Energy news in general

Scot_39

superkoopauk said:

RTS switch off to be delayed (again!)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g2qp8wed0o

Might be better to read I guess the energy uk release.

https://www.energy-uk.org.uk/news/update-on-plans-for-the-rts-phase-out/

Note this talks about "small groups of meters" - not areas

Or even the DESNZ Consumers minister statement (no - just joking - well maybe - I got about as far as middle of first line and thought is this going to be worth it ...).

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2025-06-18/hcws711

The energy UK link at least also confirms there are no RTS systems they havent got a working - if not exact copy of - solution for.

IMO this seems late.

In one sense understandable from the regulators point of view maybe to keep pressure on given this will be at least the second missed deadline.  

But in another sense - I do worry how many have been unduly worried given warnings about losing heat and hot water - I suspect many still waiting could be elderly or vulnerable - not having had their appointment.

1800 a day sounds great progress - - 54000 a month - if 7 days a week - is it ? - until you factor in the 314,000 "last month" - the ministers statement more precision if not more accurate 314935 but with a hard date - the 30th May - still waiting (hey maybe it was better than the BBC article after all).

mmmmikey

Chrysalis said:

mmmmikey said:

The_Green_Hornet said:

UK gas plants in line for large windfall payments to keep lights on this winter

More UK gas plants will be in line for windfall payments to help keep the lights on this winter after generators received multimillion-pound payouts last winter.

Britain’s energy system operator expects the UK’s winter power supplies to reach their highest level in five years, in part due to a rising number of gas plants willing to generate electricity during the colder months.

Gas plants are typically called on to generate electricity when wind and solar power are in short supply. During still winter periods when freezing temperatures drive demand for energy higher, they can often request large fees to fire up their generators.

In early January this year, two gas power plants in Hertfordshire and Flintshire, north Wales, were paid a total of £17.8m to run their gas turbines between 4pm and 7pm when demand for electricity was forecast to reach its peak.

UK gas plants in line for large windfall payments to keep lights on this winter | Energy | The Guardian

You have to look at the bigger picture to make sense of this. On the face of it, it can be much more expensive per mile to use a taxi instead of a car. But if you only do a few journeys per year it can be much cheaper to take a taxi. And if you're a 2 car family, is it better to have 1 car and use a taxi when needed, or have 2 cars? The answer is, it depends - there's no easy answer.

Fairly obviously, if you only use gas to generate electricity when prices are at their highest then the profits during those periods will increase. Which they need to in order to compensate for the loss making times when solar and wind power output is at it's highest.

This article is just daft stirring designed to sell newspapers.

If I understand your analogy right you are saying this is cheaper than having some state owned infrastructure that has a fixed run cost regardless of time of day, and especially cheaper if it was just running all day without the burst emergency style charging (as then we would be paying for production that isnt used).
I get your point I think, but I think it is right this reported as there has to be a better solution than this, I actually think power cuts is preferable, but of course I know I will be a tiny minority on that.
I do understand why they charging a premium, as they not making money for all the time they turned off and its privately owned infrastructure.

I actually agree with you when it comes to power cuts. Obviously nobody would choose power cuts everything else being equal. I used to work with high-availability computer systems, and a well established rule of thumb was that 99.9% availability cost twice as much as 99% availability, 99.99% cost twice as much as 99.9% and so on. I suspect that if we were all prepared to accept a loss of power for a few hours once or twice a year then that would significantly reduce costs, maybe even to the point of halving bills.

So here's a question for others to ponder:

If you had to choose between what we have now (which for most people is very few power cuts) at the prices we pay now, or losing power for a few hours a couple of times a year but at half the price, what would you choose?

MikeJXE

A switch off a couple of times a year to save half the bill  is a no brainer 

QrizB

mmmmikey said:

So here's a question for others to ponder:

If you had to choose between what we have now (which for most people is very few power cuts) at the prices we pay now, or losing power for a few hours a couple of times a year but at half the price, what would you choose?

I'll just throw in that, for less than £2k per property (potentially as low as £1k), you could have whole-house backup for everything except heat that will last 3-6 hours.

I'm thinking of the EcoFlow Stream AC Pro, a ~2kWh plug-in home storage battery that retails for £800. Generally not strictly compliant with the UK wiring regs as a self-installed option, sadly.

https://uk.ecoflow.com/products/stream-ac-pro-ac

If it would bring literally half price electricity, saving ~£300 per household per year on average, it would pay for itself in 4-7 years.

MikeJXE

 Mmmmikey said

If you had to choose between what we have now (which for most people is very few power cuts) at the prices we pay now, or losing power for a few hours a couple of times a year but at half the price, what would you choose?

So why is this not happening ?

What a brilliant idea. 

I for one a low user would happily be switched off for 2 or 3 hours, never mind a couple of times a year a couple of times a week.

Surely users who can’t afford their bills would welcome this 

debitcardmayhem

@mmmmikey @MikeJXE Hmmm, what about non-domestic users, what do you do about them. The power stations will still need to be brought online to stabilise the grid. You could switch off your stuff for 3hrs a week, your fridge , freezer will then kick in. 

xflare

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2kym1pvn4o

"The bill for expanding the Warm Home Discount will be paid by energy companies and could be passed on through the Standing Charge, so it is possible all customers will see a slight increase in bills in the autumn to cover this announcement."      could?? lol

We are all about to get whacked by another big increase in standing charges lol

mmmmikey

xflare said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2kym1pvn4o

"The bill for expanding the Warm Home Discount will be paid by energy companies and could be passed on through the Standing Charge, so it is possible all customers will see a slight increase in bills in the autumn to cover this announcement."      could?? lol

We are all about to get whacked by another big increase in standing charges lol

Yes, could. The other option would be to pay for it by increasing unit rates. 

One way or the other it represents a cost of the order of £1 per month for a typical user - not an amount I would consider a big increase and I'm happy to pay it if it provides some help to people who genuinely need it.

mmmmikey

debitcardmayhem said:

@mmmmikey @MikeJXE Hmmm, what about non-domestic users, what do you do about them. The power stations will still need to be brought online to stabilise the grid. You could switch off your stuff for 3hrs a week, your fridge , freezer will then kick in. 

Yes, you'd have to set things up differently, it's not just a question of sticking with the equipment and processes you've got and letting it break more often. But your enquiring mind has gone into "designing the solution" mode without actually answering the more basic question of whether it is something you would want if you see what I mean.

Ildhund

xflare said:

We are all about to get whacked by another big increase in standing charges lol

Is this déjà vu all over again? Extra energy bill support for the country - GOV.UK and Energy Tariff and fixing - when should I do it? and Warm Home Discount: Minister promises to look at complaints after MSE investigation - Page 6 — MoneySavingExpert Forum