Energy news in general

Martyn1981

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82068993#Comment_82068993

That's really great news. Shows what can be achieved with a bit of effort. At the start of the last decade leccy was ~70% FF's, hopefully this year it'll be ~25% and still falling fast. So step one nearly achieved.

Then step two, already in progress, is to electrify everything. That's a huge task, but now, it's no longer a huge problem as the economic solutions are now available, such as EV's and heat pumps.

We see transport and buildings now accounting ~50% of emissions, so those can be, dare I say easily, addressed. And that task isn't nearly as bad as it looks, due to the 'primary energy fallacy'. That's where we look at replacing the energy currently being consumed, when in reality we only need to replace the useful energy.

For transport, vehicles are only about 20% to 25% efficient, rising to ~40% for heavy freight, trains etc. To electrify the UK's road fleet will require about 20% to 25% more leccy. And that will be spread across 20-25yrs (approx 10yrs to reach 100% electric, then approx 15yrs to transition the fleet). As we are transitioning around 4% of the leccy fleet pa, then just maintaining RE growth will manage this. A huge success is the UK's city bus fleet, where about one third of new sales are now BEV, and rising fast.

The same applies to buildings, they are getting cleaner as we improve leccy, but more importantly, the main energy consumption is gas (cooking, DHW and space heating). Heatpumps are about 3.5x more efficient than a modern high efficiency gas boiler (~90% efficient). So again, we don't need to replace all of the primary gas energy, only a fraction of it.

Industry needs to electrify as much as possible. Agriculture is a problem, but the electrification of transport helps here as tractors and other heavy plant are now available in BEV form, and this sector is expanding fast. But, the elephant in the room, so to speak, will remain emissions from cattle and sheep, again easily solved by reducing consumption, but I suspect a huge task to convince everyone.

Ironically, fuel supply kinda resolves itself, as we use less and less FF's, which consume a lot of energy in their production, refining and distribution. This also leans into the marine sector, where ferries, near shore transport etc is already electrifying fast. And ~40% of the transportation (by mass) of ocean going ships is actually FF's.

I think long haul flights will remain a problem (short haul will electrify, very short haul already is, such as the Canadian puddle jumpers), and it may be that SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) is the best solution, though not a great solution.

The UK may be behind in terms of heat pump deployment, but we are holding our own in Europe regarding decarbonization of leccy, and BEV rollout (now ~6% of the car fleet, with new sales ~25%).

I think the big bonus we are now seeing is the rapidly falling cost of battery storage. Prices are starting to get a little silly, and the development/deployment of sodium batts is now scaling fast, with the potential of halving battery cell costs. The learning curve (Wright's Law) for batteries is an incredible 20-25%. That's the reduction in costs for every subsequent doubling in production.

The_Green_Hornet

‘Customers prefer AI chatbots,’ says British Gas owner as 1,300 call centre jobs axed

The owner of British Gas has claimed that most households would rather speak with an AI chatbot than deal with the company’s staff as it prepares to cut 1,300 jobs from its call centres.

Centrica, the supplier’s FTSE 100 owner, plans to cut 800 jobs as the company carries out a “targeted deployment of AI tools”, on top of the 500 cuts it confirmed last month.

The plan to reduce the supplier’s customer service teams in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Leicester, Stockport and Leeds by 14% is expected to take place over two years, meaning some roles will be left unfilled after resignations, while the balance will come from redundancies.

Trade unions have previously said the company’s investment in artificial intelligence to help simplify its business would lead to “hundreds of human jobs” being given to chatbots.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/23/customers-prefer-ai-chatbots-says-chris-oshea-british-gas-centrica-boss

WiserMiser

Yet another good reason never to consider British Gas. No wonder they're so low in the ratings.

victor2

I took the MSE negotiated fix with BG just over a year ago, leaving Octopus and figuring I could deal with the expected poor customer service.

To be honest it's been fine. There were problems getting readings from my upgraded SMETS1 smart gas meter, which Octopus had never been able to sort out. BG fixed it by replacing both meters and it's been fine ever since. I've had no trouble setting my DD below what they said it should be, as my calculations disagreed with theirs.

I hate dealing with AI driven systems, so that could drive me away when the fix ends. But with so many services using it these days, it could be out of the frying pan and into the fire, as they say...

QrizB

Customers prefer AI chatbots,’ says British Gas owner

On the other hand, "Customers prefer humans," say customers.

Yet another good reason never to consider British Gas. No wonder they're so low in the ratings.

I agree entirely.

The_Groat_Counter

No one seems to be asking what AI chatbots prefer…

gpman

Based on my previous experience of attempting to deal with BG staff, I think I agree with Chris O'Shea!

Perhaps not something to shout about though.

Chrysalis

The only time I have been happy with AI is when it passes me to a customer agent at first time of asking.

gpman

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82079232#Comment_82079232

Take a look at 100 Green Energy.

No chatbots. No phone menus. Not even a pre-recorded holding message telling you how important your call is to them whilst at the same time sacking 14% of their call takers. Just a human that answers your call, and a knowledgeable one too in my experience

They are not cheap, but their electricity can be not too bad if you strike lucky with one of their exclusive tariffs.(perhaps not for really low users)
You'll need to decide what is important to you before agreeing to buy their gas though as even their SVT is exempt from the Ofgem price cap.

Some may not like their online portal, it's a bit basic compared to many others, but it has all the essentials.

debitcardmayhem

Well according to a recent survey 100%* of customers prefer not having to contact their suppliers and prefer the suppliers to get things done right.

*Survey contacted 1 of 29M households