Haven’t worked out the gas increase cost yet.

However, modern 4 bed detached house, EV car, solar panels and Tesla Power Wall battery.

Last year , 2021 we used 4500 kWh of electricity for our total useage including charging the EV.

We only bought / imported 32% of that total.

The new price of 0.52p kw, will mean our electricity will now be ( based on 2021).

4500 x 0.32 = 1440 kWh

1440 x £0.52= £748

I realise we are fortunate and semi insulated from this.

The point I wish to make though, is that this is a real crisis for almost everyone in the UK.

The government need to act NOW.

Thanks for the replies

Thanks

Thanks.

Intend to buy the car at the end of the term.

Not worried about the term of the payments , just the final value, as I would like to reduce this to more like £7000.

Any advice appreciated

Two cars qualify for me.

My god, these were terrible.

Alfasud, rusted before me eyes, people use the term rust bucket, they need to have owned one of these to understand the term.

Allegro, I don’t know what I was thinking of when I bought it…..A friend had a Marina, I was envious , the Allegro was that bad.

I have had a Lauf fork and would recommend it.

If you have got a tapered steerer tube, then this is the way to go.

No straight 1 1/8th Lauf though.

110 x 15, or 100 x 15 , so boost or non boost

Bit spendy though

You can’t be blind or intolerant to any form of racism.

Otherwise you are just endorsing their view.

Challenge it, it isn’t a matter of having an argument or falling out with the individual(s).

Just why would you want to be associated with such an ignorant attitude?

Made some sourdough bread and crosswinds earlier today.

Had the sourdough with eggs on, and just had a crossaint with a very large glass of Chilean red wine.

I have the Cycliq front and rear video cameras.

Bit expensive really, but the rear one on its own is the best value for money really, close passes etc.

I think it’s worth it, if you had them this would be proof to the police and the insurance companies.

Good footage, not GoPro standard, but more than good enough

Croissants are your next challenge then.

Different strokes, for different folks I suppose.

Yes, some wll be lower.

But they may spend more on other forms of energy.

Not many lower, but you can always find some.

As stated earlier, the spreadsheet analysis is not aways in force for holidays, cars, homes, kitchens etc

It comes down to choices, if we all considered return on investment, then we wouldn’t buy much

@sharkbait

I think you are missing the point here.

Our total cost for electricity from the grid is about £400 per year.

I don’t think many people will be that low.

Also, as we have an EV car, it means we don’t buy any petrol or diesel either.

In terms of elecricity we are self sufficient for about 65% over a year.

Plus the £800 FIT payment.

Some decisions are just made with a financial incentive in mind.

This might not make any sense to some, but here goes.

We were lucky that when we installed the solar panels the FIT was reasonable, not as good as the first wave, but still attractive.

The FIT isn’t much of an incentive ( financially) now, which puzzles me given that the government want to support a greener alternative, but there you go.

The next step for us was to buy an EV car. This was to utilise some of the solar being produced straight off the panels, but we still exported quite a bit to the grid.
We always wanted an EV car, and had a diesel before this, so it was also the case of having greener and cheaper transport.

The Powerwall 2 was the final step , this enables us to use nearly all the energy we produce and drastically reduce our electricity bill.

Yes, it has been quite expensive, but we don’t intend to move , ever, family has grown up, live local to us, and we have great neighbours.

Could have spent the money on the panels and PW2 battery on all sorts of things.

But this way the money spent has been an investment that cuts our energy bill, is good for the environment and gives us £800 per year tax free.

Could have bought a £30,000 new car(ICE)that would be five or six years old by now, would have needed expensive servicing and constant feeding with Dino fuel.

You might not agree, but it genuinely suits us down to the ground, don’t regret the expensive decisions one bit

He is wrong

Won’t work like that in the UK

The PW2 won’t work or power your house in the event of a power cut.

Price of the battery isn’t necessarily ridiculous.

Our Tesla PW2 battery cost £6500 to be installed.

We have a 4 bed detached house, gas central heating.

But have a Nissan Leaf EV car.

The car is charged at home for 95% of the time, rarely use a rapid charger.

Annual mileage is about 7000 miles.

Our total annual bill for electricity for the house, hot water and charging the car is £400

We also get about £800 per year , tax free from the feed in tariff.

Makes sense for us, we only pay nPower £400 per year for electricity.

The FIT pays us £800 per year.

We don’t buy any diesel or petrol , still travel 7000 miles per year,

And we are £400 better off in the bank!

We have had panels (believe they are the Panasonic ), for over 5 years , no trouble whatsoever.

Using Solar Edge system, was a bit more expensive initially, but again, not one glitch in 5 years.

Had the Tesla PW2 battery for about 2 1/2 years ish. Some initial teething troubles, but I was a very early adopter.

I don’t know where you are in the country, but my local installer was fantastic, well recommended.

pm me if you want his details, I think he will install in some parts of the UK .

Difficult to say if the system I have is better than cheaper systems , but I can only say that it has worked perfectly.

Haven’t cleaned our solar panels since they were installed about six years ago.

Haven’t noticed any real deter action in output, we have a Solar Edge system which means we can monitor and compare each individual panel over time.

I bought a Victorinox Swiss Spirit tool XC about 9 months ago.

At the time I thought it was a bit of an extravagant purchase. Can’t believe how much I use it.

Certainly a very well built EDC tool, will definitely outlast me, and one of the few tools that will be passed down to my children,

Whilst solar panels are a really good idea, they need to be linked to some form of battery storage.

The problem with the solar panel installation, is that most people are in work whilst the energy generation is n progress.

Having a storage battery allows the energy to be used effectively for the home owner.

The only downside to this is the initial cost.

We need the government to increase the incentives to allow households to generate green energy and reduce the demand on coal / nuclear powered stations.

You can check with your energy supplier annual statement to see how much electricity you currently use.

The output of an array of solar panels will depend on a number of factors.

How much roof area do you have?

South facing is best.

Angle of the roof.

Any overhanging trees, chimneys etc which may cast a shadow on the panels.

Best to contact a local solar panel installer, he should be able to answer all the questions, with some forecast of efficiency.

22.8 kWh today

Shouldn’t have watched this thread…..

I am old enough to have used fountain pens when I was in school, 1960’s, before biro’s became the standard use.

Spent a bit of time researching, always liked a nice pen.

So have bought a Faber Castell Loom with ink converter.

Looking forward to using an ink pen again.

Never cleaned them in 5 years.

I haven’t noticed any fall off in performance.

The Solar Edge system allows you to analyse the individual panel output.

There is some variation in output, but this is mainly due to the position on the roof.

Generated 24.5 kWh yesterday.

Probably the same today.

In the event of a power cut, you have no electricity for the house in the UK.

I believe it’s a safety device , not sure of the real reason why.

The battery will naturally charge from the solar panels if the panels are producing more than the household demand.

Some energy suppliers allow charging to the PW2, quite useful if you can make use of off peak electricity rates.
Charge the battery for cheap night rates, use the energy in the day when the electricity is at its most expensive.

Probably more like three months of the year that are low.

You really need to look at it for a year as a total.

The numbers add up for us.

Could have bought one of those £25000 cars and just watched the depreciation fall off it over the years, plus the petrol or diesel to feed it, plus the servicing, cam belt, erg issues ( yes I had those in the past).

Well worth it.

The solar panels were about £6500 back in 2017.

The PW2 was £6750

More of a long term investment in many ways.

Now retired we wanted to reduce our outgoings, so panels , battery and EV car seemed the right choice.

Energy costs, electricity and petrol/ diesel only going one way.

Also much better for the environment also, which is a very big factor for us.

Don’t plan on moving house either.

We have 4kwh solar panels ( for about 5 years now), and a Tesla Powerwall 2 battery.

We live in South Wales.

The PW2 was installed about halfway through 2017.

The lifetime figures since mid 2017 are

Home usage 14905 kWh

Solar energy produced 9933 kWh

From the PW2 4294 kWh

From the Grid 6971 kwh

To the grid 1172 kWh ( on the occasions when the PW2 is full, usually in the height of summer.

Therefore, if you price 1 kWh @ £0.16p

Home usage – from the grid
14905 x £0.16 = 2384

Actual purchased from the grid
6971 x £0.16 = £1109

This also includes 95% of home charging for our Nissan Leaf EV car , approx 7,000 miles a year.

For us it works really well, considering we haven’t bought petrol or diesel , and the generated electricity powers our house and car.

Also, we get £800 per year Feed in tariff payment tax free

Forgot to say, that he also wants to alter the existing pension agreements.

My wife had a bit of trouble and hassle with him when he first took over the franchise.

My wife was making the maximum employee contribution, and he wasn’t honouring the existing employer contribution.

In the end it was resolved satisfactorily, but it did amount to about £900 being underpaid by the employer , now resolved.

Thanks for the replies.

It does look like the owner of the franchise is looking to close the shop and try and mitigate any existing redundancy payments.

There are 4 people employed in the shop.
My wife – 16 years part time
Shop manager – 20 years full time employment
Shop assistant 1 – 30 years
Shop assistant 2 – 8 years

Probably just going to stick to a refusal to accept the new contract.

He will meet a lot of resistance from the other 3 employees in the shop also.

No union representation.

I bought a one year old Nissan Leaf Tekna 24 Kw battery about four years ago.

£0 VED
Once out of warranty, the servicing is peanuts, air cabin filter about £25, 10 minutes of my time to change and fit.

7,000 miles per year, virtually all home charged,
4 miles per kWh , even if we bought all the electricity from the grid (which we don’t) , £280 based on £0.16p kWh

MOT £40

Tyres last about 20,000 miles
Brakes last about 80,000 miles due to regen braking

True energy cost for us, having solar panels and a Tesla Powerwall 2 battery is somewhere in the region of £0.05p

£80 ish

Seriously cheap motoring if you can live with the range.

Gaggia Anima

Had one for about three months now, always wanted the same bean to cup machine.

Makes super Espresso.

I don’t think the leaflets are effective now.

TV coverage and social media seem to influence people now.

Unfortunately the press is mainly right wing / conservative and The Mail is read by a largely ageing population stuck in the past

Not sure if it indicates postal voting records though.

It is true, I am involved with our local Green Party, I have forgotten the official name of the list, but it is available for a small fee to all the registered political parties.

When you vote, your name is cross referenced on the electoral list for that particular polling station.

Records are kept of who has voted, and obviously those who didn’t.

Political parties have access to this list of the people who did vote.

All the parties will target anyone who has bothered to vote, as they see this as being the most productive form of canvassing.

Makes sense really, no point in wasting time and energy on people who won’t vote at all.

Persimmon