Energy news in general

Scot_39

Or perhaps aimed at those who are not renewables investors / beneficiaries - and who simply do not enjoy paying literally £100s more for their electricity than they have to - now and for decades past - and decades to come.

The £122 average RO being the most recent "hidden" renewables money grab to be revealed to the masses - by moving just 75% = £92 ave - a lot less of course for those with GCH and solar - who import far far less - from our electricity bills to tax pool funding.

Or the increased cost of the CMS scheme. Another £18 added to wholesale cost line in Apr cap.

Or the additional - over current costs already built in - £64 of £106 at one stage - since revised to £108 when announced in Dec - total by 2031 - in the current 5 year network cost review largely to connect renewables to the grid. And that doesnt include the 3 new HVDC links - announced being brought forward - a few days after the £108 announced - all within a week or so of the budget £150 "saving" shift to taxation announced.

The first instalment - of that £108 for both fuels - £69 - added to cap in April.

Or the soon to be £3.x bn in curtailment and £8.x bn in balancing. That was adding over £43 to ave household bills 3 years ago according to NGESO reports - before the curtailment bandwagon started ramping up with a vengeance. £3bn / 29m homes and 2m SME/retial etc - nearly £100 on ave - just for curtailment - over £250 for total balancing costs.

Or to pay largely rich homeowners on FIT schemes upto now over 75p+/kWh of "nominal" electric + export or SEG export - that sees many forecast to make 200-300%+ ROI - a scheme that on its own already adds 0.75p/ kWh to the cost of everyone else's electricity - at current regional ave SR - that alone = 3% on unit rates. Or another £30 at current PC2 cap.

If you want to pay to go green - do so.

Me - Ive got better things to do with

£122 ave RO - now £92 tax, £30 bills - but costs still being paid to RO schemes.

£18 CMS increase in Apr - maybe 100% not fair - but thats an adder - not the existing total

£30 FIT

£64 grid extension by 2030

£43 balancing (conservatively - probably far more then double by 2030 as curtailment takes off)

Total = £277 - just for those 5 - and there is probably far more I could add

Better things to do like actually being able to afford to heat my home - rather than wearing layers of thermals to survive.

And to put those current and future announced costs in context - the total electric price cap currently £1108 - so that £277 = 25% of the cost.

But to be fair probably arguably should add the RO back to the total as already out of Apr cap so more like - £277/(£1108+£92ave) = 23%

Making the already most expensive energy for home heating - far more expensive than it should be.

And if I had time - I could probably find the already included and "deeper hidden" net zero costs.

I bet you those with GCH would be far less happy if those sort of costs were levied on their essentials - in particular their heating and hot water costs.

And then there are all the other non essentials piled regressively onto our electricity and gas bills regardless of bill payers income.

Including costs of WHD £150 subsidy - paid for by those on WHD too - so net value £106 - and even the now £50+ debt relief - as lets face it - would much of it even be needed if bills - particularly electricity bills - didn't in past and in some cases still include so many net zero and regressive social policy overhead costs.

QrizB

Or perhaps aimed at those who are not renewables investors / beneficiaries

60-70% of GB households have smart meters which give access to smart tariffs. At least two major suppliers (Octopus and EDF) have tariffs where electricity prices fall to zero when wholesale prices are like enough.

You're suggesting that the Telegraph is aiming the article at the 30-40% of households who still have traditional meters?

I might be completely wrong but I tend to think of Telegraph readers as being older, better educated and better off than the average GB resident. The sort of people who might be expected to appreciate the opportunity to choose cheaper electricity tariffs. Am I mistaken?

QrizB

Or the soon to be £3.x bn in curtailment

On this particular point, most of the cost of curtailment is from buying gas to replace the curtailed wind generation.

For example, so far this year we've paid an average of £26/MWh to curtail wind (down from £30/MWh last year) but £122/MWh to replace it with gas (up from £115/MWh last year).

Total curtailment costs YTD are around £813M, made up of £145M paid to curtail wind and £668M to buy gas.

In other words - curtailment is expensive (and increasing) in large part because gas is expensive (and increasing).

Constraint on the B4 boundary (said to be one of the major contributions to curtailment) is expected to improve in spring 2027 - it's currently operating at about 50% capacity, and has been since 2024. See here for details.

JKenH

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82040448#Comment_82040448

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82040741#Comment_82040741

As a Telegraph reader, I’m not sure I identify with the description in the first of your comments but I will take the second. With a final warning hanging over me I cannot expound on current renewables policies but on an individual level they do present opportunities to MSE enthusiasts and I have benefited from them personally. The first experiments with consumer demand side response earned me around £500 (as I have just posted in another thread). Early solar adopters have benefited enormously from generous FIT rates. My neighbour just sent me a copy of his latest FiT credit earning 76.90p/kWh FiT plus 5.43p (x50%) deemed export. I will have to tell him he could be earning 12p/kWh SEG. As you will know, if you export everything you generate (possible if you have a battery) you can earn close to 89p/kWh. (That might, of course, colour how you view policy and a qualification might be appropriate). Unless, however, you are fortunate enough (like a couple of my acquaintances) to receive free solar panels and a battery you need to make an investment to reap the rewards. To me it’s worth it as it gives me a degree of energy independence and the opportunity to exploit the system imposed on us. (For the record, I only earn around 6p/kWh FiT and 12p/kWh SEG but I am currently enjoying buying 99% of my energy at 5p/kWh).

Scot_39

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82040741#Comment_82040741

The number of smart meters is pretty irrelevant if people aren't "engaging with them" - and using them - like their predecessors - for conventional tariffs.

This forum exists in for want of a better term could be called a "bubble".

Possibly even arguably given the costs of some of the investments to take full advantage of the current market - e.g. solar and battery arrays running into several £1000s or heater upgrades running to several £1000s (even with a BUS grant) even arguably perhaps a "privileged bubble".

So lets look at the reality of the tariffs folk are using despite Ofgems estimated now c65% smart meter penetration and their new apparent willingness to follow HHS - risking dynamic / surge pricing - and repeating the same failures as their pursuit of switch to save - ending up with the cap as we know it - in a belated attempt to protect the majority.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2026-01/State-of-the-Market-Energy-Retail-Highlights-January-2026.pdf

As of the Jan 26 Ofgem State of the Market - based on Q2 2025 data

1. nearly 2/3rd of UK households on SVT

2. nearly 1/3rd on fixes.

3. Only 2.8% were on smart TOU tariffs - less than 1 in 30 homes.

That 2.8% = 835,000 - of which 653,000 were EV electricity tariffs. And the increase over previous year - driven largely by 84% increase in EV tariffs.

Home charging EVs again a luxury that most energy poor in the UK can only dream of. Largely restricted to those with driveways and/or garages.

More were on old RTS before recent extended switch off began, far more were / remain on conventional TOU - register based - E7 SVT or E10 - sort of SVT - type deals - which will be in the 2/3 rd SVT / 1/3rd fixes stats..

Just as switch to save failed to engage the majority - and doubly failed them when weak suppliers failed - as everyone - including those who never switched - had to pay for their failures with SoLR costs.

Regardless of smart meter roll out - folk out their in the real world - are clearly not as engaged with smart tariffs as some might wish.

And IMO - Ofgem is failing again - as a regulator it should be acting on behalf of the 97%, not the 2.8%.

So if the average wholesale rate dips below expected cap averaging - that should be aggregated and rebated - in the same was as renewables rebate above CfD (on the rare occassions that has happened to meningfully reuce the cap costs so far) - and used to offset the next cap - shared by all. The all that are paying on every kWh - for the net zero kit that is creating the imbalances and plunge prices.

Phones4Chris

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82040448#Comment_82040448

Gee, thanks, what an informative reply - NOT. Apart from your two links being behind a paywall, I don't read the Telegraph so not even aware of what stories they may run. My link was based on an article that popped up on MSN News (after logging out of Outlook) as you should be able to see from the url, and my question was about are we really paying France and Holland to take our surplus electricity, and I'm none the wiser from your response! I'm not a fount of knowledge on all things energy, nor do I read everything about energy, like quite a few round here I'd guess, which is why sometimes one asks questions 😮

Martyn1981

Yes, sometimes, especially when demand is low, supply can exceed demand, and prices will go negative. Ideally during those times, it would be best to curtail supply, and wind generation has become the go to for curtailment, as it can react quickly and easily (furling blades and even rotating the nacelle, so that the blades are not facing the wind). It's also a great time to use pumped hydro storage, and the rapidly growing fleet of grid battery storage, which may reach ~10GW and 15-20GWh by year end. For scale, Dinorwig PHS is 1.8GW/9.1GWh.

But of course, as can be seen, it's not always possible to demand follow and you may see negative pricing.

The same applies in reverse too. France in particular often exports electricity at negative prices due to their large (and inflexible) nuclear fleet, and the UK is one of the many countries that will absorb this.

QrizB

@Phones4Chris wrote:

My link was based on an article that popped up on MSN News

MSN mostly repost articles from other news sites. In this case, it's an article from the Telegraph. It tells you as much as the top of the MSN page.

The Telegraph have a particular editorial viewpoint when it comes to energy.

Apart from your two links being behind a paywall

The Telegraph paywall is porous. I've removed info on one way to bypass it to avoid breaking the forum rules.

my question was about are we really paying France and Holland to take our surplus electricity,

If our wholesale prices are negative, we're paying people to use our electricity. This includes electricity passed from the UK to other countries via our interconnectors.

So yes, there will be times when French and Dutch networks can buy our electricity at a negative price, we're effectively paying them to take it.

I'm none the wiser from your response!

"What madness is this ??? !!!!" didn't really convey the nature of your question; it was not clear which part of the Telegraph article you considered to be mad. This made it tricky to answer it concisely.

Have you now received answers, not necessarily from me, that meet your need?

QrizB

I don't think there's been any mention in this thread of the recently-closed consultation on updated UK ecodesign regulations?

Here's a relatively balanced report (although focusing on underfloor heating, which is to be expected considering the website):

https://underfloorheating.info/news/underfloor-heating-efficiency-rules-2026/

If you want to read the consultation:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/updating-standards-for-local-space-heating-products/updating-standards-for-local-space-heating-products-accessible-webpage

And if you'd like to see how the general press has covered it:

https://archive.is/CmMpt

Scot_39

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82041839#Comment_82041839

Wow - partly why I didnt look too hard - why cant the govt just give a simple list / guide to consumers of what they can expect to be in or out ?

Hopefully soon manufacturers like Dimplex et al will start telling us which models compliant for future upgrades.

The towel rail seems a bit petty - are many really using that much power or energy ?

But then thought going over tumble dryers a stretch too - most poor and energy poor dont buy or use if have option - but did worry about flat dwelling parents of infants and young kids with no realistic drying alternatives