ENERGY MATTERS

[PanBiker]

I have one too on our system, along with the additive in the system, seems to do a good job. BG check it along with the annual service but they didn't fit it, I got it when we had some more rads installed.

[Pluggy]

The new pump and Magnetic filter thingy arrived today. I've fitted both now and the heating is working again.

This is the filter I bought.

https://boilerfans.co.uk/boiler-m8-defe ... TAQAvD_BwE

They are all probably much the same,

[Stanley]

Good result.
Tiz, that's just what I would have done!

[Stanley]

See THIS for a report that UK consumption of electricity is at it's lowest since 1994.
How will electric cars affect this?

[Tizer]

I think we can safely say that electric cars will make electricity consumption go up!

But fear not, Tizer comes to the rescue with his domestic solar generation! Here is our graph for solar generation for 2018 in kWh plotted against day number starting 1st Jan 2018. The total for the year was 3680 kWh which seems to be around the UK average. As you can see at the left hand end of the graph we've had many awful overcast and foggy days in recent weeks, but yesterday (2 Jan) was sunny and gave us 4kWh.

[Stanley]

Hinkley Point still looks like a mistake to me!
I got my December energy bill yesterday, £114. It will be paid around the 15th of January. I like being up to date!

[PanBiker]

Mines £93.00 good move going to Octopus.

[Tripps]

I also moved to Octopus about 21 months ago. Impressed at first - less so later. Started at £68 pcm, then for some reason it went down to £66 pcm after a year. Didn't complain.

Now I've just had an email saying

Hello David,
I'm Ruby, and it's my job to help you keep your account in good shape, and make sure you don't build up too much credit or debt on your account balance.

Ruby wants either a cash payment of £70 to put me back on track or they will increase payments to £77 pcm to achieve the same. I'll do that - still seems reasonable for both gas and electricity for a four bed bungalow.

[PanBiker]

I am in a useful amount of credit with Octopus, just about right to see us through Winter. When I was with BG they had no problem in holding £400 of accrued payments on my behalf without a never you mind. Better in my bank than theirs, I am still with BG for my boiler service but am going to ask them why I am paying over the odds for my maintenance contract, if I don't get the right answer they will be history for that as well.

[Stanley]

Economy Energy were already in the news after being banned from taking on any new customers. Their website announced this morning that they have ceased trading. The ninth small energy supplier to fail in the last twelve months. Offgen are looking for another supplier to take the customers on.

[Tizer]

Yes, and Eversmart Energy are in trouble because they've been encouraging people to build up large credit, such as £1000, but not warning them that the energy companies aren't covered for compensation like the banks are.

[Stanley]

I know I am seen as a dinosaur because I don't switch or alter my account in any way beyond what is essential but by doing so I avoid many of these pitfalls. There is value in having a trouble free experience.....

[Pluggy]

I'm with Stanley. I haven't changed supplier in about 12 years. Yep the big 6 stiff you, yes they are the devil incarnate, but there is a good chance they'll still be around tomorrow......

[Stanley]

I have a funny Idea Pluggy that if I was to do a comparative exercise (imagine how big a task it would be) I would find that over the years my total energy cost wouldn't be a lot different than the people who swap suppliers. The hassle factor would certainly be less. OK, there has been the occasional glitch but they have always sorted them out and compensated me for the trouble.

[Tizer]

I'm with Stanley. I haven't changed supplier in about 12 years. Yep the big 6 stiff you, yes they are the devil incarnate, but there is a good chance they'll still be around tomorrow......

We've stayed with EDF for many years and we'll probably be with them even longer judging by all the business failures of the new smaller companies. Now the regulator has been moving customers from failed small companies to other small companies that are already under investigation...
`Energy firms under investigation are handed new customers' LINK
`Two energy suppliers which have been handed the domestic customers of collapsed firms are themselves under investigation by the regulator Ofgem. Economy Energy and Our Power recently ceased trading and their customers have been automatically switched to Ovo and Utilita respectively. Both Ovo and Utilita are themselves the subject of continuing inquiries over the treatment of customers.'

[PanBiker]

Nice to see my supplier Octopus is number 3 in the list of ranked suppliers, BG is number 5.

[Stanley]

The January energy bill is £123 reflecting the colder weather. It will come out of the bank on the 14th or thereabouts.
If this frost continues us crumblies will be getting a cold weather payment......

[plaques]

Not that long ago the Government was applauding the fact that they had introduced a cap on prepayment meters which would give an average saving of £76 per year. We are now told that the ceiling of this cap is to be raised by an average of £106 per year. Energy Bills. The users who thought that the original cap would be to their advantage could now be faced with higher bills. The reason for this increase is said to be down to higher wholesale prices. If this is so then the writing is on the wall for the rest of us.

[PanBiker]

Just received this email from my energy supplier Octopus:

Some marketing in there, but if you are thinking of swapping suppliers it may be relevant.


• The energy price cap is going up, but our prices are not
• The typical Octopus dual fuel customer will pay £248 a year less than the new price cap*
• Many larger suppliers will be raising their prices* so there’s never been a better time to invite friends and family to Octopus and share £100 credit with your unique link: https://share.octopus.energy/young-ibis-685

Hi Ian,

I’ve had a number of customers ask me how the changes to the government’s energy price cap will affect them.

Let me reassure you. We will not be raising our prices*.

The price cap is the government’s limit on the high default tariffs used by many energy suppliers, especially the legacy suppliers (the so-called “Big 6”).

We’re vocal critics of their dodgy pricing tactics, and have worked hard to expose them (see the BBC and the Guardian).

We’re vocal because we’ve built our business on a simple philosophy: we offer all our customers excellent value; year in, year out.

We’re not the absolute cheapest.

But we’re not far off.

And we’ll always look after you: on price, on sustainability and on service.

We’re now more than half a million customers strong, but we’re still the minority. And the rising cap will likely lead to higher energy bills for most homes around Britain.

And here’s the rub. Many people will feel they are getting good value simply because their prices are protected by the cap.

But most families can, and should, be saving hundreds of pounds a year while getting friendly, personal service and energy that’s better for the planet.

This message needs to be shared.

So if you know family and friends who deserve better — year in, year out — perhaps they’d appreciated a nudge.

Send them your link to share £100 – that’s £50 credit each – when they join: https://share.octopus.energy/young-ibis-685

If you are recommending us to friends and family, you may like to know that we are the only energy supplier recommended by Which? — for the second year running — and the only one ever to receive top marks in every category.

Best wishes,
Greg Jackson
CEO & Founder


* I hate small print, so here are few details in the same size as everything else:

1. We’ve calculated the £248 figure by looking at a simple average of the unit prices and standing charges of all Octopus customers, and then applied them to Ofgem’s typical domestic consumption value for a medium home. We can publish more granular figures on our blog at a future date - but rest assured all our customers pay well below the price cap announced today.

2. Of course, we can’t promise we’ll never raise prices because we work in a volatile market. But we will only do so as a result of wholesale and other cost changes, not this price cap announcement. After all, our prices are already below the cap, so it doesn’t affect our customers at all.

3. We can’t know for sure which suppliers will raise their prices, but if the Big 6 don’t during the period of the new cap, I’ll personally cycle from Lands End to John O’Groats – with the proceeds from sponsorship shared between a fuel poverty charity and an environmental one.

[Stanley]

Very attractive offer if you are paying the new price.

[Tizer]

A tiny project but a start. The article is balanced and gives the pros and cons of carbon capture. CC was touted as the answer to climate change by its early supporters but since then there has been more balanced analysis.

`Climate change: UK carbon capture project begins' LINK

[Stanley]

I see the news of the experiments at Drax to capture CO2 (They can capture 1 ton a day and then have to release it because they have no use for it) as an attempt to divert criticism of the whole basis of 'biomass energy' on a large scale. It is obvious from the well informed criticisms that far from being 'carbon neutral' the process is less carbon efficient than burning coal when the wider concerns of felling forests and transporting the wood chips is taken into account. Far from being waste wood, in order to make the process work the chips have to be clean and this means felling good timber trees.
Just one more consequence of failed energy policies stretching back over 20 years. Worse is to come as the nuclear solution, now over 20 years out of date, staggers on to a conclusion no one can be certain of after recent withdrawals from the market by the main contractors. Only EDF remain and they look extremely dodgy on commercial grounds alone let alone any repercussions from French government control and the effects of Brexit.
Look at the present friction between France and Italy who are supposed to be comrades in the EU......

[Stanley]

I see the mild February shows clearly in my combined energy bill of £102. It's down £12 on January. Going the right way!
News this morning that Scientists have turned CO2 back into solid carbon at room temperature raising new hope for carbon capture.

[plaques]

I see the mild February shows clearly in my combined energy bill of £102. It's down £12 on January.

Not to put a damper on your optimism but your absence from the shed has been noted. One hour per day running a 3 kilowatt lathe motor would cost about 40 pence. Over 30 days = £12. Perhaps spring has not sprung afterall.

[Stanley]

I've allowed for that P by comparing with last year and you're right it makes a small difference but not as much as cooking and I'm doing plenty of that (and hot washes to control bacteria). You can knock £25 off that figure for the cold weather payment we crumblies got as well. No complaints!