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News and Comment October 2022

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13 October (Part 2) - If you can’t beat them, join ‘em

Occasional blog diversions into the price of energy have provoked a few enquiries on how best to make economies. I am not alone in thinking that despite the massive subsidies provided by the new Prime Minister for this Winter (two whole years actually) energy costs will cause hardship to many. Massive the subsidies might be but energy prices are still double what they were a year ago.

Throughout this millennium I have considered government energy policies to be total madness and if I could see the likely end result why couldn’t they. It started under Labour and was made worse by the Lib Dem influences on David Cameron’s coalition government. However the fact remains that the Conservatives have had twelve years to put things right but have instead emulated Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus Nero.

In 2010 I decided that some aspects of the green agenda were complete idiocy but with no way to put a stop to them I may as well join them. About £10k. went on 14 solar panels. They’d be much cheaper now but Labour’s generous subsidy formula puts around £2k. a year into my bank account. Money for old rope at the expense of people who struggle to pay their bills.

Not only £2k. but the sun provides enough energy to heat my water - the gas boiler has not been switched on since last April and is still off - and there is enough left over to cover all my motoring needs. I do about 500 miles a month and it has cost not a penny in fuel.

The subsidies were total madness and guaranteed by government until the end of 2035. (They do not apply to new solar installations.)

But the madness does not stop there.

BillMore out of curiosity than real need I have for the past six months or so tried to drive my energy use down. LED bulbs everywhere. Chuck out the old plasma TV which guzzled up to 500 watts, using the microwave whenever possible, pond waterfall stopped overnight and switch off more of my computer equipment.

My electricity bill for the past month was £68·50 which I think most people will consider to be low. Looking towards the bottom of the bill summary you may notice that our wonderful new Prime Minister has paid £66 of it. Thank you Liz. The electricity bill is effectively £2·86 for the month, one week of which is at the new higher rate.

Beyond that I will soon receive £179·59 for the electricity generated on the roof during those 30 days. Don’t tell me that the energy policy is not absolutely mad.

The gas bill by the way was a couple of pence for the occasional use of a saucepan and the rest is standing charges.

Thanks to the energy supplier it is not all plain sailing. The more expansive PDF version of the bill spells out that my electricity unit charge has increased to more than 56 pence but querying it resulted in an immediate written response from Octopus - their customer service is pretty good - assuring me that I will only (ha! ha!) be charged 35·6 pence. Nearly 20% above what it was last month.

It would appear that the PDF bill shows the pre-subsidy price which is much higher. It is no wonder that it is so difficult to fully understand energy bills. (Even the date in the heading on mine fails to correspond with the detail.)

Reducing consumption to the level I have tends to take the fun out of life. Not only are microwave meals monotonous but it involves silly things like only blogging when the sun shines so that the solar panels power the computer. (There are special reasons to make an exception today.)

I am moving slowly towards a move to a ‘cheap’ overnight tariff and storing energy in a battery for use during the day and evening. I have been buying components to enable this and there is now a rack of batteries sitting here as yet unconnected. Hence the new DIY consumer unit. I think when it is done I will have to call in a qualified electrician to check whether I have torqued all the connections to the recommended levels and do whatever the regulations say they have to do.

Now that Dear Liz has limited the price rises I am less convinced than I was that the pay off period will be reasonably short, but it may be a fun project.

 

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