British Gas increases gas and electricity bills

kabayiri

I have recently altered every downstairs room in my house, as part of extending the property.

I took the opportunity to install LED lighting in both the new kitchen, new dining section and lounge.

My gut instinct tells me this sort of home upgrade should prove more cost effective, as with boiler upgrades. The trouble is constant moving energy prices makes it feel like you are not gaining anything.

RenovationMan

wotsthat wrote: »

I think they are meant to be quite robust as there's not much to go wrong with them. 30 - 40 years is possible and guarantees can be 25 years. The cynic in me does wonder how many of the solar companies in the market will be around in 2 years let alone 25 years if there's a problem.

Many will be backed by insurance policies, not by the solar companies themselves.

We are looking at solar heating as we already have a cylinder that with a solar coil installed and our woodburning boiler stove is connected via a solar controller. I'm just waiting to see what the solar heating incentive is like and whether it pays better to get an accredited installer or to do the install DIY. Solar thermal is really straighforward - a couple of panels, duo piping, expansion chamber, and pump station with integrated controller.

However, the best thing to reduce energy costs is to install insulation, replace end-of-life electrical items with A++ rated products and to turn off items that are not being used.

abaxas

So... £down, imported coal/gas up.

If you are a someone else's byatch, you pay what they want.

wotsthat

I think for now I'm sticking with the energy saving - total consumption of gas & electricity is around 20% less than two years ago. Unfortunately, it's one step forward and one back as far as energy costs are concerned.

Most of the energy saving has come from better insulation, low energy lightbulbs etc. which hasn't impacted on anyone in the house. The next step, behaviour change, is going to be more difficult because my kids are incapable of turning anything off.

kabayiri

It's not just price rises is it?

It's the nature in which these rises occur. Jumps of nearly 20% in one go are extremely difficult to cope with for many ordinary households.

nearlynew

wotsthat wrote: »

Thanks

As I understand it the feed in tariff is higher than the usage tariff. Therefore it makes sense to export as much electricity as possible in the day and then use appliances at night.

This is incorrect.

You get paid for what you generate (about 45p per kw) regardless of whether you use it or not

Using the electricity you generate during the day is cheaper than importing it from the grid and having to pay for that.

At night, the panels will not be generating so you have to pay for what you use.

If you are not at home during the day, you can use what you generate by running your washing machine on a timer, cook a meal in a slow cooker etc, to reduce your bill.

shortchanged_2

LilacPixie wrote: »

solar panels are starting to look more attractive

As are cows in the garden for the other form of fuel.

wotsthat

nearlynew wrote: »

This is incorrect.

You get paid for what you generate (about 45p per kw) regardless of whether you use it or not

Using the electricity you generate during the day is cheaper than importing it from the grid and having to pay for that.

At night, the panels will not be generating so you have to pay for what you use.

If you are not at home during the day, you can use what you generate by running your washing machine on a timer, cook a meal in a slow cooker etc, to reduce your bill.

So the feed-in tariff is paid on electricity generated and not what goes to the grid?

That would make it more attractive than I thought and obviously explains why it makes sense to use as much of the generated power as possible.

nearlynew

wotsthat wrote: »

So the feed-in tariff is paid on electricity generated and not what goes to the grid?

That would make it more attractive than I thought and obviously explains why it makes sense to use as much of the generated power as possible.

It's a bit of both.

But the highest payment is for what you generate (about 45p per kw hour) regardless of whether you use it or not.

Exporting any excess (which is currently deemed to be about 50% of what is generated only pays about 4p per kw hour)

Many people do not realise this and think the payments are just for what you export; in which case the figures don't seem favourable.

kabayiri

Thanks NN.

It's an useful clarification. I didn't go into the detail.

I suppose if one had little scruples, you could run extension leads to your neighbours houses and provide them with surplus energy whilst you are not in.

It's a moot point if you're in Manchester anyway .. we are waiting for rainfall cells !