We all know what's going to happen, and sooner rather than later. I'm expecting energy prices are going to increase across the board by around 50% on gas and electricity. My thoughts then turned to the espresso machine…probably uses more power when it's cold, perhaps as much as 100W per hour..I know some people have cited massive increases in their bills when they have an espresso machine on all day…so I'm preparing, I would imagine the machine will lose only half the energy this way? The underneath towel is to add the extra insulation under the group and keep the top towel wrap in place. I'm already turning green! [upl-image-preview url=//i.imgur.com/sPQzAA6.png]

@"DavecUK"#p4730 Classic Dave’s solution to the problem! 😂😂 I continue to switch the machine off after making coffee. I don’t want the machine to run from 6 am to 9 pm. 😊 Am making a separate thread for green!

me personally, pureplanet went bump on me giving me a massive increase at home, was tied till april 2022 at work my gas and elec have no cap, since march 2021 when i cam out of contract ive seen my monthly elec bill go from £200 to £430 per month, these are out of contract rates atm, its getting crazy

Well, after about 20 minutes of non-use my Sage turns itself off. Plus as it takes only about 6 minutes to get up to temp it shouldn't use too much. After a really good two year fixed deal came to an end in December, we've just gone on to Octopus Go tariff where between 12:30 and 4:30 am the charge is 5p kWh. No good for the coffee machine admittadly unless I'm having a spot of insomnia, but we put our washing machine on for then as that eats electric and I charge my EV then too.

Our tariff is fixed until Aug 23. So, Am good. But, our costs did go up by £50 a month to about £162 pm. Thank God, I went fixed as some one advised flexible. 😊

We changed to Octopus when we were down south, we have always been on a fixed tariff and our bills were around £120 month. We moved up North to Yorkshire and bought a new build our bills are £80 month at most. We renewed to a fixed tariff again in September after a lot of deliberation thinking prices had been stable for some time, so glad we did. Hopefully when it all settles down we can get another fixed rate not sure it will be the same though. All our family are with Octopus they have been really good.

@"LMSC"#p4731 you can because it only takes 15m to warm up, so it's actually worth switching it off if your not going to use it…in fact, even a low power mode would be worthwhile on the Evo, might see if something can be programmed into the motherboards, to actually drop the group temp after a configurable number of minutes of non use. e.g. drop by n C, after n minutes, with brew boiler switching off after n minutes. This is because brew boiler only takes 3 minutes to warm up. In this way a machine could drop into economy (if you enable it) after say 15 minutes and be warmed up again by touching the panel. As soon as the group hits the preset temp, you will be ready to go, probably about 3 or 4 minutes….depending on how low you turn the group down. The energy saving would actually be quite large!

@"DavecUK"#p4762 I am sure you will come up with a solution as an enhancement in the future release. If it can be programmed like a PC - Hibernate, Sleep, Restart and Shut Down! 😬 We mostly make 5 -6 cups in total 2 in the morning, 1 at noon, 1 in the afternoon and 2 in the evening ! Perhaps, decaf in the night.

@"Cuprajake"#p4732 I was with simplicity energy, fortunately they went bust a few months before the energy crisis and I went onto the supplier of last resort British Gas, something called Simplicity Promis until April 2022 which felt like being rodgered up the rear end, but as it turned out was a blessing in disguise. 3p per unit for gas and 17.9 for leccy

I am with octopus on their flexible rate since my fixed rate with them ended at the beginning of December. I am not sure how much I am paying monthly ( was previously £59) as I have just had smart meters fitted and the readings haven’t settled into any pattern but watching the monitor thingy add up the electric units is a bit of a sharp intake of breath whenever the electric shower is used. To make matters worse, my boomerang child has just boomeranged back home to live again and takes two showers a day and wears clothes once before throwing them in the wash. I have been dithering over fixing the rate before April but just cannot commit myself to a tariff that doubles the price of my gas for the next three months even though I know things are going to get very much worse. I switch my machine and grinder off at the wall as soon as I am done.

> @"4W5"#p4814 I am with octopus on their flexible rate since my fixed rate with them ended at the beginning of December. I am not sure how much I am paying monthly ( was previously £59) as I have just had smart meters fitted and the readings haven’t settled into any pattern you must absolutely know the rate per kW hour and standing charge so you can make apples for apples comparisons. They rely on obfuscating these numbers.

Energy Prices

Cuprajake

id do, they have missed a reading,

DavecUK

dutchy101 Of course they will. I doubt we’ll see customer prices return to what they were again

it’s like the price of houses, cars, cars without a spare wheel, parking etc.. once they know they can get away with it…yer done for. We will sigh like curmudgeonly old gits about the time when leccy was 30p per kW and gas only 8p per kW, when buying our £10 loaf of bread

PortafilterProcrastinator

So the October price rise is on the horizon. Apparently the cap rates will be published on 26 August.

This is what we’re on at the moment:

This is what Octopus are offering on a 12 month fix:

If you look at the difference between these rates and what @Cuprajake (post 30 above) was able to fix at in March it is eye watering.

I really have no idea what to do.

An increase in October, and increase in April 2023.

Take the pain and certainty now, or carry on with the variable and just see where it goes.

LMSC

PortafilterProcrastinator ncrease in October, and increase in April 2023.

I read that the cap is expected to rise in Jan 23. Jeez, we are all heading towards a collective bankruptcy, don’t we? 😏

PortafilterProcrastinator

LMSC You’re right - they’ve changed it so that the cap is increased 4 times a year instead of two.

Rises now January, April, July and October.

If it is a 65% increase in October then I’ll be on £372 a month. Will it hit £400 a month before August 2023?

dutchy101

Wait till they start charging people who can pay even more because they need to to make up the losses from those who can’t pay any more.

Meanwhile:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11057077/Fury-British-Gas-owner-Centrica-profits-increase-FIVE-FOLD-1-34-BILLION.html

We need a worldwide revolution.

DavecUK

PortafilterProcrastinator You’re right - they’ve changed it so that the cap is increased 4 times a year instead of two.

I laughed when OFFTWAT announced that they were doing it to help consumers…..sure!

They will squeeze us till the pips fall out and the floor is bright red, then they will squeeze us some more. We are clearly being prepped for a 55 to 60% rise in unit rates if they can, and another 10% in January, if we haven’t revolted.

That 8 tentacled fix looks brutal.

dutchy101

The best bit is they get to make up prices based on future projections

CoyoteOldMan

What really annoys me are the standing charges. Why are these rising (not in the Octopus example above), if what is increasing is the cost of wholesale kWh, be they ‘raw’ (gas) or ‘cooked’ (electricity)? My supplier went from ~25p day to 45…

dutchy101

Or considering prices have risen so much, why isn’t the green-tax being lowered?

DavecUK

I fixed March 2022 for 2 years

Elec 36.38 per KWh std chg 45.77per day

Gas 9.98 per KWh std chg 31.33 per day.

All because OFFGEM said it was going to be reviewed 4 times a year. I wondered if I made a mistake at the time…but not now.

LMSC

DavecUK Ours is not due until Sep 23. As of now, staring at £500 a month from £165. Seriously thinking of going variable, which is a riskier proposition.

Our mortgage is on a life-time tracker. Ouch. Not many would give us a fixed at my age. We always think what if the regulators change the rule to no fixed rate or no mortgage to 60+!

dfk41

What a difference 6 months makes
September 2021, fixed for 2 years
Leccy 19.47p standing chg 26.45
Gassss 4.38 standing chg 26.59

Cuprajake

Its a scary prospect, im fixed till april next yr, when i come off i expect ill see an 80% increase on the prices that im paying which were another 80% on what i was paying, what gets me is how they are allowed to increase a price nearly 200% in 2yrs

im seriously thinking, what i will do is fire the 4 employees of my buiness, close my doors, shut up shop and go on the dole, seem to benefit that way,

Del_UK

I’m working on a large extension for a factory that has to have their electrical supply upgraded to cope with the new machinery. The issue they have found themselves in is that if they switch to the supply, their own 2000A HV fed transformer, they will loose their current rates for electric. This will increase the yearly bill by an estimated £80000 before they even switch on the new stuff..

As such, the £2m extension may be laying unused for another 14 months until they will be forced into a new tariff.

Things are messed up ya’ll…

PortafilterProcrastinator

Looks like the 65% projected increase in October is out of date. Now more like 80% it seems.

We’re all doomed.

Del_UK

And look what headline is on the BBC right now..

“British Gas owner Centrica and Shell see profits soar as bills rise”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62330190

dutchy101

Last days of Rome

CoyoteOldMan

dutchy101 Last days of Rome

Nothing left to burn, this time around…

CoffeePhilE

Like some others, my (Sage Oracle) machine turns off after 20 minutes but stays pretty hot for quite a while after, so it comes up pretty fast from there. I used to have it coming on in the AM on timer when my routine was more or less fixed but now, I just try to turn it on (or get the Mrs to, if she’s closer) about 15 mins before I want it. It only takes about 5 mins from cold. As I have 1 or 2 cups most days, 3 or 4 at most and sometimes 0 cups, and at varying times, it’s pointless using the timer.

Sure, it’s not cheap in power these days, When was proper coffee ever a cheap habit? The coffee itself isn’t exactly cheap, and as for the machine, and all the ancilliary bits …. well, ouch.

It’s just a bit more expensive now than a year or two back.

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