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Energy costs. Oh dear.......

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scotview
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Re: Energy costs. Oh dear.......

#684689

Postby scotview » September 18th, 2024, 11:02 am

Gersemi wrote:Are you saying that you weren't aware that Scottish Power's contract with you allowed variable standing charges before you took it out? My fixed price contract doesn't - or at least I haven't seen anything to suggest that it does.


I was aware. I just phoned SP and they confirmed that they don't have a 100% fixed tariff but if they introduce one I can change without penalty.

Gersemi
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Re: Energy costs. Oh dear.......

#684763

Postby Gersemi » September 18th, 2024, 4:52 pm

scotview wrote:
Gersemi wrote:Are you saying that you weren't aware that Scottish Power's contract with you allowed variable standing charges before you took it out? My fixed price contract doesn't - or at least I haven't seen anything to suggest that it does.


I was aware. I just phoned SP and they confirmed that they don't have a 100% fixed tariff but if they introduce one I can change without penalty.


Thanks for the explanation. Just to be clear my energy deal is with Outfox the Market not Scottish Power, but your post read to me as if it was not possible for a supplier to provide a fixed standing rate tariff, but it seems this is just SP's choice.

Tedx
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Re: Energy costs. Oh dear.......

#689224

Postby Tedx » October 16th, 2024, 8:37 am

Liquid air energy storage company, Highview Power is in the news:

Highview Power, a long-duration energy storage (LDES) tech provider, plans to develop four new 2.5GWh power plants across the UK by 2030.

The four plants will be divided between Scotland and England, with two plants located in each.


https://www.cityam.com/centrica-backed- ... er-plants/

Tedx
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Re: Energy costs. Oh dear.......

#689507

Postby Tedx » October 17th, 2024, 3:32 pm

Hmmm. I've just checked my Smart Meter / Scottish Power app for October.


I had a smart meter installed (on the 15th of September) and I was told that I would be on the same tariff as before (Economy 7). I checked this with the SP consultant before going ahead and again with the installer. I know from my longer term records, I use approximately 75% night rate v 25% day rate annually.

I also installed a Dimplex Quantum heater installed in my main living area by a professional electrician, which was activated on the 7th of October (this is supposedly the gold standard of storage heaters and replaced a 30+ year old model).

However upon checking my Scottish Power app, I appear to have used 264kw between the 1st of October and the 16th, which I suppose is broadly in line with previous years usage, however my bill is currently running at £91.07 for the month.

It would appear that something is amiss as I appear to be paying double what I was previously paying. My previous October unit usage / monthly costs were:

October 2023 = 489kw / £100.88
October 2022 - 507kw / £75.29

September 2024 also appears to be suspiciously high too (almost double the cost of previous years) with broadly similar unit usage.

I appreciate prices move around, however things appear to have gotten substantially more expensive after having the smart meter installed.

So the unit consumption is around the same, but the monthly costs have soared. I suspect that I may not be getting my cheap overnight units (although the meter says I am)

Ive emailed Scottish Power and asked them to look at my account.

swill453
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Re: Energy costs. Oh dear.......

#689514

Postby swill453 » October 17th, 2024, 4:08 pm

How do you know what your bill running total is? If it's from the display unit for the smart meter, it may be that it is programmed with the wrong tariff. It doesn't necessarily follow that your real bill from the provider will be wrong.

Scott.

Tedx
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Re: Energy costs. Oh dear.......

#689516

Postby Tedx » October 17th, 2024, 4:16 pm

swill453 wrote:How do you know what your bill running total is? If it's from the display unit for the smart meter, it may be that it is programmed with the wrong tariff. It doesn't necessarily follow that your real bill from the provider will be wrong.

Scott.


I've taken the data from the Scottish Power app (which is now updated daily since I had the Smart Meter installed)

bruncher
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Re: Energy costs. Oh dear.......

#689600

Postby bruncher » October 18th, 2024, 6:38 am

Gersemi wrote:
scotview wrote:
I was aware. I just phoned SP and they confirmed that they don't have a 100% fixed tariff but if they introduce one I can change without penalty.


Thanks for the explanation. Just to be clear my energy deal is with Outfox the Market not Scottish Power, but your post read to me as if it was not possible for a supplier to provide a fixed standing rate tariff, but it seems this is just SP's choice.


Sounds weird to me that something described as Fixed Tariff has price elements that are dynamic not fixed. If the deal is decsribed as 'Fixed Tariff', I would be looking into any possible breach of consumer protection (easier said than done these days).

I have a fixed price with Octopus, which I signed up to a few months ago before the last rise in the price cap, as I anticipated a rise in the gas price this winter.

I hadn't heard of Outfox the Market before seeing a recent post here. I was going to check them out but decided not to get a quote because their cookie setup seems very aggressive - difficult if not impossible to decline, whereas Octopus you can choose not to opt in to (1) Analytics and Customisation, also (2) Marketing and Social Media. I have no real grasp of what is happening behind the scenes, but I am reassured by this gesture.

Tedx
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Re: Energy costs. Oh dear.......

#690297

Postby Tedx » October 22nd, 2024, 10:55 am

I thought this was quite interesting given the huge amount of wind turbines being built.

Vattenfall has turned a decommissioned wind turbine into a “tiny house” in a concept that the Swedish group claims could point to a new lease of life for thousands of machines as they reach the end of their working life.

And this is a 20 year old 2MW turbine (so pretty small compared to today's monster turbines).

It's an interesting idea. If not for houses but for storage or workshop premises of some kind. You could have a whole line of these on an industrial estate for example.

I've also seen ideas for using the blades ase carports or bus shelters and so on. So maybe they're not all destined to be chopped up and buried underground.

https://www.rechargenews.com/wind/old-w ... -1-1727449

Some more pictures here:

https://www.instagram.com/anandavandoor ... mg_index=9

Tedx
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Re: Energy costs. Oh dear.......

#690342

Postby Tedx » October 22nd, 2024, 2:39 pm

Glasgow is trialling eco-friendly electric wallpaper to heat its ageing homes

Basically infrared panels you put on your ceiling.

https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/10/ ... eing-homes

https://nexgenheating.com/

DeepSporran
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Re: Energy costs. Oh dear.......

#690358

Postby DeepSporran » October 22nd, 2024, 3:27 pm

Tedx wrote:Glasgow is trialling eco-friendly electric wallpaper to heat its ageing homes

Basically infrared panels you put on your ceiling.

https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/10/ ... eing-homes

https://nexgenheating.com/



I think we’ve discussed this before:
https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=42424&hilit=Infrared+heating

Tedx
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Re: Energy costs. Oh dear.......

#690868

Postby Tedx » October 25th, 2024, 9:35 am

Tedx wrote:
swill453 wrote:How do you know what your bill running total is? If it's from the display unit for the smart meter, it may be that it is programmed with the wrong tariff. It doesn't necessarily follow that your real bill from the provider will be wrong.

Scott.


I've taken the data from the Scottish Power app (which is now updated daily since I had the Smart Meter installed)


Looks like the SP app is telling me rubbish.

So just an update.

As of a few moments ago my Smart meter / In home display for the months of October was showing a total of £85.54 (electricity usage only I presume)

Tallying up my October paper bills come to £83.17 (including standing charges to the 24th of October)

My Scottish Power app on the other hand is showing a total for October of £130.79 (and this would appear to be until yesterday)

The consumption of 388kWh is (allowing for the differences in reading times) the same across all 3 measurements

Tedx
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Re: Energy costs. Oh dear.......

#691463

Postby Tedx » October 28th, 2024, 1:28 pm

A handy summary of where they are going with UK wind power

The new UK Government is committed to double onshore wind and quadruple offshore wind by 2030, as a cornerstone of its goal to fully decarbonise electricity by 2030. That means increasing onshore wind from 15 to 30 GW and offshore wind, where they’re already no 1 in Europe, from 15 to 60 GW. These are hugely ambitious targets.

https://windeurope.org/newsroom/news/ne ... h-on-wind/

agathaabigail12
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Re: Energy costs. Oh dear.......

#693955

Postby agathaabigail12 » November 8th, 2024, 12:27 pm

That’s a big increase! It’s frustrating, especially when you’ve already invested in a charger that works perfectly. It’s a shame that switching to a special EV tariff would require even more spending. But hopefully, you can still find a decent deal with some shopping around. And even if charging the PHEV gets close to the cost of petrol, it’s still better than paying at the pump every time. Hang in there—fingers crossed you find something that works for you!


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