Your energy tips

[kawoloki]

Invest 10k into 20 solar panels and a 6kw battery storage.(wallop energy highly recommended) im off grid, dont have a lecky bill and they owe me as once my battery is full it powers the house and feeds into the grid. it will be paid for in 3 years compared to the £300 a month bill. I also invested a couple of years ago in a 6kw wood stove in the conservatory. Double win as its 3m from the house the flue doesn't need to be massive which is the major cost of installing one, it heats the whole house and the conservatory is used all year round.

£10k for 20 panels and 6Kw battery!! You must have got in there before the prices sky rocketed, cost me £14k for 10 panels (3.8kW total array) and 7.5kW battery back in 2021.

I've been looking at getting an EV to take advantage of cheap overnight tariffs but I can't justify getting rid of my 7yr old Skoda Superb that does 60 - 70 MPG, is fully paid off and has free road tax.

Back when we extended the house in 2021 I had a brand spanking new Worcester boiler installed with smart TRV's on most radiators, used only 7800kWh gas last year which for a 4 bed house is good going..

 

[ady eflog]

Oct 2022 we had them fitted, £10,800, wallop energy is the company we used.

 

[Vushtrri]

With the current weather causing quite a few wind blown trees in our woods and the effects of Ash dieback, I have about 4 yrs worth of logs already chopped and stacked. Anyone here in Nth Wales§.

 

[fourteen2two]

We have solar panels, fitted a few years ago so we get a decent feed in tarrif. Usually £800 to £900 annually.
We replaced our gas boiler 2 years ago with an A rated. Double glazing is all to latest spec. TRVs on radiators.
We had cavity insulation years ago and lots of loft insulation.

 

[Talk Wrench]

I traded in my old boiler a few years ago and got a better looking one. She's got better norks as well

 

[Tin basher]

My energy supplier (OVO) recently asked me to take part in an energy saving scheme here at TB Towers running from 17.30 - 18.30 on selected days. For every 1.0 kWh under your target you would get a £3 rebate on your bill, your target is based (I guess) upon your normal usage amounts. My first target was 0.3 kWh!! so the only way to save a whole 1.0 kWh was to manufacture 0.7kWh from somewhere. However I only used 0.17kWh (59p rebate) so the following week the target had shifted to 0.2kWh now to qualify for a rebate I needed to find 0.8kWh from somewhere, I did get under 0.2 kWh just and got a whopping 13p rebate. So OVO I will not be attempting the impossible in the future.

 

[busby1971]

My energy supplier (OVO) recently asked me to take part in an energy saving scheme here at TB Towers running from 17.30 - 18.30 on selected days. For every 1.0 kWh under your target you would get a £3 rebate on your bill, your target is based (I guess) upon your normal usage amounts. My first target was 0.3 kWh!! so the only way to save a whole 1.0 kWh was to manufacture 0.7kWh from somewhere. However I only used 0.17kWh (59p rebate) so the following week the target had shifted to 0.2kWh now to qualify for a rebate I needed to find 0.8kWh from somewhere, I did get under 0.2 kWh just and got a whopping 13p rebate. So OVO I will not be attempting the impossible in the future.

My supplier does the same but not every day, on the days the scheme is not running I plan to keep my usage high, do the washing, tumble dryer, charge the car etc, so my reduced usage is higher and I get a higher reward.

 

[Cornish_Pikey]

My supplier does the same but not every day, on the days the scheme is not running I plan to keep my usage high, do the washing, tumble dryer, charge the car etc, so my reduced usage is higher and I get a higher reward.

Kind of defeats the purpose, we also signed up for the "reward" for using less and sat and shivered in the dark to use virtually no energy and received a paltry 13p for our efforts.

 

[kawoloki]

If you have solar and a battery you'll naturally use less from the grid anyway so the savings are even less, 13p for starving and freezing for 3hrs is ridiculous...

It's imperative the finances balance out, as mentioned above I'm really keen on going as eco as possible but I can't even justify getting rid of my 7yr old Skoda diesel for an EV that would give me access to cheap rates overnight to fill up my battery at home..

Until EV's and domestic battery prices come down or solar is mandated on all new builds these problems will exist. Then we have the future problem of China monopolising supply of panels and batteries..

 

[Cornish_Pikey]

Like all decisions there needs to be a cost/benefit analysis carried out.

How long until the break even point where the cost of installation is met? Do you even get there before you need to replace key (expensive) items in the system?

Looking at our 1920s house, something supposedly simple like installing a heat pump to replace my boiler would require me to add extra insulation, change the entire heating system, add solar panels. If I don't do all those things together then the heat pump costs more to run than the A rated gas boiler I currently have. I don't qualify for any grants/subsidies etc so end up paying out tens of thousands to end up paying more for my "eco friendly" upgrade.

I would need to be a nutty full on eco warrior to end up paying loads more to get less heat in the house. Who does that?

Oh, and I run a 15 year old Toyota Diesel that gives me around 50 mpg all the time which is fully paid for and cheap to run.

If I change to an electric Skoda I'd save £400 per year in fuel costs. However I'd need to by a new car at approx £400 per month? I also need to do regular long distance journeys to places where there is little electric car infrastructure in place. Not for me quite yet I think.

 

[busby1971]

Getting rid of working bits and bobs (boilers or cars) is not the right thing to do, but if you’re changing then it’s worth considering.

If you live in a 1920s house you could add extra insulation now and swap out some pipes and radiators as you go or if you’re refurbing a room, then the cost shock of going to what comes next could be less of a hit.

My wife’s car is coming up for a change at the back end of this year, only a minor service this year and new tyres last year, so will look at a second hand electric, a real world 150 mile range should do as it would cover a weeks commute or a return trip to the in-laws.

 

[Cornish_Pikey]

Getting rid of working bits and bobs (boilers or cars) is not the right thing to do, but if you’re changing then it’s worth considering.

If you live in a 1920s house you could add extra insulation now and swap out some pipes and radiators as you go or if you’re refurbing a room, then the cost shock of going to what comes next could be less of a hit.

My wife’s car is coming up for a change at the back end of this year, only a minor service this year and new tyres last year, so will look at a second hand electric, a real world 150 mile range should do as it would cover a weeks commute or a return trip to the in-laws.

That's exactly what I am doing, we put loads of extra insulation in the loft and have added some internal insulation when redoing rooms. Especially upstairs where the house is only a single brick wall construction.

However, and there's always a however, the extra insulation already fitted would have to be at least doubled to meet the needs of of a heat pump output. That would shrink the inside of the upstairs rooms unacceptably so is not really an option. External insulation is a no go.

Seems we'll just be stuck paying extra for the fines the government are proposing to dish out to boiler manufacturers for not producing enough "eco" heating systems.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money...eplacing-gas-boilers-face-boiler-tax-120.html

If they were serious about green issues maybe the government should specify that all new builds should come with heat pumps and solar panels. That includes factories with their large roof spaces. ALl large government building could have solar added to reduce the energy costs to the taxpayer.

However, that goes back to my argument of the cost benefit. Would the taxpayer get value for money to go green?

 

[muttywhitedog]

I'm struggling to understand why a law cannot be passed that every new build must have solar panels fitted, unless they already have them. I'd also insist on south (or south-ish) facing roofs for all new builds and solar panels to be fitted to all two-storey extensions with south-facing roofs (unless they already have some).

Ive had 12 of them since 2011 and they have more than paid for themselves already.

 

[busby1971]

I'm struggling to understand why a law cannot be passed that every new build must have solar panels fitted, unless they already have them. I'd also insist on south (or south-ish) facing roofs for all new builds and solar panels to be fitted to all two-storey extensions with south-facing roofs (unless they already have some).

Ive had 12 of them since 2011 and they have more than paid for themselves already.

In America or other hot rich countries it makes sense because they have AC, and the use of it coincides with peak solar collection, in the UK it only makes practical and economic sense if you've got local storage to use it in the evening, also in the UK domestic peak energy use (currently gas for most) is in the winter as we struggle to keep warm and the sun can hide for weeks at a time.

I don't think our grid infrastructure could take 15 million micro generation sites all hitting peak at the same time.

If you have one of the initial FITs then you'll be making some good money for years to come, more recent and current FITs make this more difficult.

 

[Donkey871]

1. Turn combi boiler thermostat down - no point heating water up to scalding then adding cold water so it is bearable.
2 "Navy" showers - water on, get wet all over, water off, soap up all over and apply shampoo, water on, rinse off soap/shampoo. Repeat if you must/use conditioner. Saves water and gas/electric heating the water.

 

[vim_fuego]

Not sure if I have said this before on here but it so genius that if I have you're welcome...

Since we were able to pay a bunch of people to stay at home for @18 months during a pandemic, we should spend a bit more to help solve a problem.

Give everyone who is in a situation to receive them some solar panels. 8 for a normal size roof and more if they can handle it. Plumb the whole lot into the grid. People use what they need from them and the excess from approx 35 million mini producers goes back into the grid to feed into those that can't have them, industry and battery farms for nocturnal use.

This may allow some of the more polluting power producers to switch off and the burden on others to reduce.

I get the supply chain and technical issues (including the carbon burden on production of that many items but you can't make an omelette without...etc) but over time all could be overcome.

 

[kawoloki]

Not sure if I have said this before on here but it so genius that if I have you're welcome...

Since we were able to pay a bunch of people to stay at home for @18 months during a pandemic, we should spend a bit more to help solve a problem.

Give everyone who is in a situation to receive them some solar panels. 8 for a normal size roof and more if they can handle it. Plumb the whole lot into the grid. People use what they need from them and the excess from approx 35 million mini producers goes back into the grid to feed into those that can't have them, industry and battery farms for nocturnal use.

This may allow some of the more polluting power producers to switch off and the burden on others to reduce.

I get the supply chain and technical issues (including the carbon burden on production of that many items but you can't make an omelette without...etc) but over time all could be overcome.

It's crazy that they scaled back the grants for insulation roll-out everywhere back in about 2012... A massive chunk of it would have been done by now..

Obviously this is all with my best Captain Hindsight suit on and no access to the budget figures and cuts they needed to make at the time...

 

[ady eflog]

1. Turn combi boiler thermostat down - no point heating water up to scalding then adding cold water so it is bearable.
2 "Navy" showers - water on, get wet all over, water off, soap up all over and apply shampoo, water on, rinse off soap/shampoo. Repeat if you must/use conditioner. Saves water and gas/electric heating the water.

Hot water is free from around Easter to October, when my battery pack is fully charged it then turns on my emersion heater so i have red hot water and free electricity all night.

 

[Cornish_Pikey]

Hot water is free from around Easter to October, when my battery pack is fully charged it then turns on my emersion heater so i have red hot water and free electricity all night.

How much was the initial spend to get your free hot water?

 

[ady eflog]

How much was the initial spend to get your free hot water?

you need a product called IBoost, retail is around £300 i think, my Ex Stacker mate's family invented them so i got gifted one. lucky boy!

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiV84PzzoWEAxWlU0EAHWeVDYUQFnoECBsQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.marlec.co.uk%2Fproduct%2Fsolar-iboost%2F&usg=AOvVaw0W7_Gt9F2w9Ykh2L-KAutx&opi=89978449