ENERGY MATTERS

[Whyperion]

I'm sure I'm just being a bit thick here but, the £400 government handout, to help with energy costs, is being paid out to consumers via their electricity account. The communication from Eon says 'Fixed Direct Debit customers will receive the money automatically as a deduction to their monthly Direct Debit'.
Eon reduced my DD by £66 (I have since put this back up to what it was) but this has reduced the surplus I had built up by £66. I am going to have to make an additional payment or I will be in debit before Christmas. I must be missing something somewhere.

It Will Show Up As BIll Amount £££ .. Payment by DD ££ Payment From Govt £ . Thus equalling out. Your Est payments over 12 months will balance, but for six months the Govt is paying £66 of the bill value each month.

[Pluggy]

This sounds like one of Pluggy's energy ideas!
`The DIY gadgets that could keep your energy bill down' LINK

Long time no hear. Since I was freed from the responsibility of maintaing OGFB (Thanks Panbiker ) I've neglected posting, I look in from time to time but haven't posted. Something I'm now determined to remedy. I saw Tiz's article and it is something I've looked at in the past but I can;t find a way into the 'Backend' of my boiler to be able to adjust the flow temperature on the fly.

In the past I think I've mentioned heat pumps and in my absence from here I've gone down this route. I extensively researched heat pumps and was making plans to fit the usual air-water ASHP myself with help due to my increasing disability. At the time I knew it wouldn't compete on cost with gas central heating but felt it was the right way to go. Money was tight at the time and it got put on hold, with changing circumstances and the money becoing available, I couldn't find anyone who would do the work under my guidance and I didn;t want to go the official route (RHI) because I couldn't fit an hybrid system that way. Anyway I happened across people advertising fitted Air Conditioners which also did heat pump at very reasonable money (like £1000 all in) and and with no real disruption or tearing half the house in bits to modify and squeeze in an awful lot of extra plumbing. On top of this the air to air heat pump (aka Air Con) was more more efficient than an air-water job.

So, in January this year I has a Mitsubishi 'Split' Air conditioner put in the living room with the external unit outside the front of the house. Mre Pluggy was concerned about the appearance so step were taken to hide it as much as possible. Its all but invisible on the front of the property now with then unit sitting behind an existing iron seat and the pipework hiding behind a wall climbing rose tree. Being a fanatical energy monitor I had a power monitor put in the power feed to the beast so I know exactly how much electric its eating (see link in sig). It heats the air in the living room, but because of its positioning it has a significant impact on the rest of the downstairs becaue the warm air an blows through a usually open door. We experimented with tweaking the central heating, running it without the central heating and heating the rest of the house with plain old electric heating (ouch - expensive) I eventually settled on isolating the radiators in the living room (turning the rad valves off) and controlling the CH from the temperature in the kitchen rather than the living room. With a lot of analysis these are my conclusions : I'm on an old energy tariff I started for 2 years just before the prices went daft so my Gas : Electric price ratio is 1:5 (Electric costs 5 times a much as Gas per kwh). If it was renewed now it would typically be 1:3.5. Comparing my heating costs before and after and assuming I dodn't have solar panels there would be nothing much in it. The cost of the extra electric was about the same as the savings in the gas to within single figure percentage. But with the solar panels providing some of the electric even in winter, it was cheaper with the heat pump than without. With recent price events and when this tariiff expires next spring it will be significantly cheaper to use the heat pump than just use gas.

I should say that due to accidents of history, out hot water has not been heated by the boiler for several years and is heated with an electric hater heater and an instant electric shower. so the gas does not heat the hotwater. The Aircon heatpumo unit cannot provide hotwater, but during the hot spells this summer it did do a bit of actual air conditioning

Long term plans, I will leave the heating as it is now (hybrid heat pumo and gas) for a full heating season until next year. Then I will have the external unit changed for one that can feed 2 indoor units and have another indoor unit fitted to heat the rest of the downstairs. The open plan staircase will take heat upstairs and the bathroom and landing I reckon wont need any more heat, The bedroom will be heated by plain electric heating / electric blanket as needed. I'll have the gas central heating as standby and not used. If in 2024 I decide I can live without gas, I'll have the meter removed and only have electric to pay for. Cooments / Questions welcomed

[Big Kev]

Good to hear from you Pluggy. I'm nearly all electric here, just a gas boiler for the heating and hot taps at the sinks. If the boiler was a bit older I would seriously consider going all electric, there's also the possibility of downsizing again in the next 5 years

[Tizer]

Seeing you back posting on OG has made my day, Pluggy! Thanks for such an informative post - there's a lot to think about there. After this summer I can appreciate the idea of having something that does some air conditioning!

I'm glad that when we moved house we bought one that already had solar panels on its roof!

[Big Kev]

I'm sure I'm just being a bit thick here but, the £400 government handout, to help with energy costs, is being paid out to consumers via their electricity account. The communication from Eon says 'Fixed Direct Debit customers will receive the money automatically as a deduction to their monthly Direct Debit'.
Eon reduced my DD by £66 (I have since put this back up to what it was) but this has reduced the surplus I had built up by £66. I am going to have to make an additional payment or I will be in debit before Christmas. I must be missing something somewhere.

It Will Show Up As BIll Amount £££ .. Payment by DD ££ Payment From Govt £ . Thus equalling out. Your Est payments over 12 months will balance, but for six months the Govt is paying £66 of the bill value each month.

I've put my DD back up to what it was. The price will only go up again early next year so I'll be in credit when that happens.

[Stanley]

Lovely, Pluggy talking sense about energy! Just like old times and so far ahead of my knowledge that I can't say I understand it perfectly (or even partially!).
The 'energy matter' that takes up my time is conserving enough energy to keep going! If I can fuel my hour in the shed and another hour walking and having a sit whilst at the same time doing the housework and cooking I reach my limit!
I once had ideas about energy conservation and found a property in SW Scotland that had plenty of woodland and a stream with enough flow and fall to make an ideal small hydro-power source but things got in
the way and it never happened. Looking back, a bloody good job I reckon because I wouldn't have had the energy to keep the place running as I got older.
So I cut back on everything and hope I can afford my gas and electric bills (And keep making engines in the shed!)
Still good to hear from you Stephen even though I shall not be a disciple.... I wish you success ans especially wish your wife all the best and a steady improvement.

[Wendyf]

Good to see you posting again Pluggy and to know that you are still looking at new ways to save energy! My hubby Colin suffered from a life changing run in with cancer in early 2021 and as he was lying in bed incapable of doing anything he started making plans to upgrade our off grid system. He invested in some new solar panels, lithium batteries and a fancy inverter. They sat in the barn waiting for over a year until he had the strength to do anything with them!

This summer he finally got it all up and running and it has made a big difference to our electricity usage. The batteries charge from both the dedicated panels and the grid tie panels and the inverter appears to control the show. He has now started on an upgrade of the old wind turbine so that can also feed in to the system. It has distracted him from his ongoing problems!

[Pluggy]

Good to see you posting again Pluggy and to know that you are still looking at new ways to save energy! My hubby Colin suffered from a life changing run in with cancer in early 2021 and as he was lying in bed incapable of doing anything he started making plans to upgrade our off grid system. He invested in some new solar panels, lithium batteries and a fancy inverter. They sat in the barn waiting for over a year until he had the strength to do anything with them!

This summer he finally got it all up and running and it has made a big difference to our electricity usage. The batteries charge from both the dedicated panels and the grid tie panels and the inverter appears to control the show. He has now started on an upgrade of the old wind turbine so that can also feed in to the system. It has distracted him from his ongoing problems!

I have a small battery setup on my panels which I've probably mentioned. I'd love to make it bigger but being completely disabled now means I can't being a DIY system in the first place makes it very awkward to upgrade. I doubt I could even lift the battery (24V 100Ah)I put in in 2018 now. Its still going strong.

[Stanley]

"I doubt I could even lift the battery (24V 100Ah)I put in in 2018 now. Its still going strong."
That phrase struck me Stephen. I know that feeling well. Lifting things and doing anything that needed strength was so easy but then I realised it was slipping away from me. Since then my life has been a process of accustoming myself to new boundaries and capabilities. At the moment I'm contemplating taking the kitchen curtains down and washing them. Something like that becomes a major task!
Anyway, enough moaning, it's so nice to see you are signed in and posting. Well done and long may it continue!

[plaques]

UK could face daily energy blackouts in winter. This story cropped up some months ago and we were categorically assured it would never happen. But now some on the Anti-growth Coalition have stepped in in the shape of the National Grid. Not to worry we could always burn some coal (imported) and in 2040 there will be nuclear power plus fusion energy. Do I spy a breeding pair of unicorns. Black outs.

[Stanley]

I heard that and had exactly the same reaction Ken, We were told that couldn't possibly happen with the Tories in charge. In worst case industry would have to use less. Nobody said anything about rolling, three hour long power cuts. (That's a bit specific isn't it?)
Still one thing, it will take pressure off gas supplies because no leccy means no heating..... must clean the stove out and have a test firing.....

[Tizer]

And no leccy supply means no power from my solar panels! Apparently the systems are set up to shut down if the mains leccy gets cut off. It's a safety feature because there may be workers fixing the power lines and they'd be electrocuted. If you have get a battery fitted to your solar panels that can get over the problem but it must be specially set up that way - and few people have batteries, and most of those are not set up that way. It's barmy, why weren't the systems set up to cope with grid shutdowns in the first place? Will they never learn?

[Stanley]

That sounds potty! Like making lifeboats non-functional if the ship is sinking! I thought the whole point of solar panels was to replace the normal supply.
It can't apply to commercial arrays surely. Sounds as though it would have put the price up and discouraged people from fitting them.
PS. I decided to try to make sense of the information I have been given about subsidies to help with fuel costs. I had to give up, I can't make moss nor sand of them and so will just have to trust the system to work.
(You don't think that that was why things were made so complicated in the first place do you? Surely not...... )

[Tizer]

I heard in a radio discussion about smart meters someone say that, like us, he doesn't have a reliable mobile or broadcast signal at his house or a smart meter would be no use. The answer given was that it won't happen because the meters don't use the commercial mobile or broadband but a government network. I have several questions:
1. Is it true that it's a separate network?
2. Does it have 100% coverage?
3. If so, is it not subject to the the same dropouts like we get here?

[Big Kev]

https://mindmachine.co.uk/write-up/writ ... cba1185463

[Pluggy]

Smart meters use sim cards and mobile phone type internet as Bg Kev posted. If you're out in the sticks or in an RF hole in the ground you may not be able to have a smart meter. Regarding solar, batteries and power cuts, I've been down that road, its difficult. As tiz says it has to be entirely isolated when the power goes off so the grid doesn't have dangerous voltages on it when its been isolated at "their" end. I had built a separate mains system inside my house which could be switched between being fed by the grid or being been fed by my own pure sine wave inverter. I had the lights and fridge, TV, internet and freezer on this system. So if I had charge in the battery I could have the essentials on in a power cut. It worked but with many caveats and gotchas. The problem was with the freezer, or to be more precise the induction motors refrigeration equipment uses. They have a very high starting currnet which means you need one serious inverter to get it to start. The inverter would trip out and you'd be left in the dark or if you were lucky the lights would dim and flicker for several seconds whilst the freezer ran uo. I experimented with all kinds of tricks to get around it but eventually gave up and put a smart grid tied inverter on the battery so that it would use the battery to feed stuff when there was charge but it was still backed by the grid to get fridges to start up without issue. Its easy and it just works but it goes off when there is a power cut. There are quite a few videos on youtube with people blowing up serous inverters getting induction motors to start up. Chop saws generally use induction motors and they are good for blowing up inverters.

[Wendyf]

We can't have a smart meter here, despite 3 attempts by various providers, but no problem running the freezer off the battery system.

[Stanley]

My 2nd generation gas meter has never managed to contact HQ and it seems that whoever is in charge of smart meters has stopped taking appointments. I have to send my gas meter reading in every month.
It looks as though I was right about my dual fuel account with British Gas. Despite multiple assurances that it is a monthly variable account (And that includes the specification on the website) I believed it was still on a quarterly account. I got proof that is the case this morning when I got mail to say my July to September account was now ready. I have tried to access the website to get the bad news but they are down for servicing aren't they.....
I have given up and will leave it how it is if it's working. All I have to do is not spend the money. The energy won't cost any more.....

[Stanley]

Later.... I have accessed the website and am now thoroughly baffled. The account doesn't mention the electricity but the statement does. The account and statement both show that I am £45.79 in credit and have nothing to pay for the last three months.
I have to believe this but do not understand it..... I suppose the sensible thing to do is stop worrying, wait three months for the next account and save my money up!

[Wendyf]

Our son's British Gas account has been in a similar mess since they came to fit smart meters over a year ago. They fitted the electric one, which works fine, but couldn't get the gas one in the cupboard. Ever since then he hasn't been charged for gas even though meter readings have been sent in and show on his account. Colin deals with it all for him and has spent hours on the phone talking to people who assure him it will be sorted and it never has been. A couple of weeks ago he finally got through to someone who explained that with only one smart meter working the payment system no longer sees a joint account, it sees two separate ones. No I don't understand either.
Last week Colin removed the cupboard and the gas smart meter was successfully fitted, we now wait to see if he gets charged properly.

[Stanley]

That's interesting Wendy, I have just one meter working, the leccy. Anyway, I have never got any joy from the chat lines so I have written to them at Rotherham telling them the account is wrong and telling them not to fob me off with the website or a sub continent chat line but respond by email. If this doesn't work I am going to have to get serious about the Ombudsman. They screwed this account up in October 2021 and I have been trying to get them to fix it ever since.
I have done all I can, now I wait for a reply, if I don't get one I start playing hard ball.

[Wendyf]

You might need to get the gas meter working first Stanley!

[Stanley]

But every time I have raised that matter they have told me that the people who deal with smart meters aren't taking any fresh appointments!

[Wendyf]

But every time I have raised that matter they have told me that the people who deal with smart meters aren't taking any fresh appointments!

Col got one for Craig within 2 weeks of his successful phone call to BG. The helpful chap who sorted out his invoices put him through to another department who booked the appointment.

[Whyperion]

UK could face daily energy blackouts in winter. This story cropped up some months ago and we were categorically assured it would never happen. But now some on the Anti-growth Coalition have stepped in in the shape of the National Grid. Not to worry we could always burn some coal (imported) and in 2040 there will be nuclear power plus fusion energy. Do I spy a breeding pair of unicorns. Black outs.

Zawhammy on Kunesberg now. Lots of assurances that really do build in assumptions on the avaliblity of prime energy sources. I feel we might have to temporarily step up some carbon generating power sources (surely we can find a way to use that excess CO2?) until we can bring in more renewables. Clearly Gas cannot be a long term solution , and even if Britain has the largest LNG terminal in Europe it is no good if ships cannot get the stuff here (at an affordable price) from USA or Middle East .