The price of electricity

[talmacapt]

I know this has been discussed before and, if there is a dedicated thread running, perhaps it can be moved there.

After earlier discussion, I moved from a fixed price per KWH to spot price electricity in November, when my contract ended.

I was looking at tomorrow's prices and noticed that the maximum price per KWH, including a .5 €sent margin was below 1 €sent per KWH for the whole day.

It has been similar for several days this month and in other months.

Further, I notice that the spot price from 1300 to 1500, again including the margin, is below zero.

They are paying me to use electricity!!

This is not the first time this has happened.

[Rwy in Sight]

talmacapt it is a risk it paid off if I understand well. So you pay 0.01 € per KWh in normal times?

[Boac]

'Scuse the energy divergence, but my 2 year fix on gas ends next week and I go from 3.xx a KWh to 10.xx... However, only 6 weeks or so before the new prices cut in.

[Smeagol]

Just read my meter and submitted reading 10 mins ago. Current rates are £0.34/KWh plus £0.437/day standing charge. Last 3 months have used 896KWh = £305 plus the £40 standing charge for a total of £345. The bandits are currently taking £145/month from me on a direct debit. Methinks I will have words with them and get that reduced !

[4mastacker]

My leccy DD is £85 per month. There's a lot to be said for candles.

Just had an e-mail from Blitish Glass and they are forecasting a "significant" drop in gas bills from July onwards.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

My electric averages $90 a month (54 GBP), of which one third is the standing charge. I average around 11 kWh a day.
The actual charges are about a buck a day standing (60p GBP), and 18c per kWh (11p GBP)
My major heating source is a wood-fired stove. The firewood, and equipment to process it, costs me about $480 a year, averaging about $40 (24 GBP) a month.
So my total energy bill is about $130 (80 GBP) a month. I put aside $15 (10 GBP) for equipment and appliance replacement.
I do my own electrical work.

The electricity would be around double that for the heating. The heating season is about 7 months, though the stove only runs for 6.
I keep the inside temperature around 21 degrees celsius all year, using a small ac unit for the hottest 2 months.
Outside temps usually vary from -15 to +30, but can reach -40 to +40.

I expect the bills to come down as I gradually get the 100 y.o. building better insulated.
Improvements include draughtproofing, more insulation, new windows, and cladding the outside with 2 inches of foam under housewrap.
I have cut bills by about 25% so far, and hoping to reduce by the same amount again when complete.

I have about 3 years' worth of firewood stored up, so am relatively insulated from price increases.
The electricity company holds a monopoly with charges government controlled. Prices are due to rise by a maximum of 10% over the next 3 years, roughly evenly at about 3.5% a year.

I will be putting together a small solar PV system, including lead acid batteries, this winter. Hard to estimate how effective that will be, other than that it will definitely pay for itself eventually.
This will act as the backup power for outages, of which we get two or three a year. Normally there's a couple of 4 or 12 hours, plus a storm-related longer one.
I got lucky last year and was out for about 36 hours, but the worst was three weeks.
OTOH my next door neighbour is a senior electrical lineman, so we always get power back sharpish as he doesn't like his wife running the generator ;)

[Karearea]

Paid power bill yesterday which for 464 kWh over 28 days plus fixed charges, daily charges, GST, and payment processing fee, was NZ$171.00.

Usage is heat-pump supplemented with a couple of separate heaters if need be, water-heating, household appliances and lighting.
The water-heating used 110 kWh of the total.

The bill payable in July and the one in August will be the two biggies for the year I think.

edit to add: May was relatively mild as I recall.

[Karearea]

Paid power bill a couple of weeks ago which for 825 kWh over 34 days plus fixed charges, daily charges, GST, and payment processing fee, was NZ$284.00.

The water-heating used 142 kWh of the total.

[Karearea]

Power bill due tomorrow which for 786 kWh over 29 days plus fixed charges, daily charges, GST, and payment processing fee, is NZ$266.19.

The water-heating used 113 kWh of the total.

Heat-pump has been operating almost non-stop.
Today is one of the few days I've needed to use the free-standing electric heaters in entry-hall and dining-room - it's overcast and 6° and no prospect of sun through the windows to warm the house up.