Ripple

Benny2020

Ok, just been to the Ripple website, watched the video and read the blurb but still don't really understand it.
Is this a company that you switch to or just and investment opportunity that will offset your fuel bill?

Petriix

Benny2020 said:

Ok, just been to the Ripple website, watched the video and read the blurb but still don't really understand it.
Is this a company that you switch to or just and investment opportunity that will offset your fuel bill?

There's a thread on the Green and ethical board: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6177271/ripple-energy-wind-farm#latest

It's an investment, but ties you to using one of their partner suppliers. You basically get a credit on your energy account for your share of the profits. Seems like an excellent idea. I've bought in for £2k on the second wind farm. There's even a referral scheme.

Nuff_Said

This feels like it’s probably a stupid question, but I can’t see an obvious answer, so…



Ripple say an investment with them should deliver roughly a 25% saving on an electricity bill:

“A typical bill is made up of your electricity usage plus 'non-energy' costs. These include grid charges, taxes and supplier costs. As your power is still supplied via the grid, you will still need to pay these.”

I pay about 32p per kWh, so I will save roughly 8p on each kWh, paying 24p. If I buy solar panels, each kWh I use is free. Obviously the costs aren’t equivalent, I get that £1000 invested in Ripple probably is more cost effective in generation terms and there are things like standing charges, but even so, aren’t solar panels a much better return?

armistice

I looked into it and found that the payback time for the initial investment was just under 16 years , for me this made it a bad investment (Purely from a monetary POV).

pochase

armistice said:

I looked into it and found that the payback time for the initial investment was just under 16 years , for me this made it a bad investment (Purely from a monetary POV).

No idea how you get to just under 16 years, for me it is just under 14 years looking at the documentation.

Apart from this the documentation is based on a saving of 4 to 4.5p per KWh, but at the moment the saving is in the region of more than 10p, bringing it down to under 5 years break even.

For sure still not ssomething for everybody, but a big bonus pint is that this is something for somebody living in a flat, who cannot just install solar panels.

Swipe

armistice said:

I looked into it and found that the payback time for the initial investment was just under 16 years , for me this made it a bad investment (Purely from a monetary POV).

I looked into it and thought exactly the same so decided in favour of an additional amount into my global index tracker instead.

Nuff_Said

Swipe said:

armistice said:

I looked into it and found that the payback time for the initial investment was just under 16 years , for me this made it a bad investment (Purely from a monetary POV).

I looked into it and thought exactly the same so decided in favour of an additional amount into my global index tracker instead.

They’re not very equivalent though? There’s much more risk investing in shares and probably more potential upside in electricity  markets than the global stock market. Plus for most people, the green aspect matters.