Energy bill increases

[Deleted member 26715]

Have to be careful not to go over the line & get consigned to the dark place, but I think currently we have a Government who is so wrapped up in their own internal turmoil they simple don't care.

 

[Alex321]

What I'm not getting is if more and more if our electricity us from renewables then the hike in gas should less and less affect our bills yet our bills keep going up!

Electricity companies are making a killing just like the petrol companies were 6 months ago.... Whose next?!

While the use of renewables is rising, they still altogether account for only a little more than gas when all renewable sources are counted.. Gas is currently the largest single source of electricity in this country, accounting for 35% of electricity generation in 2021.

https://assets.publishing.service.g...data/file/1032260/UK_Energy_in_Brief_2021.pdf

 

[Deleted member 26715]

While the use of renewables is rising, they still altogether account for only a little more than gas when all renewable sources are counted.. Gas is currently the largest single source of electricity in this country, accounting for 35% of electricity generation in 2021.

https://assets.publishing.service.g...data/file/1032260/UK_Energy_in_Brief_2021.pdf

That really shows how badly we are doing on Solar & Hydro

 

[SpokeyDokey]

That really shows how badly we are doing on Solar & Hydro

Also our dilly-dallying over nuclear power plants has played into the Russkies hands.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

That really shows how badly we are doing on Solar & Hydro

There is almost no potential for more hydro in the UK. We don't have much land at significant elevation.

Solar is really small and has the problem that it generates power exactly when it isn't needed (during the middle of the day, in summer). So solar either needs storage (very expensive or not even feasible for long periods of time) or concurrent investment in backup dispatchable power - gas! Electric vehicles as storage for solar has potential to improve that, though I don't think there's currently off the shelf solutions to use your EV as grid storage (unless as part of your own solar installation)? Hopefully I'm wrong and someone can disabuse me of my ignorance.

The big beasts of renewables potential for the UK are wind and tidal. The latter requires truly massive engineering (Swansea bay, Severn barrage) to realise and that doesn't seem to be being contemplated.

So wind it is.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Also our dilly-dallying over nuclear power plants has played into the Russkies hands.

Yeah, nuclear is the other low carbon opportunity. For all the criticism of Merkel and Germany in this regard, our policy has been exactly the same up to now - burn gas because it's much cheaper.

 

[icowden]

Solar is really small and has the problem that it generates power exactly when it isn't needed (during the middle of the day, in summer).

Solar also works in the winter - it uses light not heat. As long as there is some sunlight you will get some power. Obviously less in the winter. I agree that it needs scaling up. It's not helped by *some politicians* promising to get rid of unsightly solar on our arable land because we should be growing crops (spoiler - you can grow crops under solar panels - some crops actually grow *better* - particularly in drought as the panels provide shade and help moisture to be retained in the soil.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/feb/22/kenya-to-use-solar-panels-to-boost-crops-by-harvesting-the-sun-twice#:~:text=Known as agrivoltaics, the technique,the soil and boosting growth.

So solar either needs storage (very expensive or not even feasible for long periods of time) or concurrent investment in backup dispatchable power - gas! Electric vehicles as storage for solar has potential to improve that, though I don't think there's currently off the shelf solutions to use your EV as grid storage (unless as part of your own solar installation)? Hopefully I'm wrong and someone can disabuse me of my ignorance.

Storage helps. Hence the Tesla mass storage solutions, Tesla powerwall etc. I agree with you that an EV can't be used as storage yet, but it looks like this is on the horizon. Although according to that bastion of knowledge The Daily Express, you can buy a Dcbel R16 for about 3k which is bidirectional. Of course your car would have to support this, and I suspect many (if not all) would not at present. Car charging is controlled by the car - not the charger.

 

[cougie uk]

This is what I use to see where our energy is coming from.

https://grid.iamkate.com/

Surely as an island there would be more opportunities to use tidal energy?

Maybe it's something like the Russian situation that forces us to actually do something big on that ?

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I agree with you that an EV can't be used as storage yet, but it looks like this is on the horizon.

They can on a personal level, there are charger/inverters out there that uses the EV battery as part of the solution, charger the battery during the day & use it in the evening, you can also utilise cheap EV overnight charing that some providers offer, I was looking at buying a Leaf to achieve this, but I can't justify the ridiculous cost of them

 

[cougie uk]

They can on a personal level, there are charger/inverters out there that uses the EV battery as part of the solution, charger the battery during the day & use it in the evening, you can also utilise cheap EV overnight charing that some providers offer, I was looking at buying a Leaf to achieve this, but I can't justify the ridiculous cost of them

Speak to Jonathan.

https://www.eco-cars.net/aboutecocars.php

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Speak to Jonathan.

https://www.eco-cars.net/aboutecocars.php

Been to that site before, maybe from a previous recommendation, the issue is it would have to be a Gen2 2018 on, but they are just too much money, I've hard sold the wife on an EV but she has point blank refused a Gen 1 they are a Marmite design & we don't like Marmite.

 

[fossyant]

What I'm not getting is if more and more if our electricity us from renewables then the hike in gas should less and less affect our bills yet our bills keep going up!

Electricity companies are making a killing just like the petrol companies were 6 months ago.... Whose next?!

A fair chunk comes from gas, coal is much reduced as is Nuclear. And renewables aren't available all the time. Much base load comes from gas.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Surely as an island there would be more opportunities to use tidal energy?

Huge investment, it would appear that the generating companies are more interested in short term gain & shareholder profits over the long term environmental cost.

 

[numbnuts]

I've got a smart meter , just been fitted

 

[midlife]

They can on a personal level, there are charger/inverters out there that uses the EV battery as part of the solution, charger the battery during the day & use it in the evening, you can also utilise cheap EV overnight charing that some providers offer, I was looking at buying a Leaf to achieve this, but I can't justify the ridiculous cost of them

I looked at V2G (vehicle to grid charging) when I was looking to buy an EV. At that time about 18 months ago it would take about 5 years to recoup the extra cost of a V2G charger. Would be less nowadays I guess.