesterday. My combined tariff going up from £69 per month to £383.

 

[AM9]

My smart meter took a few days to switch tariff, but obviously the actual data was charged correctly.

I also use an app that has access to the meter and gives far more info, as well as allowing me to view data away from home. I have a range of smart devices that can be controlled or turned off remotely - but the downside is that all of them consume some power in standby, which I guess adds up.

At night with a fridge and fridge freezer and other items in standby, my power consumption is around 100W. There's no way to significantly reduce that, as the biggest saving is getting rid of one of the freezers.

The app is called Loop and once set up it can also show actual savings you could get if you installed solar and/or batteries. You can alter your parameters to suit.

I've just read up about Loop on their web site, but it doesn't actually say how it connects into the smartmeter to gather the raw usage data. Do all smartmeters have an accessable wi-fi setup?

 

[najaB]

Just moved house yesterday. My combined tariff going up from £69 per month to £383.

With the same supplier?

 

[TheBigD]

With the same supplier?

Yep! Other supplies quotes were similar.
I suspect that they think that because it's s 4 bed house usage will be based on a family rather than a single occupant.
Scottish Power say I can amend the DD once the changeover is setup.

 

[JamesT]

I've just read up about Loop on their web site, but it doesn't actually say how it connects into the smartmeter to gather the raw usage data. Do all smartmeters have an accessable wi-fi setup?

It’s not entirely clear. I believe the communication between the smart meter and the little display unit they supply is usually over the ZigBee protocol. But I’m not sure how many phones support that and they go say Loop supports smart meter installs with no other kit.

 

[skyhigh]

I've just read up about Loop on their web site, but it doesn't actually say how it connects into the smartmeter to gather the raw usage data. Do all smartmeters have an accessable wi-fi setup?

They receive the data via the smart meter network backend (DCC) - the same way that the suppliers get the data. It doesn't connect directly to your meter.

 

[jon0844]

I've just read up about Loop on their web site, but it doesn't actually say how it connects into the smartmeter to gather the raw usage data. Do all smartmeters have an accessable wi-fi setup?

You supply the smart meter ID and it does the rest (can take a day or two). If you install the app, it explains the whole process. I got my meter ID from the secondary display I got at the time of the install (I assume it's also on the meter itself).

There are other apps, so I assume it's all open data - and you simply have to provide the necessary info to give permission. I can't remember what else it asked for (to stop someone opening an outside cabinet and potentially signing up to get info from someone else's meter).

 

[Freightmaster]

At night with a fridge and fridge freezer and other items in standby, my power consumption is around 100W...

My 'overnight' consumption is almost 500W

In addition to the fridge freezer, boiler and Nest, my two computers/monitors/various peripherals
are on 24/7 (because I work on Freightmaster in fits and starts at all times of the day and night)
and numerous other devices are on standby (e.g. Sky box) and/or charging, plus random items
left running such as air purifiers, a dehumidifier and a pair of water fountains for the cats!

I'm aiming to cut that figure in half by this Winter, so when I get a bit of free time, I'm going to
go from room to room, pulling out all the plugs from the wall in each room and seeing how much
the overall consumption falls by...





MARK

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I'm aiming to cut that figure in half by this Winter, so when I get a bit of free time, I'm going to go from room to room, pulling out all the plugs from the wall in each room and seeing how much the overall consumption falls by...

Are there some modern day electrical devices that it'd be a tad tricky to switch off, for example a fridge/freezer?

 

[Ediswan]

I'm aiming to cut that figure in half by this Winter, so when I get a bit of free time, I'm going to
go from room to room, pulling out all the plugs from the wall in each room and seeing how much
the overall consumption falls by...

Or invest in something like this and measure the consumption of each device directly: https://cpc.farnell.com/energenie/ener007/power-meter/dp/PL13026
The manual: https://www.farnell.com/datasheets/2720873.pdf

Other options are available.

 

[Freightmaster]

Are there some modern day electrical devices that it'd be a tad tricky to switch off, for example a fridge/freezer?

Luckily ours is a 'free standing' model, as are all our other kitchen appliances.

The only thing that seems to be 'hard wired' is the combi-boiler, which has an isolation switch
next to it on the wall, but I might well be missing something else which is permanently powered
up - I just don't know...

Or invest in something like this and measure the consumption of each device directly

Thanks for that - I've just ordered one!





MARK

 

[DelayRepay]

I've been doing a bit of an experiment and discovered that my expensive appliances are, not surprisingly, my electric shower, my tumble drier and my kettle.

I don't use the drier very often, but I use the shower at least once, sometimes twice a day. I'm now trying to work out whether I can have a shower that uses the hot water from my combi boiler fitted, and if so how long it would take to break even.

For the kettle, someone suggested boiling water on the gas hob is cheaper because gas is cheaper than electric. I'm not convinced that would lead to a meaningful saving, though.

 

[reddragon]

I've been doing a bit of an experiment and discovered that my expensive appliances are, not surprisingly, my electric shower, my tumble drier and my kettle.

I don't use the drier very often, but I use the shower at least once, sometimes twice a day. I'm now trying to work out whether I can have a shower that uses the hot water from my combi boiler fitted, and if so how long it would take to break even.

For the kettle, someone suggested boiling water on the gas hob is cheaper because gas is cheaper than electric. I'm not convinced that would lead to a meaningful saving, though.

For the dryer, using natural solar + wind is best, it has a name. errr, oh yes hanging it on a washing line! Radiators work too but otherwise a heat pump dryer uses about 25%v of the power of an old style one.

There was a thread on kettles. Gas whilst cheaper loses most of the heat so wasn't cheaper, second place was a kettle, the winner was an induction hob with just enough water. Otherwise just drink water, it's free from a tap!

Kidding a bit but serious, it's what I do.

 

[DelayRepay]

For the dryer, using natural solar + wind is best, it has a name. errr, oh yes hanging it on a washing line! Radiators work too but otherwise a heat pump dryer uses about 25%v of the power of an old style one.

Yeah, I don't use the dryer often. Mainly when the weather's no good for drying outside but the heating's not on, or for things that are a bit too thick/heavy to dry inside e.g. towels. I used it a lot more before I moved here, because I lived in a flat with no garden or outside drying space.

There was a thread on kettles. Gas whilst cheaper loses most of the heat so wasn't cheaper, second place was a kettle, the winner was an induction hob with just enough water. Otherwise just drink water, it's free from a tap!

I suspected as much, and I think the biggest efficiency is simply boiling the amount of water needed rather than filling the kettle. And using it when it's boiled rather than wandering off and forgetting about it! Despite the high price of electricity, I'm not yet ready to swap my tea for water!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Otherwise just drink water, it's free from a tap!

Not when it's metered, it's not!

 

[reddragon]

Not when it's metered, it's not!

£1.38 per cubic meter, or 0.138p per litre or 0.02p per cup, hmm 50 cups a penny