Solar panels , would you ?

[PJ87]

I don't know any forums, I am lucky that the Solis one is active, and teh top contributor even has a youtube channel where he displays how to set settings and things like that.

Have you checked youtube yet? There is NOTHING which you can't learn from youtube (if you find the right video) ;-)



New tariffs are confirmed by Octopus this morning. Everything is down a little, but standing charges are up by 9p for us.
Is gas coming down as well? We only got an electricity prices letter.

Gas is coming down



See the above table from octopus

Have to admit the standing charges are ridiculous

5p a day more for me £18 a year extra

I get they have to but it still annoying when energy costs are dropping

My day rate has dropped but night rate same.. I don't use the day rate tbh

 

[larmen]

I think I might be South East rather than London?
TW postcode, Richmound Council. About a driver distance (GM Forum) inside the last Ulez camera.

But my electricity standing rate is 54p from April.

 

[PJ87]

I think I might be South East rather than London?
TW postcode, Richmound Council. About a driver distance (GM Forum) inside the last Ulez camera.

But my electricity standing rate is 54p from April.

Yeah I'm Havering which is London borough but I'm eastern

 

[cliveb]

Have to admit the standing charges are ridiculous

5p a day more for me £18 a year extra

I get they have to but it still annoying when energy costs are dropping

It's not Octopus's fault. Ofgem are the ones who've made this huge error of judgement over standard charges.

Ofgem actually invited comments specifically about standing charges last November, to which I responded.
But apparently they've not had time to analyse the responses before setting the April cap.

Let's hope that enough people have pointed out the obvious to them in their responses and the standing charges will be brought down in July.
It's not rocket science to realise that high standing charges are penalising low usage customers - precisely the kind of customers you should be rewarding.

 

[larmen]

Turns out, we are region 19, South Eastern Seaboard.

Search for your PES Area | Energy Solutions

To search our database please enter the first part of your postcode, e.g. EH1 3 or W1 4.

www.energybrokers.co.uk

But when I put in my old Brentford postcode which is slightly more east than here, they are south.
London really is just the postcodes with N, E, S, SW, W plus all the central ones.

 

[larmen]

Let's hope that enough people have pointed out the obvious to them in their responses and the standing charges will be brought down in July.

Enough people = Martin Lewis ;-)

 

[PJ87]

It's not Octopus's fault. Ofgem are the ones who've made this huge error of judgement over standard charges.

Ofgem actually invited comments specifically about standing charges last November, to which I responded.
But apparently they've not had time to analyse the responses before setting the April cap.

Let's hope that enough people have pointed out the obvious to them in their responses and the standing charges will be brought down in July.
It's not rocket science to realise that high standing charges are penalising low usage customers - precisely the kind of customers you should be rewarding.

Indeed, ofgem isn't fit for purpose tho

Standing charges are out of hand and outdated

Does add to the low usage users bill the most

When unit rates shot up usage went down

 

[PJ87]

These longer days really bringing the solar fully into play again

4pm I have a full battery (got down to 80% earlier) I've exported 1kw and I've done a wash / tumble.

Still got enough solar to cover the house usage ATM. Prob got about 30 mins more then the battery will take over until 23:30 when the 7.5p rate comes back into play

 

[larmen]

We didn't yet get teh bill, but Octopus has updated our account tonight.

For mid Jan to mid Feb
We used 182 kWh for £50.90 which will include the standing charge
We got credited for 69 kWh with £13.46
This makes a net bill of £37, but we also got a couple of credits for the saving sessions we participated in, £13.50 in total.

This means we spent £24 for electricity for the last month. A long shot from the £110 to £130 we used to pay.
But a lot of those savings will be the turning off of the immersion heater which I noticed when we 1st got access to the monitoring app.

Still paid £214 in gas this month, but hopefully now spring is coming and heating is going down.
Time to adjust the direct debit, I think.

2nd month usage is 164 import for £45 and export of 87 for £16.50 for a net of £28.50.
And a few saving sessions, but they were shorter and paid less this month. I think about £8-10 only.

Gas down to £180. Hopefully that stays in double figures next month and then goes to close to £0 after that.

DD didn’t cover it, but they still have a healthy surplus of my money, they can’t complain until next winter.

 

[PJ87]

2nd month usage is 164 import for £45 and export of 87 for £16.50 for a net of £28.50.
And a few saving sessions, but they were shorter and paid less this month. I think about £8-10 only.

Gas down to £180. Hopefully that stays in double figures next month and then goes to close to £0 after that.

DD didn’t cover it, but they still have a healthy surplus of my money, they can’t complain until next winter.

I keep my DD at £200 a month then every April I take all the surplus out , this year bought a new driver and 3 wood lol

The sun today started feeding my house at 06:30, only had to import 13kw last night to run the dishwasher, tumble and charge the battery (it's 13.5kw)

I'm already back up to 88% after doing breakfast for the family and a dishwasher already (plus the wife straightening her hair )

 

[larmen]

They estimate our gas at £1250 a year but don’t estimate our electricity because we changed tariffs in January.
I dropped the DD from £230 to £160 a month for now. This gives us £670 a year for electricity which should be overshooting it anyway. I hope.

 

[cliveb]

I keep my DD at £200 a month then every April I take all the surplus out , this year bought a new driver and 3 wood lol

Wouldn't it make more sense to reduce the DD and put the extra into a savings account that pays decent interest? Or overpay the mortgage? Why are you lending your money interest-free to Octopus?

 

[PJ87]

Wouldn't it make more sense to reduce the DD and put the extra into a savings account that pays decent interest? Or overpay the mortgage? Why are you lending your money interest-free to Octopus?

That's not how I want to run it.

I'm very comfortable with £200 per month..it allows for any harsh winters, any spikes in rate due to the price cap rising etc.

I could easily put it down to £150 . But a buffer is preferable to 5% interest. (£35 this year)

Plus it's nice to start a tax year with a little bonus to treat myself rather than it just lost in savings and mortgage payments.

 

[larmen]

Wouldn't it make more sense to reduce the DD and put the extra into a savings account that pays decent interest? Or overpay the mortgage? Why are you lending your money interest-free to Octopus?

I LK the idea of putting it elsewhere, but maybe premium bonds. Worse case, same as letting Octopus have it. Best case, kershing

 

[PJ87]

I LK the idea of putting it elsewhere, but maybe premium bonds. Worse case, same as letting Octopus have it. Best case, kershing

First year I did it was because I was still under old octopus prices so built a buffer incase when the prices ended it was over that , it wasn't

Last year was first full year at new prices so wasn't sure what to expect

I just know once the DD is adjusted it won't return, and that money will be lost in general house running

Where as this way I have a nice new driver and 3 wood to show for it

 

[cliveb]

That's not how I want to run it.

I'm very comfortable with £200 per month..it allows for any harsh winters, any spikes in rate due to the price cap rising etc.

I could easily put it down to £150 . But a buffer is preferable to 5% interest. (£35 this year)

Plus it's nice to start a tax year with a little bonus to treat myself rather than it just lost in savings and mortgage payments.

For a guy who analyses his energy savings in fine detail, I find it very strange that you seem unaware of just how much benefit comes from overpaying the mortgage. An extra £50 a month off the mortgage (assuming your mortgage T&C allow it) can make a massive difference in the long run. Or stick it in your pension and have the government add in some tax relief so you can retire a bit earlier. Both are much better uses than lending it to Octopus.

 

[PJ87]

For a guy who analyses his energy savings in fine detail, I find it very strange that you seem unaware of just how much benefit comes from overpaying the mortgage. An extra £50 a month off the mortgage (assuming your mortgage T&C allow it) can make a massive difference in the long run. Or stick it in your pension and have the government add in some tax relief so you can retire a bit earlier. Both are much better uses than lending it to Octopus.

With all due respect Clive I spend 20% of my wages on savings , 2% on mortgage overpayments, 2% on money for the kids and 4% on AVc payments . Not to mention normal pension payments on top of that.

So forgive me if I don't worry about £3 extra a month

 

[cliveb]

With all due respect Clive I spend 20% of my wages on savings , 2% on mortgage overpayments, 2% on money for the kids and 4% on AVc payments . Not to mention normal pension payments on top of that.

So forgive me if I don't worry about £3 extra a month

Ok, fair enough.

I thought you said you're paying Octopus £50 a month more than necessary, but obviously you don't see it that way. It's your money, spend it how you like.

 

[PJ87]

Ok, fair enough.

I thought you said you're paying Octopus £50 a month more than necessary, but obviously you don't see it that way. It's your money, spend it how you like.

I think of it as insurance. I'd rather overpay that £50 and bank it for the winter than get a big bill out of winter.

We had a very mild winter and on average the house was £5 a day in gas

However could easily have been a lot more if we had more cold snaps.

Last year I used the £1000 I had built up to pay to the mortgage anyways , just this year I bought myself a present

 

[larmen]

Are you taking your balance down to 0 or do you leave them a couple of hundreds?