Electricity Supply - consumer request cuttoff

Mobtr

frugalmacdugal said:

Hi,

you could go into debt, then be disconnected for non payment.

You will still have the debt and then have a bad credit history.

That wouldn’t worry, they’d just install a PP meter 

[Deleted User]

Mobtr said:

frugalmacdugal said:

Hi,

you could go into debt, then be disconnected for non payment.

You will still have the debt and then have a bad credit history.

That wouldn’t worry, they’d just install a PP meter 

Hi,

then just don't top up and let standing charge mount up, adding to existing debt.

Robin9

ttellahzab said:

Hi,

Given the upcoming price increases for electricity I am considering requesting that my electricity supply be turned off (hypothetical at this time) and finding ways to survive without being ripped off by shareholders of energy companies. 

Can anyone advise if I can terminate my energy supply with my provider (Ovo atm) until further notice without consequences later on?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Barry

I suggest you experiment -  turn off the consumer unit  - now -  and see what live is like just for this evening - no fridge, freezer, hot water, no kettle, no TV, no laptop, no lights, no pump for your gas heating ...............

macman

Once you've been disconnected, please do come back on here and update us with how you're getting on.
Assuming you can find a way to power your laptop/mobile/router in the absence of electricity...

Mstty

Do you think Barry turned off his consumer unit and hasn't been able to charge his phone to reply?

QrizB

Mstty said:

Do you think Barry turned off his consumer unit and hasn't been able to charge his phone to reply?

From his posting history, he isn't a big replier.

TheGardener

We are having fun installing solar shed lights in the house  - it's going ok so far. We know these lights work even in winter as we have one in an entry at the side of the house and in an outside loo (is part of the house but the door to it is in the entry) So far we've sorted the kitchen, hall and stairs and the living room. Low outlay to buy and zero electricity to use. It's not a serious attempt to go off-grid - just trying out what's actually practical and possible. the kitchen one is brilliant  
Seriously - disconnecting the supply is not a plan though is it. 

littleteapot

About 4 years ago I started tinkering with fully off-grid solar power. Originally just for the shed and garage but as time went by I bought more panels, a decent charge controller large gel lead-acid batteries, and a big 4kW inverter. 

Having some past experience in the electrical trade, I added an additional circuit covering some rooms of the house and we tried running partially 'off grid' this year. For most of the summer it has been possible to do essential tasks such as boiling a kettle, cooking on a portable induction hob or microwave, keeping the fridge/freezer on 24/7 and sometimes even running the washing machine. But when there are several dull days in a row there is no choice but to move everything back to grid power. 

Obviously this system isn't capable of supplying the immersion heater or storage heaters, and is pretty much useless for nov-feb. And it requires very careful demand management as if the total load exceeds 4kW then the inverter shuts down.

So in summary from my experience,  if you are very careful with demand management, you can survive off grid in the uk for probably 8 months of the year with solar power for electricity, and solid fuel for heating. But to provide off-grid electricity for the remaining 4 months of winter would be many times more costly than using grid power for several winters, even at estimated october 2022 prices.

MattMattMattUK

I would not disconnect. Based on the £400 credit from October, if you never used electricity and just paid the standing charge then it would take around five years to get through that on just the standing charge.

wrf12345

There were some threads saying it may be possible to get the standing charged refunded on gas if no gas is used for 12 months so same may apply to electric, possibly depending on who supplies you. If you cancel the DD and just build up the debt there is also some "free" money in the system to cover that, depending on individual circumstances. Whilst the energy companies can only make 3 percent profit huge chunks of money disappears into the ether due to clever accountants, and they are now making that 3 percent on a hugely enlarged chunk of change due to price increases so all consumers should find a way to fight back, the most sensible just cutting usage right back.

As to the off-grid solar panels, interesting read but the actual solution, as in many countries where the regulator actually know what they are doing and looks after consumers, is on-grid solar but with the meter "running backwards" so that the summer excess is fully credited to the consumer for use in the winter. This would also encourage the fitting of solar with no incentives needed. In reality the excess solar would go into the grid and be used by industry where electric rates are eye-wateringly high so there would still be profit in it for the energy providers even though there would be glum faces at being forced, for once in their life, to be fair to consumers.