leccyflyer Posted September 12, 2023 Share Posted September 12, 2023 Hi Ian - long time no see. 🙂 The Energy Bill is going back to the HOuse of Lords today for consideration of the amendments made in the Commons. https://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2022/july-2022/lords-considers-energy-bill/ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyB Posted September 12, 2023 Author Share Posted September 12, 2023 38 minutes ago, Rich Griff said: Bill to be debated in commons this afternoon unless it's cancelled. Vote taking place this evening I believe then it's back to the lord's for them to scrutinise for the nth time ? Powers to force entry to fit smart meters... 12 months imprisonment/£15k fines for failing to follow home heat insulation standards... Various other things in bill.... The bill has not been finalised yet I believe..... There is bound to be info on newsnight tonight. Sections in bold are not quite correct. The Energy bill has done all it's readings in the Lords and Parliament, this is the final consideration of amendments before it achieves Royal Assent and becomes law: For full details click here... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Skilbeck Posted September 12, 2023 Share Posted September 12, 2023 4 hours ago, IDD15 said: This is a shame as he does make a very good point about “fast fashion”, 3 year leases and consumerism in relation to car sales. But this part of the argument has been overlooked in all the controversy idd But they don't end up in the bin or charity shop, they are recycled several times until something expensive happens and then they are often broken for parts. Not like in the good old days were they turned to rust in front of your eyes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyB Posted October 5, 2023 Author Share Posted October 5, 2023 More nasty news today regarding global temperature trends - worldwide average temperatures in September have broken all previous records, and by some margin... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67017021 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J D 8 Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 Not good, Been a strange difficult farming season here on the Welsh coast. Dry from middle of March until end of June, remember this is Wales. July a windy washout, August little better. A warm spell in September saved a lot of crops. Now gone very wet and exceptionally mild. Plants are all confused, grass growing like its spring, roses blooming and my wife says there are crocus coming up! Seasonal changes happen but it is the rate of change and and the unpredictability that's worrying. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 Not to worry, mate of mine says it's just one of the Earths cycles, stock up on bogroll. 😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Fry Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 We are in the first year of a El Niño cycle, if true to form, next year the hotter of the two year cycle. Really looking forward to that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learner Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 (edited) 14 minutes ago, john stones 1 - Moderator said: Not to worry, mate of mine says it's just one of the Earths cycles, stock up on bogroll. 😉 Sorry John but you should know being a mod that if you've not got written evidence approved by at least three members of the forum posts are not allowed especially if theres any hint of humour😉 Edited October 5, 2023 by Learner 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 53 minutes ago, Learner said: Sorry John but you should know being a mod that if you've not got written evidence approved by at least three members of the forum posts are not allowed especially if theres any hint of humour😉 I wrote it as a forumite Learner, I'll send myself a rebuke via P.M later. 😇 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Fry Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 You want to write on that bog paper, your call mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyB Posted October 26, 2023 Author Share Posted October 26, 2023 (edited) Information on the National Grid scheme to incentivise users with smart meters to reduce demand during peak times this winter - may be of interest to forumites (first discussed in the EV thread, starting here) : The National Grid (ESO’s) Demand Flexibility Service News story about the successful tests of the DFS events in 2022 Octopus savings sessions - overview Octopus savings sessions - FAQs Note - these sessions do not provide additional incentives to export back to the grid during these times, only to decrease usage against your previous baseline in that period. More info in the Octopus T&Cs here. Edited October 26, 2023 by MattyB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted October 26, 2023 Share Posted October 26, 2023 Following on from the post from @Gary Manuel on the EV thread, I've been looking at this to see if there is any downside to it. So far I can't see any! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyB Posted October 26, 2023 Author Share Posted October 26, 2023 There is no downside, but if you have home battery and solar you aren't likely to make significant savings as your baseline usage during peak periods is likely to be very low or zero. This is (rightly IMO) aimed at delivering some savings to those who have not yet been able to invest in that kind of tech, so whilst I have singed up, I'm not expecting much from it in financial terms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted October 26, 2023 Share Posted October 26, 2023 24 minutes ago, MattyB said: I'm not expecting much from it in financial terms. But points mean prizes! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted October 26, 2023 Share Posted October 26, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, MattyB said: Information on the National Grid scheme to incentivise users with smart meters to reduce demand during peak times this winter - may be of interest to forumites (first discussed in the EV thread, starting here) : The National Grid (ESO’s) Demand Flexibility Service News story about the successful tests of the DFS events in 2022 Octopus savings sessions - overview Octopus savings sessions - FAQs Note - these sessions do not provide additional incentives to export back to the grid during these times, only to decrease usage against your previous baseline in that period. More info in the Octopus T&Cs here. These look like last years T&Cs. This years scheme DOES include export. 1 hour ago, MattyB said: There is no downside, but if you have home battery and solar you aren't likely to make significant savings as your baseline usage during peak periods is likely to be very low or zero. This is (rightly IMO) aimed at delivering some savings to those who have not yet been able to invest in that kind of tech, so whilst I have singed up, I'm not expecting much from it in financial terms. This scheme is not aimed at delivering savings to anyone. It is aimed at encouraging people who have the ability to help the grid to cope at times when it is struggling. This is either by them reducing how much they take from the grid or by how much they feed back into the grid. The grid effect is the same and (rightly IMO) the payment is the same. I am expecting to make a decent amount from the sessions in order to reduce the payback time of the rather expensive equipment (currently 5.5 years). I can export at about 7.5kW, so a 1 hour session should earn me £2.25 x 7.5 = £16.88. I would encourage anyone who has a home battery or not to get involved in this. Edited October 26, 2023 by Gary Manuel 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDD15 Posted October 26, 2023 Share Posted October 26, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, Ron Gray said: But points mean prizes! Absolutely! 😃 Think we did most of the saving sessions last winter and got £22 credit back on our account. Not mahoosive by any means but it all adds up for very little effort on our part. cheers idd ps We can only cut back on consumption, we can’t export. So the savings are less than Gary but we were paid a fair rate for the savings we made. Edited October 26, 2023 by IDD15 Clarification 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyB Posted October 26, 2023 Author Share Posted October 26, 2023 (edited) 14 minutes ago, Gary Manuel said: These look like last years T&Cs. This years scheme DOES include export. Good point - those T&Cs do seem to cover the winter 22/23 period, I had not noticed that. They are definitely the T&Cs that are currently linked from Octopus Savings Events page, though. I will send them a question about this, but in the meantime can you point us to a source that talks about the payment for export during these periods? I've done a bit of Googling but can't find one anywhere... 14 minutes ago, Gary Manuel said: This scheme is not aimed at delivering savings to anyone. It is aimed at encouraging people who have the ability to help the grid to cope at times when it is struggling. This is either by them reducing how much they take from the grid or by how much they feed back into the grid. Yes, I get it's not primarily about financial savings to customers, but every little helps, especially for those who are struggling in this cost of living crisis. The bit I am really puzzled about though (assuming you are correct about people being paid more for export during these periods) is that lots of people with home batteries will charge them just before as you are proposing, creating an new artificial increase in demand just before the event. That doesn't sound like something they would want to do, but maybe the grid effect is relatively insignificant given demand in that period should be slightly lower and only a relatively small percentage of homes have a battery at present. Edited October 26, 2023 by MattyB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted October 26, 2023 Share Posted October 26, 2023 1 hour ago, MattyB said: Good point - those T&Cs do seem to cover the winter 22/23 period, I had not noticed that. They are definitely the T&Cs that are currently linked from Octopus Savings Events page, though. I will send them a question about this, but in the meantime can you point us to a source that talks about the payment for export during these periods? I've done a bit of Googling but can't find one anywhere... Yes, I get it's not primarily about financial savings to customers, but every little helps, especially for those who are struggling in this cost of living crisis. The bit I am really puzzled about though (assuming you are correct about people being paid more for export during these periods) is that lots of people with home batteries will charge them just before as you are proposing, creating an new artificial increase in demand just before the event. That doesn't sound like something they would want to do, but maybe the grid effect is relatively insignificant given demand in that period should be slightly lower and only a relatively small percentage of homes have a battery at present. The price paid and times / durations cannot / will not be published in advanced. They will depend on lots of factors including weather, peak demand, how many people have signed up etc. People will naturally charge their batteries at the cheapest rate (or from solar if available). The national grid actually want people to do this because it allows them to have the generators that require a lot of time to run up already running. It's the short term availability they need, such as from batteries or hydo to meet the peak demand in the early evenings. It's all about "balancing" the grid and paying £2.25 is a good price for them to pay peak for period electricity. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 Am I looking at IOGo low rate periods correctly? Ever since I swapped over from Go I'm seeing up to 20 hours per day of low rate leccy, today the periods run from midnight (last night) through to 16.30, then again from 20.30 until tomorrow morning 09.00. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyB Posted October 30, 2023 Author Share Posted October 30, 2023 Looking at the T&Cs it is a bit grey... My previous understanding was that any electricity you use within the schedule they give you will be at low rate provided your EV is plugged in at that point, but that if the EV is not charging you would be charged as per your std rate at that particular time. I still think that is what is most likely, but you could certainly read it either way - I'd ping them an email to check if I was you (we are still on Flux for now as 3hrs of charging is enough for a plug-in hybrid and the export rates are better). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 I must admit that prior to me joining IOGo I thought that the low rate would be applied to any leccy being used. I have sent them an email asking for clarification. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyB Posted October 30, 2023 Author Share Posted October 30, 2023 3 minutes ago, Ron Gray said: I must admit that prior to me joining IOGo I thought that the low rate would be applied to any leccy being used. I have sent them an email asking for clarification. It absolutely does if the EV is charging. The key question is whether you get that same low rate as per the schedule even when it isn't. If you do, it's an even better deal than I thought and I might switch over even before we swap the second car for a pure EV... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyB Posted November 16, 2023 Author Share Posted November 16, 2023 (edited) On 26/10/2023 at 11:26, MattyB said: Information on the National Grid scheme to incentivise users with smart meters to reduce demand during peak times this winter - may be of interest to forumites (first discussed in the EV thread, starting here) : The National Grid (ESO’s) Demand Flexibility Service News story about the successful tests of the DFS events in 2022 Octopus savings sessions - overview Octopus savings sessions - FAQs Note - these sessions do not provide additional incentives to export back to the grid during these times, only to decrease usage against your previous baseline in that period. More info in the Octopus T&Cs here. OK, I'm all set up for tonights saving session - anyone else participating? In the end I used Predbat (sorry @Gary Manuel 😉) to schedule the discharge, which it seems to do very nicely. There not big money to be made (only ~£8 per 1hr session for my setup), but it all adds up to helping to pay back the system in even shorter timescales... This is the electricity rates graph... you can see how the rate goes up to £2.25/unit during the savings session: Edited November 16, 2023 by MattyB 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Skilbeck Posted November 17, 2023 Share Posted November 17, 2023 Signed up for this, the irony is that we have been charging the car at this time on the IOG cheap rate, so was quite easy to reduce our usage by not charging the car and shifting time we cook. Will plug car in at 5pm tonight and see if we get a cheap slot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J D 8 Posted November 17, 2023 Share Posted November 17, 2023 One form of energy production that is very much over looked more so hear in Wales than anywhere is medium/small and even micro hydro power. There are some but given that just about every mountain, hill and sloping bit of ground has water running down it for much of the year can't help think a missed opportunity. Government's only ever seem to think in grand projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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