1 minute ago, iantt said:

Prices have only dropped by 1p a litre round here. 

Can't help feeling that many garage owners are profiteering from the current mass hysteria on prices!! 🤣

4 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Can't help feeling that many garage owners are profiteering from the current mass hysteria on prices!! 🤣

Probably because people still have to put fuel in to get to work regardless of the price. Captive market. 

Quick heads up on electricity price rises.  For anyone else without a Smart Meter, make sure you supply a reading (online or via app) the day before the price rise starts so they don't estimate how much you've used on the cheaper rates.  For me it will be this Thursday, as the price rises on April 1st.

30 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Quick heads up on electricity price rises.

Good point Tom. I have a smart meter so no action needed for me. My supplier have already informed me they will be increasing my monthly direct debit by about 50% unless I object! I'll see how it goes.

 

 

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

My supplier have already informed me they will be increasing my monthly direct debit by about 50% unless I object! I'll see how it goes.

I've had my unit price increase letter through...but no mention of increasing DD so far.   I assume they will increase it at some point.

Trying to work out how to reduce my usage but fairly restricted due to personal circumstances and a rented property.  Had hoped to at least switch off the storage heater in the bathroom with the warmer weather, but it's forecast to get colder again at the weekend so will give it another couple of weeks I think.  It's only on low now tbf.

 

8 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

I've had my unit price increase letter through...but no mention of increasing DD so far.

Funny thing with this Direct Debit for energy. I have various DDs in place for other things and they work on the basis of whatever the monthly, quarterly, annual, etc bill comes to, it just pays it in full.

Energy is the only thing where they take a regular monthly amount and then have to sort out the credit or debit balance every year or whatever. That's what we used to call a Standing Order.

 

 

9 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Trying to work out how to reduce my usage...

That is much harder than it sounds., I have now converted every single light bulb in my house to LED, can't remember the last time I used my oven (I use to love to cook), had to buy a new fridge/freezer last month after my 36 year old one finally failed so energy consumption should fall with my new (cr*p) appliance!  I have an electric shower, but despite my love of staying hygienically clean, I now have cut down my weekly use, and showers are very brief. Washing machine, and iron, are used very sparingly, and I boil a cup full of water at a time just for the odd mug of tea. The only thing I leave on 'standby', is me LOL

Despite all this 'saving', my electric bill rose over 70% on my last one. It's all very depressing...

7 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Despite all this 'saving', my electric bill rose over 70% on my last one. It's all very depressing...

Been reading about the Governments latest ideas on energy policy. It seems all we need to do is get someone to build a windfarm or small nuclear power plant near our homes and we will get free electricity!

Funnily enough there was a plan to build a windfarm in the fields opposite my house a few years ago. The energy company and landowner involved adopted a very "high handed" approach, succeeded in alienating virtually everyone from local residents to wildlife bodies and ensured the scheme was rejected by planners.

I wonder if the plan might be resurrected by someone less inept in view of the current circumstances and what the outcome might be now?

4 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

That is much harder than it sounds., I have now converted every single light bulb in my house to LED, can't remember the last time I used my oven (I use to love to cook), had to buy a new fridge/freezer last month after my 36 year old one finally failed so energy consumption should fall with my new (cr*p) appliance!  I have an electric shower, but despite my love of staying hygienically clean, I now have cut down my weekly use, and showers are very brief. Washing machine, and iron, are used very sparingly, and I boil a cup full of water at a time just for the odd mug of tea. The only thing I leave on 'standby', is me LOL

Despite all this 'saving', my electric bill rose over 70% on my last one. It's all very depressing...

Yes, I'm making the most of showers this week, before the price rises and it just becomes a quick in & out job!  My shower isn't electric, but it uses hot water from the immersion tank.  The immersion heater is by far my single biggest electrical user!  

I do have LED bulbs in the lounge & bathroom...but a 20 year old strip light in the kitchen.  Hopefully there shouldn't be much need for lights in the lounge or kitchen during the next ~6 months of BST though.  I do have to remember that BST changes the cheap-rate electric times by an hour as the meter clock doesn't change.  Means I'll have to try and charge phone/laptop etc between 2-5pm, instead of 1pm to 4pm during winter.  Also try to vacuum and use the washing machine between those times as well.  Just a shame it's not 3-6pm as I could then cook dinner on cheap rate!  Don't really want dinner at 5pm as it'll make the evenings even longer, but not ruling that out yet.  On the subject of dinner, will no longer be using the extractor fan while cooking from this weekend. Hopefully won't make the place too damp if I can keep a couple of window vents open for air circulation.

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Yes, I'm making the most of showers this week, before the price rises and it just becomes a quick in & out job!  My shower isn't electric, but it uses hot water from the immersion tank.  The immersion heater is by far my single biggest electrical user!  

I do have LED bulbs in the lounge & bathroom...but a 20 year old strip light in the kitchen.  Hopefully there shouldn't be much need for lights in the lounge or kitchen during the next ~6 months of BST though.  I do have to remember that BST changes the cheap-rate electric times by an hour as the meter clock doesn't change.  Means I'll have to try and charge phone/laptop etc between 2-5pm, instead of 1pm to 4pm during winter.  Also try to vacuum and use the washing machine between those times as well.  Just a shame it's not 3-6pm as I could then cook dinner on cheap rate!  Don't really want dinner at 5pm as it'll make the evenings even longer, but not ruling that out yet.  On the subject of dinner, will no longer be using the extractor fan while cooking from this weekend. Hopefully won't make the place too damp if I can keep a couple of window vents open for air circulation.

You need to get that done expensive car sold . That will pay your elec bill for 12 months. 🤣🤣

8 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

I do have to remember that BST changes the cheap-rate electric times by an hour as the meter clock doesn't change.  Means I'll have to try and charge phone/laptop etc between 2-5pm, instead of 1pm to 4pm during winter.

Two points to make here:

First I presume you meant 2-5am and 1am to 4am, in other words during the night?

Second, if you've got the old Sangamo Weston circular clock it's worth checking it's still keeping time. I've recently discovered ours is losing between 30 and 60 minutes per day. It's not consistent but seems to be broadly dependant on temperature. After doing some research I now know it's due to the fact it's a quartz movement backed up by a NiCad battery which is well over 30 years old and therefore definitely goosed and probably pulling down the clock supply.

The clocks would originally have been regularly checked by the supplier, Eastern Electricity Board in our case, and repaired or replaced when necessary but privatisation saw an end to that. The older style clocks used an electrically wound mechanical movement which could probably have lasted for decades. That's progress - not!

10 hours ago, mjt said:

Two points to make here:

First I presume you meant 2-5am and 1am to 4am, in other words during the night?

Second, if you've got the old Sangamo Weston circular clock it's worth checking it's still keeping time. I've recently discovered ours is losing between 30 and 60 minutes per day. It's not consistent but seems to be broadly dependant on temperature. After doing some research I now know it's due to the fact it's a quartz movement backed up by a NiCad battery which is well over 30 years old and therefore definitely goosed and probably pulling down the clock supply.

The clocks would originally have been regularly checked by the supplier, Eastern Electricity Board in our case, and repaired or replaced when necessary but privatisation saw an end to that. The older style clocks used an electrically wound mechanical movement which could probably have lasted for decades. That's progress - not!

I think my neighbours would be a little upset if I was hoovering & using a 1400 spin cycle at 3am!  I'm on Economy 10, which is why I can't have a Smart Meter.  I get 3 blocks of cheap rate; 12am-5am, 1pm-4pm & 8pm-10pm.  (All shifted by 1 hour for BST).  Much more useable for charging & housework than Economy 7 and also means that my immersion heater and storage heaters get a day time boost so they're not stone cold by tea time.  I'd lose all that functionality if I swapped to a Smart Meter as they're only offered with Economy 7.

My meter is a 'modern' digital one, only about 7 years old as the meter didn't work when I first moved in.  (Makes me wonder how long the previous tenant was getting free electric!)  The clock is out though, it's about 8 minutes slow now.  I had been trying to think of a quick & easy but subtle way to see when it's on cheap rate from indoors.  Really just need a small LED somewhere, wired up to a storage heater or immersion heater input (they're switched by the meter so only come on with cheap rate).  But the main issue is 'where'...I have a studio flat with combined lounge & bedroom so don't want an LED on for 5 hours overnight in there!

I've not heard of Economy 10. Sounds quite a good arrangement.

I'm determined to hold out against a "smart" meter for as long as possible. I have a digital two-rate meter but it's still switched by the clock. I've informed my supplier of the clock running slow but they haven't done anything or even got back to me about it. I've since realised that it's actually working to my advantage as for a period of days the cheap rate moves into daytime so I'm not going to push them about it.

I don't know how many people are aware of this but a smart meter gives the energy company the capability to remotely disconnect the supply. If there's a dispute they could simply cut it off. I'm not having that, if they want to disconnect me they'll have to send someone out to pull the fuse and that gives me the opportunity to argue with them or even refuse access.

2 minutes ago, mjt said:

...but a smart meter gives the energy company the capability to remotely disconnect the supply. If there's a dispute they could simply cut it off....

That's new on me, I thought the law changed a while back to stop electric utility companies from 'disconnecting supply' from an unpaid account?

You may be right but I still don't feel comfortable with them having the capability.

17 minutes ago, mjt said:

a smart meter gives the energy company the capability to remotely disconnect the supply.

That is very true and why I also refuse to have one.

The real agenda for the government pushing / forcing consumers (sounds a bit like a recent health thing ?) is that they realised about 10 years ago that the time will come soon that we will simply just not have enough electricity to meet demand.

Those of you old enough to remember the 1970's will remember the 3 day week, and the daily scheduled power cuts.

It is envisaged with 'smart meters' the supplier will be able to fine tune the 'power cuts' to individual homes at peak times. Homes that may have medical equipment, will remain 'on supply' while your next door neighbor will be switched off for a few hours. This has already been tested in Canada and one utility guy going to fit a Smart meter against the owners wishes was shot dead by the home owner.    

37 minutes ago, unofix said:

Those of you old enough to remember the 1970's will remember the 3 day week, and the daily scheduled power cuts.

 

The 3 day week was nothing to do with not having the capacity to generate electric, it was the miners strike  and not having the fuel for power stations

4 minutes ago, Mark-UK said:

The 3 day week was nothing to do with not having the capacity to generate eclectic, it was the miners strike  and not having the fuel for power stations

In addition to the 'national' 3 day week, Northern Ireland had it's own general workers strike in 1974 where the country shut down in protest to the 'Sunningdale Agreement' that had been signed to make Unionists share power with Nationalists. Aahhh... heady times indeed.

I have just recently started to turn off my router and switch every night, as I'm not using the web at night, also the TV and youview box are now turned off at the plug nightly.

I never used to turn my imac or NAS off but, do so now, if I know I won't need them for a few days.

I'm not sure if I can cut down on my weekly shower 🤣

15 minutes ago, Mark-UK said:

The 3 day week was nothing to do with not having the capacity to generate electric, it was the miners strike  and not having the fuel for power stations

The 3 day a week was because there was no fuel for the power stations caused by the miners strike. The result was the not enough electricity being generated. The end result was the same, too much demand and not enough electricity.

I was simply pointing out the fact that back then, scheduled power cuts to entire areas was the only way that demand could be controlled. In future suppliers will have the ability to control the supply to individual houses.

 

 

22 minutes ago, Mark-UK said:

I have just recently started to turn off my router and switch every night,...

Interesting saving. My router is rated at 12w, so, would cost just under 7p/24hr day to run. (assuming 1KwH = 25p) If I switched it off for 8 hours/night, that would pocket me just over 2p/day, or 60p/month. However, unfortunately for me, my mobile phone gets it's signal via my router, and with my mum recovering from a stroke, I feel more secure having access to it 24/7. But well done buddy, every little helps...

I was away in County Durham over the weekend and this was the prices at the local petrol station...

Luckily I'd filled up at Morrisons before I went so 'only' paid 155.9p

It would be good if ford sync linked to something like petrolprices.com, (or they should make the app compatible with ford app-link) so that when you ask it to find fuel it gave you the price at each station along with the distance.

At least if your not in a rush it'll enable you to find station near to m-way junctions so you don't pay the stupid m-way service station price.

41 minutes ago, xcd said:

I was away in County Durham over the weekend and this was the prices at the local petrol station...

Luckily I'd filled up at Morrisons before I went so 'only' paid 155.9p

Well they're clearly not spending any profits on new signage!

 

3 minutes ago, Mark-UK said:

At least if your not in a rush it'll enable you to find station near to m-way junctions so you don't pay the stupid m-way service station price.

I just wonder how relevant your worthy statement would be if you were on 'battery' power. Yes, would be good not to be in a rush as the 5 minute petrol fill up would be measured in hours, and of course, electricity isn't getting cheaper. The government will also dramatically increase the tax on it to recover lost revenue from diesel/petrol sales. Also, if you're old enough, you may remember diesel use to be half the price of petrol, then the government subsidised diesel cars, pushed the bejesus out of them, and when they reached critical mass, hiked the tax on it to make it more expensive than petrol!