ENERGY MATTERS

[plaques]

These SMR's may be a lifesaver for 'Rolls' at Barlick, A point of interest all other RR factories are referred to as 'Royce's'. I'm not sure what the state of play is now but RR had some very big empty factories in East Kilbride and Bristol. Barlick may empty their factory of aero engine parts and concentrate on some aspect of nuclear that requires a high degree of security. I see our MP Andrew Stephenson has got in on the act but since its over 2 years since he promised a report on the future of roads in Pendle I wouldn't hold your breath.

[Tizer]

The money that was going to be put into the Cumbrian coal mine and the North Sea gas field needs re-directing to these sorts of project and into renewable technologies. That would provide high-quality employment where its most needed, and freedom from foreign energy supplies. There is a vast amount of money floating around but it's in the wrong hands - those of people trying to maintain the status quo.

[Stanley]

"There is a vast amount of money floating around but it's in the wrong hands - those of people trying to maintain the status quo."
I think you're spot on there Peter. Too many people are doing very nicely thank you from the troubles we face at the moment and as far as they are concerned they would rather the boat wasn't rocked. One of the biggest problems I see at the moment is long term, the locking up of thousands of acres of good land for 60 years minimum in planting trees for carbon credits. There was a news item yesterday about farmers in Wales being cold-called by estate agents who have customers waiting to buy farms at inflated prices. That signals inflated returns and scam to me.
Ken, I hope you're right about Rolls. Problem is that what you advocate is common sense and that is not what persuades politicians and economic planners at the moment. All they are interested in is cost and return, common sense was never strong in those fields....

[Tripps]

Is this true or fake news? This is from an alleged diary of the Downing Street cat. Reinforces my prejudice against ever having one. No mention though, that it gives the supplier the power to charge a different rate for a different time of consumption. The advertising used to promote them is nonsense. I think actually that 2G will probably be safe for a few more years largely because it is used for this purpose. I've got several phones that only work on 2G.

I heard an interesting story yesterday. I always thought that smart meters were an absolute joke but now I learn that nearly every single one of them is soon to be rendered totally pointless. So far the rollout of smart meters has cost some £11 billion and there is no way that they have saved consumers that much in power consumption. Research indicates that most people with one don’t reckon it saves them a penny. However the new problem is that nearly every smart meter works by reporting its user’s power consumption via 2G or 3G and the mobile telephone operators are getting ready to turn those signals off in favour of 4G and 5G. There are a few meters that use long-range radio communications in remote areas of Scotland and Northern England but around 24 million meters will become dumb as the 2G and 3G signal is cut off. So what is the answer? Send someone out to replace a module in 24 million meters or replace every meter. It looks like the cost of the new module and fitting it is more expensive than installing a replacement meter. So it’s going to cost bill payers another £11 billion to replace the dumb ones. Crazy

[Big Kev]

Central and Southern use 2G and 3G for WAN comms, it's currently planned to be switched off in 2033. The DCC plan to have 4G single band Communications Hubs available in 2023, with dual band to follow in 2024. The rest of us use a long range radio signal rather than a cellular network. Smart meters have a lifespan of around 15 years and, as a lot of them are getting on for 10 years old, will be due for replacement soon anyway.

[Tizer]

Kev will probably know but the Telegraph had a headline a year ago `Smart meters and GPS under threat as old mobile networks get switched off'. The article is behind a paywall.

[Big Kev]

Aye, it's an awareness that's been around for a while, the technology is constantly evolving. There's still another 12 years before they're planning to turn off the 2 and 3G so they're good for a bit. The other issue they have is the earlier SMETS1 devices use 2.4ghz for HAN (Home Area Network) comms between devices, a lot of other things use this too. Most of the SMETS2 devices are dual band (2.4 and 5ghz) and are much more reliable with the device comms, a lot of the issues are the comms back to the DCC and the location of the comms hub. Mine is in the cellar and sends data without a problem, it all depends on what's in the way

[Stanley]

What's a DCC?
All I can add to the discussion is that British Gas assure me my meters are now state of the art... But the gas meter still doesn't report and it's outside in the back yard.

[Big Kev]

What's a DCC?
All I can add to the discussion is that British Gas assure me my meters are now state of the art... But the gas meter still doesn't report and it's outside in the back yard.

Data Communication Centre. It's the data services provider set up by the government to provide a secure link between energy suppliers and the meter network. Regardless of how 'state of the art' your gas meter is, it won't communicate until the engineer comes back and runs the install and commission process. As you have stated previously though 'it's not worth it' so it'll remain a dumb meter.

[Stanley]

When I said that Kev I was referring to getting on to BG about their promise to come back and attempt to commission it again. You don't get to speak to the right people and end up wasting your time because their communications are chaotic. Easier to read the meter today and post it myself, Five minutes instead of five days!

[Big Kev]

You can get through to one person, in their complaints department, without the need to phone and jump through hoops. If you log it as a complaint via their 'webchat' they'll sort it for you https://www.britishgas.co.uk/complaints ... redit.html

[Stanley]

I've been down that route more than once Kev and it's a pain in the bum. I shall quietly potter on posting my gas readings on the 1st of the month and paying up on the 14th.

[Big Kev]

Looks like a £200 a year reduction in household energy bills could be in the pipeline (pun intended).
https://www.ft.com/content/6b4ca9e3-0e4 ... HxvA%3D%3D

[Stanley]

And then start paying it back as winter looms again at the end of the year?

[PanBiker]

Theoretically the £200.00 will be paid back over 5 years at £40.00 per year. That along with the £150.00 which I think is a freebie still does not equate to the claimed sound bite of the governments helping hand of £350.00 off your fuel bill. Another con that sounds good, more snake oil.

[Tizer]

This looks like a good idea...
`How to store excess wind power underwater' LINK

[Stanley]

When you think about it the big problem is capacity. The most practical ones I have ever seen are where water is pumped into high reservoirs using surplus power and used later in peak demand periods.

[Big Kev]

There's been a breakthrough in fusion research at JET.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60312633

[Stanley]

I heard that report Kev. I noted this statement. "Fusion is not a solution to get us to 2050 net zero. This is a solution to power society in the second half of this century." I hope my descendants benefit from it.

[plaques]

Energy crisis.
When is a discount / rebate a loan? Answer when its given / lent by the government. Keir Starmer had a field day in Prime Minister's Questions. The first thing to get out of the way is that a rebate is a return of money already paid this is obviously not the case. The whole business is clouded in misleading words where it would appear that money is paid to the energy provider equivalent to £200 for eligible customers which will immediately reduce the bill by this amount. Later in the year the provider will start to ask for this money back in instalments. So there we have it, Yes its a temporary discount which turns into a long term loan. I doubt if people taking out a bank loan would see it as a discount on their purchases this loan is no different.

[Stanley]

It does nothing to address the long term price of energy. We may be seeing the new normal as gas becomes the only viable alternative to more dirty/dangerous fuels. We are told that we are sat on gigantic reserves. I can't help thinking that we should start fracking.

[plaques]

I tend to disagree with local fracking. The extent of the seismic vibrations is unknown. The contaminants from fracking are a dangerous pollutant and at the end of it all the gas could be sold on the world market to the highest bidder with the profits going abroad possibly in some far off tax haven. If all this was resolved to show some real local UK benefit there may be some virtue in it. But until then NO.

[Tripps]

I can't help thinking that we should start fracking.

Looks like it won't happen now. just when realism is about to kick in, and the EU is going to reclassify gas as a (relatively) clean fuel.

Cuadrilla

[Tizer]

We are suffering now as the result of a long history of our governments and businesses kicking the can down the road, plus the decades of resistance from the climate deniers. We should have long ago built up our sustainable and renewable energy technologies and industry. We could have benefited by being world leaders and sold our goods, technology and expertise to the rest of the world. Instead we've left it to China, South Korea and other countries.

We could have had a Severn Barrage generating electricity by now but the proposal suffered from too much dithering and was allowed to die. There are already plans for smaller generating barrages at various places around the British coast but most are still only at the planning stage. Dithering and delaying have been useful tactics for those who want to continue benefiting in the short term from the old dirty energy industries.

[PanBiker]

I received a letter from Octopus Energy today regarding the estimated costs of gas and electricity for the rest of the year. We are already on the most economical tariff for both gas and electricity so no need to swap anything there. Our estimated costs projected over the year including tariff discounts and VAT based on our usage over the year are about £300.00 dearer than last years outlay. I was expecting much worse. Of course things can change before the fat lady sings so to speak but we are up to date on our payments, and our current direct debit without any alteration should cater for the increase. We are paid up to date and are currently £215.00 in credit.

I know Peter and David are with Octopus and am wondering if they have had their projected estimates?