Energy news in general

Chrysalis

Thats opened a can of worms, its almost twice the size of the WHD, mostly paid to people living in nice areas, and so I can start a campaign to get a rebate on my council tax added to all council bills because I am on a emergency vehicles route. Which is a far bigger inconvenience than a pylon on the horizon.

QrizB

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82090501#Comment_82090501

Romania is shutting down its second (and final) unit at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant as Danube water levels continue to fall.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/08/13/romania-to-shut-down-nuclear-plant-due-to-low-river-levels_6756461_4.html

Romania began on Thursday, August 13, the complete shutdown of its only nuclear plant after water levels in the Danube, used to cool the site, fell to a record low, the national nuclear energy company said. Nuclearelectrica already shut down last month one of the two reactors at the Cernavoda power plant, which usually generates a fifth of the Eastern European country's total electricity.

The second needed to shut, as well, "due to the significant and ongoing drop in the water level of the River Danube," it said in a statement. "Nuclearelectrica SA announces that, on the morning of 13 August 2026, it began the procedures for the controlled shutdown of Unit 2 at the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant," it said.

Romania has been trying for days to avert a complete shutdown of the plant's two 700MW reactors. These attempts included blowing up a rock and sinking four barges filled with rocks into the river to try to divert its flows, with total costs budgeted at more than €2 million ($2.3 million).

It is the plant's first shutdown since a 2003 drought, when it had to close for several weeks. Alternative sources, including from wind power generation, as well as imports, are expected to cover electricity supply, the energy ministry said on Wednesday. It also reiterated an appeal for "responsible consumption."

Scot_39

Cornwall Insights latest cap prediction, issued just hrs ago

up 4%

https://www.cornwall-insight.com/press-releases/energy-bills-forecast-to-hit-three-year-high/

JKenH

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82107788#Comment_82107788

Isn’t it about time that OFGEM ditched the price cap? The TDCV used has progressively fallen as prices have risen but isn’t the fall in consumption a direct impact of rising prices. It’s like calculating supermarket price inflation based on the cost of a typical shopping basket when people are putting less in their basket because prices have gone up. Or claiming that the annual cost of eating out has fallen when in reality people are eating out less because prices have risen. It is no coincidence that OFGEM cut the TDCVs in October 2023 and July 2026. The gas TDCV was slashed by 17% in July 2026 as a reaction to customers drastically cutting their gas consumption as a result of price rises caused by the Iran war. Gas TDCV fell from 11500 to 9500 KWh in July 2026. The gas unit rate actually rose by 27.7% but because of the 17% reduction in TDCV the gas element of the price cap rose by much less.

The only fair indicator the price of domestic energy is to quote the price per kWh but it doesn’t take a genius to work out why OFGEM doesn’t use this measure.

michaels

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82108487#Comment_82108487

The percentage change is always quoted based on the same usage. Simply comparing per unit pricing is a different misrepresentaiton given how much they have played about with adding what shoudl be general taxation to the standard charge.

And your suggestion that he average person in the street can understand price per unit - hmmm? (Care to do a random survey of people on what they pay for gas or electricity, I suspect very few would be able to help you beyond their monthly DD or that they put a tenner on the key card way too often)

debitcardmayhem

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82108496#Comment_82108496

The answer will be too much, but hey what is an average person, indeed the average is either mean or median , perhaps the mode.

If you say the price is going up by 4% what does that mean to the reader of the Sun,Express,Torygraph,Daily Fail, or Grauniad, let alone those who get their news from Faceache,MuskX, or the bloke down t'pub. What will it be if you don't use gas, or if you use coal,oil,wood. Welcome to the real world of who gives a Ess one IT

bristolleedsfan

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82108487#Comment_82108487

"The gas unit rate actually rose by 27.7% but because of the 17% reduction in TDCV the gas element of the price cap rose by much less"

Calculating % increase in unit rate is not related to level of TDCV, if there was no TDCV method of calculating % increase in unit rate would be the same as would result of calculation.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/press-release/energy-price-cap-will-rise-13-july

JKenH

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82108496#Comment_82108496

If you were the median OFGEM consumer on which the price cap is based and used the same electricity and gas in July 2026 as you did in January 2022 then your annual bill would have increased from £1277 to £1944 (a 52% increase) rather than the £1663 (30% increase) indicated by the headline price cap which has seen two downward revisions of the TDCV over this period.

JKenH

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82108548#Comment_82108548

Agreed, but the price cap is affected by the TDCV.

QrizB

The TDCV used has progressively fallen as prices have risen but isn’t the fall in consumption a direct impact of rising prices. It’s like calculating supermarket price inflation based on the cost of a typical shopping basket when people are putting less in their basket because prices have gone up.

That's an interesting way of looking at it.

I'd always assumed that the main reasons the TDCVs had fallen were (a) better insulation, both privately funded and via the various ECO schemes, and (b) more efficient appliances with older pre-2000-ish boilers being replaced by condensing ones, with smaller contributions from rooftop solar and heat pumps (both available via grants as well as private purchase).

Also we haven't had a properly cold winter for a few years (there were a couple in the twenty-naughts and -tens when we saw double-digit negative temperatures here in southern England, but not yet in the -twenties).

You're probably right though that demand is price sensitive to a degree, and higher prices make people put up with worse standards of living.

I wonder if Ofgem have published anything on the reasons for the TDCVs dropping?