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

dutchy101 perhaps it’s all suspicion, but who do you think funded the anti nuclear industry, friends of the earth etc that protest against nuclear power. Those who lobby government Think about who really had the most to lose.

Who do ee think of the largest suppliers of vaping products are, I think it’s the tobacco industry.

When we eventually have lots and lots of renewables, they are not going to be giving it away, they will charge the market as much as they can and it will certainly never be back down to the electricity levels we used to pay. Guess which companies have the huge interest in renewables as well, it will be those companies with lots and lots of money nd those will be the current fossil fuel companies. I don’t know about anyone else but I have never seen cheaper prices from renewable energy sources such as windmills, for me the price of electricity has gone up and up and up despite the rise in renewable energy.

Gagaryn

DavecUK “I don’t know about anyone else but I have never seen cheaper prices from renewable energy sources such as windmills, for me the price of electricity has gone up and up and up despite the rise in renewable energy.”

That’s what I was referring to when I said that the market need to change. Currently the price of all electricity, no matter if it is produced by fossil fuel, nuclear or renewables is coupled to the wholesale price of gas. Seems many people don’t realise this because it is so illogical.

Cuprajake

DavecUK

Cuprajake If they’re right, Sturgeon will be hoping the tip breaks off Britain, something like the tip of Bezos flying phallus the other day.

Everyone will be wondering why Wales aren’t fraking? Aaaand the rich Southern nimbys will be thanking their lucky stars for a bit until they start fracking under Hastings (yes there really is oil under there) etc..

dfk41

I cannot see anything wrong with fracking. A lot of false mis-information as usual. We are ok with importing fracked gas but not to frack ourselves…..that is very green

dutchy101

Taken from the Bulb website:

Every year, like all suppliers, we report on the amount of electricity we’ve purchased from which source: coal, gas, nuclear and renewables. For Bulb, it’s simple: 100% of our electricity comes from renewable sources like solar, wind and hydro.

I am currently paying 27.85p per KWh with a daily standing charge of 36p per day. How does this compare to others on here I wonder?

MediumRoastSteam

dutchy101 I am currently paying £27.85 per KWh with a daily standing charge of 36p per day.

Do you mean 27.85p? I checked mine the other day and it’s now saying 34p with British Gas Standard Tariff. I could almost swear that this was 28p two weeks ago!

As I am not on a smart meter, I do wonder how they estimate my usage if the prices differs?

CoyoteOldMan

dutchy101 Shell Energy - 28.455 p/kWh, 43.39 p/day

MediumRoastSteam Linear interpolation based on the days before/after change of tariff (at least, that’s what PurePlanet and Shell did with me). You can also submit an intermediate reading - if you know that the price is going to change!

dutchy101

MediumRoastSteam

Haha sorry, yes 27.85p per KWh. This is as of my last statement in July. I was trying to log in to check whether this has changed but it was down.

The website is back up now and current rates are:

29.24p p/ KWh and daily standing charge of 37.92p

dutchy101

CoyoteOldMan

Is that on a fixed or variable tariff?

dutchy101

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/jan/22/energy-bills-i-got-a-green-deal-so-why-am-i-paying-eye-watering-sums

“Essentially, you should consider your electricity to have the same carbon footprint as everyone else’s no matter what tariff you are on,” says Josie Wexler, a researcher at Ethical Consumer. “Ofgem [the energy regulator] should be forcing companies to be much more honest about what ‘100% renewable’ really means.”

If it looks like a scam and smells like a scam, it’s probably a scam.

CoyoteOldMan

dutchy101 Variable - at the moment they have no fixed tariffs (or rather, the tariff they would like to apply is capped, and therefore “fixed”…)

dutchy101

I could have fixed for 2 years last October with Eon - I would be paying £115 a month as opposed to £280 a month now had I have done so. But I thought I’d go renewable to do my bit. Completely shafted. The excuses given for why they can’t differentiate between the supply of your energy in the article I posted above are embarrassing.

The Grid is unable to confirm whether the energy they supply me with is renewable or not, but they can provide a certificate to my provider to confirm they have bought only renewable energy from them? Jesus wept.

DavecUK

dutchy101 But I thought I’d go renewable to do my bit. Completely shafted.

I have always tried to be “green” always been shafted with a Bezos rocket as a result. Whilst the actors, politicians, privileged, super wealthy and a child tell the rest of us how to live. All before private jetting back to one of their super yachts, many homes, private islands and large cars.

Now I just try to do my bit only when it costs me nothing, or saves me money whilst ignoring the green twaddle being spouted.

For me (and I did the numbers) Solar PV limited and where I can put them on an ESE garage roof, 20 year payback. Heat pump, absolute madness Vs my gas boiler Electric car, good job I don’t do many miles

LMSC

Why does the boiler switches itself on burning gas and electricity?

Heater is off and will kick-in iff the temp falls below 13C
Hot water comes up for just 30 mins in the morning in summer

Yet, this damn boiler’s temp went up from 30C (at this time of the year) to 65C as I write! Some of the radiators are hotter, while it shouldn’t come up, given the settings! This happens several times a day! I have switched off the damn thing now! 😀

Another issue, which we don’t understand is whatever we do, the power consumption is 330-360 kWh (at least) a month. Every unused outlet is off. We switch off all non-critical standbys - except Hob, Fridge, Router, etc. I need to get a power usuage monitor!

Gagaryn

LMSC https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144669194524?hash=item21aef4b91c:g:NqYAAOSwvQ5iJbhE&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAABIFk0A4eQ4rXsr2aB60R4zlH1ex4yh9VqvL3tpmVcc%2BzqJXOmlTL09bT1JmXjnSF5KIZUp6zVVpEM6YgEjNWR67xUW%2BABQivH2jUwwn2hhskvwQcADra%2F8VriIs1fVc7uXzhpXDtRSdniKUweBCFzaJXTo9zzChKZfUBueDhXXE0FThHibwauF2GZeZnecfwZD2jEB5pKJ6rWA9NxJe98kko9dDlR8xdULAij24AFuP2HBpH8DdTtFA9kPkZQhjQDLzJVawsBE79gA1gEMx7mA7%2FHi5SX%2B8kpmHN%2FpzAnm29QFKBebVxPspf16tiaOPYL9lxGpp3s19aOKi3fdjG3v55ttJzEcq5vXqwmHDwperL0jUZyIosH%2Fw4zcllY6zA67Q%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7rFnqDoYA

Nothing fancy but does the useful stuff. I bought one a while ago and have found it very helpful.

CoyoteOldMan

LMSC Why does the boiler switches itself on burning gas and electricity?

Without knowing how your CH/HW system is configured, difficult to do anything more than guess, but this suggests that a (three-way?) valve (or more than one) may be faulty or leaky… of course now you’ll tell me that there are no valves in your setup. 😁

DavecUK

LMSC or the room stat is faulty and firing up the boiler. Your engineer will sort it out. If it’s a simple room stat won’t be very expensive.

I keep meaning to change my Drayton controller for a smarter version and pop in a new stat. Just haven’t got round to it. Will do it next spring now…just in case 😁

LMSC

Gagaryn Thank you! Does it require signing up to access an app and provide the user details please? :-)

Do I also require a smart hub for it to work?

Thx

Gagaryn

LMSC No. It’s dumb - no web access and no app. Just plug it in and view data on the screen. That’s why they are a tenner!

LMSC

CoyoteOldMan of course now you’ll tell me that there are no valves in your setup.

How did you get to this ? 🤣

Giphy -

Jokes apart, I have no clue, tbh! 😃

I will call a gas engineer tomorrow for a service, which is due ahead of winter anyway.

Jeez, things are breaking one by one! Can’t afford a replacement under current circumstances! 😊

1 year ago, I had to replace the 6 years old dish washer with a an expensive Miele!
My JL American Fridge Freezer, which is 7.5 years old, is playing hide and seek by freezing foods and liquids in the fridge even at 5C - 6C. I managed to clean the dirt by opening the back of the machine a few days ago. It seems fine for now! Touch wood…
Now, the boiler! 😳

Elcarajillo

CoyoteOldMan I am with Coyote on this, presuming there is a 2 / 3 way motorised valve. They can be prone to sticking/ seizing in one position ,it could be as simple as changing the head or possibly the valve.

MediumRoastSteam

LMSC - they do say things come in threes! 🤣

CoyoteOldMan

LMSC How did you get to this ?

My friend Murphy told me

Del_UK

LMSC
I had to replace a Y plan zone valve on my hot water this week as it was constantly demanding hot water from the boiler, but the boiler wasn’t asking for hot water.. Essentially the relay in the valve had died so the switch out (orange cable) had failed closed so was outputting 230v to the water request part of the circuit.

This made the boiler run 24/7 but with no water flow going out it was not using much gas.

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