@boblochinver let's continue this elsewhere if you're interested as we're now a long way off electricity tariffs for charging lightweight e-vehicles but please remember that I am living in the wilds of the fen edge and not in a city and while you can say that people will go for convenience, it's never taken me 20 minutes to put a raincoat on, I've rarely spent 20 minutes sorting myself out after and I've never had to scrape ice off a bike's windscreen. While I know lots can afford only one car, more have either two cars (25.7 million households out of 79m) or no car (17m) so that's a big potential audience for converting to e-bikes instead of EVs and could make a big difference to national energy use... but I agree that a significant minority in places like yours will probably need access to cars for some time and of course I agree that government should be making it more convenient to e-bike and e-scooter.

Its interesting that France has capped increases to 4% by charging a windfall tax.  French citizens would have gone onto the streets

This British government is refusing to do this despite the massive profits being made by energy suppliers.  They know that the majority of Brits will simply say the government is doing its best- as they do with the highest Covid death rate in Europe.

I despair!

Posted by: @mikefitz

Its interesting that France has capped increases to 4% by charging a windfall tax.  French citizens would have gone onto the streets

 

This British government is refusing to do this despite the massive profits being made by energy suppliers.  They know that the majority of Brits will simply say the government is doing its best- as they do with the highest Covid death rate in Europe.

I despair!

I don't think we do.  Absolute number yes, rate definitely not.

This topic has already veered off course.  Can I suggest we limit criticism of the government to their energy policy. 

@editor The day rate for the EDF tariff I locked in to yesterday has already gone up if you were to select that tariff (22 year fix to Feb 2024) now.

Prices reacting quickly to events.

Mike

So I was about to pull the trigger and lock in E.ON for a 12 month fixed term, and then saw this: "By choosing this tariff you agree to have a Smart meter installed where eligible."

I have no interest in putting in a smart metre – can energy companies for your install a smart metre?

Posted by: @editor

So I was about to pull the trigger and lock in E.ON for a 12 month fixed term, and then saw this: "By choosing this tariff you agree to have a Smart meter installed where eligible."

I have no interest in putting in a smart metre – can energy companies for your install a smart metre?

Yes. They can make a tariff conditional on having a smart meter. Our OVO tariff was conditional on installing a meter. There are incentives for suppliers for installations

What are the drawbacks of getting a smart meter? I wondered about getting one just for the data.

@mjr, I don’t see the appeal yet if we get funneled down the time of use tariff. We live and work from, and don’t want to get hammered during daylight hours when we consume electricity.

Data is helpful, but we’re monitoring consumption via our SolarEdge app and we have smart plugs with data monitoring for devices and appliances that draw significant power.

@editor At present, I can't get a smart meter. I sign up for a contract they come out to fit a smart meter and then tell me I can't get a signal. Terms of the contract fulfilled. This has happened three times now, they were here yesterday. 

At present, I don't see any advantage to a smart meter but this will change when smart meters become the majority, time of use charging will be encouraged. As mentioned in other posts the responsibility of energy consumption management will shift to the user, whether this is through energy conservation or off-peak consumption it will be the consumer's responsibility to reduce consumption or face high KWH rates. Those with smart meters will have a choice on when and how they use energy to save money as opposed to standard metering where high hourly costs will be potentially punishing. 

Time of use/off-peak metering does raise the question of whether storage heaters are more advantageous than heat pumps.  Then the next question is, are storage heaters a better choice than battery storage?

I'm surprised you don't think having a smart meter is for the greater good, allowing data to be recorded in finer detail in the advance towards net zero. Isn't it the same as filling in your census return or getting vaccinated ? 

Posted by: @prjohn

Time of use/off-peak metering does raise the question of whether storage heaters are more advantageous than heat pumps.  Then the next question is, are storage heaters a better choice than battery storage?

If I've understood it correctly, the low-temperature emitters (larger radiators or underfloor systems) generally used with heat pumps lose heat less quickly than small hot radiators, so they may "win" over even slower storage heaters for most people as long as the lower-cost periods are spread throughout the day. If the lower-cost periods are all overnight, storage heaters may win.

It is difficult to see at the moment whether that might happen because Octopus Agile is spending most of the time stuck at its cap, but there does seem to often be a reduction somewhere in 1200-1630 each weekday. On Sundays, the overnight reduction sometimes lasts all morning and then some.

Maybe energy companies will offer reduced rates in different regions at different times to spread the load. I just don't know.

I agree that people who keep dumb meters in order to keep using at peak will probably be penalised eventually, maybe by paying near-peak rates all day.

Prices still moving up fast. My 2 year fix to Feb 24 (agreed 2 days ago) with day units at 33.39p is no longer available. Replaced with a 2 year fix to March 24 and the day rate quoted is now 43.07. That is now about 10p per unit above the OFGEM price cap. At this rate the cap will move up again in 6 months time.

Mike