Energy bill increases

[jowwy]

How much do you think it costs to fill the battery on an e bike ?

On a 500wh ebike like mine…..15p

 

[jowwy]

My 32" TV is only 140W, but it's on for ~7hrs a day, so it's the second biggest user in the house after the 10.8kW shower, and above the washer dryer and cooker. Look how high up the list the router is, too, this is why I keep reminding people that low power appliances are still significant if they're on for long hours.

View attachment 659492

Thats a lot of power for 32” tv……

 

[Jameshow]

Maybe this has been covered up-thread but why is the Standing Charge going up?
Mine is at present, 23.85 p per day for Electric and 26.10 for gas.
My next bill, apart from the huge increase in actual electricity and gas, has increases on the Standing Charge to 44.57 & 27.22 respectively.

Greed?!🤔😭🤔😭🤔

 

[oldwheels]

Let's remove the Barnet formula and then we can give ourselves a large electric subsidy!🤣🤣🤣

I could give a very comprehensive answer to that which is based on your probable ignorance of the true situation but would be banished to the dark place.

 

[midlife]

Maybe this has been covered up-thread but why is the Standing Charge going up?
Mine is at present, 23.85 p per day for Electric and 26.10 for gas.
My next bill, apart from the huge increase in actual electricity and gas, has increases on the Standing Charge to 44.57 & 27.22 respectively.

Apparently to cover the cost of the smaller electric companies going bust. I think my standing charge is about 40 odd pence

 

[roubaixtuesday]

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

Yes, there are, but for any substantial amount of power they need massive engineering (Severn barrage etc) with mahoosive costs, both fiscal and environmental, and very long timescales.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

There is plenty of land at sufficient elevation (in Scotland certainly) but there is probably little appetite for the large scale flooding of valleys and glens necessary.

In recent years there has been a noticeable increase in the number of small scale hydro power plants on large estates though.

And offshore windfarms are ideal for seabed hydro as an energy storage medium

There is not "plenty of land at sufficient elevation". It's just not true, and even if it were, as you point out, it would require flooding large areas. Compared to countries with substantial hydro (Switzerland, Norway) Scottish potential is small. The Alps are much bigger and much higher than the Highlands. "Without hot air" did a good treatment of this.

Small scale hydro is fine, but irrelevant in the overall supply of leccy to the country. The clue is in the name.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Except maybe the river Severn with the second highest tidal range in the world.

That's tidal, not hydro. And my post agreed with you.

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

 

[winjim]

Living in Sheffield with its many rivers and industrial heritage, I do idly wonder if all the old mill infrastructure could be repurposed with some sort of microturbines for local electricity generation instead of the traditional water wheels. I expect it's more hassle than it's worth.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Living in Sheffield with its many rivers and industrial heritage, I do idly wonder if all the old mill infrastructure could be repurposed with some sort of microturbines for local electricity generation instead of the traditional water wheels. I expect it's more hassle than it's worth.

Styal Mill in Cheshire does exactly that, though as it's National Trust, it's possible a commercial business case wasn't needed. IIRC there was actually a hydro turbine installed while it was still a going concern.

These sorts of installations, whilst undoubtedly a Good Thing, are near irrelevant as a potential overall input to UK leccy. There's not enough water in the rivers and it they aren't at sufficient altitude.

Just for example, the Rhône flows from Lake Geneva at 1,700m³/s from 372m altitude.

The Severn has a flowrate of just 60m³/s, about 30x lower. It's altitude as far upstream as Llanidloes is just 160m, less than half (and the flowrate there will be less, too)

So the Rhone has 60x the hydro potential of the Severn, even from the point it exits the Alps!

 

[cougie uk]

Living in Sheffield with its many rivers and industrial heritage, I do idly wonder if all the old mill infrastructure could be repurposed with some sort of microturbines for local electricity generation instead of the traditional water wheels. I expect it's more hassle than it's worth.

Isn't there a stately house out there that had the first electric in the country ? They ran all of the lights from the waterwheel.

I should put a wind turbine on my bike that could charge all my gadgets from the inevitable headwind.

 

[cougie uk]

Isn't there a stately house out there that had the first electric in the country ? They ran all of the lights from the waterwheel.

I should put a wind turbine on my bike that could charge all my gadgets from the inevitable headwind.

Oh I was close. Bit further North.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cragside

 

[ColinJ]

I remember Salter's Ducks from the 1970s/1980s... Maybe that idea should be looked at again!

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Oh I was close. Bit further North.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cragside

lol, just a bit, but I suppose it's outside the M25 so irrelevant, Chatsworth has a big waterfall & fountain powered by water

 

[winjim]

lol, just a bit, but I suppose it's outside the M25 so irrelevant, Chatsworth has a big waterfall & fountain powered by water

Whack a turbine in it.