ENERGY MATTERS

[Big Kev]

Oh good! Can we have it this winter please?

We already have...


The world's longest under-sea electricity cable, transferring green power between Norway and the UK, has begun operation.

The 450-mile (725km) cable connects Blyth in Northumberland with the Norwegian village of Kvilldal.

[Wendyf]

On a slightly smaller scale, him indoors has begun a project to upgrade our off grid system. You may remember that some of the lead acid batteries began to fail on the very day he was having his operation back in March, causing me just a small amount of stress. There have been more failures since so he has invested in some modern lithium ion batteries specific to the job and some new solar panels to replace the old ones. Energy from the turbine and solar will be stored in the new batteries and any extra charging will come from the grid system when the sun is shining.
This is keeping his brain (and credit card) occupied though he still doesn't have the strength to lift the batteries and there is no way he could get on the roof to fit the new panels. All the workings are up in the old hayloft in the barn, soon I will be called to assist in a battery lowering operation involving a pulley....
What fun.

[Stanley]

Tell him that Stanley says that he should remember what Archimedes said. "Give me a lever long enough and I will move the world". Shifting batteries is only a small matter....
Then duck!

[Tizer]

A new 'power' link between Norway and the UK...

Oh no, if Boris hears that he'll be off on one of his `tunnel dreams' again!

[Big Kev]

Just a thought regarding the £139 price cap increase, was this not decreased by £87 last year? There are still further increases predicted but looking at it over 2 years it's a £1 a week increase...

[Stanley]

The news this morning is full of energy. I have heard a figure of 8 days of gas storage in UK and 80 in Germany. That doesn't sound doesn't sound very good to me.
I have also heard an energy guru saying we should expect an increase in the cap on fuel bills of £600 in Spring.
On a wider front what I want to know is who is profiting from the enormous rise in gas prices and are 'our' UK producers sharing in this.
I also heard that Royal Dutch Shell's application to open a new gas field in the North Sea has been rejected. Expert opinion is that this is more to do with the imminent COP26 conference in Glasgow than anything else. It wouldn't look good if the UK was arguing for reduced fossil fuel usage while opening a new gas field.
It looks a bit chaotic to me.....

[chinatyke]

...
On a wider front what I want to know is who is profiting from the enormous rise in gas prices and are 'our' UK producers sharing in this.
....

I've just been watching Putin on TV. He seemed very happy.

[plaques]

Just a thought regarding the £139 price cap increase, was this not decreased by £87 last year? There are still further increases predicted but looking at it over 2 years it's a £1 a week increase...

It all depends on what is meant by energy prices. The unit price of gas & electricity may move down or up = energy price. The standing daily charges may move in the opposite direction = overheads. I believe last year this cumulative pricing left overall payment more or less the same. This year prices are heading into the stratosphere. Answer, use less,

On the flying pigs. EU regulations required animals to be killed in authorised regulated abattoirs. There is a suggestion that we can now drop this requirement and have rivers of blood running through the countryside. The piggyphant in the room is how do you convince the rest of the world to buy your pork. Don't tell me, we tell porkies like the Buffoon.

[Stanley]

No matter how it is viewed Ken, any system that leads to the slaughter and destruction of healthy animals on farms at the farmer's expense is fatally flawed and whoever is enforcing it should be ashamed. Talk about rivers of blood is ridiculous.
On the energy price front, the government is to go ahead with the imposition of new eco surcharges on domestic fuel bill despite the other price increases. Sounds like madness.....

[Stanley]

Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng our energy minister says he is speaking to the Treasury. The Treasury says that's news to them as they haven't heard from him.
Par for the course today wean you can't trust anyone.

[Stanley]

It looks as though PM Johnson is going to intervene from the beach and knock heads together. The prediction is that there will be a high energy price bail-out. Please can domestic users have one as well? (And while you're at it, how about a windfall tax on the profiteers!)

[Stanley]

See THIS for an overnight BBC report on the state of play. The smart money is on loans rather than grants, supposedly to preserve competition but just as much the Treasury wanting its money back. Funny thing is that it was a free competitive market that got us into this mess. Commanding heights and all that, do you think they will ever learn?

[plaques]

I've been doing my bit by not taking continental holidays and not drinking wine or beer.
Are these energy prices another nail in the coffin for the high street shops. Most of them will be using gas for their heating and keeping customers warm and snug is a big draw factor in getting them through their doors.

[Stanley]

It's certainly not going to make it any easier Ken. At the moment they have a 'perfect storm' hitting them, the pandemic, business rates and the advent of online shopping. Despite all that Quasi Kwarteng tells us they are now being hit further by supply chain difficulties and an imminent sharp rise in interest rates.
From what we are hearing via the Westminster gossip mill, Johnson secretly thinks it's a good thing that the lower orders are getting a dose of reality as this is what is needed to get the work-shy off there fat arses and into the jobs available for them.
He's due back from his Marbella break today so we may get to hear something direct from the horses mouth.
One thing seems certain to me.... as soon as COP 26 is out of the way Quadrilla will be making an announcement!

[Stanley]

See THISarticle in the Independent about the Treasury dragging its feet in making any decision what aid to give heavy energy users in industry. The smart money is on loans but many wonder if this will be enough. Every day they dither costs the essential industries millions of pounds.
[Sorry, I've just realised that you have to register to read the article but the headline gives the gist!]

[Stanley]

I got another email from British Gas which started "We tried to send you an email...." Very strange. From what I can make out it signals that my gas meter is now reporting to the network and so I have the latest generation of smart meters and they are working. It's all so complicated, why can't they just say that?
Whoever is getting paid for designing and managing BG's website is getting their money under false pretences....

[Big Kev]

All smart meters that are now being fitted will be SMETS2 (second generation). You should be able to find the readings on the website, or the app. If you have the IHD (in home device) switched on it will show you what you're using in real time.

[Stanley]

They said they'd send an in home monitor but haven't done so so far. I'll give it time.....

[Big Kev]

They said they'd send an in home monitor but haven't done so so far. I'll give it time.....

Has your IHD turned up yet?

Chase them up if it hasn't https://www.britishgas.co.uk/help-and-support/

[Tizer]

It's about time we had electric delivery vehicles so this is good news. It's also quite interesting!...
`UK’s electric Arrival promises greener deliveries' BBC video
`Electric vehicle start-up, Arrival says it has sold more than 50,000 vans and buses even before one has hit the road. Arrival, founded in 2015, has designed a new style of electric vans and buses which will start being delivered to customers in 2022. Other manufacturers also offer all-electric versions typically of their most popular models, but Arrival’s design uses different materials which it says dramatically reduces weight while saving space. Arrival is still yet to publicly announce any prices. BBC Click’s Dan Simmons explores the company’s research and development labs in Banbury, Oxfordshire.'
There's more info here: Arrival

[Stanley]

I'll wait until they make a move Kev. I get the idea that if you approach them you are immediately targetted as a sales prospect. They are still trying to persuade me to install a smart meter....

[Stanley]

I saw a video on Youtube posted by a contractor who installs heat pumps. Undoubtedly a polemic. He is quite certain that heat pumps are a dead end as they only provide a good heating solution if the property is superbly insulated to the highest standards. He went on to discuss how the government was going to persuade us to install them, apart from subsidy. His take is that they will allow the price of gas to rise to a point where a heat pump looks like a viable alternative.
As I say, definitely a polemic but that said, the man made sense.

[Tizer]

He is quite certain that heat pumps are a dead end as they only provide a good heating solution if the property is superbly insulated to the highest standards.

I've researched heat pumps several times over the years and each time came to the same conclusion - you need the house to be much better insulated than even the most recently built UK houses. That doesn't mean more mineral wool in the loft, it means having your external walls and any solid ground floor covered in thick foam insulation; the very latest double glazing and preferably triple glazing; and draughts reduced to the absolute minimum where it's getting to the point of needing controlled mechanical ventilation with in-built heat recovery. We'd need major and expensive renovation of all our housing stock and some houses might not be suitable and would have to be replaced. A|so the planning regime will have to be completely re-hashed to allow all this, especially where external insulation is the only solution. The government is avoiding telling people the truth. It's going to be very, very expensive and a massive upheaval - they should be honest about it.

[plaques]

Years ago Lucas, Burnley started making some of the first heat pumps. As a demonstration they put a unit in their newly opened social club. Unfortunately they used to wait while opening time before they switched it on. The first two or more hours saw every sat in a freezing gale of cold air circulated round their feet. The ones in the know would 'reserve' a stool by putting their feet up until it got warmer. And why didn't they leave it running all day? Too expensive was the answer.

[Stanley]

I suspect that looking at the heat delivery end of the equation, the only heat pump that could give enough heat to warm a normal UK house would be one that was extracting the heat from running water.