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

DavecUK

LMSC £7.5K for the mega flow - you may as well if you are opening the floor. This cost was before Covid.
All new pipe works and radiators.

Can’t have a megaflow, I have 3 thermostatically controlled pumped showers….which would be thousands down the drain. I am hoping the fruitcake idea of net zero and banning gas boilers gets dumped…madness.

Cuprajake

DavecUK

Cuprajake I watched it despite disliking James O’Tvvat immensely. Fortunately Martin didn’t give him a chance to speak.

DavecUK

I was just thinking about commercial energy prices, the amount that pub has been quoted, It might actually be cheaper to get a big commercial quiet run generator and power from that…. Those ones that look like half a caravan on a towed trailer. Make hardly any noise.

Del_UK

DavecUK
Having seen the quote a client git for a 400kVA backup generator last week, I’d beg to differ!

Gagaryn

Diesel usage is astronomical for large generators. The big commercial ones use around 100 litres per hour.

DavecUK

Talking about a pub here, not a steel works.

dfk41

Well, having spent a few days thinking abound it, yesterday I ordered one of these
https://burley.co.uk/product/ambience-4121/
The big advantages are:
We have no flue so covers that
Instant heat if we have power cuts
100% burn efficiency

We have a fixed rate of 4.38 on gas so even running on full which is unlikely, the cost is 15.3p per hour @3.5 kw output. We have 3 radiators in the room we sit in. We can turn them down to 1, turn the heating off during the day on 4 of the other 5 rads and at night to take the chill off the part of the house we are going to sleep in put the heating on as needed. That sounds a bit vague but until it is fitted we will not actually know. Once fitted I will cover costs etc

DavecUK

dfk41 We will need photos and videos of it working, or it didn’t happen….you can show off the remote control as well.

LMSC

£700M nuclear plant commitment in Suffolk days before stepping down. He could have done that earlier!

Cuprajake

A care home company who usual bill for it’s homes is 90k have been quoted 1mil

DavecUK

Cuprajake A care home company who usual bill for it’s homes is 90k have been quoted 1mil

That’s ridiculous!!

DavecUK

I’m no fan of Tony Blair, but he warned about this in 2006/7. he foresaw this type of crisis and wanted Nuclear to become 40% of the UK energy mix, together with renewables.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-britain-nuclear-idUSL1573861220070215

The judge is now Sir Jeremy, we are busy blaming the current government, when actually we need to look hard at the hidden forces that worked to deny us Nuclear power. We wouldn’t have had this problem had the courts not decided how our country should be run. Later various groups many funded by fossil fuel companies and Nick Clegg ensured we wouldn’t have much nuclear, if any.

……hence todays mess

I often hear the green lobby trotting out fusion power…trust me it won’t be in our lifetimes, or our kids lifetimes, if ever!

P.S. Fossil fuel funds green energy and anti nuclear, because they know green energy absolutely ensures we have to continue using fossil fuels whilst twisting things to pretend we’re net zero.

DavecUK

I just had one positive thought about winter coming and energy prices. We’re all probably a bit wary of running our coffee machines in the summer, and they only make the house warmer which we don’t want, all that energy is effectively wasted. Of course in winter we want the house to be warmer so leaving our coffee machine on all day is not the problem it is in summer, all that heat energy transfers back into the house where it’s actually wanted.

Something positive to think about him otherwise horrible energy situation.

Eiffel

That’s the good thing about the cold days, the efficiency of many appliances becomes less relevant (unless the produce things like hot water which goes down the drain while it’s above freezing)

LMSC

£170 B rescue plan to freeze energy prices cap is being prepared! Hmm…costing, credibility and the how aspects are to be worked out. The fiscal deficit / open-market operations is the obvious route.

With a promise to roll back the NI hikes, I am thinking if a long-dated bond offering to the rich businesses, the fund managers and the public is an attractive option. 🤔

DavecUK

I’m wondering what this means for my fixed-rate, should I actually bin it and go back to the price cap? Will they let us down, u turn in three months and bung up the prices?

Cuprajake

till jan i have read… but then till 2024 so dunno

LMSC

It’s all up in the air. I think Oct rise is done and dusted. I doubt the government will cap at current levels, although I think they should.

As far as the sustainability of this measures is concerned, it rests crucially on the chances of a snap election and the outcome of it. I would expect a snap election early next year, if the year end is not possible.

DavecUK

LMSC rests crucially on the chances of a snap election and the outcome of it. We should see a snap election early next year, if the year end is not possible

I actually think they would be very stupid to go for a snap election. Mind you perhaps they will believe their own sizzle just like Theresa May did….and that didn’t work out so well. One benefit of an 80 seat majority, they can push policies through. A coalition won’t do anything. As far as the energy issues, there’s a lot needs doing… especially getting rid of net 0 and the banning of petrol vehicles.

LMSC

DavecUK I actually think they would be very stupid to go for a snap election. Mind you perhaps they will believe their own sizzle just like Theresa May did….and that didn’t work out so well. One benefit of an 80 seat majority, they can push policies through. A coalition won’t do anything.

She doesn’t have the people’s mandate. Having been elected as a new PM, she should seek one, IMO. I do not know, if she will go that path.

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