Actual cost per unit kW / standing charge of price cap ?

[B725]

I can never understand why people kick back against the smart meter, its just a meter that let's you see your own energy use and give the supplier up-to-date readings ( also cuts down on misuse of the meter  ) I have fitted a new boiler and added an outside detector so depending on the outside temperature the boiler throttles back the flow temperature and it just sits in low fire instead of ramping up to  maximum out put. 

[JohnfromUK]

13 minutes ago, B725 said:

I have fitted a new boiler and added an outside detector so depending on the outside temperature the boiler throttles back the flow temperature and it just sits in low fire instead of ramping up to  maximum out put. 

Interesting.  I fitted one of those in 1987 on a (then very novel) Microstar condensing gas boiler.  It ran well and fundamentally reliably for 30 years.  Boiler flow varied from approx 40 C on a mild autumn or spring day to maybe 75 or 80 C on the coldest days.  When I renewed the boiler and heating in 2017 i decided not to have that feature (which was available at a reasonable extra cost)  The reason for not doing so was that although it certainly worked, and mild days gave cooler radiators compared to cold days, it had significant 'difficulties', notably;

• In my house wind and wind direction has a big influence on how cold it feels (and (actually measures) inside.
• It didn't take account of sun, which can warm inside quite a bit in winter
• There was (in the 1987 boiler I used) a relatively complex override needed to ensure on a mild day, the domestic hot water got sufficiently heated (because the boiler flow temperature was reduced below 60 C in the milder weather).

In addition, I found that modern thermostatic valves do nearly as good a job, and combined with a 4 zoned heating system give me a different and probably better suited to my property solution.  The integration of the need for a high flow temperature when heating the domestic hot water tank seemed not to be available within the Bosch system I looked at unless you went the Combi route - which I couldn't do for other reasons.

[Stonepark]

45 minutes ago, B725 said:

I can never understand why people kick back against the smart meter, its just a meter that let's you see your own energy use and give the supplier up-to-date readings.

That is how it is portrayed however the functionality goes far beyond this.

 

It records and transmits your energy use, it would allow 1\2 hour billing to match how the market operates exposing you to market spikes (look at how well this is going in gas market) and it can be controlled remotely to control your energy use, so if elec company wants to put a rolling blackout in place, it now can do so house by house, as well as remotely connect\disconnect a property for non payment, on top of that it prevents you from uploading power (say from solar panels on house) and only paying for net elec used.

[B725]

The ATAG boiler also work's out the load required and utilises the room stat and outside detector 70/30 

[JohnfromUK]

1 minute ago, Stonepark said:

it prevents you from uploading power (say from solar panels on house) and only paying for net elec used.

I'm not sure that part is true in all cases.  My neighbours have solar and tell me they had to have a smart meter fitted to ensure that could benefit from the upload.  I believe this is correct, although they are not particularly 'technical'.

[Stonepark]

36 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

I'm not sure that part is true in all cases.  My neighbours have solar and tell me they had to have a smart meter fitted to ensure that could benefit from the upload.  I believe this is correct, although they are not particularly 'technical'.

I suspect they have had an additional meter fitted or one that records seperately upload and download but are paying 15p/unit down and will be lucky if getting 5p/unit up, whereas older meters (dial and digital) only had one reading and you netted out at end of month and only paid difference at 15p/unit used, or if lucky were paid 15p/unit if in surplus.

[JohnfromUK]

2 minutes ago, Stonepark said:

I suspect they have had an additional meter fitted or one that records seperately upload and download but are paying 15p/unit down and will be lucky if getting 5p/unit up, whereas older meters (dial and digital) only had one reading and you netted out at end of month and only paid difference at 15p/unit used, or if lucky were paid 15p/unit if in surplus.

Possibly, I don't know.

[Stonepark]

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced the proposed law that stipulates that EV chargers may not function for "up to nine hours a day" to prevent overloading the grid.

Beginning May 30, 2022, all chargers that are installed must be "smart" chargers connected to the internet, allowing their functions to be limited between 8am to 11am and 4pm to 10pm.

 

 

[JohnfromUK]

20 minutes ago, Stonepark said:

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced the proposed law that stipulates that EV chargers may not function for "up to nine hours a day" to prevent overloading the grid.

Beginning May 30, 2022, all chargers that are installed must be "smart" chargers connected to the internet, allowing their functions to be limited between 8am to 11am and 4pm to 10pm.

 

 

This has always been 'known' as a probable need, and I don't think will come as a great surprise to anyone.  I suspect that potentially - MUCH more if this will be needed if large numbers of properties have electric cars and electric (heat pump) heating systems.  From a practical view, charging an electric car is about 75 units (KWhr) of electricty, and heating a property for 24 hours in winter is maybe 100 KWhrs equivalent of electricity, so even with a good heatpump will need say 35 units.

Lets say a typical 'all electric' household charges the car once a week (i.e. average 10 KWhr of electricity per day) and heats by a heatpump at about 30 KWhr per day - that household will use about 40 KWhr per day that is currently provided by gas/oil/petrol/diesel.

To put that in perspective, that is about 3 times what I use now (as I use gas and diesel for heat and transport) - so my daily electricity would go from about 12 units a day to 50 Units a day.    If everyone did it, the system will need much expansion of capacity and distribution capacity.