Re: energy in UK

On 4/16/2025 3:11 AM, Martin Brown wrote:

Is the "cap" significantly higher than the "normal" rate?  Or, is it,
effectively, the "normal rate"?

 The cap limits ordinary home users exposure to extreme market volatility. It

Of course.  But, a consumer's idea of a "reasonable cap" and a PROVIDER'S idea
are likely worlds apart!  Hence my question as to whether or not it was,
EFFECTIVELY, the normal rate (i.e., providers opting for as much as they
can get, within the current constraints)

became necessary after the invasion of Ukraine when gas prices spikes very high making it impossible for some elderly folk to heat their homes. Their choice was quite literally heating or eating.
 Even a Tory government isn't quite that callous.
 

Increasingly the winter peak load in the UK is balanced by paying big heavy industrial users to shut down or go to a standby condition! There are even schemes to reward home users not to use power at peak times.

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We have had time-of-use (ToU) tariffs, here, for decades.  (I designed a ToU KWHr meter more than 35 years ago)  But, they are usually ridiculously
structured.  E.g., it would only make sense for *me* if we could live
entirely without refrigerative cooling (ain't gonna happen for 9 months
out of the year) as the cost of using electricity during peak hours exceeds
by many multiples the cost of non-ToU rates.

 Time of use tariffs are still uncommon in the UK. It is possible with a smart meter (which I now have) but supplier offers are pretty poor. Previously I had a counter rotating dials mechanism dating from the 1950's (which had clocked - overflowing the counter back to all zeros).

I believe all of the meters, locally, have now been switched over to solid
state devices.  Remote monitoring being a desirable asset (*reading* a
meter is only "worth" ~25p so it, in itself, is not enough to justify
the cost of the swap).
I had made a table lamp out of an old "dial indicator" meter many years
ago when I was working in that field.  If you dick with the "ratio",
you can arrange for the dials to move in real-time as the lamp is
providing illumination (i.e., a conversation piece).

There are also "demand" tariffs where the cost of the energy is proportional
to the *peak* rate of YOUR consumption.  So, it pays to be able to do local
load-leveling as any power used at less than your peak rate of consumption
is over-priced.  This is primarily used by businesses and leads to investments
in load-shifting technologies (e.g., making ice, overnite, to ease the
cooling load the next *day* -- as well as allowing the refrigeration units
to be downsized a bit).

 It is possible to have local domestic battery storage and exploit the overnight low rates - though to get the best deals you need to own an electric car (or at least convince your electricity supplier you do).

Here, the issue is the high PEAK demands that the ACbrrs place on individual
subscribers.  We could probably get by on a 3-5KW plant -- but, only if
we could store and deliver for large loads (I think the ACbrr is ~14KW).
If the min-split units weren't so gawdawful ugly, it would be a viable
alternative (combined with intelligent control to ensure only one
unit is sucking on the power at a given time).
We've been looking at DUCTED mini-splits as a more cosmetically pleasing
alternative.  But, still difficult to retrofit to existing construction.

My supplier has just offered me half price electricity at the weekends. Only snag is their website won't allow me to accept their generous offer - it keeps saying "something went wrong- try again later".

If there isn't a corresponding INCREASE in the weekday rate, it could
be a win.  They likely have surplus (weekend) capacity and are looking
to encourage users to consume that, instead of weekDAY capacity.

There are also cases where the utility is (at your consent) given control
over some of your larger loads (think: central air conditioning) so that
it can manage its total load as well as micromanaging the loads on individual
parts of the distribution network.

 Aircon isn't really a thing in domestic UK buildings. The number of days a year when it would be needed can be counted on the fingers of one hand. My house manages it with Victoria technology - very thick walls and windows to open at night. Centres of major cities do get rather warm due to office buildings with air conditioning pumping out heat!

Most construction, here, is masonary -- 8" block.  But, when the outside
temperatures rise so early in the year and persist for so long THROUGH the
year, that actually works against you -- the house STAYS hot because of the
thermal storage in its walls.
[We've already had our first 100F day and it's been above 80F since February]

And, of course, rates for folks who do cogeneration.  (amusingly, if you
are a cogenerator, you are automatically put on a ToU schedule.  So,
taking your cogeneration capability offline for maintenance means
you pay through the nose for power that your neighbors would get at a
fraction of that cost)

 Having solar panels is another way to get onto a ToU tariff. Even that is gamed though. Much domestic PV electricity ends up heating domestic water as the feed in tariffs are also based on crazy sums. There is an aftermarket in diverters to exploit this loophole.
 There are incentives to install solar PV but none for solar hot water.

You could, of course, use (PV) electrically heated water.  There are
myriad schemes to make better use of the energy available but few
see widespread use.
A personal favorite, here, would be to capture the waste heat from the
ACbrrr condenser and use it to heat swimming pool water; the liquid medium
would likely be a more efficient coolant than air sourced in a typical
condenser.  And, 100F pool water is delightful!

We have a surcharge for power generation via "quick response" technologies
(like gas fired plants).  We also pay for the cost of transmission (a
technique that allows the utility to avoid reimbursing cogenerators for
power at the same rate that they would charge to supply it!)
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Plus taxes, fees, etc.  And, of course, voluntary donations to subsidize folks
who can't pay their bills...  <rolls eyes>

 We have a standing charge which covers distribution and all the bankruptcies of box shifter companies that got into selling electricity to consumers without having the first clue about what they were doing.

Almost all of our charges are tied directly to usage.  Using LESS is
obviously the best approach.

The utility has been complaining that they have "too much" residential
solar capacity (the utility has a say in whether or not YOU can use solar
and how large your installation can be)

 UK allows up to 4kW solar generation on any domestic premises. More than that

I don't think the *city* places limits on size of plant.  But, requires it
to reside on rooftops to avoid permitting, architects, etc. (of course).
That, of course, means any time you need to have your roof serviced,
the array must be disconnected or dismounted.  Then, reinspected
after reinstallation.
And, means you are paying ToU rates all the time that you've NOT been
generating power (to offset your usage).
The only winning move is to get it off the roof AND not use the grid for
storage.

and you have to apply for a license. It confused the load shedding algorithms last time there was a serious power outage since it was about 6pm in mid summer and so when they shed a nominal 1GW of load they also dropped off about 100MW of small solar PV systems. It was enough to lose control of the frequency again and a cascade failure ensued.

Too funny.  C'mon, this isn't rocket science!
[OTOH, I am always amazed at how out-of-date the (network) "maps" are
that the utility uses.  Didn't anyone write this stuff down?  Do
you even KNOW where your equipment is?  Or, does a crew have to go
out and visually identify it??]

We also have a ridiculous amount of solar PV for such a high latitude. This is governed by the fact that in a good year a farmer can make around £200/acre by actively growing crops and £2k/acre by stuffing their land full of solar panels. Many are choosing the latter.

I suspect we will see a similar pattern (perhaps wind) with large
swatches of farmland, here -- esp as climate change renders particular
crops harder to grow, increased pestilence, etc.
"This farm has been in my family for 5 generations!  (but, now it's
a WIND/PV farm cuz I can't grow shit!)"

UK national infrastructure has been privatised and robbed blind by vulture capitalists since the 1980's. It isn't just electricity that is problematic London's water supply was in dire danger of going bust too.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66051555
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It is ultimately all about very clever financial engineering to load the balance sheet with debt and pay handsome dividends to foreign owners.
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Penny wise and pound foolish for the the UK.

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It seems like a change to the tax code could quickly change their fortunes?

 Not really - a lot of them have been sold off to foreign companies.

Don't they still have to pay local taxes?  Even if they ship the
profits off to foreign investors?

Successive UK governments have been particularly good at selling off the family silver to make ends meet.