Gas & Electricity

[marco]

Our next major purchase for the house looks like it will be an eco-friendly dual fuel wood burner. These are supposed to save a bit on gas bills. Does anybody have any experience of this? Of course, with installation costs, etc, the initial outlay will be high but our current gas fire is shit anyway and needs replacing as it doesn't seem to give off nearly enough heat when it's on.

its the only thing thats going on in my house this winter, yes its a 2nd option heating system or to run along side a gas central heating system but we can make do without the gas, leave the living room door open and it heats upstairs to,not brilliant but just about ok, consumes around 3 good logs per 90 minutes, im going to let it tick over all day on smokless coal then load logs at night,,no question about it if you have a house with a fireplace then get your old fire out and open it up,have a smoke test done and your all set, ive just converted gravity fed hot water from it to the bathroom so in effect all showers are now free

 

[M18CTID]

All depends on if you can source free wood or very cheap. People burn all sorts of shit in then which I don't recommend.

Can become quite expensive if buying from supermarkets etc, but compared to gas I don't know which works out best.

Yeah, I think there are strict regulations on what type of wood can be used. Theoretically, I think they're meant to be cheaper and you'd have thought with massively rising gas prices that they should be even more value for money but it wouldn't surprise me if the wood prices get ramped up as well!

Either way, it's a job in the house that still needs doing anyway and I suppose if it doesn't turn out to be cost effective after all then with it being dual fuel I can always switch back to gas.

 

[M18CTID]

its the only thing thats going on in my house this winter, yes its a 2nd option heating system or to run along side a gas central heating system but we can make do without the gas, leave the living room door open and it heats upstairs to,not brilliant but just about ok, consumes around 3 good logs per 90 minutes, im going to let it tick over all day on smokless coal then load logs at night,,no question about it if you have a house with a fireplace then get your old fire out and open it up,have a smoke test done and your all set, ive just converted gravity fed hot water from it to the bathroom so in effect all showers are now free

Nice one mate - cheers for the info

 

[Uncle Wally One Ball]

All depends on if you can source free wood or very cheap. People burn all sorts of shit in then which I don't recommend.

Can become quite expensive if buying from supermarkets etc, but compared to gas I don't know which works out best.

This. Dont burn shit wood, it doesn't get hot and fucks up the stove and flue which is too expensive to ruin. Kiln dried wood is all you should really use in them and it isn't cheap, and you will be amazed how quickly you go through it. You can't just rely on a wood burner for heating really, not as a cheap alternative anyway, but it will help obviously

 

[west didsblue]

At the moment there is no affordable energy rate, it's completely impossible because gas is imported at market rates and the market rate for gas has gone up by 400% in just 12 months. The only option for the government is to subsidise the price of this gas, that's it, there's no other choice and it'll probably cost the earth which is why they won't do it.

This isn't due to profiteering either, it's because a considerable chunk of the world's gas comes from Russia and the Russian market stall for gas has now closed. The rest of the world now must fight for supply which is why there is a real threat that the lights could go out over the winter let alone whether we need to worry about prices.

This is happening specifically here because the UK generates 50% of its electricity from burning gas which is why France is enjoying affordable rates in comparison.... 80% of their electricity comes from nuclear and you don't need to import any gas to run a nuclear powerplant.

Around 50% of our gas is produced domestically and another 45% is imported from non-Russian sources so our exposure to Russian gas is very limited. Whilst the government can't do much about the price of imported gas which will be at the market rate, they could certainly do something about the gas produced domestically by one of several means. For example they could use the extra tax raked in from the producers, apply a windfall tax or if the companies don't play ball threaten to nationalise them. There will be pros and cons for each possible solution but the government seems to be of the mind that they can get away with just throwing a few scraps at the consumers and largely leave the producers alone. We would be in a much worse position if we imported nearly all our gas like quite a few other countries, however from a consumer perspective we might as well be in that position because the positives of having our own source for 50% of our gas appears to benefit the producers and government only.

 

[Mossy1973]

Major problem with the UK is its lack of investment in the power infrastructure. Power plants coming to there end of life with no new solutions. Wind farms lol have a look at how much the tax payers are subsidising these companies. There is a massive gas and oil field up near the Shetlands which the government said cant be used. Shell said ok and pulled there investment. This would of seen us through until nuclear plants had been built. Gas is actually more efficient than electricity for heating and cooking. We only get 5% of our gas from Russia. We binned storage facilities for gas years ago.
All what's happened recently is we have cut our nose of to spite our face.

 

[Scottyboi]

its the only thing thats going on in my house this winter, yes its a 2nd option heating system or to run along side a gas central heating system but we can make do without the gas, leave the living room door open and it heats upstairs to,not brilliant but just about ok, consumes around 3 good logs per 90 minutes, im going to let it tick over all day on smokless coal then load logs at night,,no question about it if you have a house with a fireplace then get your old fire out and open it up,have a smoke test done and your all set, ive just converted gravity fed hot water from it to the bathroom so in effect all showers are now free

How much does the coal and logs cost you per day Marco?

 

[metalblue]

Our next major purchase for the house looks like it will be an eco-friendly dual fuel wood burner. These are supposed to save a bit on gas bills. Does anybody have any experience of this? Of course, with installation costs, etc, the initial outlay will be high but our current gas fire is shit anyway and needs replacing as it doesn't seem to give off nearly enough heat when it's on.

Get yourself a wood burner fan mate. About £20-£30 and they just sit on top of it and blow the heat into the room. Makes a huge difference - like night and day difference

 

[shemnel]

what about getting heat from the log burner around the house a bit more? i've seen you can get grills installed in the ceiling (floor upstairs) which seems quite dramatic but i can see the sense

 

[RandomJ]

Let’s just all use the MP’s second and third homes. We can take an hour each to enjoy their heating they claim expenses on.

 

[Postman Pep]

 

[Kevinblue10]

The country's fucked, I can't think things will ever get back to normal, we truly are back in Dickensian days. People dying of cold and hunger. More and more people not having access to dental services, people having to pay for their own medication. More and more relying on charity and hand outs. Working people queueing up for food and a blanket. Next few years are gonna be hell on earth.
But the ruling class and fat cats just look down their noses and sneer.
"If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

To be fair I just think the govt want to kill off a lot of the elderly to reduce the pension bill

 

[Hayley Croppers chopper]

Just paid £755 to get me into credit.
Upped my direct debits six week ago to £300 from £126.
The only positive in this is the Tesco clubcard points I will get for paying up the shortfall.

 

[west didsblue]

Let’s just all use the MP’s second and third homes. We can take an hour each to enjoy their heating they claim expenses on.

I'm just going to sit in the pub every night and leave the heating off at home. Hydes or Holts for £3 a pint is a lot less than heating the house. The downside is a beer gut and possible liver disease but these are the choices we have to make.

 

[frothy]

Didn't know that mate.
How do the pensioners that live in Spain go on ?

They applied for residency

 

[Nellies left peg]

The rise in domestic energy bills is the product of the energy price cap, and the energy price cap methodology is determined entirely by government intervention, via OFGEM. The energy companies themselves have very little influence over price formation.

The price cap was initially advocated by the Labour Party, with the idea then stolen by Theresa May, who unfortunately was incapable of any independent thought.

I think it’s possible that domestic energy bills would actually be lower if government intervention was reduced. We don’t need more government intervention per se, but more effective government intervention.

In particular shutting down the coal burning power stations in the pursuit of this zero carbon mirage left us wide open to a spike in gas prices, and we’re paying the price now.

And Hinckley point B was shut down last week, surely that could have been reviewed due to the current circumstances

 

[metalblue]

And Hinckley point B was shut down last week, surely that could have been reviewed due to the current circumstances

Probably not due to the cracks in parts that form the reactor core which can’t be repaired mate. It was already 15 years past it’s expected life and was only able to run at 70% due to the first cracks forming back in the 90s and it’s gotten progressively worse. Safety first and all that.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Probably not due to the cracks in parts that form the reactor core which can’t be repaired mate. It was already 15 years past it’s expected life and was only able to run at 70% due to the first cracks forming back in the 90s and it’s gotten progressively worse. Safety first and all that.

Sounds like we’ve had decades to replace it.

 

[metalblue]

Sounds like we’ve had decades to replace it.

Lol. You know what’s this place is like, takes them chuffing years just to go from proposal to production. No body wants one on their doorstep for obvious reasons. Hinckley replacement was supposed to be completed by 2023… now 2027 (if you’re lucky).

If you look at the French pretty much all their reactors are on their last legs - no way they are replacing that in time.

 

[Kompany Car]

Sounds like we’ve had decades to replace it.

That’s the story of the whole energy system. Shareholders are interested in maximising profit, but not investing for the future. For years they have sweated assets for as long as possible. The whole shit show stems from the sell offs in the late 80s and insufficient regulation.
I noticed a few people have been saying where can we get the money from. Maybe it’s about time we got the bank bailout money back from 2008, that was around £50bn plus an additional undisclosed amount.