My electricity bill has just tripled: how about yours? Alternative suppliers?

[AnnaKarpik]

The article doesn't really tell us anything we don't already know. What it has failed to point out though as has happened with some family members. Is that when their energy supplylier went bust, they were on what is by todays energy cap tariff, an absolute steal! So when they get moved to a new company and find their bills have increased by 80ish percent, they are wondering WTF!
Other family members have incorrectly been telling them it should only be 54% more. Yes that's right, but only if they were going from energy cap before April, to Energy Cap after April.
If they've gone from a great fixed price deal, to the current price cap, then yes, it will be a hell of a lot more than 54% more.

That will be the case for some, sure, but I know EDF tried to put my DD up when they had all the information they needed to set it £22.00 lower and still be quids in.

 

[JoeyBoy]

I've been taking a shower here at work whenever possible to save money using the cyclists shower but the bosses reckon too many of us are doing it and have a put a lock on the door to stop us. If you come on a bike you have to go and sign the key out.
Bunch of cheap bastards.

Someone has drilled the lock out so back to showering at work for the moment. A witch hunt is in progress. In the meantime I have discovered that I'm not getting the £150 council tax payment to help with energy bills since my council tax is rolled in with my rent it is going to my landlord so he is getting £750 out of our block of flats whilst we get stuck with the big energy bills. Another bastard going up against the wall come the revolution.
He owns something like 30 or so houses as well as half the flats in my block, don't know if he includes council tax in the rent in his house though, the bastard will be quids in if he does.

 

[Elpenor]

Getting my £150 payment from Teignbridge on Monday

 

[WouldBe]

Getting my £150 payment from Teignbridge on Monday

If you move quick enough can you get a second payment?

 

[nottsgirl]

Someone has drilled the lock out so back to showering at work for the moment. A witch hunt is in progress. In the meantime I have discovered that I'm not getting the £150 council tax payment to help with energy bills since my council tax is rolled in with my rent it is going to my landlord so he is getting £750 out of our block of flats whilst we get stuck with the big energy bills. Another bastard going up against the wall come the revolution.
He owns something like 30 or so houses as well as half the flats in my block, don't know if he includes council tax in the rent in his house though, the bastard will be quids in if he does.

This is criminal.

 

[MickiQ]

This is criminal.

Which one? drilling the lock out or the landlord getting all the energy rebates? I suspect the law and the opinion on these forums are diametrically opposed as to which is which.

 

[two sheds]

Question for gentlegreen and others:

I have solar panels, but can’t add battery backup. The panels give me electricity during the day for most of the year, but in the evenings when the panels aren’t generating I use a 140W computer upstairs for up to 7 hours so an extra 1 kWh/day.

Does anyone know whether I could plug a 1 kW inverter/charger (£250) into one of my power sockets upstairs to charge a sealed deep-cycle 130 Ah lead acid battery (£88) during the day to supply my computer at night?

 

[WouldBe]

Does anyone know whether I could plug a 1 kW inverter/charger (£250) into one of my power sockets upstairs to charge a sealed deep-cycle 130 Ah lead acid battery (£88) during the day to supply my computer at night?

Don't think so as that appears to work directly from the solar panels. Also a quick look it charges a 24V battery while you've linked to a 12V battery.

 

[two sheds]

Don't think so as that appears to work directly from the solar panels. Also a quick look it charges a 24V battery while you've linked to a 12V battery.

It does say "Charge mode: AC and PV charging your battery together, and AC utility provide power to your loads" - I was hoping that would work with AC charging battery 100% rather than 50%. There's a 12 V version too.

So in principle it might work, perhaps with another inverter if not with this one?

 

[MrCurry]

Question for gentlegreen and others:

I have solar panels, but can’t add battery backup. The panels give me electricity during the day for most of the year, but in the evenings when the panels aren’t generating I use a 140W computer upstairs for up to 7 hours so an extra 1 kWh/day.

Does anyone know whether I could plug a 1 kW inverter/charger (£250) into one of my power sockets upstairs to charge a sealed deep-cycle 130 Ah lead acid battery (£88) during the day to supply my computer at night?

You can certainly do what you want to accomplish, but you can’t charge your battery using the unit you linked to, which is an inverter for converting a battery output (DC) to mains. To charge a lead acid battery you want to go in the other direction from mains to DC and a normal car start battery charger is not likely to give you enough charging current to refill a 130Ah battery during 6 hours of peak sunlight, so you’d want something quite beefy like this one or even bigger.

Then to run the PC at night your inverter you linked to might work, but it’s very expensive, there are cheaper ones which are still good.

But… it’s inefficient (and expensive) to convert from battery voltage up to mains and then convert back within the PC PSU to DC which the circuit boards need. Would you be willing to open up the PC and replace the PSU with a DC input version such as this one? Then you can run the computer direct from the battery and you still have the fallback option of using a bigger capacity mains to 12V PSU to run the whole setup from mains if your battery happens to be empty.

If you try to do it with an inverter, don’t underestimate the size of inverter and battery you need, as the surge current when the PC first switches on might cause a 1kW inverter to shut down. A lot of the Chinese made inverters are good for only half their rated power, so think of a 2kW inverter as a 1kW unit, and devices like PCs (and fridges and freezers) can have initial surge currents when switching on which make them appear to the inverter to be a much bigger load than they are while running.

 

[prunus]

Question for gentlegreen and others:

I have solar panels, but can’t add battery backup. The panels give me electricity during the day for most of the year, but in the evenings when the panels aren’t generating I use a 140W computer upstairs for up to 7 hours so an extra 1 kWh/day.

Does anyone know whether I could plug a 1 kW inverter/charger (£250) into one of my power sockets upstairs to charge a sealed deep-cycle 130 Ah lead acid battery (£88) during the day to supply my computer at night?

Is it a (mains input) desktop or a laptop? If the latter then you only need a 4000mAh battery with DC output at the right voltage (capable of 0.6A output, which is trivial), and get the right jack on the end, which should be easy enough. If eg it’s USB-C powered then this will run it
Battery
And charge no problem in the time you have available I’d think. Saves one of the DC->AC->DC cycles which will be much more efficient.

I think

 

[teuchter]

Question for gentlegreen and others:

I have solar panels, but can’t add battery backup. The panels give me electricity during the day for most of the year, but in the evenings when the panels aren’t generating I use a 140W computer upstairs for up to 7 hours so an extra 1 kWh/day.

Does anyone know whether I could plug a 1 kW inverter/charger (£250) into one of my power sockets upstairs to charge a sealed deep-cycle 130 Ah lead acid battery (£88) during the day to supply my computer at night?

Is it worth it? £250 + 88 = £338

If your energy price is about 40p per KWh, it would take about 2 and a half years before you were any better off.

 

[two sheds]

Fair point, but I'm assuming electricity prices will be going to 50p/unit if not higher. So around 2 year repayment time, which is good for energy improvements. I'd actually consider 5 year repayments for say an air-air heat pump.

As kind people have pointed out though, it might not actually work unless I get the equipment right, so I have to go off and look at what's been said.

 

[teuchter]

Your other option would be to spend the money on a more efficient computer. Eg the new mac minis only use about 20-30W. I don't know if there are equivalents in windows world.

 

[platinumsage]

UPSs containing lead-acid batteries are designed to run PCs out of the box. No faff with figuring out how it all wires up.

This will run a 200W PC for three hours: APC Smart-UPS 2200VA USB & Serial 120V - APC Trinidad and Tobago

Might be worth seeing if you can find one or more second-hand ones.

 

[two sheds]

UPSs containing lead-acid batteries are designed to run PCs out of the box. No faff with figuring out how it all wires up.

This will run a 200W PC for three hours: APC Smart-UPS 2200VA USB & Serial 120V - APC Trinidad and Tobago

Might be worth seeing if you can find one or more second-hand ones.

I've got one, but mine beeps loudly and annoyingly when there's a power cut. Bloody good idea though if I can get one that's 130 Ah and doesn't beep loudly and annoyingly when there's a power cut. That would solve it all, I could just unplug it at night unless the battery didn't charge up enough during the day.

I was a bit concerned about having a lead acid battery indoors but hadn't realized I've already got one under the computer upstairs i.e. the UPS

Eta that one is bloody close tbh.

 

[WouldBe]

It does say "Charge mode: AC and PV charging your battery together, and AC utility provide power to your loads" - I was hoping that would work with AC charging battery 100% rather than 50%. There's a 12 V version too.

So in principle it might work, perhaps with another inverter if not with this one?

Only had a quick look at your links last night. The other problem would be how to get it to charge when the sun is out and you have a surplus if power? Could you link it to your immersion heater that only works when you have surplus PV? But you would need something as well that makes sure the battery is charged even if it's a cloudy day.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Getting my £150 payment from Teignbridge on Monday

Did you have to apply for it? Not a whisper here in Exeter

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Got my £ 150 off the council a week or two back

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

not heard a pip from my council
but can't say I'm surprised

 

[Puddy_Tat]

I didn't hear anything, it just landed in the bank account (i do council tax by direct debit)

 

[xsunnysuex]

No payment from Lambeth council so far.

 

[cesare]

Not heard anything from Tower Hamlets. No direct debit

 

[Epona]

I am in Newham and not on direct debit - can't find any info about how to claim my rebate.

Apparently councils have until September to get their act together and sort this out, so it could be another 4 months yet for those of us who don't pay by DD.

 

[sparkybird]

No payment from Lambeth council so far.

Mine came into my account yesterday, so fingers crossed for you.

 

[rubbershoes]

Odd situation with my bills. I was with Pure Planet who went bust and my account was transferred to Shell. My meter has night and day usage readings and I'd submit these to Pure Planet.

The Shell system only allows me to input the day reading. I've told them several times about this but they haven't done anything yet. Consequently last month's bill was only £8.

I guess it'll work it's way through their bureaucracy and I'll get presented with a massive catch up bill some time

 

[alex_]

Odd situation with my bills. I was with Pure Planet who went bust and my account was transferred to Shell. My meter has night and day usage readings and I'd submit these to Pure Planet.

The Shell system only allows me to input the day reading. I've told them several times about this but they haven't done anything yet. Consequently last month's bill was only £8.

I guess it'll work it's way through their bureaucracy and I'll get presented with a massive catch up bill some time

Don’t chase them Check the energy back-billing rules they can’t bill you back past 12 months.

 

[StoneRoad]

Odd situation with my bills. I was with Pure Planet who went bust and my account was transferred to Shell. My meter has night and day usage readings and I'd submit these to Pure Planet.

The Shell system only allows me to input the day reading. I've told them several times about this but they haven't done anything yet. Consequently last month's bill was only £8.

I guess it'll work it's way through their bureaucracy and I'll get presented with a massive catch up bill some time

Based on estimating your consumption, I would stash some cash in an interest-bearing a/c as a buffer for when they do get their act together ...

 

[Elpenor]

Did you have to apply for it? Not a whisper here in Exeter

I had to sign up to pay via direct debit; that was all. They were quite good with comms on their weekly email.

Hope yours gets paid soon.

 

[two sheds]

You can certainly do what you want to accomplish, but you can’t charge your battery using the unit you linked to, which is an inverter for converting a battery output (DC) to mains. To charge a lead acid battery you want to go in the other direction from mains to DC and a normal car start battery charger is not likely to give you enough charging current to refill a 130Ah battery during 6 hours of peak sunlight, so you’d want something quite beefy like this one or even bigger.

Then to run the PC at night your inverter you linked to might work, but it’s very expensive, there are cheaper ones which are still good.

But… it’s inefficient (and expensive) to convert from battery voltage up to mains and then convert back within the PC PSU to DC which the circuit boards need. Would you be willing to open up the PC and replace the PSU with a DC input version such as this one? Then you can run the computer direct from the battery and you still have the fallback option of using a bigger capacity mains to 12V PSU to run the whole setup from mains if your battery happens to be empty.

If you try to do it with an inverter, don’t underestimate the size of inverter and battery you need, as the surge current when the PC first switches on might cause a 1kW inverter to shut down. A lot of the Chinese made inverters are good for only half their rated power, so think of a 2kW inverter as a 1kW unit, and devices like PCs (and fridges and freezers) can have initial surge currents when switching on which make them appear to the inverter to be a much bigger load than they are while running.

Thanks . Is this the charger you linked to? Your link doesn’t work for me. Charges at 20 A so about 6 hours to charge 130 Ah battery, which would be ideal if so. I think the original battery I linked to would be good.

Any thoughts for an inverter? I did check but the only 2 kW ones I could see for under £200 are used ones (which might be fine tbh). Eta: something like this?

Afraid I’d not be confident replacing the computer power supply, well I’m confident I could do it but I’m not confident it would work afterwards. (I’d also need a 240 V supply for the monitors?). The chargers/inverters look about 80- 90% efficient so about 70% efficient in total but better than the near 0% efficient by just wasting the extra energy as I do now.