Energy Prices - are they taking the piss???

Fcomp said:
It's not straight forward.
If you're heating something substantial, like a full tin of soup or beans, a gas hob is cheapest, then electric hob, then microwave.

Gas is cheapest because, although it's only 50% efficient, gas is 25% of the cost of electricity, so you may use twice the energy, but it's still half the cost.
Electric hob is much more efficient, but you do need to heat the pan and hob, as well as the soup.
Microwave is less efficient because an 800W microwave oven is giving out 800W of microwave energy, but the oven will consume around 1200W of power to generate that 800W of microwaves.

For small items, like the 150ml of water in a small cup of tea, the microwave becomes cheaper than the hob because only the water gets heated in the microvave, there's no need to heat the pan as well, and, for small quantities, heating the pan becomes more significant than heating the contents.


The margins are quite small.
To boil 1 litre of water consumes about 0.1 units of electricity. At 27p/unit that's 2.7p per litre, or about 1p for your 400g tin of beans.
So, even at today's prices, you could heat your tin of beans for a penny on an electric hob, or a bit over a penny in the microwave.
It's better to concentrate on savings elsewhere.
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My head hurts :neutral:
 


Zimba said:
The emphasis should be on reducing gas usage for energy in the UK. There should be a big push for renewable energy now, not 10 years time. It's the only way to get out of this long term.

National Grid: Live Status - When were using 55% gas to power energy in the UK, the price won't go down.

Until then, caps are the way forward even if it costs more; take the pain now, win in the future - look at the bigger picture.

It's better than spending money buying gas power stations, which we should be making redundant ASAP imo.
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In fairness, there's masses of private sustainable generation schemes in the pipeline which should come online within the next 24 months. The industry is seeing enterprises battling amongst themselves to secure every bit of spare grid capacity they can. Land is easily acquired as agriculture is dying and farmers are looking for a way out.

We need to keep developing grid infrastructure and smart grid technologies to accommodate it, and keep the momentum going.
 
buster said:
Currently £525 in credit, used £200 worth of energy since the last reading , now they want an uplift in monthly payment to £320 per month.

Not going to happen.
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Quite, just because the energy company wants you to increase your direct debit payment, doesn't mean you have to. It's your money.

Think I'll leave my payment as it is and make monthly top up payments after the bill is received. Am billed monthly, and at least I will be in control.
It's inevitably going to be horrendous over winter,but people may be surprised how they can reduce consumption with a bit of energy management. Reduce water and radiator temp, don't fill kettle to top, review what time heating comes on in the morning, Wear more layers.

Before anyone jumps in, I am aware that this will not work for everyone.
 
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Jgrainger said:
Just moved house and EDF are wanting £255 a month on DD. Am I ok setting the DD at £200 letting the £400 from the Government kick in and just keep my usage as low as humanly possible? £255 is a massive stretch on top of everything else at the moment.
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Don't see why not. I'm with Scottish Power and can adjust my direct debit payment to whatever I like.
 
Jgrainger said:
Just moved house and EDF are wanting £255 a month on DD. Am I ok setting the DD at £200 letting the £400 from the Government kick in and just keep my usage as low as humanly possible? £255 is a massive stretch on top of everything else at the moment.
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Get onto their 'Chat' line and sort it that way - I do it every time they try to increase our Direct Debit.

Takes about 5 minutes and they will always either set it back to the original amount or come to a negotiated compromise somewhere between the old rate and the one they wanted to move us onto.
 
Finally got to talk to someone at EDF about the mental amount they wanted to put our Direct Debit up to.

Gave them the actual meter readings and pointed out that they had over estimated our electricity usage by 2180kwh, which on their fixed tariff is £646.15, so we are actually £700 in credit.

Took an hour and a threat of another complaint for them to final agree to put the direct debit back down to £250 a month
 
Hair Flick said:
I fixed for two years which runs out the end of March. It’s been the best thing I did, but my current thought is to run on standard rate when it expires till the summer, and hopefully a few more fixed deals start reappearing, then go for another long term fix as long as they’re not having my eyes out.
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My wife did that with Octopus lst October, we are fixed till a year from October, two years in total, she just got lucky
 
I'm on a standard tariff currently paying £300 a month and 1.5k in credit. Estimated annual cost is £2597.54

Just checked my best offers for fixed rate -

Monthly Direct Debit​

£622.55*​

For the year
£7470.61

Bloody mental!!
 
Chalks said:
Aye, I’ve got another 14 months of 130 quid a month. Not paying a surcharge for something that thankfully has not effected us yet
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But by the same token, will you gladly accept the £400 credit thats coming your way when you're not affected by the next increase & don't need it
 
the dude said:
A good idea?

Centrica and Octopus back plan to freeze UK energy bills for two years | Energy industry | The Guardian

‘Tariff deficit fund’ proposed by ScottishPower and Eon would involve banks putting cash into state-backed fund
amp.theguardian.com amp.theguardian.com

Not sure about the paying it back via a surcharge for 10 to 15 years!!
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Decent idea in principal but a fair few people will be getting stung paying back the £400 credit and then this surcharge when they haven't had any direct benefit themselves (I know thats life). We just seem to kick the can down the road for the next generation to pay for (same with covid) instead of investing it stuff that will actually decrease our reliance on fossil fuels and would actually benefit us in the long term.
 
Fcomp said:
It's not straight forward.
If you're heating something substantial, like a full tin of soup or beans, a gas hob is cheapest, then electric hob, then microwave.

Gas is cheapest because, although it's only 50% efficient, gas is 25% of the cost of electricity, so you may use twice the energy, but it's still half the cost.
Electric hob is much more efficient, but you do need to heat the pan and hob, as well as the soup.
Microwave is less efficient because an 800W microwave oven is giving out 800W of microwave energy, but the oven will consume around 1200W of power to generate that 800W of microwaves.

For small items, like the 150ml of water in a small cup of tea, the microwave becomes cheaper than the hob because only the water gets heated in the microvave, there's no need to heat the pan as well, and, for small quantities, heating the pan becomes more significant than heating the contents.


The margins are quite small.
To boil 1 litre of water consumes about 0.1 units of electricity. At 27p/unit that's 2.7p per litre, or about 1p for your 400g tin of beans.
So, even at today's prices, you could heat your tin of beans for a penny on an electric hob, or a bit over a penny in the microwave.
It's better to concentrate on savings elsewhere.
Click to expand...
I don’t particularly care, I’m just going to cut back on my Onlyfans spend, I reckon if I drop it by half it should cover anything up to £400 a month.
 

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