Ecotricity - Anybody with them?

owen_money

penrhyn wrote: »

45 % of Electicity comes from Gas, 80% of UK homes are heated by Gas, Heavy industry, steel, glass chemical, relies Gas. and all the Ecocentrics go on about is windmills.

Are you saying we need more gas? Maybe fracking?

[Deleted User]

I ve been reading a few meters today for Ecotricity, the people I meet seem to be motivated to use them because they are principled eco friendly people. They all seem very pleasant. I checked one ladies electric prepay`s tariff and it was set at a whopping 15.3 p per kwh compared to BG s and others around the 13.5 p per kwhr so I m not sure if they are anywhere near the cheapest. These are S.Yorks rates, one of the cheapest in UK

penrhyn

owen_money wrote: »

Are you saying we need more gas? Maybe fracking?

I'll have to think about that!

Buzby

I was attracted by their '1000 miles free' offer for Electric Vehicle users. On checking their regional tariff (I'm currently with EDF Blue 2015), if I switched, my 'free' 1000 miles would have cost me an extra £380pa!

So, being ethical is one thing, but not if it's going to have a major impact on my bank balance. A nice idea, but sadly, their pricing leaves much to be desired.

Bubblebath

sacsquacco wrote: »

I ve been reading a few meters today for Ecotricity, the people I meet seem to be motivated to use them because they are principled eco friendly people. They all seem very pleasant. I checked one ladies electric prepay`s tariff and it was set at a whopping 15.3 p per kwh compared to BG s and others around the 13.5 p per kwhr so I m not sure if they are anywhere near the cheapest. These are S.Yorks rates, one of the cheapest in UK

South Yorkshire supply region? That's a new one on me. I thought South of the Yorkshire Region it was the East Midlands supply region.

For the East Midlands, the BG unit rate on PPM is 13.209p whilst for Ecotricity it is 13.42p

If you mean the Yorkshire supply region, then there is a greater difference in unit prices
BG is 13.262p whilst Ecotricity is 15.70p

But you should know better than just compare unit charges. How many times have people said use a comparison site to find the best deal. And here is a perfect example, because BG standing charge in Yorkshire region is 26.01p/day, whilst with Ecotricity it is less than half that at just 10.61p/day

This will obviously favour lower users, which pre-payment customers often are
(I make it a user would need to use more than 2300kWh p.a. before BG would be cheaper than Ecotricity for someone in the Yorkshire supply region on PPM, but I may have missed some other discounts/charges, so use a comparison site)

lstar337

Ecotricity were quite good in the south west last year, they were tracking slightly below EDF who were the cheapest at the time. As I was on a PPM I was close to switching to them. The only thing that stopped me was getting fed up with crappy living conditions and moving.

They don't even show up on a comparison now, too far down the table. I am still in the south west so they must have either increased prices, or there are a lot more cheaper tariff's available to me due to having a credit meter.

matelodave

Going back to the the OP's post, it would cost me about £275 a year more on by going green so I'll stay where I am.
If you don't use much then the extra may not be so great but I still fail to see why we should be paying significantly more when the energy input (wind) is free unlike gas, oil or coal

Hoopie1

owen_money wrote: »

Once wind turbines are more reliable they will need less support and hence less work boats. Don't forget that the wind industry is still young and has come along way from the 100kW turbines of twenty years ago, they are now at 8MW.
I did say that wind turbines are a stop gap, not the final solution. What they need to do develop is how to store the energy for when the wind isnt blowing. There was a program on BBC1 the other day about it.
I think we should look at all sources of power generation. We need a mix

That is a Citigroup paper about battery storage. If it comes off, it will be a game-changer.

matelodave

Hoopie1 wrote: »

That is a Citigroup paper about battery storage. If it comes off, it will be a game-changer.

Certainly will be - something more for us to all subsidise for those who can afford to put it in and with the space to accommodate them. Then there's going to be all the knackered batteries to be recycled after 7-10yrs (or less depending on how they've been treated) so that will be another extra cost to get rid of the toxic waste from them.

lstar337

Short-term solar storage is better catered for by molten salt, as is used at concentrated solar farms.

Hydrogen extraction is another good storage method, and so is pumped storage hydro.

Batteries are a poor solution and that isn't going to change any time soon.