Energy prices-here we go again

Well, my fixed deal with Scottish Power is coming to an end, and the price hikes I described last year seem still to be with us, with the increase on the total bill at 18%, a 15% hike on daytime electricity, a 16% hike on night electricity, and a 19.7% hike on gas.

And then they’ve also cut the discounts offered, and hiked the price on the first units.

So, this is fixed until August 2014.  They do have a cheaper tariff, but there’s an exit penalty.  This special offer has to be chosen by the end of June, and may be withdrawn at any time.

So, my reasoning is that it’s best to lock into this price, and then see if any cheaper deals appear as we approach the winter, as we don’t actually use much energy during the summer anyway.  Fingers crossed for some price drops.

 

Electricity prices Your current prices* Your new prices1 from 1st July 2013* Your alternative Offer prices2 from 1st July 2013* Online Fixed Price Energy July 2013 Offer Standard monthly Direct Debit Online Fixed Price August 2014 Offer Daily Service Charge   27.39p   First 225kWh used each quarter 20.785p   23.906p All/Day remaining kWh 10.926p   13.436p All/Day Units kWh   14.256p   Night Units per kWh 5.448p 6.742p 6.354p

Gas prices	Your current prices*	Your new prices1 from 1st July 2013*	Your alternative Offer prices2 from 1st July 2013*
	Online Fixed Price Energy July 2013 Offer	Standard monthly Direct Debit	Online Fixed Price Energy August 2014 Offer
Daily Service Charge		27.39p
First 670kWh used each quarter	7.099p		7.294p
All/Day remaining kWh	3.156p		3.778p
All/Day Units kWh		4.009p

More energy price hikes

I just got notice that my current tariff for electricity is set to end.

Lo and behold!  Prices are now going to go up 12% for electricity, and 6% for gas for me if I switch to their cheapest deal.

Or I can opt for a fix until July 1, 2013, at about the same levels as I’m currently paying.

Does anyone think prices might actually drop over the winter period before then, as that’s the period where we use the bulk of the electricity?  If so, let me know.  At this moment, I’m tempted to go for the fixed rate based on the cynical winter price rises we’ve seen for the past few years.

By the way, for anyone interested in the existing rates from Scottish power.

Your energy details at a glance
Electricity prices	Your current prices	Your new prices from 1st May 20121	Your alternative Offer2
	Online Energy Saver 13*	Standard monthly Direct Debit*	Online Energy Saver 18*
First 225kWh used each quarter	21.006p	22.267p	20.975p
All/Day remaining kWh	9.777p	11.706p	11.027p
Night Units per kWh	5.174p	5.837p	5.498p
Gas prices	Your current prices	Your new prices from 1st May 20121	Your alternative Offer2
	Online Energy Saver 13*	Standard monthly Direct Debit*	Online Energy Saver 18*
First 670kWh used each quarter	6.730p	7.606p	7.164p
All/Day remaining kWh	2.992p	3.382p	3.185p

Energy consumption down, but efficiency is too

It’s been a warmer than average winter, only 75% as cold as last year according to an independent source, and my calculations bear that out too.

Season	Degree Days @17.5C	Average Per Day
2008-2009	2134	10.51
2009-2010	2121	10.45
2010-2011	2072	10.21
2011-2012	1567	7.71

This smaller temperature difference  complicates things, as we now have a much bigger effect from our baseline usage, which had been ignored in previous calculations.

	Low Rate Electricity	High Rate Electricity	Gas	Average Total	Per Degree Day
08-09	7.20	16.30	71.90	95.40	9.08
09-10	7.09	16.18	62.52	85.79	8.21
10-11	7.14	18.46	60.73	86.33	8.46
11-12	5.49	15.38	50.42	71.29	9.24

As you can see, our total energy use per degree day has actually increased, despite the changes made with better lighting and timed radiator valves.  In addition, we reduced the heating to only 7.5 degrees in a 3m x 4m room at the back of the house with 3 outside walls which uses electrical heating.  I have to admit, I’m disappointed.

Maybe if we look at the numbers differently.  Our baseline gas usage appears to be about 12 kWh/ day, and our electricity usage about 8 kWh for high rate, and 4 kWh for low rate.

Below is the table with units of kWh per degree day.

	Low Rate Electricity	High Rate Electricity	Gas	Total
10-11	0.307	1.024	4.772	6.104
11-12	0.193	0.958	4.983	6.134

While this is better, you can see that the overall usage is still the same, with no measurable effect from the changes, though High Rate electricity is actually down 7 per cent, and low rate is down 38 per cent, but gas usage is actually up 4 per cent, overall though we used 0.5% more energy per degree day than last year.

I’ll have to put this down the the fact that we have the gas fire on in the lounge in the evenings, and it is really toasty in there.

The other good news though is that we did manage to generate .45 kWh of high rate electricity per degree day over the period, which is included in the consumption figures above.

So in terms of fossil fuels, our consumption has dropped by 7% over the period.

In terms of absolute cost, we used 18%  less energy we did in the previous heating season, but that was unfortunately offset by an 18% rise in prices over the same period, so costs were similar to the previous year.

New energy saving gadgets ordered

Following on from today’s earlier post, I’m still searching for ways to make the house more efficient.

Lighting

We currently have some 240V, 50W halogen lighting in the hall, which generate 1000 candelas of light.  Now, there are 8 of these, so that’s 400W when they’re all switched on.

Today I ordered two Philips Master LEDlamps (these things aren’t cheap—over £25 each including VAT), but they do only draw 7W.  They’re also dimmable, and should fit in to the existing sockets.  If they don’t work out, I can still return them and get my money back.

Heating

In addition, I also ordered two electronic radiator control valves, that allow me to programmatically set the temperature a room should be at various times.  The target is the living room with the gas fire.  While the balanced flue fire appears to be around 90% efficient, it’s still easier to heat the lounge with the main central heating.

The plan is to not heat the room at all until 3PM, and then heat it to a base temperature until 8:30pm-ish, when the heating will switch off.  Normally, if we’re in the room, we’ll put on the fire to make it extra cosy, so if no-one’s in for any evening, it won’t keep heating.  When the fire’s on, it will warm the room sufficiently for the boiler to stop supplying heat to that room, and heat the rest of the house instead.

These devices aren’t cheap either (£25 each), and I need to drain the central heating system to add them, but as the current valves are leaking, I need to get a plumber in anyway.

Fingers crossed.  I can’t wait to see what effect these things have.