Rising power prices: a thread for help

[Lowbankclaret]

Read up about it, it was causing earthquakes of 3 plus, which to me seems an obvious side effect. in America there are places where land is uninhabited for thousands of miles.
Here it’s less than 100. You are going to affect people lives and property here where in America it’s open spaces with very few people.

[atlantalad]

Strange how an element of the public immediately try to find some negative with new technologies. Luddites are still in our midst. OK, there were earth tremors during the Cuadrilla drilling trials near Preston. Data and information is freely available in the public domain. The largest event at Preston New Road was a 2.9 ML event on 26 August 2019.

How often do natural earthquakes of this size occur?
On average there are around 20-30 earthquakes with a magnitude of 2ML or greater every year somewhere in the UK or immediate offshore area.

So, nothing new there then as there are a considerable number of natural earth tremors of similar intensity to those measure by BGS ( British Geological Survey - the above is cribbed from their seismic study during Cuadrilla drilling). The 2.9 ML recorded therefore is not an unusual occurrence. Added to this, has anyone ever considered the seismic activity, and magnitudes, that took place during the mining of 1000's of ton of coal over decades from under the Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham, Nottinghamshire, Northumberland houses? Not to mention the more apparent added destructive power of subsidences that seam coal mining inevitably caused?

[Spiral]

I've seen a vote on net-zero being mentioned on here, which is nothing more than a political ambition, not a democratic necessity. Let us not pretend that some of what is being hinted at on here, as though directly aping and regurgitating the catechisms laid out by certain media publications and such 'research' groups and 'scrutiny' groups as those found in our parliament; essentially, pressure groups, lunatic, money-hungry charlatans with big mouths and tiny brains — aped words said here and elsewhere by people donning their serious caps, affecting serious faces and speaking in serious tones — let us not pretend that some of what is being posted on here and said elsewhere by such people is anything more than a bare-faced attempt to exploit energy and cost-of-living crises, to plant an ideological seed and foment hostility toward policies designed to slow the rate of climate change, by those holding an ideological slant that does and always has leaned toward some form of climate change denialism; a product of vested financial interest, or hell, even an ideological fetish for fossil fuels. Let us not by fooled by those who have for decades mined the ignorance and pettiness of people and discovered political capital in at first denying, then casting doubt on the scientific consensus surrounding the driving forces of climate change. I'd say better get used to these storms, but they're only going to get worse, more frequent, more deadly, more costly. Contesting net-zero policy is a rebrand of the old denialism but it has the same purpose: to filibuster. Let us not be fooled into accepting the framing by those concerned, noble martyrs, those — I'm sure — genuine advocates for the working class; those who shed a tear and work tirelessly, I'm sure, in politics, in journalism, and in broadcasting for the uplift of their fellow citizens, for the downtrodden who barely are able to scrape together a living despite their intense graft — let us not be fooled by these ever-so-responsible wise sages (who happen to all be Tories) framing the narrative that net-zero is inherently reckless and only their scrutiny of the policy can save us all from destitution.

I'll put all this in English. The Tory party's silly little rabble-rousing "scrutiny group" is a f***ing sham. They want a wedge issue to divide folk. They want to distract folk while their hands are in your pocket. It's a stitch up. They don't want you questioning your living standards, and when you inevitably do get round to questioning your living standards and start asking why everything seems to be getting harder they're going to tell you that it's because of net-zero and not the fact we're all being taken for mugs by entitled chancers squeezing everything they can out of us until we burst. Can't blame the EU for a miserable life anymore. New scapegoat needed. I wouldn't have posted any of this if the thread hadn't already become politicised. It's not on me if it gets pulled.

[Lancasterclaret]

Strange how an element of the public immediately try to find some negative with new technologies. Luddites are still in our midst. OK, there were earth tremors during the Cuadrilla drilling trials near Preston. Data and information is freely available in the public domain. The largest event at Preston New Road was a 2.9 ML event on 26 August 2019.

How often do natural earthquakes of this size occur?
On average there are around 20-30 earthquakes with a magnitude of 2ML or greater every year somewhere in the UK or immediate offshore area.

So, nothing new there then as there are a considerable number of natural earth tremors of similar intensity to those measure by BGS ( British Geological Survey - the above is cribbed from their seismic study during Cuadrilla drilling). The 2.9 ML recorded therefore is not an unusual occurrence. Added to this, has anyone ever considered the seismic activity, and magnitudes, that took place during the mining of 1000's of ton of coal over decades from under the Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham, Nottinghamshire, Northumberland houses? Not to mention the more apparent added destructive power of subsidences that seam coal mining inevitably caused?

Not relevant

Fracking is a short term, environmentally terrible option, and massively popular with climate change deniers, and hugely unpopular where it will happen

Why not set out (and spend the cash) for a sustainable, long term energy vision for the UK making use of the renewable natural resources (plus a nuclear back up)?

Makes no sense to pretend digging in the ground solves anything

[Lancasterclaret]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... 1645600272

This kind of thing would help more tbh

[Hipper]

Strange how an element of the public immediately try to find some negative with new technologies. Luddites are still in our midst. OK, there were earth tremors during the Cuadrilla drilling trials near Preston. Data and information is freely available in the public domain. The largest event at Preston New Road was a 2.9 ML event on 26 August 2019.

How often do natural earthquakes of this size occur?
On average there are around 20-30 earthquakes with a magnitude of 2ML or greater every year somewhere in the UK or immediate offshore area.

So, nothing new there then as there are a considerable number of natural earth tremors of similar intensity to those measure by BGS ( British Geological Survey - the above is cribbed from their seismic study during Cuadrilla drilling). The 2.9 ML recorded therefore is not an unusual occurrence. Added to this, has anyone ever considered the seismic activity, and magnitudes, that took place during the mining of 1000's of ton of coal over decades from under the Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham, Nottinghamshire, Northumberland houses? Not to mention the more apparent added destructive power of subsidences that seam coal mining inevitably caused?

The issue in the US wasn't just earthquakes but the chemicals used for extraction getting into the water supply.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37578189

[Lowbankclaret]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... 1645600272

This kind of thing would help more tbh

My uncle Peter, age I think 70 something has just won a contract to design and build some new tech. He has been in the oil industry all his life. I will paste what he said it is as I cannot say I understand it. But I think it’s pertinent to the article you shared.

recovery of sour flared gas clean it up and use in a power station to replace oil inject acid waste into deep disposal well -- will reduce emissions by a large amount and stop acid rain in the next mountain range to help agriculture

[Lancasterclaret]

This is quite a good summary of the costs of Russian gas compared to others, but the unreliability of them as a supplier will mean countries will transition to greener energy sources quicker

https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy ... -foretold/

[Paul Waine]

This one, sounds very promising.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... d-57991351

This illustrates the challenge for tidal power. The turbine is 2MW. It's installed in one of the strongest tidal flow areas. 500 of these would represent 1 GigaWatt - which is +/- 2% of UK daily demand - and, that's before everyone is driving EVs.

Yes, there are other alternative means of capturing the power of the tides. But, no one, so far, has managed to develop anything that can produce the power in the volumes and at a price that people would be able to afford. I'm sure engineers and developers etc will continue to pursue tidal power, it's not for want of trying that we don't have anything of significance at this time.

[Lowbankclaret]

This is quite a good summary of the costs of Russian gas compared to others, but the unreliability of them as a supplier will mean countries will transition to greener energy sources quicker

https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy ... -foretold/

I agree, we need to move quickly.
Logic says it’s windy in winter and it’s going to get worse by all accounts. So wind is the logical step.
Solar is not going to work for us in winter, but in the summer is probably ok to rely on a bit more.

Do you remember people fitting the 1kw turbines to their houses, they all seem to have disappeared. Probably because they are so inefficient they didn’t do anything. We need a source that home owners can buy that actually does create enough electric to make a difference. A 6kw turbine works as my friend has one but you cannot put that up on your house or in your back garden.

[Lowbankclaret]

This illustrates the challenge for tidal power. The turbine is 2MW. It's installed in one of the strongest tidal flow areas. 500 of these would represent 1 GigaWatt - which is +/- 2% of UK daily demand - and, that's before everyone is driving EVs.

Yes, there are other alternative means of capturing the power of the tides. But, no one, so far, has managed to develop anything that can produce the power in the volumes and at a price that people would be able to afford. I'm sure engineers and developers etc will continue to pursue tidal power, it's not for want of trying that we don't have anything of significance at this time.

100% agree with this on tidal.

[KateR]

Decades of being involved in the energy business, mainly Oil & gas but also mining and power has provided an insights to the good, bad and ugly of it all, including visiting fracking sites in West Texas and talking to local and regional businesses and people generally. Been involved on the periphery of SMR's (Small Nuclear Reactors) for over 15 years with the company I worked for owned the vast majority of the SMR company, NuScale, which has become the first ever company in the US given approval to build a site and 12 of these SMR's will be installed to provide power to several states. RR were teamed and part of a consortium regarding NuScale many years ago, then they pulled out to develop their own in the UK, this has put back SMR approval in the UK by at least a decade so don't be expecting any SMR's in the UK shortly to help.

Russian gas is only ~3% of UK energy needs but this is a huge problem for Europe if it stops, obviously for Russia to.

Last three years I have been focused on alternative energy and decarbonization, this has provided me with a very good overview of what is possible today and what the future may hold, tidal is no way going to be an answer for at least 10 years, it's a dream at the moment. Waste to energy is a viable solution today and one I believe will grow this decade but again these things take time. I'm involved with wind and solar to a degree but no expert but there are advances being made and it's obviously here to stay but it's causing many issues itself. For example the solar farms I am somewhat involved in have been awarded the best maintained fields in the US, costs have been reduced and uptime increased. Yet the energy producer for the farms didn't reduce the cost, energy security and costs go hand in hand, global politics play a hand in everything we do, with little we as individuals can do when someone like Putin or OPEC decide on a path but we suffer for it.

So much to discuss and so many opinions, yet for us it is the cause of the issue that we can best effect to our own needs, insulation/heat pumps/double-triple glazing/draft excluders will all reduce our individual power needs and can be effective immediately but RIO is a long time and not many want to go a sustainable home route, just in case you decide to sell. Of course our voices and political decisions can also be used to a regional and country wide degree, shutting down fracking was such a result a result of this, yet people must accept there are consequences to those decisions.

[HiThere]

Just received the email from Bulb. I can tell that A LOT of people are going to be knackered with these prices. I just wish we had a government that gave a rat's backside about it.

Anyway, these are the prices that I've been given from April 1st:

Electricity unit rate rises from 19.720p to 27.120p per kWh
Electricity standing charge from 31.170p to 53.443p per day. £180 a year even if I never turned my gas on again.

Gas unit rate from 3.982p to 7.280p per kWh
Gas standing charge from 26.112p to 27.219p per day.

Is there any point in changing supplier?

[Lowbankclaret]

Just received the email from Bulb. I can tell that A LOT of people are going to be knackered with these prices. I just wish we had a government that gave a rat's backside about it.

Anyway, these are the prices that I've been given from April 1st:

Electricity unit rate rises from 19.720p to 27.120p per kWh
Electricity standing charge from 31.170p to 53.443p per day. £180 a year even if I never turned my gas on again.

Gas unit rate from 3.982p to 7.280p per kWh
Gas standing charge from 26.112p to 27.219p per day.

Is there any point in changing supplier?

No, not at this time.

[HiThere]

No, not at this time.

Alarm set for April 1st: Put 6 jumpers on.

[Lowbankclaret]

Alarm set for April 1st: Put 6 jumpers on.

Not saying it’s an issue.
We just bought loads of blinds and curtains to keep the heat in.

Loads of people are really going to struggle. Feel really sorry for them.

[BobSykes]

Had our Bulb email this evening. Monthly payments going up in April from a recently hiked £123 to £239! WTF?

We knew it would be going up 50% or so, but that's almost a 100% hike! Can't help feeling they're taking the **** here a little.

It's not that long since I was aghast at them putting us up from £65 a month to £85. Those were the days....

[BobSykes]

I feel sorry for those on tight budgets. Millions of people getting the email I've just had will be unable to sleep through worry let alone put their heating on!

[CBT]

Just received the email from Bulb. I can tell that A LOT of people are going to be knackered with these prices. I just wish we had a government that gave a rat's backside about it.

Anyway, these are the prices that I've been given from April 1st:

Electricity unit rate rises from 19.720p to 27.120p per kWh
Electricity standing charge from 31.170p to 53.443p per day. £180 a year even if I never turned my gas on again.

Gas unit rate from 3.982p to 7.280p per kWh
Gas standing charge from 26.112p to 27.219p per day.

Is there any point in changing supplier?

Wow that gas unit rise is more than I was expecting
Almost double!
I'm with octopus and pay similar to your prices you're paying now so expect them to go up the same
My advice might seem simple but credit your account as much as you can this summer in preparation for next winter

[HiThere]

Had our Bulb email this evening. Monthly payments going up in April from a recently hiked £123 to £239! WTF?

We knew it would be going up 50% or so, but that's almost a 100% hike! Can't help feeling they're taking the **** here a little.

It's not that long since I was aghast at them putting us up from £65 a month to £85. Those were the days....

And the thing is - if things do calm down in 2-3 years, they won't be anywhere near as low as they currently are.

They'll drop them pretending they are doing us a favour.

[claret59]

Just to add my little bit on Smart meters as I don't think it has been mentioned as yet ( apologies if it has been brought up,) but there seems to be a feeling that Smart Meters are free of charge. They are not. They come at a cost of about £80.00 . (plus fitting?) This is paid for through all our bills even if we do have a Smart Meter or want one. How much this works out at on an induvial basis I do not know but I would guess that it adds up to a significant amount especially for those without one who are paying for those who do. Same with the green levies to some degree. We all pay them even if we are economising as much as possible.

[Lowbankclaret]

Putin has you in his power.

[Paul Waine]

Just received the email from Bulb. I can tell that A LOT of people are going to be knackered with these prices. I just wish we had a government that gave a rat's backside about it.

Anyway, these are the prices that I've been given from April 1st:

Electricity unit rate rises from 19.720p to 27.120p per kWh
Electricity standing charge from 31.170p to 53.443p per day. £180 a year even if I never turned my gas on again.

Gas unit rate from 3.982p to 7.280p per kWh
Gas standing charge from 26.112p to 27.219p per day.

Is there any point in changing supplier?

I guess you know that bulb went bust in November and was put into special administration. I think £1.7 bn was quoted as the cost of keeping the bulb business going from then up to 1st April.

The rates you have been quoted are very much in line with Ofgem's capped rates from 1st April.

There is no point in you changing supplier, as the capped rates are the lowest available. This will be the case until gas and elec prices fall significantly.

I'm not sure what the special administration plans are for bulb, by rights bulb should be shut down, but if any other energy supplier took on bulb's customers - think somewhere around 1.6 million, from memory - they would also go bust as a result of being forced to sell at prices massively below the cost of buying the gas and power needed.

Bulb is not taking on any new customers.

[HiThere]

I guess you know that bulb went bust in November and was put into special administration. I think £1.7 bn was quoted as the cost of keeping the bulb business going from then up to 1st April.

The rates you have been quoted are very much in line with Ofgem's capped rates from 1st April.

There is no point in you changing supplier, as the capped rates are the lowest available. This will be the case until gas and elec prices fall significantly.

I'm not sure what the special administration plans are for bulb, by rights bulb should be shut down, but if any other energy supplier took on bulb's customers - think somewhere around 1.6 million, from memory - they would also go bust as a result of being forced to sell at prices massively below the cost of buying the gas and power needed.

Bulb is not taking on any new customers.

Yeah, I just call them Bulb, even if they are no longer Bulb - no point making things more complicated.

"There is no point in you changing supplier" - all I needed to know, thanks.

[HunterST_BFC]

Just received the email from Bulb. I can tell that A LOT of people are going to be knackered with these prices. I just wish we had a government that gave a rat's backside about it.

Anyway, these are the prices that I've been given from April 1st:

Electricity unit rate rises from 19.720p to 27.120p per kWh
Electricity standing charge from 31.170p to 53.443p per day. £180 a year even if I never turned my gas on again.

Gas unit rate from 3.982p to 7.280p per kWh
Gas standing charge from 26.112p to 27.219p per day.

Is there any point in changing supplier?

Just got my Bulb email today and my prices are different all 4 metrics.
I was force £raised 100% from year before last year by nearly 100% !!!!!!!
NOW - My projected bills are still going to be 107% higher than last July (I pay DD same each month)

Until 31 March From 1 April
Electricity Unit rate (p per kWh) 20.131p 28.020p
Standing charge (p per day) 24.373p 42.242p
Until 31 March From 1 April
Gas Unit rate (p per kWh) 4.043p 7.343p
Standing charge (p per day) 26.112p 27.219p

....

For anyone keeping score:

British Gas blackmailed their engineers into lower wages via Fire & Rehire.
Then they raised customer prices by 54%.
And they have made 44% more in profits.

[HiThere]

For anyone keeping score:

British Gas blackmailed their engineers into lower wages via Fire & Rehire.
Then they raised customer prices by 54%.
And they have made 44% more in profits.

With all the sanctions going on, could we sanction British Gas?

[box_of_frogs]

Putin has you in his power.

I’ve got jumpers and warm socks. I’ll be fine.