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

MickiQ said:
BG have sent my leccy statement and I have used £581.65 these past 6 months and since I was £779 in credit this has left me £197.14 in credit and they have returned me £7.13 of it. WTF?
Went to the website to look for a "Refund Me Now You Thieving Cunts!" button like there was for the gas but found only this :-

We can't offer you a credit refund
Paying the same amount every month could mean that during the summer months you might pay more for energy and not use it, and during the winter months need more energy than what you're paying for.
We base your payment amount with the seasons in mind, so we can forecast your plan across the year. Right now, you're in credit by £190.01 but you'll need that to put towards the cold winter days when they arrive.
Because of this, we aren't able to offer you a refund today.*

* Your monthly payments are forecast based on your current usage. We'll review the forecast on the 13th October 2023
Click to expand...
This is an extension of them upping your monthly DD, then holding onto your credit for as long as possible. Multiply say £200 per household, by 3 million users, then imagine the interest rate they can get just holding on to your money for 3 months, let alone a year. It's a con.
 
gentlegreen said:
17 degrees in here.
Feeling the cold ATM.
Just put on a second duvet and my house coat.
So far this year I've used 4.7kwh of bed heating but it will actually be more than that because of the power factor.
Difficult to get the lagging right...
Click to expand...
A comment from the “how cold is your house“ thread, but I’m replying here as the clarification I’m asking about has more to do with electricity consumption. gentlegreen , when you mentioned power factor above, did you mean you would be charged for more than the 4.7kWh you’ve measured, or that you’ve used 4.7kWh of chargeable heat energy but expect you’ve had more heat than that due to a below unity power factor?

I’ve toyed with power factor correction, adding a 0.68uF capacitor to my central heating circulation pump, but I only did so because it lowered the current drawn (by 5.5%) when I ran it from battery via inverter, not because I expected it to change the billed rate from my electricity supplier. When I’ve looked into it in the past, every indication has been that for domestic customers, power factor is not relevant to the billed rates as domestic electricty meters charge in kWh rather than kVA. Would be interesting if you have any info on this, as measuring power factor and correcting it with capacitors is not all that difficult once you’re set up for it. I just haven’t had a reason to go very far down that road.
 
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The thing to do would be to make the power factor WORSE :D
But you would need to run a 120 volt pump in series with a capacitor dropper.

My bed heater is 166 watts and I have it on a triac fan speed controller so the PF goes down to 0.3 when turned down. 0.2a 241v 16.8 w indicated 48.2 va.
 
gentlegreen said:
The thing to do would be to make the power factor WORSE :D
But you would need to run a 120 volt pump in series with a capacitor dropper.

My bed heater is 166 watts and I have it on a triac fan speed controller so the PF goes down to 0.3 when turned down. 0.2a 241v 16.8 w indicated 48.2 va.
Click to expand...
You mean you get more heat per billlable unit by making the PF worse? Kinda funny if that’s the case, but I see why, if the electricity supplier is only charging kWh, you’re effectively nicking some extra current for free.

I think that wheeze will only be useful for resistive element heating devices.
 
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MrCurry said:
You mean you get more heat per billlable unit by making the PF worse? Kinda funny of that’s the case, but I see why, if the electricity supplier is only charging kWh, you’re effectively nicking some extra current for free.

I think that wheeze will only be useful for resistive element heating devices.
Click to expand...
Many LED lamps have simple capacitive droppers and a PF of 0.5 Apparently smart meters will at some point start charging for VA - I don't know why they don't already perhaps some ancient legal thing.
It wasn't intentional on my part....
 
gentlegreen said:
Many LED lamps have simple capacitive droppers and a PF of 0.5 Apparently smart meters will at some point start charging for VA - I don't know why they don't already perhaps some ancient legal thing.
Click to expand...
Yeah it’s not like utility companies to give away their product for free. Industrial consumers have to pay for VA so typically give a lot of attention to PF correction.
 
MrCurry said:
A comment from the “how cold is your house“ thread, but I’m replying here as the clarification I’m asking about has more to do with electricity consumption. gentlegreen , when you mentioned power factor above, did you mean you would be charged for more than the 4.7kWh you’ve measured, or that you’ve used 4.7kWh of chargeable heat energy but expect you’ve had more heat than that due to a below unity power factor?

I’ve toyed with power factor correction, adding a 0.68uF capacitor to my central heating circulation pump, but I only did so because it lowered the current drawn (by 5.5%) when I ran it from battery via inverter, not because I expected it to change the billed rate from my electricity supplier. When I’ve looked into it in the past, every indication has been that for domestic customers, power factor is not relevant to the billed rates as domestic electricty meters charge in kWh rather than kVA. Would be interesting if you have any info on this, as measuring power factor and correcting it with capacitors is not all that difficult once you’re set up for it. I just haven’t had a reason to go very far down that road.
Click to expand...
I did a building managers job in an office block in Brixton 2000-2003. There were three lifts - two of industrial scale.
The electricity meters were a "normal" one measuring kWh and another one measuring phase.
Due to switching mania we were introduced to Enron - which only lasted a couple of years, but their meter readers did not know how to read (or maybe were simply not asked to read) the phase meter and ignored it.
No wonder the energy market went to pot!
 
Bulb have annoyingly decided to make the October bill only up to the 27th, so the reading is approximately 22 units low - but at £62.61, it's comfortably under the £67. Average 4.5 kwh per day over 31 days. (would have been 4.3 but I had a bath).

---

My new secret weapon.
250 watt "garage heater" I thought was dead but it's just a sticky thermostat.
It's only my feet and ankles that get cold so this will do fine instead of the 1kw fan heater.
I will box-in my trestle table/bench/desk and fit a foot rest ...

Roughly the same output as those lethal "4 tee lights under a flowerpot" things ..

I may still feel able to downgrade to a 20 watt reptile pad at some point ...

heaterrrr.jpg
 
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gentlegreen said:
Bulb have annoyingly decided to make the October bill only up to the 27th, so the reading is approximately 22 units low - but at £62.61, it's comfortably under the £67. Average 4.5 kwh per day over 31 days. (would have been 4.3 but I had a bath).
Click to expand...

That would have seemed good to me about a six weeks ago, but for the calendar month of Oct, I am now expecting to have used under 75kwh of electric, under 2.5kwh per day, the new fridge-freezer is doing its magic.

That excludes hot water, which is heated by gas, usage of that will come in at around 25kwh, but I can't make a direct comparison, as that's cheaper, so under £2.50.
 
I've had my massive £7.13 refund off BG for my leccy doing my best not to let it go to my head. I haven't had my £67 of Sunak Money yet, they took my DD's on the 24th. They're scheduled for the 22nd but that was a weekend. I will check next week if I've got the bribe, they did say a few days.
 
gentlegreen said:
Sadly the one that was highlighted upthread is not available now and I'm struggling to find an equivalent ...
Click to expand...
They all seem to be F-rated now .. I suppose I lose efficiency if I have an ice box ?
Ice box usually means recreational calories though ...
I wonder which sort would be easiest to resell in a couple of years' time ...

Fridges that are priced £150 or less | ao.com

A wide range and great deals on our range of Fridges that are priced £150 or less. Flexible delivery available.
ao.com ao.com
 
gentlegreen said:
They all seem to be F-rated now .. I suppose I lose efficiency if I have an ice box ?
Ice box usually means recreational calories though ...
I wonder which sort would be easiest to resell in a couple of years' time ...

Fridges that are priced £150 or less | ao.com

A wide range and great deals on our range of Fridges that are priced £150 or less. Flexible delivery available.
ao.com ao.com
Click to expand...

Yeah F-rated was A+ on the old scale.

THIS ONE has a ice box, and Annual Energy Consumption of 107Kwh, so under 0.3kwh per day.

Anything that new, using so little electric, should re-sell easy enough.
 
two sheds said:
This is the one I got a couple of months ago, really happy with it - just enough room:


£100 - was £80 when I got it, may be cheaper elsewhere.
Click to expand...
£80-£100 seems amazingly cheap in these days of rampant inflation and stock shortages, even if it’s only a small one.

At the other end of the scale, what kind of a fucknut is going to pay over £7k for a fridge freezer? Surely a pricing error?

 
MickiQ said:
I've had my massive £7.13 refund off BG for my leccy doing my best not to let it go to my head. I haven't had my £67 of Sunak Money yet, they took my DD's on the 24th. They're scheduled for the 22nd but that was a weekend. I will check next week if I've got the bribe, they did say a few days.
Click to expand...
My auntie always phones them up when they keep money in credit and demands it back, and she gets it. Don't know who she is with but have you tried phoning? Probably silly question.
 
Submitting regular readings to Eon having cancelled my direct debit is doing wonders; despite having cancelled my direct debit at the start of the month when they wanted me to raise it to £120 - I’m still £30 in credit

I’m (reasonably - price is shocking but little I can do but reduce usage) happy to pay for what I use; but I don’t see why I should build up a buffer for winter when I’m unlikely to have the heating on for some time.
 
cupid_stunt said:
Yeah F-rated was A+ on the old scale.

THIS ONE has a ice box, and Annual Energy Consumption of 107Kwh, so under 0.3kwh per day.

Anything that new, using so little electric, should re-sell easy enough.
Click to expand...
Reading reviews, having a teeny ice box not only adds to the cost, they aren't good for much more than a few ice cubes and can make the rest of the fridge too cold - and then there's defrosting ...
I used to buy frozen peas on a Saturday and eat them over two days - and that was before I even had a fridge ...
Just need to choose one ...
 
HoratioCuthbert said:
My auntie always phones them up when they keep money in credit and demands it back, and she gets it. Don't know who she is with but have you tried phoning? Probably silly question.
Click to expand...
I'm sure that if I pursued it aggressively they would give me my credit balance back but at the moment I'm OK leaving it with them to see how things pan out over winter. They haven't put my DD's up this time so let's see how much of that credit balance is around in a few months
 
MickiQ said:
I'm sure that if I pursued it aggressively they would give me my credit balance back but at the moment I'm OK leaving it with them to see how things pan out over winter. They haven't put my DD's up this time so let's see how much of that credit balance is around in a few months
Click to expand...
Yeah unless you really need the money now then i'd leave it too. Its suppossed to balance it out so you dont pay more in winter and less in summer so its normal to have a credit balance at certain times of the year.
 
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