Ripple Energy wind farm?

Coastalwatch

Sorry to learn that Reed. That's unfortunate, does this mean you're in the 5% of the nation that isn't yet covered very well by a mobile signal? At least that's the percentage figure we're been led to believe is most difficult to reach. Presumably you're in some remote part of our fair isle?

JKenH

Reed_Richards said:

Coastalwatch said:

.... I'm booked to have a smart meter installed later in the month when I'll switch over to the Go tariff to make use of charging the EV on cheap over night rates during the winter months when solar output is limited..

Unfortunately where I live the mobile phone signal is very weak and I don't know anyone in the area who has had a smart meter installed and got it to work.  In two cases the electricity supplier gave up the idea of installing a smart meter after having tested the mobile phone signal.    

I also have a very poor mobile signal but have recently had a SMETS2 meter installed by Bulb. I had previously been turned down by EDF on the basis there was no network coverage. The link below suggests that should not be an issue.

A SMETS2 meter is not reliant upon the mobile phone network and by the end of the rollout this network will have coverage of 99.25% of Great Britain.

https://www.smartenergygb.org/en/faqs/How-do-smart-meters-work,-q-,

ASavvyBuyer

UK’s first-ever consumer-owned wind farm secures green light for construction following landmark £1.1m Welsh Government funding

Ripple Energy, the UK’s first ever clean energy ownership platform, has today announced it has secured £1.1m in funding from the Welsh Government to begin construction of the UK’s first-ever consumer-owned wind farm, set to be completed in autumn 2021. A further £1.8m loan has been agreed in principle from the Development Bank of Wales which can be drawn down in the summer, subject to certain conditions being met. Ripple’s customers have contributed just over £1.3m to the project, on which they will see returns via savings to their household electricity bill.

UK's first consumer-owned wind farm secures green light and fresh funding

michaels

So I had an online chat with ripple - what appealed was that they gave money off your bill so I assumed that therefore we were talking a tax free return but sadly that is not the case and as mentioned above the bill rebate (the return on capital part not return of capital part) is taxable income and needs to be declared.

Also currently only the two electricity suppliers.

[Deleted User]

JKenH said:

Reed_Richards said:

Coastalwatch said:

.... I'm booked to have a smart meter installed later in the month when I'll switch over to the Go tariff to make use of charging the EV on cheap over night rates during the winter months when solar output is limited..

Unfortunately where I live the mobile phone signal is very weak and I don't know anyone in the area who has had a smart meter installed and got it to work.  In two cases the electricity supplier gave up the idea of installing a smart meter after having tested the mobile phone signal.    

I also have a very poor mobile signal but have recently had a SMETS2 meter installed by Bulb. I had previously been turned down by EDF on the basis there was no network coverage. The link below suggests that should not be an issue.

A SMETS2 meter is not reliant upon the mobile phone network and by the end of the rollout this network will have coverage of 99.25% of Great Britain.

https://www.smartenergygb.org/en/faqs/How-do-smart-meters-work,-q-,

I thought that SMETS 2 meters could either connect directly or via a meter-wide mesh; however, it would seem that for the mesh to work, the comms hub has to be a SKU2 and not a SKU1. Clearly, the meter then has to find another meter in range which has a direct connection if data is to flow. Part of the 99.25% is the deployment of AltHAN. I will leave you to 'Google' it and special comms hubs for those living close to high intensity radars.

Coastalwatch

michaels said:

So I had an online chat with ripple - what appealed was that they gave money off your bill so I assumed that therefore we were talking a tax free return but sadly that is not the case and as mentioned above the bill rebate (the return on capital part not return of capital part) is taxable income and needs to be declared.

Also currently only the two electricity suppliers.

My, paying tax on dividends/savings. Some might say what a smiley problem to have, others of course might disagree.

Never being fortunate enough to secure an annual income to match that of the average Brit, it's not something that had previously affected me. With opportunities to wrap savings up in ISA's and even stocks/shares also, I didn't consider I'd threaten the limits on personal allowances, even from a lifetimes accruals of watching the pennys just to ensure we didn't end up in debt.

Popped onto the Gov.uk website to check up and from a quick glance it would appear that for savings, then a personal allowance of £1k applies, for dividend income it's £2k and Capital Gains a very benevolent £12,5k annually. That's to those of us paying basic rate of income tax. 

Not wishing to lead anyone astray I'd certainly appreciate being corrected if my interpretation is misplaced.

With the abysmal savings rates on offer I can't ever imagine me having to cough up any tax on that front. Dividends provide a better return so might need further investigation. But taking an average say of 7% return then we'd need £30k tied up, outside of ISA's, before having to trouble Her Majesty. An even greater margin of safety exists with Capital Gains so unless advised otherwise I don't think I need to loose any sleep upon that matter.

I seem to recall a post a year or so back from someone being critical of those in the priviledged position of being able to claim tax relief upon their investments. So it rather surprised me today to read the same poster now taking the opposite view point, ie. "there's no tax relief on offer so I'm not inclined to invest" as being rather strange!

Smacks rather of double standards or simply just being critical for the sake of it.

I own shares in that well meaning Green and Ethcially focussed startup seeking to provide the average Brit the opportunity of owning a small part of a wind turbine to generate and fulfil their own energy requirements. I may be wrong but I would have thought that all those who genuinely subscribe on here would be keen to wish them well as opposed to denigrating their efforts.

But of course I could be wrong, I'm sure I'll be advised otherwise if that's the case.

ASavvyBuyer

Coastalwatch said:

michaels said:

So I had an online chat with ripple - what appealed was that they gave money off your bill so I assumed that therefore we were talking a tax free return but sadly that is not the case and as mentioned above the bill rebate (the return on capital part not return of capital part) is taxable income and needs to be declared.

Also currently only the two electricity suppliers.

Popped onto the Gov.uk website to check up and from a quick glance it would appear that for savings, then a personal allowance of £1k applies, for dividend income it's £2k and Capital Gains a very benevolent £12,5k annually. That's to those of us paying basic rate of income tax. 

Not wishing to lead anyone astray I'd certainly appreciate being corrected if my interpretation is misplaced.

I also double checked the tax allowances as I thought they were much higher than any likely return of capital or dividends from investing in Ripple. You are correct, they would need to be either over £2k or £12k a year before any tax was payable. To get that level of annual return I think you would need to have at least a spare £40k or £200k to invest!

michaels

Coastalwatch said:

michaels said:

So I had an online chat with ripple - what appealed was that they gave money off your bill so I assumed that therefore we were talking a tax free return but sadly that is not the case and as mentioned above the bill rebate (the return on capital part not return of capital part) is taxable income and needs to be declared.

Also currently only the two electricity suppliers.

My, paying tax on dividends/savings. Some might say what a smiley problem to have, others of course might disagree.

Never being fortunate enough to secure an annual income to match that of the average Brit, it's not something that had previously affected me. With opportunities to wrap savings up in ISA's and even stocks/shares also, I didn't consider I'd threaten the limits on personal allowances, even from a lifetimes accruals of watching the pennys just to ensure we didn't end up in debt.

Popped onto the Gov.uk website to check up and from a quick glance it would appear that for savings, then a personal allowance of £1k applies, for dividend income it's £2k and Capital Gains a very benevolent £12,5k annually. That's to those of us paying basic rate of income tax. 

Not wishing to lead anyone astray I'd certainly appreciate being corrected if my interpretation is misplaced.

With the abysmal savings rates on offer I can't ever imagine me having to cough up any tax on that front. Dividends provide a better return so might need further investigation. But taking an average say of 7% return then we'd need £30k tied up, outside of ISA's, before having to trouble Her Majesty. An even greater margin of safety exists with Capital Gains so unless advised otherwise I don't think I need to loose any sleep upon that matter.

I seem to recall a post a year or so back from someone being critical of those in the priviledged position of being able to claim tax relief upon their investments. So it rather surprised me today to read the same poster now taking the opposite view point, ie. "there's no tax relief on offer so I'm not inclined to invest" as being rather strange!

Smacks rather of double standards or simply just being critical for the sake of it.

I own shares in that well meaning Green and Ethcially focussed startup seeking to provide the average Brit the opportunity of owning a small part of a wind turbine to generate and fulfil their own energy requirements. I may be wrong but I would have thought that all those who genuinely subscribe on here would be keen to wish them well as opposed to denigrating their efforts.

But of course I could be wrong, I'm sure I'll be advised otherwise if that's the case.

The point being that why pitch this as being linked to your energy usage and bills if it is effectively an entirely separate investment?  The main reason would seem to be to 'muddy the waters' so that potential investors don't just compare it to other potentially better returning direct investment in specific green projects.  How is this different from investing in any other green scheme?  In which case why wrap it up in this complex manner?

And levels of taxable income do matter to some regardless of the savings. dividends allowance, for example a low income pensioner in receipt of pension credit would see their benefits payment !!!!!! but the returns made from this investment whereas they would not be if it actually resulted in lower electricity bills.

Coastalwatch

michaels said:

Coastalwatch said:

michaels said:

So I had an online chat with ripple - what appealed was that they gave money off your bill so I assumed that therefore we were talking a tax free return but sadly that is not the case and as mentioned above the bill rebate (the return on capital part not return of capital part) is taxable income and needs to be declared.

Also currently only the two electricity suppliers.

I own shares in that well meaning Green and Ethcially focussed startup seeking to provide the average Brit the opportunity of owning a small part of a wind turbine to generate and fulfil their own energy requirements. I may be wrong but I would have thought that all those who genuinely subscribe on here would be keen to wish them well as opposed to denigrating their efforts.

But of course I could be wrong, I'm sure I'll be advised otherwise if that's the case.

The point being that why pitch this as being linked to your energy usage and bills if it is effectively an entirely separate investment?  The main reason would seem to be to 'muddy the waters' so that potential investors don't just compare it to other potentially better returning direct investment in specific green projects.  How is this different from investing in any other green scheme?  In which case why wrap it up in this complex manner?

And levels of taxable income do matter to some regardless of the savings. dividends allowance, for example a low income pensioner in receipt of pension credit would see their benefits payment !!!!!! but the returns made from this investment whereas they would not be if it actually resulted in lower electricity bills.

Sorry michaels, I'm not convinced and stand by what I posted.

michaels

Why not just pitch it as a cooperative wind farm investment with certain hoped for returns paid out as dividends, then there is no need to change to a specific electricity supplier etc.  It may be me who is misunderstanding but I don't understand the linkage to electricity usage and supply company?