ENERGY MATTERS

[plaques]

A friend of mine was the director of operations to install a complete printing works in India. The house / mansion that was supplied kept blowing fuses and losing all power. After a couple of these episodes he decided to investigate himself. In the cellar system there were loads of wires heading out of the house and down the road. It turned out he was supplying and paying for the electricity for the surrounding houses. He just shrugged his shoulders and left it at that. The poor buggers deserved a break.

[Big Kev]

NPower came out to fit the smart meters today. Electric is in but currently without gas, he wouldn't fit the gas meter as the main supply valve was leaking. National Grid have been out and disconnected the supply from main so another team can fit a new supply, probably tomorrow morning or maybe this evening they couldn't say. Thank goodness fo the Morso

[Stanley]

Don't get it too hot and crack the top..... Send them a bill for the fuel!

[Big Kev]

Lovely and warm in here this morning, the coal was still glowing after 7 hours. The Grid are here fitting the new gas supply and my boiler engineer is on the way to repair the diverter valve, it's all go here for a Saturday.

[Wendyf]

Col swept the chimney yesterday and I gave the wood burner a good clean out, the log stores are full after lots of sawing and splitting so we are ready to go. There was very little tar in the chimney, which is surprising as we were burning softwood last winter.

[Big Kev]

Lovely and warm in here this morning, the coal was still glowing after 7 hours. The Grid are here fitting the new gas supply and my boiler engineer is on the way to repair the diverter valve, it's all go here for a Saturday.

Boiler has been fettled but can't test it as the Grid are still here working on the gas...

[Big Kev]

Gas and hot water, luxury.

[Stanley]

"There was very little tar in the chimney, which is surprising as we were burning softwood last winter." That shows you were running it hot enough Wendy.
Glad you are back in business Kev.

[Stanley]

It's the time of year when I remind you of the Price of Coal..... 22nd of September 1934, the explosion in the Dennis Seam at Gresford colliery that killed 256 men and left 200 widows and 800 children fatherless.
21st October 1966, Aberfan School buried by the collapse of the spoil heaps. 116 children and 5 teachers killed.

[Stanley]

My smart meter monitor is acting as though it has a mind of its own. Sometimes it goes AWOL but then if left alone, comes back. At the moment it's working.... I shall not go into a decline!

[Big Kev]

My smart meter monitor is in a cupboard, I got bored with it very quickly. NPower will be here on Friday to fit the gas meter, hopefully a successful mission this time.

[Stanley]

I find it interesting to see relative consumption Kev. A heavy cut on Mrs Harrison equates to one small ring on the hob. I sent it onto red alert on Sunday on free leccy when I had the washing machine, all four rings on the hob and the oven going all at the same time! Good test for the cooker and shed circuit fuse!

[Big Kev]

NPower came and fitted the gas smart meter yesterday. Hopefully they'll do the sums correctly, I had a meter changed about 15 years ago and got a 4 figure bill for a week's worth of gas...

[Stanley]

You'll be checking it........

[Big Kev]

I have the Npower app on my phone so I can keep an eye on what they're charging me.

[Tizer]

We've been here since 9th August and we're still waiting for Npower to release our solar FIT tariff to EDF. We did all the paperwork for both companies ages ago and Npower have confirmed that's the case but they just keep dragging their heels. EDF keep pushing them but it doesn't seem to do any good. I know I keep saying it but no wonder productivity is so low in the UK.

[Stanley]

Could incompetence, under-staffing and greed have something to do with it?

[Tizer]

Speak of the Devil! EDF emailed me today to ask for a FIT reading and to say that Npower have now released it to them.

[Stanley]

Big Data is watching us Tiz......

[Tizer]

Now I've received an email from EDF with two documents of terms & conditions attached in PDF. It says I must read all of the T&Cs, sign to say I've read them, and return by post to EDF. Typical company officials! They don't even think whether it's reasonable to make such a request. There's 23 pages of small text and it has a total of 13,500 words. Here's one of the easier pages:

[Stanley]

That's terrible but I'm afraid it doesn't surprise me. I remember almost 40 years ago coming across a concept in the US called CYA, 'Cover your ass', it referred to the practice of looking over your shoulder constantly and getting the lawyers to advise you on how to gain protection from any consequences of your actions by hedging the other party in with legal gobbledegook in the small print. My mate John Ingoe runs a boiler repair and installation business and a while ago he told me that every time he quotes for even a small job he has to send off a contract that is 40 pages long to cover all the HSE and procedural matters, he had to employ a 'manager' to do all this for him and pass the cost on to the client. I know that clear agreements are a good thing but surely there are more concise ways of achieving this than documents like the one you have got. Think what this is costing the economy......

[Tizer]

It's not only companies doing it. Applying for Attendance Allowance on behalf of my father when he was in the care home involved filling in a very long form - I did a photo of all the pages laid in a line in our hallway and posted it on OG. In the end we had to get someone from social services to help us with it because there was so much that was not clear even to us. I heard someone on the radio (Money Box?) say that Universal Credit involved a form of about 60 pages length.

[Stanley]

I heard the same news report Tiz. Like lawyers, the bureaucrats are experts at manufacturing work for themselves. The best deals I have ever done have been based on verbal contracts and trust, no paperwork needed.

[Tizer]

We had a long discussion with our plumber yesterday and have decided to go for a new combi boiler to replace the old traditional one, switch to mains water pressure and do away with noisy shower pumps, get hot water faster to the taps thanks to the higher pressure, and replace the old type radiators with modern finned ones. The only downside is that we won't be able to use the Solar Impulse unit but on the other hand we won't need to keep a cylinder of water hot and we'll have more space in the airing cupboard when the cylinder comes out. A small heater will keep the cupboard warm. The old boiler has been messed about by the BG engineers - the previous owners had a BG contract. They've overtightened screws and damaged threads.

[Stanley]

All things I would have done Tiz except for the radiators. I have the heat on 24X7 at a low level and so response time isn't an issue. Remember the cast iron 4" pipes in the old board schools?