Octopus Price Increase

[Joeboy]

I believe there has been some more price hikes at Octopus,

For new contracts,
Gas tracker is now capped at 16p / kWh (up from 11p).
Agile is now capped at 55p / kWh (up from 35p).

Off the back of this post I had a quick look at Octopus change tarriff option. My predicted bill on standard 12 month fixed came in at £11,187 pa. I immediately ran away.
My thoughts on this are similar to OSM. The only hard part is Nov to Jan. Not a lot can be done about that. By putting up more panels we can chip away at the edges of those fallow months slightly but that's about it.
After insulate,insulate,insulate of course.

[Ken]

the problem i see is that until gas increases to 1/3rd the price of leccy then HPs are going to be a hard sell. I do not understand why this is already not the case. Using gas to produce leccy somehow increases its cost to 4X . I really dont buy that but why i dont know.

[Joeboy]

the problem i see is that until gas increases to 1/3rd the price of leccy then HPs are going to be a hard sell. I do not understand why this is already not the case. Using gas to produce leccy somehow increases its cost to 4X . I really dont buy that but why i dont know.

Conversion losses, plant, repair & maintenance costs along with personnel plus make a return? I can see it. I don't like it but I can see it!

I can't convince myself on the HP's yet. In saying that, one day my gas boiler is going to fail and I'll be pushed to decide. Although in saying that it has been off almost the whole year so far

[Bugtownboy]

These not interest you Joe ? (This is from another thread)

[Joeboy]

These not interest you Joe ? (This is from another thread)

Saw that the other day but not watched yet. Hoping to get through to Winter 24 on the current gas boiler as a standby unit and use the storage heaters and WBS along with immersion element to do the business. It would be nice to have a use for the gch rads. So will watch what Kirkhill produces in its first year. SWMBO is very nearly at induction hob tip over point so we are getting up towards the point where we will have the gas turned off. Not quite yet but its getting there!
Hoping to have a fully gas free year as we are already a measly 8.5 m3 in 2022 with zero gas use since mid March.

[openspaceman]

I can't convince myself on the HP's yet. In saying that, one day my gas boiler is going to fail and I'll be pushed to decide. Although in saying that it has been off almost the whole year so far

I'm in a similar position, gas boiler works, is over 30 years old and only used for DHW in winter. House is 1862 build and very heat leaky but a 7m^3 stack of wood keeps us warm enough in these mild winters.

So the capital cost of heat pump puts it out of court even before looking at larger radiators or ripping up the floors. Indeed the saving on gas even makes the spend on a more efficient boiler unlikely yo pay back.

What does look appealing is a micro CHP for those 4 months I won't produce all my own electricity.

[Joeboy]

We are very similar then. I am interested in how much lattitude you have in your mind for going full eco warrior and saying damn the price difference tween gas & E? This is a genuine non judgement question. I have had it circling in my mind the last couple of years. I personally am a parsimonious Scot and last year I was at the mental tipping of saying bollocks to gas. Yet my financial slowly, slowly, catchy monkey way of being made me sit back, line up the Ripple WT''s, line up Go Faster, do all I could (ongoing, so can) to negate gas. I am now looking at going into Winter on a roughly 15% defecit on gas price compared to electric costs on the go faster most recent prices. Gas Boiler inefficiencies shut most of that gap down and my Ripple investment in GF will take care of the rest (I think).

I mention this as its very real the cost of energy and hits people right where they live. I personally will let it ho to about 30%. By this I mean I will accept 30% higher annual bills to burn RE generated electricity rather than cheaper LNG.

All input & thought

[openspaceman]

Well I'm parsimonious from habit and not having had a well paid job, dad was a scot though spent his life south of Watford. I live off a state pension and a small private pension where the annuity provider does not expect me to see five years out without them losing money.

Everyone's circumstance will mean no course of action will be the same and the macro scale or strategic policy for the country will be different from what works for me at the micro or tactical level.

My biggest problem is lack of technical expertise or experience.

I think adding 10 or more panels south facing is doable on garage roofs but it would mean going over 4 metres and orienting them 45 degrees across the current ridge and I don't know what the planners may think in this suburban situation, I don't intend to spend any money on planning permission. This house is the only one in the street that is not extended so the plot is worth more than the house and anything I do with RE is likely to be scrapped when I go.

The main problem is house heating as I become more decrepit and this is where CHP fits but it still needs heat and to my mind the current gas supply is the way to provide it, gas safe notwithstanding.

I'm still hoping to understand how Nowty keeps his system live and islanded off an EPS . For my part I don't think I can get going without a mains changeover switch, if I fit one I shall see if an cheap inverter genset will keep the system live with loads that the battery and inverter can sustain without taxing the genset.

I have a few ideas as to how about getting the heat into the house but won't go there until someones shoots holes in my ideas so far.

[nowty]

Garages are buildings so there is no requirement for planning permission. There are additional rules for ground mounts but you simply make them into ladder stores or potting sheds and then they are outbuildings so don’t need planning permission.

My EPS is anti island’d via a G99 relay controlled via my Sunny Island battery inverter, well it was G59 when I installed it.
http://www.windandsun.co.uk/products/In ... txxZy_TWhA
http://www.windandsun.co.uk/media/93853 ... es-v21.pdf

[openspaceman]

My garage already exists and the permitted development rules only allow a total height of 8ft, that is the ridge of the garage. It is also oriented SE to NW. So to mount the array more southerly would require a mount over the ridge which would be too tall. Replacing the roof is an issue too as it is asbestos reinforced concrete dating from 1959.

An adjacent building would shade panels WSW oriented, like the house, ones,

As I have a surplus during the summer does it make sense to mount panels to maximise winter sun?

My existing PV inverter and battery inverter cannot do what your sunnyisland does hence my thoughts about a manual mains change over switch for a few hours daily in the winter months