British Gas increases gas and electricity bills

wotsthat

There was a guy featured on Grand Designs who built a hose in the woods from straw bales and he couldn't get mains electricity so had to generate his own.

He managed to get hold of a battery pack from a nuclear submarine so that all electricity generated was at least stored.

RenovationMan

wotsthat wrote: »

There was a guy featured on Grand Designs who built a hose in the woods from straw bales and he couldn't get mains electricity so had to generate his own.

He managed to get hold of a battery pack from a nuclear submarine so that all electricity generated was at least stored.

You need Deep Cycle batteries:

http://www.solar-wind.co.uk/deep-cycle-dryfit-batteries-battery-uk.html

The trouble is that they store in DC and your house will be set up for AC. You could rewire your house lights to DC with LED bulbs but the cost would be more than the expense of keeping mains LEDs.

I was looking at solar PV to power the garden and driveway lights, but again the cost of the panels and batteries can't be justified against the cost of main electricity and LED bulbs.

Most 'green' solutions are actually more expensive than sticking with mains gas/electric. The savings come in when you are off-grid like Ben (the chap of Grand Designs) and so have no option other than to generate your own power.

[Deleted User]

lostinrates wrote: »

I think its because rather than buying it you are just not selling it iyswim, you are going to pay more to buy elec than you'll get for selling it.

A few of us here are looking at solar. We hope to have a couple of panels in, just in time for winter, lol. But we are having solar thermal not PV. I think.

solar thermal is amazingly good. We have two panels and haven`t had to heat hot water for quite some time, the lowest the tank gets to is usually 41 or so at this time of year. Winter ? you won`t be producing much at all in winter, we use our stove then

[Deleted User]

RenovationMan wrote: »

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.

absolutely correct. Our solar pnels and pv ststem only work efficiently because the house is thoroughly insulated to the highest standard and we have all highest rating appliances. Insulation and appliances and usage should come first in order to make real savings

michaels

Interesting that the thread has branched off in to solar panels as part of the reason for the rises is in order to pay the subsidies for the solar feed in tariffs.

lostinrates

kittie wrote: »

solar thermal is amazingly good. We have two panels and haven`t had to heat hot water for quite some time, the lowest the tank gets to is usually 41 or so at this time of year. Winter ? you won`t be producing much at all in winter, we use our stove then

Thanks for the reassurance.

We're not sure what we will do for winter. We MIGHT install a woodchip boiler (which we can later use elsewhere on the property).

I think it more likely that we might freeze. We're hoping to have another fire place working by winter, so have at least one safely warm room, preferably two. We're not decided on whether to get a kitchen range or not. I have no romance about them, apart from the liking for the toast, I don't think any thing else is better from a range, or easier. But something that could heat water and a room while cooking through winter might well be worth thinking about.

ATM, with delays (we were hoping to be doing all of this in July) I'm head in the sand about it. We have an immersion so I can have hot water, so we'll survive ok if its not in.

Mr_Mumble

michaels wrote: »

Interesting that the thread has branched off in to solar panels as part of the reason for the rises is in order to pay the subsidies for the solar feed in tariffs.

Additionally there is the increased cost of updating the national grid so it is flexible and robust enough to accept micro-generated electricity.

grizzly1911

michaels wrote: »

Interesting that the thread has branched off in to solar panels as part of the reason for the rises is in order to pay the subsidies for the solar feed in tariffs.

A guy from BG reporting to the "OFGEM parliamentary committee said that they are caught on three sides
1.)Declining North Sea supplies < 50%
2.)Increasing Imports
3.)Green costs imposed by the Government.

He said that suppliers need to sit round the table to work out strategy including whether the targets under3.) are realistic and affordable.

Apparently PV panels lose efficiency on warm sunny days:rotfl:

Funny how BG say they are making losses at the retail end( as they all do) but funny how the wholesale side seems to make healthy profits. Methinks this vertical integration stuffs the consumer.

Scottish (Spanish Power) have different regulation on the Costas and whilst the cost of energy is higher there they do not have the same level of repetitive increases.

Never mind good old Hune is on the case apparently:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

grizzly1911

A guy on the radio yesterday said he was clearing, £300 a quarter tax free, from his panels on a standard detached house. He had brought the panels outright and was well happy with this return. I think this the best way to do it if you have the money.

I will be more convinced when they become mandatory in new builds. that would give me more confidence in their reliability and resilience.

I would be happier if they could directly replace tiles too as I think the current installs look awful at present and despite the economic argument could well put people off buying.

Also not so keen on having my roof holed and resealed, as a previous poster said it is a hostile environment up there.

Any idea on whether it impacts your House Insurance?

Thrugelmir

grizzly1911 wrote: »

Funny how BG say they are making losses at the retail end( as they all do) but funny how the wholesale side seems to make healthy profits.

Commercial contracts run for extended periods say 18 months. So BG can back to back contracted demand against a fixed price contract option.

Consumers have no loyalty.