Energy Prices

[DA Baracus]

9 minutes ago, jakedee said:

Just got my email, looks like bulb are using the standing charge to increase the price which means whether I use electricity or not it goes up a whack.

That standing charge increase is absolutely outrageous (more so than the unit price increase I mean, which is also outrageous)!

[Le Tout P'ti FC]

Also got my Bulb estimate for the next year. Electricity only household, since there is no gas supply to my village. Annual projected cost up 44%.

Direct debit payment going up by 53%, despite me starting with £100 CR balance. (They "recommended" I put it up by 70%, but I chose to go with their "minimum".)

It's manageable, but I could do without it.

[jakedee]

Also got my Bulb estimate for the next year. Electricity only household, since there is no gas supply to my village. Annual projected cost up 44%.

Direct debit payment going up by 53%, despite me starting with £100 CR balance. (They "recommended" I put it up by 70%, but I chose to go with their "minimum".)

It's manageable, but I could do without it.

I have been in credit with bulb for over a year now, and use just over, by a £ or 2, my direct debit monthly payment. Yet since the "special administration" they have advised that I should increase my DD by almost 50%. That has been ignored... well up until now. As my electric use is only for lights/white goods, and as with yourself there is no mains gas where I am,I'll wait until the first few bills are recieved before I adjust my payments.

[Rugster]

46 minutes ago, jakedee said:

55 minutes ago, Le Tout P said:

Also got my Bulb estimate for the next year. Electricity only household, since there is no gas supply to my village. Annual projected cost up 44%.

Direct debit payment going up by 53%, despite me starting with £100 CR balance. (They "recommended" I put it up by 70%, but I chose to go with their "minimum".)

It's manageable, but I could do without it.

 

I have been in credit with bulb for over a year now, and use just over, by a £ or 2, my direct debit monthly payment. Yet since the "special administration" they have advised that I should increase my DD by almost 50%. That has been ignored... well up until now. As my electric use is only for lights/white goods, and as with yourself there is no mains gas where I am,I'll wait until the first few bills are recieved before I adjust my payments.

Same here. In credit £120 and they’re asking all the time for me to increase the DD. Obviously want to build their cash in the bank up. 

[Gnash]

1 hour ago, DA Baracus said:

That standing charge increase is absolutely outrageous (more so than the unit price increase I mean, which is also outrageous)!

In percentage terms it's a lot, but it's a little under £7 per month.

I'm with Bulb as well (seems everyone on here is) and they want to put my DD up 53%.  I'm in debit, but I moved into the house at the start of December and am consistently using less than their estimates.  I'll put it down to the minimum - still a 38% increase.

[invergowrie arab]

I phoned Bulb and said I wasn't paying their minimum either.

You don't have to accept the minimum that's on their site, particularly if you are in credit.

[Highlandmagar]

3 hours ago, jakedee said:

Just got my email, looks like bulb are using the standing charge to increase the price which means whether I use electricity or not it goes up a whack.

Got exactly the same e-mail from bulb. Yeah. They are hiking up the standing charge, which you have to pay, but if you cut back your usage then they don't.

[Satoshi]

1 hour ago, oaksoft said:

Why?

Is it because when you include O&G companies that your argument falls apart?

The price T&D companies charge will depend on the O&G sector so excluding the latter means you have no insight into the former.

To do this and then complain that others on here are being "oversimplistic and misleading" really takes the biscuit.

I'm really beginning to wonder if you and a couple of others are Oil and Gas stooges, sent here to gaslight everyone. 

What do you think my argument is?

Of course the price that T&D companies charge depends on the O&G sector and the price they charge depends on commodity pricing.

So....? Who's the villain? The O&G companies selling at commodity pricing or the T&D companies with their modest markup (and loads of companies going out of business)? The answer is neither really.

Look at the share prices of Shell and BP, these are not thriving businesses for many reasons.

But you rumbled me, they are paying me. And on 60 days payment terms too the tight b*****ds.

[Clown Job]

2 hours ago, Rugster said:

Same here. In credit £120 and they’re asking all the time for me to increase the DD. Obviously want to build their cash in the bank up. 

If only these companies would do the same, build up a cash reserve during the good times to help offset passing on the unreasonable price increases.

But you know, privatisation doesn’t work like that.

Profits first 

[vikingTON]

6 hours ago, invergowrie arab said:

Maybe if commodities necessary for life can't be managed by the private sector then they shouldn't be involved. 

Unless the public sector is going to supply the commodities outside the market then the ownership doesn't really matter. Public energy companies have been disastrous competing in the supply market, and Sturgeon was wise to quietly ditch talk of a Scottish energy supplier. 

[RH33]

1 hour ago, virginton said:

Unless the public sector is going to supply the commodities outside the market then the ownership doesn't really matter. Public energy companies have been disastrous competing in the supply market, and Sturgeon was wise to quietly ditch talk of a Scottish energy supplier. 

Warrington council had put something like £52 million into together energy who went bust couple weeks back.

[sophia]

39 minutes ago, oaksoft said:

It doesn't matter what your argument is. Under the slightest pressure your argument has collapsed.

Now apparently you've decided there's "no villain" which is a staggering thing to conclude in the circumstances.

I don't think you're really a paid stooge. I just think it's pretty clear you haven't really thought through what you're talking about.

 

Given the paucity of your knowledge as demonstrated, I do think it is unworthy of you to be so aggressive. I know that on the c thread there is little room for debate but I'd have thought some rationality and framing of the energy market would help readers.

[Billy Jean King]

Sorry, but your last paragraph is just not correct, the issue with different prices is that unlike any other product where the consumer pays the cost of delivery, in the energy market it is the opposite and different regions have to pay transmission charges based on the demand rather than supply.  It is why London has one of the cheapest rates yet generates piss all.
We could of course have had cheaper power but we closed our coal fired power stations, everyone is now seeing the cost of the UK's commitment to reduce emissions.
 

Nonsense the price of coal has risen 72% in the last year, it would have made zero difference.

[Shadow Play]

On 24/02/2022 at 09:16, scottsdad said:

In October my contract came up for renewal and I did so, for 2 years. on a fixed tariff. Feel like I'm lucky as shortly after all this, the prices started climbing. 

Just an update on something I have posted about before on other threads - the Thermaflow system. Installed to council houses in non-gas areas of Falkirk about 10 years ago and led to massive increases in energy bills for people who are in deprived areas, along with poor performance and many breakdowns. The council have now said that these residents can change to an air source heat pump with solar panels and battery or, in some areas, get gas installed. 

I think this is good news? Folk going for the ASHP can get it in the next few months, folk getting gas need to wait 2 years at least. Not sure how good an air source heat pump is. In the meantime, if prices keep rocketing these folk (who were paying £400-600 pcm before the prices started climbing) will be even more screwed than before. 

As I understand it they just don’t create the same heat as a gas boiler.  Therefore the water flowing through your radiators is nowhere near as warm.  In order to properly heat the home you have to have significantly larger radiators in your rooms.  Not a major problem if you have the space but a consideration nevertheless.

[MuckleMoo]

As I understand it they just don’t create the same heat as a gas boiler.  Therefore the water flowing through your radiators is nowhere near as warm.  In order to properly heat the home you have to have significantly larger radiators in your rooms.  Not a major problem if you have the space but a consideration nevertheless.

Yeah, you're right. The best heat source is actually under floor heating for heat pumps although that can be impractical/expensive if you're not already installing it in a new build

[invergowrie arab]

3 hours ago, virginton said:

Unless the public sector is going to supply the commodities outside the market then the ownership doesn't really matter. Public energy companies have been disastrous competing in the supply market, and Sturgeon was wise to quietly ditch talk of a Scottish energy supplier. 

I think we are currently in the worst of all worlds. No public appetite for nuclear, renewals not sufficiently developed/connected to the grid, massive pivot from domestic fossil fuels whilst still being dependent on foreign fossil fuels.

Long term I think a state owned energy company makes sense but would concede no easy answers right now.

If it wasn't going to kill people I would be  throughly enjoying the daft c**t, daddy's money/made 10 million being a banker for a year venture capitalists losing their shirts on playing at being energy suppliers.

[lichtgilphead]

1 hour ago, MuckleMoo said:

1 hour ago, Shadow Play said:

As I understand it they just don’t create the same heat as a gas boiler.  Therefore the water flowing through your radiators is nowhere near as warm.  In order to properly heat the home you have to have significantly larger radiators in your rooms.  Not a major problem if you have the space but a consideration nevertheless.

Yeah, you're right. The best heat source is actually under floor heating for heat pumps although that can be impractical/expensive if you're not already installing it in a new build

Whilst underfloor is the best way to go with a heat pump, its not always practical in a older house. We replaced storage heaters & panel heaters with larger radiators & a heat pump in 2019. It reduced our monthly cost from £220 to £95 at that time. Even with the recent rises, we are still going to be paying £190/month from March with our new Octopus fixed rate, and I still get £300 per quarter back through the RHI.

F*ck knows what we would have been paying by now had we not upgraded.

[Satoshi]

5 hours ago, oaksoft said:

It doesn't matter what your argument is. Under the slightest pressure your argument has collapsed.

Now apparently you've decided there's "no villain" which is a staggering thing to conclude in the circumstances.

I don't think you're really a paid stooge. I just think it's pretty clear you haven't really thought through what you're talking about.

 

Well it's obvious I work in the Energy industry - it's my job to know this stuff (albeit I haven't worked in the UK sector for a few years now).

You are saying nothing (except how little I know) which is probably a good strategy tbh. When you say nothing it's hard to challenge it.

"It doesn't matter what your argument is" - you don't have the foggiest what I'm talking about do you

And that's fine, I'm ignorant about very many things too, but I don't go on the internet and pretend otherwise. It's definitely weird behaviour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hedgecutter]

It'll be interesting to see if there's any change in the public's attitude towards domestic hydrocarbon exploration in UK waters when these shortages in imported O&G cause energy prices to rocket even further, financially crippling millions more across the UK.

Edited February 28, 2022 by Hedgecutter

[Theroadlesstravelled]

50 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said:

It'll be interesting to see if there's any change in the public's attitude towards domestic hydrocarbon exploration in UK waters when these shortages in imported O&G cause energy prices to rocket even further, financially crippling millions more across the UK.

The Gammon majority will probably  want the coal mines reopened.