Electric geek

[enrico]

Ok, I accept I am a bit obsessed with cutting my electric bills. I have PV Panels, air source heat pump and a unit that pushes any excess electricity from my panels into a storage heater. HOWEVER I have recently come across, and joined Agile Octopus. It is a pricing strategy from Octopus Energy. Your electricity rate is set at 4pm the day before, for every half hour of the following day. Generally if you don't use electricity between 1600 and 1900 then all the other prices are cheaper. In fact, unbelievably they pay me to use electricity some times. Like tomorrow afternoon I am getting 5p for every unit I USE!!!!. I switch everything electric on and they give me money! It is apparently cheaper for them to do that than close a wind farm down because they can't use it!
if you have time to waste watching your electric usage and use it cleverly your bill can be reduced by pounds and pounds.
If you have a look a the company and do decide to switch them let me know and we will both be a few quid better off!
E

 

[Erichalfbee]

Phew!
I just pay my bill though I do look at the best provider every year but have stayed with the same , not quite the cheapest company, because my smart meter isn’t compatible with anybody else’s.
I’ve had the same mobile provider and bank for 42 years

 

[pargyle]

Phew!
I just pay my bill though I do look at the best provider every year but have stayed with the same , not quite the cheapest company, because my smart meter isn’t compatible with anybody else’s.
I’ve had the same mobile provider and bank for 42 years

You can stay with the same provider but I find that you have to squeeze them a bit to keep the rates competitive. I work on the premise that they should recognise that it's easier to keep an existing customer than find a new one !

Tell me you do check your insurance quotes every renewal though .. they are the one exception as they don't seem to care about losing your business - even when you don't claim !

 

[enrico]

I change everything most years. Nearly all companies give heavy discounts for first year customers. You just have to make sure there is no fee for leaving them.
I am lucky in that I have an annex with its own electric supply si can have double the of panels. I am using this new company on the annex as I never use electricity in the expensive time so I am quids in!
E

 

[Erichalfbee]

You can stay with the same provider but I find that you have to squeeze them a bit to keep the rates competitive. I work on the premise that they should recognise that it's easier to keep an existing customer than find a new one !

Tell me you do check your insurance quotes every renewal though .. they are the one exception as they don't seem to care about losing your business - even when you don't claim !

Oh yes.
Insurance goes through a comparison site every year.

 

[Curley]

Phew!

I’ve had the same mobile provider and bank for 42 years

Same mobile provider for 42 years!!! You were an early adopter!!

Re changing insurer every year. Fine for Contents. Buildings worth considering that an insurer might decline or 'adjust' or wriggle a bit and delay things a claim if it deems the problem started before their cover did. Subsidence etc

 

[Newbeeneil]

Same mobile provider for 42 years!!! You were an early adopter!!

Wow, 42 years with the same mobile provider? I thought 32 yrs was a long time to have the same number and provider.
That must have been more like a breeze block than a brick for a phone!

 

[madasafish]

I change gas/electricity suppliers if savings >£125pa..
Last change saved 25% on prior supplier.. Changed on average every two years since switching became easy with the internet - approx 2--3/4

Refuse to use minor suppliers due to risk of them going bust and lots of hassle.


Change house insurance every 3-4 years and car insurance every 2-3 years. (I check service rating - less than 4 stars is a nogo.)

Same bank for decades.

 

[Barbarian]

No..no...... Hsbc

I switched my bank to HSBC.
They offered a nice sweetner.
I wish I hadn't. A lot of visits and time at the local branch.

 

[enrico]

Join Martin's moneytips and they tell you when you bills can be beaten and give you £12 for swapping.
Just for the record I am being paid 5p for every kw I use this afternoon. I can't find enough appliances to switch on!

 

[Newbeeneil]

Join Martin's moneytips and they tell you when you bills can be beaten and give you £12 for swapping.
Just for the record I am being paid 5p for every kw I use this afternoon. I can't find enough appliances to switch on!

It must be hard as your PV will be blasting out 2.5kw anyway so you are going to have to exceed that before they start paying.

It sounds like the Northern Ireland biomass scandal ...... they used to heat poly tunnels during the winter and get paid for it!!!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Just for the record I am being paid 5p for every kw I use this afternoon. I can't find enough appliances to switch on!

But should that be? Isn’t that somewhat immoral? It’s not your fault if you’re being encouraged to but nevertheless.

Second home owners in Wales register their homes as businesses to avoid paying extra council tax. Fair enough if it’s the law then the law needs changing but they are now claiming 10K grants from the government set up to prop up small business affected by Covid.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Second home owners in Wales register their homes as businesses to avoid paying extra council tax. Fair enough if it’s the law then the law needs changing but they are now claiming 10K grants from the government set up to prop up small business affected by Covid.

we had a solution for that back in the seventies - maybe my cousin should come out of retirement (ironic really as he now has a second home out in Brittany!! )

 

[Erichalfbee]

we had a solution for that back in the seventies - maybe my cousin should come out of retirement (ironic really as he now has a second home out in Brittany!! )

My two nearest neighbours are second homes. One couple live in Treorchy and the other in Bridgend

 

[enrico]

It must be hard as your PV will be blasting out 2.5kw anyway so you are going to have to exceed that before they start paying.

It sounds like the Northern Ireland biomass scandal ...... they used to heat poly tunnels during the winter and get paid for it!!!

I have an indoor swimming pool which drinks 4 kw and a storage heater that drinks another 3 so not that difficult really!

E

 

[enrico]

But should that be? Isn’t that somewhat immoral? It’s not your fault if you’re being encouraged to but nevertheless.

Second home owners in Wales register their homes as businesses to avoid paying extra council tax. Fair enough if it’s the law then the law needs changing but they are now claiming 10K grants from the government set up to prop up small business affected by Covid.

It is all green electricity. It costs them more to stop running a turbine than to pay you to use more electricity. On days when the sun shines and the wind blows they overproduce electricity. Seems like a fair payoff to me!
E

 

[Erichalfbee]

It is all green electricity. It costs them more to stop running a turbine than to pay you to use more electricity. On days when the sun shines and the wind blows they overproduce electricity. Seems like a fair payoff to me!
E

Ah
Thanks for the explanation

 

[Swarm]

My two nearest neighbours are second homes. One couple live in Treorchy and the other in Bridgend

That makes no sense ...Treorchy, Bridgend, Ceredigion. Why not simply sell up in Treorchy and Bridgend and live in a nice place instead? No brainer.

 

[enrico]

These are a copy of tomorrow's prices. Note from 0900 to 1600 the minus sign donates how much I get for using electricity

09:00 - 09:30 -0.34 p/kWh
09:30 - 10:00 -1.54 p/kWh
10:00 - 10:30 -2.42 p/kWh
10:30 - 11:00 -3.57 p/kWh
11:00 - 11:30 -2.10 p/kWh
11:30 - 12:00 -2.42 p/kWh
12:00 - 12:30 -2.42 p/kWh
12:30 - 13:00 -3.62 p/kWh
13:00 - 13:30 -3.23 p/kWh
13:30 - 14:00 -3.62 p/kWh
14:00 - 14:30 -3.62 p/kWh
14:30 - 15:00 -3.62 p/kWh
15:00 - 15:30 -3.62 p/kWh
15:30 - 16:00 -3.38 p/kWh

 

[Repwoc]

Second home owners in Wales register their homes as businesses to avoid paying extra council tax. Fair enough if it’s the law then the law needs changing but they are now claiming 10K grants from the government set up to prop up small business affected by Covid.

They would have to have been registered to pay business rates to qualify for grants: https://businesswales.gov.wales/covid-19-grants