Energy Bills

[Demitri_C]

1 hour ago, markavfc40 said:

Mate there are millions of people who can't, and have never been able to afford, luxuries like holidays. We are talking working people here as well. These rises won't be eating into luxuries they will be eating into whether people can feed themselves/their children or cloth their children or afford the bus fare to get to work. 

Thats what i was referring to people who could are now becoming like those people you speak of.

It has a knock on effect with everything. People dont go holidays airlines in trouble, people dont go out and eat restaurants in trouble etc etc.

They the government and global leaders need to sort this out asap as we are going to have catasophic times as things  are going to get seriously life or death situation

[bobzy]

3 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

Yes. New housing should have heat pumps put in now, not by 2025. That could save about 500,000 houses not reliant on gas or oil.

We considered it during our extension build (June 2021) but went against it as a] too expensive and b] not efficient enough.

[Demitri_C]

1 hour ago, AshVilla said:

 

Thats all great and all but what about after that? Whats the plan? Helps now but if these prices continue like they are whats the plan after?

@sidcow post above is more of a long term strategy that is better

[sidcow]

7 minutes ago, bobzy said:

We considered it during our extension build (June 2021) but went against it as a] too expensive and b] not efficient enough.

What do you men about no efficient enough?  They are very, very efficient.   Are you saying your radiators weren't big enough and would need replacing/increasing?

[phily85]

2 hours ago, Davkaus said:

Ofgem also insisted on the period to recoup the cost of the failed suppliers being 12 months rather than easing the burden over a few years.

Comes to about £150 per household this year, I think

So in 12 months we should except them to bring the standing charge to come straight back down

[sidcow]

One thing they need to do as soon as possible is to stop over taxing electricity.  You pay FAR more tax per KW of electricity compared to gas so they are artificially making gas cheaper than it should be an electricity more expensive than it should be.

They should also pay those solar panel owners exporting their electricity back to the grid the going rate, they currently get paid a pittance.

[bobzy]

5 minutes ago, sidcow said:

What do you men about no efficient enough?  They are very, very efficient.   Are you saying your radiators weren't big enough and would need replacing/increasing?

From memory, it was something to do with the average ground temperature but I really can't remember  

[sidcow]

The other thing I would mention from some of the research I've done in this area is that we probably need to stop obsessing about radiators in this country.  From what I've seen the very cheapest way of heating a home (especially if we paid the "true" price for electricity as above) is air to air source heat pumps.  Essentially an air source heat pump that blows warm air into the home.  They are very similar to the kind of air conditioning units you would see when you are on holiday abroad.  

The double benefit is they CAN also operate as air conditioners in the summer too!

Anyway, it's much cheaper just to blow the warm air into the house rather than heat up water and pump it round radiators.  They are much more popular abroad but we are a little obsessed with our radiators over here.

Obviously you would need a separate system for your water but there are all sorts of solutions for that already.  The Sunamp heat battery for one or even a good old fashioned electric immersion heater. 

And I say again, if we just paid the correct price for electricity things like the ZEB - tepeo which is a direct replacement for a boiler would be so much cheaper to run and they are already cheaper than heat pumps before they've even got to mass production.

There is tons of stuff and it's all cheaper than oil and gas but Governments just won't put in place the mechanisms to push these things into the mainstream.

[claretman]

1 hour ago, hogso said:

What would actually happen in this situation? If all lenders say nope, then are you forced to sell? House re-possessed? I  must say I'm completely ignorant to the implications.

Energy costs alone could absolutely be more than the mortgage for many households by Winter '24 if things keep going the way they are, so surely this sort of situation would become relatively common. 

I've paid the mortgage without issue for years-I will just stay on the mortgage I am, the fixed rate will end and I will be at the mercy of the standard variable rate.  I don't believe that lenders can just cancel your mortgage.

The energy costs are going to significantly impact on my ability to stay on top of a rising mortgage however and there will be a time next year when my wage may not cover my outgoings.  Bad times.

[MakemineVanilla]

It looks like economies will need to be made - I hope Greta Thunberg leads by example!

[Genie]

Time for Brexit to deliver, let’s sell green energy to Europe

[sidcow]

28 minutes ago, bobzy said:

From memory, it was something to do with the average ground temperature but I really can't remember  

I think you've got something mixed up somewhere.

They are something like 3-400% efficient (which should blow @bickster's mind) compared to the very very best gas boiler which is around 90% efficient.  The reason is they are not actually creating heat, they are just moving it about and concentrating it. So for every 1kw of power (electricity) you put in you get 3-4kw of heat out.

There is a complete misconception that the outside temperature makes them inefficient. They are massively popular in Scandinavia where it gets much colder than here, they will probably never experience the kind of cold (I think it's -20 degrees or something) where they couldn't realistically work in the UK.

There IS an issue in that they can only heat water to about 10 degrees less than a boiler* which is fine for tap water but means that radiators are a little colder than with gas so you tend to need more/bigger radiators.  or of course much better insulation which is key to most problems really.

There has been a big misinformation campaign run about them (I wonder who by) that has tried to portray them as not workable in the UK but that has now been pretty much totally rebuked.

* This is being improved upon all the time as well.

Edited August 26, 2022 by sidcow

[bickster]

14 minutes ago, sidcow said:

which should blow @bickster's mind

I'm not sure why you'd think that, I don't think I've ever claimed percentages have to stop at 100%. Please stop making things up

[Wainy316]

Wife's enhanced Mat leave ends soon and she goes onto statutory.  We're dead

[Genie]

27 minutes ago, sidcow said:

which should blow @bickster

[sidcow]

12 minutes ago, bickster said:

I'm not sure why you'd think that, I don't think I've ever claimed percentages have to stop at 100%. Please stop making things up

[markavfc40]

The chancellors main bit of advice today for people out of their minds with worry with the winter looming is cut back on your energy use. I mean just f*** off. Firstly how the hell are people going to cut back their energy use by over 66% (average cost has trebled since last winter) other than potentially freezing and even if they could it would not have the desired impact as the standing charge has shot through the roof. 

Edited August 26, 2022 by markavfc40

[Davkaus]

21 minutes ago, markavfc40 said:

The chancellors main bit of advice today for people out of their minds with worry with the winter looming is cut back on your energy use. I mean just f*** off. Firstly how the hell are people going to cut back their energy use by over 66% (average cost has trebled since last winter) other than potentially freezing and even if they could it would not have the desired impact as the standing charge has shot through the roof. 

The first thing I intend to do is turn off the heating and lights in the servant's quarters. 

[chrisp65]

We need some sort of campaign to Insulate Britain.

It’s so obvious, everyone would get right behind it straight away.

[sidcow]

13 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

The first thing I intend to do is turn off the heating and lights in the servant's quarters. 

They're probably nicking stuff anyway. Serves them right.