There’s a news item on the Beeb about a European scheme to encourage mass energy supplier switching. I have to say I’m not convinced by these schemes. To me it’s a bit like a lemmings flash-mob running head first into a bait and switch scheme which will always be funded by other consumers paying over the odds. It’s simply not a sustainable scheme and certainly not a long term answer to rising energy bills.
Image by Ian F Thomas under this creative commons licence
There is no point in England’s dreaming…
This poll in progress shows the depth of hostility towards the privatised utilities but with none of the three main political parties committed to anything other than more privatisation the public will have to keep it’s wish fulfilments confined to on-line polls.
It’s energy bill time so we’ve submitted our readings online. The total bills for the last quarter are £24.57 for gas and £40.26 for the electricity all inclusive. In this age of ever rising bills that’s reasonably good considering the place is rarely empty in the daytime.
The low gas bill is about right for the summer months where it’s only on to heat the hot water and for cooking.
I’ve taken those results and gone onto one of those (in my humble opinion) dubious supplier switching comparison web sites which (to their credit) tell me I’m already getting the best deal for my level of energy consumption but if I’d like to pay £151 more for the privilege then we could change to, for example British Gas right away. No thanks.
There are providers whose price per kWh on paper is lower than what I’m charged (the few that don’t charge more for the first x amount of energy consumed each quarter that is) but once we factor in their standing charge then it’s more expensive.
The Bank of England has indicated that it expects another round of energy price rises this winter whilst others seem to predict price reductions (I’d love to know what the latter sooth sayers are smoking but maybe we’ll be surprised).
We’re lowish energy consumers despite constant computer and gadget use.
Our current UK energy provider is Ebico.
We’d love to be more energy self sufficient.
Image by dibytes under this creative commons licence
Electricity consumption for the past week has fallen to an all time low, for us of 23kWh which is odd as I’m unsure what we’ve really cut back on. We haven’t started offsetting with any minor off-grid initiatives yet but hopefully that will eventuate in the year ahead.
We’ve got our weekly kWh electricity consumption down to 27 kWh for the week with 50% of usage during the cheaper off peak charged period. The biscuits are on me.
There’s an interesting poll on Slashdot that asks what people are paying for their electricity per kWh(kilo-watt hour). There seems to be a wide latitude of energy prices across North America and that contrasts starkly with the sort of cartel-a-like prices we seem to pay in the UK though it’s not an entirely accurate picture as many in North America are charged generation, transmission and distribution prices in addition to the given per kWh price (I assume that’s similar to the standing charge that many UK energy providers employ).
I was interested to see how common lower priced first tier pricing for the first x number of kWhs is rather than the insane reverse situation that occurs in the UK where the first x number of kWhs are often charged at a higher rate thus low consumption is penalised because that majority of a low energy use bill would be charged at the first tier higher rate. In the UK some are literally charged a premium for their frugality or energy efficiency.
Also common in North America it seems is being charged a higher rate in the winter compared to the summer which hasn’t been used as yet in the UK.
Again more common in North America is house rental where the energy bills are included as part of the rent and in some cases even an agreed fixed monthly charge for business users. The former situation is not unknown in the UK but is quite rare. The latter situation re a businesses fixed energy fee I have to say I’ve never come across in the UK.
The only way I can see that UK electricity users can ensure lowest rates for their usage is to consume the majority of their electricity during the cheaper economy 7 night rate (assuming you have that tariff) which basically means living or working more in the night hours. Great if you don’t mind living in the night hours or can automate your heating, cooking, washing etc to occur during these off peak periods.
The Slashdot poll perhaps highlights the lack of competition in the UK energy market and probably too the degree to which we are not self sufficient in its generation.
Will this ever change?
CITY FOCUS: Upstarts take on Big Energy as Huhne plans to make switching between accounts easier
Curious statement of Tariff prices here.Why do we always base likely costs on a one-size-fits-all average total cost? Does it take into account standing charges (if any)?.Why not show three averages including low energy user, average and high energy user as the results will usually be different for each.
That aside it’s good to see the lesser know providers getting a mention.
Warning: Link is to the Daily Mail site (don’t say you weren’t warned.
