[meldrewreborn]

The government announced the new EPG from April next year would limit the mythical average users cost to £3000 rather than the current £2500. Ignoring standing charges this implies another 20% increase in unit prices.
I’ve looked at the forecast from Cornwall Insight and for the four quarters of next year and they are suggesting £4200, £3700, £3200 and £3200 for the OFGEM price caps. So the new EPG still will have significant tax payer costs and at the same time for most of us bills will be even higher.

the need to save energy to the maximum extent is going to have to continue for many months if not years, and the sooner people start, if they haven’t already, is now.

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

I wish they'd not use the mythical average and just specify the price of a unit of leccy and gas.

'Average' is purported to be dual fuel, 12000 odd of gas and 2900 odd of electricity in a year. I use a tad more electric, but have no gas. So the caps as average cost means precisely nothing to me.

Electricity going up to 45p a unit from 34p just makes far more sense to me.

At the same time, by April the clocks would have gone forward, and I'll be using 20% less energy anyway, in theory, so fingers crossed I'll break roughly even. It's next October that's got my stomach knotting.

[meldrewreborn]

@retrotecchie

the really strange thing is that OFGEM use 2,900 for the electricity avaerage but then set the price caps using 3,100 - I really don’t understand why? But they set the caps as they do to give suppliers a tiny bit of flexibility in their tariffs between standing charges and unit prices, which most suppliers ignore.

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

And yet every supplier I have had up until now has always compared my usage against their 'average' figures which always seemed to be 4500 units of electricity a year for a 'comparable property'.

I've been pushed to get usage down to 4500 a year when I lived in a house with two resident teenogres, but since it's just been the two of us, and off the gas grid, 3200 is certainly doable.

Even so, that's £1280 a year. Almost exactly what I was paying ten years ago for both electricity and gas at £100 a month. The bills stay the same, but I have to use a lot less energy.

[meldrewreborn]

@retrotecchie

from the first 10 days of readings, I think my electricity consumption is now down to 1700-1750 kWh per annum. The new freezer has cut my consumption by 29/30% on its own. But then I don't have an out building like yours to power!

Prices have certainly increased and over a much shorter timescale than 10 years. My gas contract with Zog (fixed through to March 2024!) was for 2.6478 p per kWh a year ago. Under the price cap I'm paying 10.33p - that nearly 4 times the price in a year! All figures VAT inclusive.

Electricity is up too from circa 14p to 35p per unit in a year, a huge increase but not anything like as steep as the gas. But it's made us all think about using the absolute minimum of all fuels.

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

It doesn't help that we have two freezers and two fridges, but at least they are all A+ rated. It's the electric oven and hob that are the real energy eaters, but such is life when you aren't on mains gas.

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

Then again, the 'waste' heat given off by the freezer in the outbuilding does go some way towards reducing the need to have any heating on out there. Waste heat is only waste heat if you, er, waste it!

And thinking about it, would I actually be better off swapping my two 6W led lights for a pair of old school 60W incandescent bulbs? It would save me using the 120W tubular electric heater too!