Preparing for High Electricity and Gas Charges in the UK.

[eider]

[Sparko]

My electricity for last month was $4.5/day (but I have gas heat so that helps)
Our electricity is billed all crazy. They have different prices for peak and off peak, and they have a bunch of riders and taxes added on, making it nearly impossible to read the bill.

[rogue06]

One thing about price controls in these situations is that they tend to exacerbate the situation by upsetting the supply and demand cycle.

[eider]

My electricity for last month was $4.5/day (but I have gas heat so that helps)
Our electricity is billed all crazy. They have different prices for peak and off peak, and they have a bunch of riders and taxes added on, making it nearly impossible to read the bill.

[eider]

One thing about price controls in these situations is that they tend to exacerbate the situation by upsetting the supply and demand cycle.

Yes....... I expect that we will have power cuts during this winter, if it gets really cold. We had to prepare for those as well and I'll make a post about those.

[eider]

We have prepared for the very high energy price increases in many ways.
Hot water cylinder work...... Our Water cylinder was a very large 48" high x 20" wide copper tank with an extra long 36" heating element. This tank didn't have an inner tube for heating via central heating., so the heating element needed to be as big as it was. In the spring I purchased a 36" high x 16" wide tank and this replaced the large one, this tank does have a central heating tube installed which reduces the volume of water which is held in the tank even further. The 36" element was replaced with a 24" element.

We turned down the temperature on the heating element until the tank's water was just hand hot; for kitchen or other daily use this is fine, but we needed to do more if running a nice hot bath. The answer for hot baths is solved because we have two fast-boil kettles and these are so efficient that bath temperature and resulting water level is easily topped up as quickly as a bath can be run.

The old tank now catches rain water from the right flank of our roof! Most useful!

So now the cost of having hot water on demand at any time of day costs much much less than before, and with no problems at all.

[Sparko]

I think my electricity is around $0.15 per kw on average but as I said they add on taxes and other "riders" that cause the price to skyrocket. And you are right, if the power goes out, my gas furnace won't work because the blower fan is electric. But I could put in a gas fireplace and that would still work without power. Just don't really have room for one. I also have a gas water heater and I think that is cheaper to run than an electric one too.

One bad thing about electric heat pumps (the combo air conditioner/heater units that are mostly used over here) is that they are not very efficient when the temperature drops too low. They have electric heater coils built in to compensate and they are expensive to run.

this is my last month's bill

Energy Charge 300.000 kWh @ $0.1487990044.64
Energy Charge 362.000 kWh @ $0.1082970039.20
Rider No. 60 Fuel Cost Adjustment 662.000 kWh @ $0.0459480030.42
Rider No. 62 Environmental Compliance Adjustment 662.000 kWh @ $0.000738000.49
Rider No. 65 Trans and Distrib Infrastructure Improvement Cost Rate Adj 662.000 kWh @ $0.000399000.26
Rider No. 66 Energy Efficiency Revenue Adjustment 662.000 kWh @ $0.001772001.17
Rider No. 67 Credits Adjustment 662.000 kWh @ $-0.00459100-3.04
Rider No. 68 Regional Transmission Operator (RTO) Non-Fuel Costs and Revenue Adj 662.000 kWh @ $0.000172000.11
Rider No. 70 Reliability Adjustment 662.000 kWh @ $-0.00009400-0.06
Rider No. 72 Federally Mandated Cost Rate Adjustment 662.000 kWh @ $0.000106000.07
Rider No. 73 Renewable Energy Project Revenue Adjustment 662.000 kWh @ $0.000153000.10
State Tax $8.67

Total: $132.57

[eider]

I think my electricity is around $0.15 per kw on average but as I said they add on taxes and other "riders" that cause the price to skyrocket. And you are right, if the power goes out, my gas furnace won't work because the blower fan is electric. But I could put in a gas fireplace and that would still work without power. Just don't really have room for one. I also have a gas water heater and I think that is cheaper to run than an electric one too.

One bad thing about electric heat pumps (the combo air conditioner/heater units that are mostly used over here) is that they are not very efficient when the temperature drops too low. They have electric heater coils built in to compensate and they are expensive to run.

this is my last month's bill

Energy Charge 300.000 kWh @ $0.1487990044.64
Energy Charge 362.000 kWh @ $0.1082970039.20
Rider No. 60 Fuel Cost Adjustment 662.000 kWh @ $0.0459480030.42
Rider No. 62 Environmental Compliance Adjustment 662.000 kWh @ $0.000738000.49
Rider No. 65 Trans and Distrib Infrastructure Improvement Cost Rate Adj 662.000 kWh @ $0.000399000.26
Rider No. 66 Energy Efficiency Revenue Adjustment 662.000 kWh @ $0.001772001.17
Rider No. 67 Credits Adjustment 662.000 kWh @ $-0.00459100-3.04
Rider No. 68 Regional Transmission Operator (RTO) Non-Fuel Costs and Revenue Adj 662.000 kWh @ $0.000172000.11
Rider No. 70 Reliability Adjustment 662.000 kWh @ $-0.00009400-0.06
Rider No. 72 Federally Mandated Cost Rate Adjustment 662.000 kWh @ $0.000106000.07
Rider No. 73 Renewable Energy Project Revenue Adjustment 662.000 kWh @ $0.000153000.10
State Tax $8.67

Total: $132.57

[Sparko]

My house is fairly new (about 18 years old) and has the double-paned windows and high efficiency insulation. I was looking into solar panels at one time since I have a great roof for that, but it would cost so much that I wouldn't see a benefit for another 10 or 15 years. At least at the energy prices a few years ago. If they keep going up, I might have to revisit it.

[eider]

My house is fairly new (about 18 years old) and has the double-paned windows and high efficiency insulation. I was looking into solar panels at one time since I have a great roof for that, but it would cost so much that I wouldn't see a benefit for another 10 or 15 years. At least at the energy prices a few years ago. If they keep going up, I might have to revisit it.

Many homes around here have had Solar Panels installed. My neighbour had a medium (intermediate)

[eider]

When I was at a boarding school during the 62' UK freeze I learned quite a lot about keeping warm in very cold rooms. I remember that my house master used to wear his heavy dressing gown over his clothes in the evenings when he was patrolling our frozen dormitories. My wife purchased two luxurious dressing gowns for just such use and they are marvelous. I'm wearing one at this very moment in our little office and the temperature in her is a reasonable 10*C but they are comfortable in rooms at 0*C.

So we don't need to turn fires on in every room on frozen mornings. But I suffer from Reynaud's a condition where fingers lose circulation in temperatures under 20*C; if I could sort them out then I would be fine. The answer is to use pet heat-pads.... with 3-4 minutes of microwave heating these pads stay hot/warm for a very long time. If I go out I always take a battery hand-warmer in a pocket.

A very important addition is in warm insulated slippers. Warm hands and warm feet are a must in a home using little or no heating.

[Sparko]

When I was at a boarding school during the 62' UK freeze I learned quite a lot about keeping warm in very cold rooms. I remember that my house master used to wear his heavy dressing gown over his clothes in the evenings when he was patrolling our frozen dormitories. My wife purchased two luxurious dressing gowns for just such use and they are marvelous. I'm wearing one at this very moment in our little office and the temperature in her is a reasonable 10*C but they are comfortable in rooms at 0*C.

So we don't need to turn fires on in every room on frozen mornings. But I suffer from Reynaud's a condition where fingers lose circulation in temperatures under 20*C; if I could sort them out then I would be fine. The answer is to use pet heat-pads.... with 3-4 minutes of microwave heating these pads stay hot/warm for a very long time. If I go out I always take a battery hand-warmer in a pocket.

A very important addition is in warm insulated slippers. Warm hands and warm feet are a must in a home using little or no heating.

You just need to be careful of excess moisture in your house if you keep it too cold. Could cause mold or mildew.

I have diabetes and have cold toes all the time so I know how you feel. I wear warm socks in the house and have footwarmers in my bed.

[eider]

You just need to be careful of excess moisture in your house if you keep it too cold. Could cause mold or mildew.

I have diabetes and have cold toes all the time so I know how you feel. I wear warm socks in the house and have footwarmers in my bed.

Our one luxury is that we have two 250 watt dehumidifiers, one runs permanently in our bathroom, drying washing overnight and raising the temperature by a degree, the other one is used around the home. You are right...I found that the roof void was dripping in condensation and so ran the second 'dehum' up there for 24 hours, during which time all condensation disappeared.

Two summers ago we purchased a small wood burning stove, I cleared out the chimney (5 sacks of twigs, birds' nests etc) and installed a chimney balloon to seal it temporarily. I fitted a 'log fire simulator' light in the stove for effect and it just waits there for the day that we might need some heat, in the meantime it looks great.

I took down the 2.4 kilowatt bathroom wall heater (which was hard to clean) and installed a 1.2 kilowatt portable fan heater which works brilliantly for us....I installed a wall socket for 240volts about 20 years ago and it is off the floor, so we don't mind having it.

We got rid of a small oil filled electric radiator which had run permanently through winters in the center of our place and instead we purchased a 500 watt fan heater....very rare. We just run it all the time and it moves warm air more efficiently than the radiator did.

My wife purchased 4 very warm 'throw' blankets and these lay around in our lounge, folded and ready-use. I struggle to stay awake when under one of these....so comfortable, so when on my own I don't bother with the heater.

[eider]

Power cuts!
Because our electricity supply is delivered overhead on wooden poles we seem to get more power cuts than other areas. Last winter in a storm a pole snapped of at the base and dropped the power cable down in a field. I reported the break and gave the pole number to the electricity board and the power was cut off within a few minutes. It took a day+ for an emergency team to repair and restore our power, and during that time a support vehicle came to the area to charge resident's phone batteries, give out hot drinks and to pay special attention to residents who use life saving equipment at home.

We did have stand-by paraffin and gaz-fire heating/cooking at home but we decided to prepare a little more thoroughly for any next power-cut event.

We purchased a 6in1 Jump-starter power pack from our local vehicle-supplies store and this has a 100watt inverter and plug suitable for powering lighting or laptops, and with usb sockets for mobile charging, etc. We also purchased three clip-on lamp sockets to use directly from this unit. It has proved to be excellent in short power cuts and has jump started a couple of neighbours' vehicles already.

We also purchased a larger system, a 100 amp.hr 12volt deep cycle battery to drive a 3000watt pure-sign wave inverter for the purposes of powering stuff like hairdryers or whatever else might be needed in a power cut. I have bought a 4'x2' Solar Voltaic generator panel with regulator system for recharging all this gear in any emergency but so far we have never needed to use it. After power is restored we have an intelligent battery charger for fast recharging all this.

All these new items, plus our two emergency gas heaters, one cooker, a few oil lamps and a supply of gaz bottles and paraffin....we feel more or less ready for any future power cuts.

We also have that delightful little wood burner which we've never yet used.

But there's bound to be something I have forgotten!

[rogue06]

Dang it! I ended up leaving the back door open a bit last night. I wonder how much that's gonna cost me.