Living without electricity.

Verdigris

Ultrasonic said:

london21 said:

QrizB said:

london21 said:

Chid1 said:

I wondered if there was a way to do it without informing the landlord. I haven;t used one unit since October and yet I'm facing a standing charge of nearly £200 per year under the new rates. I can no longer find a "no standing charge" tariff.

Something does not seem eight, that is so high. Which provider are you with and what is the rate? Are you PAYG?

50p/day is £180/yr, so yes "almost £200" is believable.

Mine is with bulb and SC going from 23.296p to 32.147p so comes to £117 thought similar acrosss but everything going up. 

The difference is because of where you live. In the south west region it will be 51.6 p per day on a price cap tariff, so £188 per year. 

Yes, London has by far the lowest SC, presumably because of density of population and most supply cables being underground, so not susceptible to storm damage.

I'm in the South West region but moving to South Wales region, where it is a mere 48p! (actually 24p, when my transfer to Octopus is complete)

SAC2334

Robin9 said:

How did you manage to post this thread ? Laptop  - needs electricity; phone -needs electricity ...................


Lighting - candles, oil ............

As you  may know I ve been a meter reader for 20 years and posted a lot on here a couple of years ago but in that time I ve seen a few people disconnected for multiple electricity thefts , one of which had all the incoming and electric cables dug up from out side .I was admitted into the property for the first time as he had always refused access. He was a drug addict and was using a generator in which he was feeding it stolen petrol .The TV was on and the house was warm from bottle gas.This went on for many months until he was found other accommodation as he had a wife and young daughter .So it is possible to exist "off grid " even in towns 

Sea_Shell

SAC2334 said:

Robin9 said:

How did you manage to post this thread ? Laptop  - needs electricity; phone -needs electricity ...................


Lighting - candles, oil ............

As you  may know I ve been a meter reader for 20 years and posted a lot on here a couple of years ago but in that time I ve seen a few people disconnected for multiple electricity thefts , one of which had all the incoming and electric cables dug up from out side .I was admitted into the property for the first time as he had always refused access. He was a drug addict and was using a generator in which he was feeding it stolen petrol .The TV was on and the house was warm from bottle gas.This went on for many months until he was found other accommodation as he had a wife and young daughter .So it is possible to exist "off grid " even in towns 

But they had to break the law to (afford to) do so.

So I'd say it's extremely difficult to LEGALLY go off grid, in town.

Also to do so cheaper than by just using electric or piped gas?

Ultrasonic

Verdigris said:

Yes, London has by far the lowest SC, presumably because of density of population and most supply cables being underground, so not susceptible to storm damage.

I'm in the South West region but moving to South Wales region, where it is a mere 48p! (actually 24p, when my transfer to Octopus is complete)

I'm also in the south west region, which is great in many ways but not for electricity standing charges! Like you I'll shortly be moving to a non-cap tariff with a lower SC (27.752 p/day), with Scottish Power. On a tariff that only makes sense as I'm a pretty low energy user overall.

wild666

LADYXXMACBETH said:

I don't think this is a wind up. They say they're in social housing, which might imply they have limited income. Not always the case but more likely. 
I have been seriously considering turning off my heating. If you can't afford to pay the gas or electricity what do you do? 
It's a lot of money and if you're already struggling then what can you do? 

I used to use one unit of gas per week, in summer, without any heating on but since I dropped the temperature on the boiler down to 50 for hot water and 53 for heating the usage has dropped to around one unit per month in summer and one unit per week in winter as the heating is only on when the daughter comes down to clean.

Sea_Shell

wild666 said:

LADYXXMACBETH said:

I don't think this is a wind up. They say they're in social housing, which might imply they have limited income. Not always the case but more likely. 
I have been seriously considering turning off my heating. If you can't afford to pay the gas or electricity what do you do? 
It's a lot of money and if you're already struggling then what can you do? 

I used to use one unit of gas per week, in summer, without any heating on but since I dropped the temperature on the boiler down to 50 for hot water and 53 for heating the usage has dropped to around one unit per month in summer and one unit per week in winter as the heating is only on when the daughter comes down to clean.

Well, it's obviously much more doable with gas over summer.

OP hasn't used any electricity all winter... allegedly.

gingercordial

Interesting to speculate how you could do it...

If you work in an office environment, charge your devices there during the day then use them in the evening.  Could use a smartphone or tablet and a 4G data (not wifi) connection for entertainment.  Could also in theory charge a power bar or two that way, depending on your employer's opinion of that.  I suppose this could also be done in a library.

Food shopping daily or every two days, putting everything into a cool box or bag, no freezer.  People did manage before with pantries instead of fridges, with the expectation that food was bought fresh and kept cool not cold.

Gas hob, oven and grill for cooking, could boil an old-style kettle or saucepan of water on the hob for hot drinks.  Camping gas stove at a push although that will be more expensive than mains gas.

Gas central heating and hot water, or a wood burner (I'm assuming in social housing OP doesn't have an AGA), or just a hot water bottle filled from the above hob-heated kettle.

Candles for light and go to bed early?  Or some combination of those with battery-powered or solar lights.

Am I missing anything that's standard for electrical use?  I'm not suggesting any of the above would be the most comfortable solution, or even necessarily cheaper than electricity, but I think it could be done as long as there was gas.

For emergencies I possess what is effectively a very large power bank that would be used for caravanning, with proper 3-pin plug outlets as well as USB.  I have a solar panel attachment for it turning it into a solar generator, and so on a sunny day I can certainly power enough for laptops, phones etc although not enough for kettles or fan heaters.  I also have a couple of USB-powered lightbulbs that can run off it.  But this is for power cuts not general use, isn't self-charging this time of year, and wasn't exactly money-saving although maybe it will turn out to be so if prices get worse...

QrizB

gingercordial said:

Interesting to speculate how you could do it...

Well if you live in one of those older semi- or terraced houses where there's no dividing walls in the roof space, it's pretty simple to tap into next-door's lighting circuit.

ProDave

LADYXXMACBETH said:

I have been seriously considering turning off my heating. If you can't afford to pay the gas or electricity what do you do? 
It's a lot of money and if you're already struggling then what can you do? 

Spring is in the air, it won't be long before most of us are turning the heating off for the summer, it is very noticably warmer here.

MWT

gingercordial said:

Gas central heating and hot water...

Not without electricity for the pump and the electronics in the boiler...