Energy news in general

michaels

sully1311 said:

BBC News: "Plans to cut energy bills if peak-time use avoided"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62626908

Be nice if this could be a separate scheme in addition to my existing TOU tariff

rjmachin

I took part in the octopus trial a few months ago, they set me a goal to reduce my usage between a few hour period (e.g. between 5pm and 7pm) by at least a set percentage (e.g. 30%), and then they would give me the energy that I do use during that period for free.

Here is one example where I was successful:
Event 3 Tuesday 22nd March, 16:30-18:30: You successfully turned down your consumption by 50%. This means you earned 21p

So the savings are not massive and the events were once or twice a week, so not every day.

I suppose it could change if not a trial.

Sea_Shell

I'm in!!!    

We already cook at lunchtime, wash in the mornings (no TD or DW) and are early to bed most nights.   So getting a rebate for "carrying on as normal" sounds like a bargain to me!! 


I wonder how it will work?     "could be as high as £6 per kWh saved".    From a baseline of what....a national "average"?   Or off what you personally used at a similar time last year?


Looking forward to the detail on this.

markin

[Deleted User] said:

Well we have had the suggestion of freezing the cap at the April levels.  Now we have the suggestion of nationalising the 'energy companies'

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-62623751

I assume she is talking about the suppliers and not the producers!

How many wind farms have they invested in........

Sea_Shell

rjmachin said:

I took part in the octopus trial a few months ago, they set me a goal to reduce my usage between a few hour period (e.g. between 5pm and 7pm) by at least a set percentage (e.g. 30%), and then they would give me the energy that I do use during that period for free.

Here is one example where I was successful:
Event 3 Tuesday 22nd March, 16:30-18:30: You successfully turned down your consumption by 50%. This means you earned 21p

So the savings are not massive and the events were once or twice a week, so not every day.

I suppose it could change if not a trial.

So this was a personalised target to meet, going by what....last years data, weekly data, yesterdays data???

If people are already low users, there is going to be less scope to make further cutbacks, so this scheme is really aimed at the high users, who are able to cut back without too much impact to their quality of life.

So it's more about reducing demand/usage, that actually helping the poorest save money?   Am I right?

pochase

Sea_Shell said:

rjmachin said:

I took part in the octopus trial a few months ago, they set me a goal to reduce my usage between a few hour period (e.g. between 5pm and 7pm) by at least a set percentage (e.g. 30%), and then they would give me the energy that I do use during that period for free.

Here is one example where I was successful:
Event 3 Tuesday 22nd March, 16:30-18:30: You successfully turned down your consumption by 50%. This means you earned 21p

So the savings are not massive and the events were once or twice a week, so not every day.

I suppose it could change if not a trial.

So this was a personalised target to meet, going by what....last years data, weekly data, yesterdays data???

If people are already low users, there is going to be less scope to make further cutbacks, so this scheme is really aimed at the high users, who are able to cut back without too much impact to their quality of life.

So it's more about reducing demand/usage, that actually helping the poorest save money?   Am I right?

I think you might be right, but we are missing data here.

@rjmachin what was the saving based on, percentage reduced or units reduced?

rjmachin

pochase said:

Sea_Shell said:

rjmachin said:

I took part in the octopus trial a few months ago, they set me a goal to reduce my usage between a few hour period (e.g. between 5pm and 7pm) by at least a set percentage (e.g. 30%), and then they would give me the energy that I do use during that period for free.

Here is one example where I was successful:
Event 3 Tuesday 22nd March, 16:30-18:30: You successfully turned down your consumption by 50%. This means you earned 21p

So the savings are not massive and the events were once or twice a week, so not every day.

I suppose it could change if not a trial.

So this was a personalised target to meet, going by what....last years data, weekly data, yesterdays data???

If people are already low users, there is going to be less scope to make further cutbacks, so this scheme is really aimed at the high users, who are able to cut back without too much impact to their quality of life.

So it's more about reducing demand/usage, that actually helping the poorest save money?   Am I right?

I think you might be right, but we are missing data here.

@rjmachin what was the saving based on, percentage reduced or units reduced?

It was based on your average use during the window period.

Here is another example of one where I was challenged to reduce my usage:

Turn down window: 9am - 11am on 29/03/2022

 

Your target: reduce your usage by 0.46 kWh

This is 40% less than you'd normally use across the two hours, based on smart meter data showing you normally use 1.15 kWh over the period.

 

Your reward: If you manage to reduce your power use by 40%, we'll make the remaining electricity you do use in the window free.

So yeah, it does seem to be aimed at high users to reduce demand during peak times, and when I accepted these challenges, I really did try, going around turning everything off during the time period to get some free electricity, however, I don't think I could do it on a regular basis

Mstty

Ah well no good for us if they use our summer months we don't even use 1kwh between 5-8pm 

savers_united

A large energy intensive manufacturer I used to work at one time would be asked to reduce their use during periods of load shedding.

There would be a number of these calls during the winter period, rather than get money back they would be hit with unit prices 10-20x that of normal rate so we would switch off as much as we could for 1 to 2 hour period.

So something like this may work in reverse, during days where energy supply is tight I.e Colder days, then the rewards may be higher as they struggle to balance the network.

Based on what I seen £6 is possible, as we were getting charged £4 per kwh during certain periods back a decade ago. 

MattMattMattUK

GingerTim said:

sully1311 said:

BBC News: "Plans to cut energy bills if peak-time use avoided"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62626908

Sign me up!

Same for me, all but baseline consumption is avoidable for me in those hours.