ENERGY MATTERS

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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

Post by PanBiker »

I tend to fill up at the petrol station just before North Valley roundabout when we are passing. 3 to 5p difference usually per litre between there and the pumps in Barlick. Same difference on unleaded as it was on diesel. The Hyundai runs on bog standard unleaded, is that 95 octane as opposed to the super stuff at 98 or thereabouts? Anyway it runs OK so no problem. Must remember to have a look at the ECU readings to see how it's doing on MPG, the run down into Wales will be a good indicator, Motorway and decent A roads along the coast.
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

Post by PanBiker »

Just got my Octopus bill, around £45.00 for the lot. £12.00 or so on gas :smile: nearly three times a much for the electric. :sad:
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

Post by Pluggy »

My gas is about £12 for the last month, £3 for the gas £9 for the standing charge. Electric albeit with solar panels & battery storage £14 for the electric & £7 for the standing charge. Equalised over the year £90 a month.......

The car (1200 Petrol Dacia Sandero) does 27 MPG at worst (all kicking around & idling keeping warm in winter) . double that at best ( long runs at moderate speed) , about 45 typical again on plain old 95 unleaded. Usually filled up opposite Aldi in Barlick.
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

Post by Big Kev »

Same here for gas and electric, £91 a month spread over the year. My 16 year old diesel Audi does around 700 miles to a tank full (60lts), I use the cheapest I can find which is usually Sainsbury's garage at Colne.
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

Post by Stanley »

The whole energy business is a mystery to me. Lots of pious aspirations about the death of fossil fuel but consumption rises world wide and so do prices and profits. As for bio-diesel... apart from recycling old cooking oil, it has always seemed to me that the problem is that the cure produces more problems than the disease especially when you factor in shortages of food and preservation of the forests and carbon soaking eco systems. Then there are the hidden costs of things like eliminating lead and sulphur in fuels, noble and much needed improvements but the oil companies kept very quiet about the effects of losing the internal engine lubricating properties of both.
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

Post by PanBiker »

"Get a Tiger in your tank", dead giveaway for an old photo, there is no lock on the petrol cap. :extrawink: I cant think of any car in the last 20-30 years or so that hasn't had a locking cap or other security on the fuel system. Even my Pan European motorbike was key operated for access to the tank.
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

Post by Stanley »

July account now in, £38.94 so despite the fact that I refuse to swap suppliers chasing a cheaper rate I don't seem to be doing too badly compared with others. It will be taken out of my bank round about the middle of the month and I am up to date owing nothing.
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

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£47 for July here. £91 a month on the DD still looks about right...
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

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Our solar panels haven't had the opportunity this summer to reach the peak readings of last summer, there were too many dull and cloudy days here. Never mind they are plodding along quite happily and on good days we are getting around 20 kWh on the better days at the moment. Since installation (by the previous owners) they have generated a total of about 17 MWh.
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

Post by Stanley »

A lot cheaper than a new white elephant nuclear power station Tiz!
Kev, my advantage is probably a result of living alone..... I have complete control of consumption.
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

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We got a letter from EDF because our current energy deal with them is expiring. Went online to choose one from those offered. All of them have a section which says `by taking this deal you are agreeing to the following' and the last item in the list is:`To accept fitting of a smart meter.' Then there is a line that says `You will have the opportunity to cancel this at a later stage'. Now why make you agree to a smart meter and then have to go through the process of cancelling later, rather than being able take the offer without a smart meter? They're hoping that people will agree and then forget to cancel or find it too complicated and arduous to cancel (a common trick with online sales). Also, I suspect they have done it to be able to claim a higher take-up of meters than is really happening.
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

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Get over the smart meter phobia then it doesn't matter ? I've had them in to fit smart meters and I was turned down because of in insufficient room to fit the larger smart electric meter and the gas fittings were too inflexible to fit the larger smart gas meter. I've rectified the Electric meter side as it was my own kit taking up the space. The gas is a bit more involved as its old lost in the mists of time stuff. Presently on hold......

I've decided most of the negative waves on the internet about smart meters are from conspiracy nut jobs or from people who have changed suppliers with early meters that aren't smart anymore. 1 or 2 that have had metric vs imperial gas meter cockups. So what ? Especially since i have my own meters on top of the official ones which I can work out what I'm using independently. My official electric meter reads just over 1% up on my own meters which I consider to be reasonable There are only 2 gas appliances both of which I know precisely how much they use when running.

I'm toying with the idea of changing the heating to an air source heat pump system which means the main gas user (CH boiler) will be redundant and swapping the gas hob for an electric one isn't much of a job. Tear out the gas all together. One less bill.
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

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The 'early' SMETS1 meters, for those that changed suppliers, won't be dumb for much longer.

With regards to conspiracy nut jobs, there was one in Facebook land claiming that energy suppliers could get into the meters remotely and 'up' your consumption figures. When I asked him for the evidence, of this major security breach, so it could be investigated through the appropriate channels he disappeared and didn't comment again :laugh5:
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

Post by Stanley »

On the whole, my smart meter has been a good thing. Apart from one spell when even British Gas didn't trust their own meters, they have been trouble free and they enable me to pay for what I use monthly automatically. At less than £40 a month currently with all standing charges I don't think it is ripping me off.
I like the sound of an air source heat pump Pluggy, tell me more..... (I've always liked heat pumps.... good basic principle.)
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

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Stanley wrote: 07 Aug 2019, 02:21 I like the sound of an air source heat pump Pluggy, tell me more..... (I've always liked heat pumps.... good basic principle.)
Lucas's in Burnley installed their heat pump system into their new workingman's club. The main problem was that although the system was mainly an internal flow set up, adding a small amount extra heat to what was already there, for the first couple of hours especially in winter it was like being sat in an arctic blast.
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

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Thanks for the comments on smart meters. We've held off mainly because mobile and broadband around here in about half a mile radius is poor (I think because we're beside a ridge) and we thought they wouldn't get a reliable connection. How to they get over that problem? Are they using radio or what? Also with our contract expiring we might change supplier. Are all meters fitted now of the later type?

We looked at air source heating back in about 2012 when we were hoping to do a self-build a house. It's a good idea but we were warned then that they are noisy and can affect neighbours as well as the owner. Perhaps they are quieter now. Also we were told you have to be careful where you site them if you want them to be efficient. And they were expensive but that too might have changed. :smile:
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

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No plans for an internal airflow. I plan to use the existing CH system. Pretty much like the existing gas boiler.

I was thinking something like this : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6kW-18kW-AIR ... k-FNt-5caA

You can get cheaper but ones in mild steel cases start to look unsightly with rust stains after a few years. Look on the side of most pubs, many of them have beer coolers which are much the same sort of box plumbed to chill the water and dump the heat to the outside air..

One proviso, it can only heat the water to about 60C rather than the 80+C the boiler does so the radiators put out less heat. Rather than putting in extra radiators I'd just suppliment the radiators with straight electric heat when it gets very cold. I've had my boiler restricted to 6.5Kw and 50C since early spring as a trial. It can keep the house nice down to about 5C ouside It runs longer when it gets colder but is using less gas when it is running. I'll take it through winter probably increasing the temp to 60 to match what a heat pump could do. The CH at full temp struggles when it gets bitterly cold (say -10). Suck it and see. On my proposed siting for the pump there are no close neighbours. The neared would be at the opposite side of the road. I don't envisage the fairly low level noise they make ( 52db ) to be an issue.

On sunny days in winter, the solar panels would run a 7kW heat pump for part of the day.
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

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Got an email to submit my meter readings which I've done and EDF say they are reducing my Direct debit to £81 from £90 because I'm paying too much for my current energy use. Can't complain....... :biggrin2:
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

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I'm currently paying £72.44 per month for both electricity and gas, and I'm about £92 in credit.
That's for a 4 bed detached bungalow. I don't think that's bad. :smile: And I get a free spin on the roulette wheel when I enter my meter readings. Like Ian, I'm with Octopus. :smile:
The important numbers are
Electric 15.17 per kWh plus standing charge 20.43p per day
Gas 3.16 per kWh plus standing charge 16.8p per day

I use bottled gas for the cooker, because that's how it was before i had mains gas put in. I use a bottle a year for about £35 or so. Not worth running a new pipe to the cooker.
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

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15.50p + 18.9p per day Electric
3.385p + 26.25p per day Gas

I'll live with the < 20p per day I'd save with Octopus. I give my granddaughter £1 for sweets and she looks at me like I short changed her.......
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

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Fair enough - if you're content to pay £73 per year extra that's fine.

If however, you fancy saving that amount speak to Ian - (I'm not touting for the business), he'll get £50 for introducing you, and you'll get £50 for changing. That means you will pay £123 less in your first year - and you get to spin the roulette wheel once a month. :smile:

The change over for me was totally pain free.
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

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i'd have to read my meters once a month ? :sad:

I've been with big evil EDF for over 10 years now, I'm a big better the devil you know man. I made it about £63 a year but I ain't doing the sums again. I'll stay put.
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

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Do the companies differ on standing charges?
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

Post by Tripps »

I think the numbers are in there Tizer.

I'm still chuckling at the idea that reading meters once a month is a problem for Pluggy. :smile:
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Re: ENERGY MATTERS

Post by Stanley »

I understand Pluggy's aversion to changing. One of my arguments has always been that it seems to me that changing suppliers is when the computers have a problem. I did of course have my large problem with BG but that was a system wide glitch although they never admitted it and in the end I made a small profit out of it.As things stand I don't have to do anything and I get a statement every month.
I note that as I am on a fixed price contract I will not benefit from the cap changing.
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