The energy crisis

[Dave42]

Liz Truss campaign’s biggest donation came from wife of former BP executive
Fitriani Hay, wife of James Hay, donated £100,000 to Truss’s successful bid to become PM

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...box=1662636333

the real reason she against a winfall tax

[Julian]

A former BP executive it says.

Did you not understand that bit?

20 years ago - a bit tenuous…

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Hugh

20 years ago - a bit tenuous…

It's considerably less time than he spent at BP though...

[tweetiepooh]

Our hot water is set to 50C and heating to around 65C as recommended by the installer. You don't want the water much higher as that goes to scalding and there is no point having the heating too high as the radiators can't "push out" the heat fast enough. (The boiler is less than 1 year old BTW)

[Halcyon]

Sounds good. I think I may reduce mine down a few degrees too.

[GrimUpNorth]

We've got our central heating set around the middle of the range so it gets to around 60, but the hot water is on maximum simply because both Mrs G and I like a shower to have some oomph and this gives us a superb water flow - heating water just to cool it down with cold water is wasteful but at the moment we're happy to pay it. One thing I'm planning to change though is turn the water pre-heat off. I'll take some grief because she likes 'instant' hot water in the shower but that is a waste of gas. I wish when we were renovating the house we'd not put the boiler at the far end of the loft as it's crawling access only down that end!

This summer we moved house to a super efficient new build with 1.3KW of solar panels integrated to the roof. Since the electricity meter was activated last spring it has exported about a third more electricity to the grid than it has imported … sadly as our wholesale market is rigged against the little people, Scottish Power can get away with paying me a small fraction of what they will sell that solar power on for. Nevertheless we get some benefit because the house consumes any available solar power before drawing from the grid so there are times when we’re using electricity at little or no cost. Add to that the construction of the house makes it like some sort of giant storage heater and we’ve still yet to switch the central heating on (a notable achievement in this part of Scotland in September).

All told I’m hopeful that despite the price increases, we’re actually going to reduce our energy bill compared to last winter, as our old house was so draughty. However as Scottish Power has been truly glacial in setting up our account and the counter-top smart meter doesn’t actually work, it’s still going to be a while before I know what it’s actually costing us to live here.

[Jaymoss]

Originally Posted by Chris

This summer we moved house to a super efficient new build with 1.3KW of solar panels integrated to the roof. Since the electricity meter was activated last spring it has exported about a third more electricity to the grid than it has imported … sadly as our wholesale market is rigged against the little people, Scottish Power can get away with paying me a small fraction of what they will sell that solar power on for. Nevertheless we get some benefit because the house consumes any available solar power before drawing from the grid so there are times when we’re using electricity at little or no cost. Add to that the construction of the house makes it like some sort of giant storage heater and we’ve still yet to switch the central heating on (a notable achievement in this part of Scotland in September).

All told I’m hopeful that despite the price increases, we’re actually going to reduce our energy bill compared to last winter, as our old house was so draughty. However as Scottish Power has been truly glacial in setting up our account and the counter-top smart meter doesn’t actually work, it’s still going to be a while before I know what it’s actually costing us to live here.

Any batteries?

Originally Posted by Jaymoss

Any batteries?

Oddly enough I was reviewing the documentation yesterday and the house builder does have a recommended supplier if we want to add them. I think I’m going to at least ask, and see how cost effective they are.

[Jaymoss]

Originally Posted by Chris

Oddly enough I was reviewing the documentation yesterday and the house builder does have a recommended supplier if we want to add them. I think I’m going to at least ask, and see how cost effective they are.

Not that I will ever be able to afford it but keep us informed anyway

Aside from the noise, I wonder how cost effective a home generator would be now.

[Taf]

Originally Posted by Paul

Aside from the noise, I wonder how cost effective a home generator would be now.

It's not so long ago that there was a push in the UK to have home gas boilers removed, and gas powered electricity generators fitted that had waste heat to warm the homes. I suspect that is on the furthest point away from becoming a reality now.

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by Taf

Most modern boilers are preset to 60c - 65c, and you have no way to override it.

Mine has a temperature dial for both the rads and hot water . And yes it's a new boiler ( Worcester) it differently turns the temperature of the water via the taps and shower

The temperature for the rads is best at 75c according to most manufacturers, as you get most efficient use of the gas. Any lower, and the pump will run more often and longer and use more electricity.

You must kidding 75c !!!: shocked:

[Taf]

Originally Posted by Itshim

You must kidding 75c !!!: shocked:

It's all down to how condensing combi boilers work. 75c leaving the boiler, but a lot lower on the return leg. I had it explained to me in a very techie way, and it made total sense.

But, and it's big BUT, Building Regs Part L changed again in June this year.

Now the system must be able to cope with 55c.

This guy explains it, but the writing on the screen is a bit off-putting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbcVKU1QxJ4