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Aug 2022
12:51pm, 29 Aug 2022
28,259 posts
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Johnny Blaze
More exciting insights from my energy usage spreadsheet:
Q4 Q1 Usage of Gas is about 75% of the annual total, meaning the Spring/Summer quarters are only 25%. We have Gas central heating.
For Electric the split is roughly 55/45.
I should do a PowerPoint on this for a talk at the Village Hall.
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Aug 2022
1:23pm, 29 Aug 2022
406 posts
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ZenTaoPlurp
If anyone happens to still be on a variable tariff right now then I may have stumbled across a possible saving: Octopus Go. I'm changing to an electric car and was planning to change to 'Go' for overnight cheaper charging and then quietly lost track of time and price cap changes. 'Go' is still available with 7.5p 0030-0430 and ~39p per kWh for the rest of the day. That doesn't sound amazing until it's compared with the new price cap of ~51p per kWh for electricity all day. Even without an electric car or storage batteries it makes sense. I wasn't asked anything about my not yet here electric car when I made the switch.
They offer a referral code scheme to customers, I now have a code. I've never had a referral code for anything and it would be genuinely thrilling to use it - even if it's just once. This is sounding like an advert and it's not intended to be. I fell asleep at the wheel of the electricity price changes as I was expecting to have moved house and addressed the problem elsewhere. I didn't and my mind was elsewhere. If you happen to find yourself worried about the price "cap" then perhaps this may be as good as solution as any. Fmail me for my code and we'll both get £50 off our bill. As befits Fetch, if there are several that need to switch then I'll make sure that the next person gets to refer the next so that the savings get passed on and I'll have done a good thing. If the gods are smiling and more than one Fetchie mails me, then it's the right thing to do. I hope that makes sense. Octopus will probably change their prices in the next 10 days, but they haven't yet.
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Aug 2022
1:36pm, 29 Aug 2022
407 posts
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ZenTaoPlurp
There's also a 'Go Faster' at the same rates that allows 5 hours at the overnight rate. I've already been thinking about what things can be run at night - the tumble dryer doesn't have a delayed start but it does remember what programme was started before it was "accidentally" switched off. How long the damp washing can sit in the tumble dryer before going smelly is to be discovered - as is transferring the washing from the washing machine to the tumble dryer. See bread below. So, I can put a cheap timer between its plug and the wall socket and tahdah. If anyone still uses electricity for water heating then that can be put into the night too - obviously. It's a change of mindset but becoming essential with this chaos.
If anyone can come up with a method to heat the oven with the Dutch Oven in it, take it out, plop the bread dough into it, score the bread, put it back in the oven at full whack for 22 minutes, then take the top off it and put it all back in the oven for another 20 minutes at a slightly lower temperature, take the finished bread out and repeat - then feel free to share. It's currently beyond my thinking and I'm really not going back to getting up at 3AM - it nearly killed me before.
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Aug 2022
2:06pm, 29 Aug 2022
92,374 posts
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Hanneke
We do not have economy 7 here, or whatever it is, with cheaper energy at night, so none of those schemes work for me sadly.
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Aug 2022
2:26pm, 29 Aug 2022
408 posts
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ZenTaoPlurp
Hanneke, I thought that 'Octopus Go' was available throughout the UK? Perhaps you're not in the UK? Economy 7 relied on transmitted mains frequency circuit switching if I remember correctly and there would be a separate circuit just for the heavier night loads - usually storage heaters or similar. The newer way is just time of day dependent and it's for all electricity consumption. It applies two different rates between the stated times. There's no change to any circuitry in the house - it's just a different billing method. It needs a smart meter to achieve it.
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Aug 2022
2:27pm, 29 Aug 2022
6,431 posts
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um
Hann - what do you mean no economy 7?
I think it's available everywhere in UK with electricity supply. The only catch is you need 2 meters, or a smart meter. If you don't have an economy 7 meter, most suppliers will install one free, or for a nominal charge, if they're not twisting your arm to put a smart meter in instead.
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Aug 2022
2:33pm, 29 Aug 2022
409 posts
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ZenTaoPlurp
You just need a smart meter.
Mine, like all of them I imagine, was installed free of charge by the electricity supplier. Some people have avoided them because a) they're in receipt of deemed consumption feed-in-tariffs from long-installed PV, b) fiddling the meter, c) because the installer kept missing the installation appointments (how could I possibly know about this one, I wonder), d) all of the above, e) none of the above.
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Aug 2022
2:47pm, 29 Aug 2022
92,376 posts
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Hanneke
Aha! I cannot have a smart meter. I am in the UK but whenever "anywhere in the UK" is applied, it invariably doesn't apply here. For example mobile phone signal, fibre, cable, tv signals, radio signals etc.
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Aug 2022
2:51pm, 29 Aug 2022
92,377 posts
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Hanneke
My previous previous supplier booted me onto a massively high tarriff because I refused to pay for a smart meter, so I left.
The next one more or less booted me when they realised I could not have a smart meter...
My current suppliers have never even mentioned it and are way cheaper than the previous two...
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Aug 2022
3:04pm, 29 Aug 2022
410 posts
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ZenTaoPlurp
I'm in a remote area with no mobile signal. My smart meters, without any additional fiddling or equipment, connect to the Wide Area Network via low frequency radio signals - not mobile signal. It also has three x 1m thick stone walls between it and the rest of the world. It can be done.
Who is your cheaper supplier? That could be useful to other Fetchies.
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