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In my view, the FiT largely succeeded in what it set out to do, which was kick start the adoption of microgeneration at the domestic level. It provided just the incentive needed to create a boom in microgeneration system take up, which then resulted in a marked reduction in the price of panels, inverters etc. Certainly the FiT, and in particular the MCS, was/is very badly managed, and like pretty much all government subsidy schemes it was many of the MCS accredited companies that cashed in, rather than consumers, although it's clear that, with FiT in particular, consumers have actually seen a worthwhile benefit from a government subsidy. Many government subsidy schemes don't end up providing a subsidy for the people they are aimed at all, good examples being insulation schemes, where the cost to the customer is much the same whether there's a grant or not - the grant just gets taken as extra profit by some installers. The same applies to OLEV grant funded car charge point installations, the electricians installing those are currently getting around £600 to £800 per day, or their bosses are (nice work if you can get it!). Certainly FiT was unsustainable, but I don't think it was ever meant to be sustained, it was really an incentive scheme, to bring about a step change in thinking, and arguably it has contributed a great deal to that. The main problem with FiT was that it was incompetently managed. The rates should have been reduced gradually, as the level of take up increased, rather than the government waiting until they saw there was a major problem and just shutting the system down almost overnight. This isn't unusual in government, though. They see a political benefit to be had from promoting and implementing an idea, then lose interest and forget about it until it causes a near-crisis.

As required by law, the big energy companies have introduced their export tariffs. https://www.recc.org.uk/news/smart-export-guarantee-tariffs-introduced

Good evening, I am also looking at battery storage, but find Tesla very expensive, there are others creeping in. My next door neighbour has bought a forklift battery pack, and had that installed, it does work fine. please keep in touch, stephen2margerison@gmail.com regards stephen

I guess so judging by this:- "Paul Tomlin, owner and operator of Green Driving School in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs, was one of the first to make the switch and has been using an electric Nissan Leaf to teach automatic learners since 2011."

AFAIK, yes, as they have no clutch or gear lever.

What you say is pretty much all you can do Unpack the flooring and leave it where it’s going to be laid for week if possible As long as the place isn’t damp you should be ok If you employed a company to supply and lay They would more likely turn up with it in there van Or drop off a couple of days before and do what you are doing

kWh

Is there going to be central heating/ufh at some point? The last thing you want is to lay it and then turn the heating on and it shrinks.

One could argue the previous time limited FiT schemes were the political tokens, set by legislation with taxpayer subsidy at unsustainable levels. In comparison the SEG rate is the politicians stepping back and letting commercial forces take their course, for better or worse... To be fair, you never ever set out to maximize the amount your system exports; quite the opposite you've designed it to minimize that exact number. Anything multiplied by a very small number will yield a very small number. With a typical 4kW system that exports 50% of its generation, I'd be expecting about £100 a year. That's still pretty crap - it will struggle to cover the MCS installation tax over its lifetime - but makes an illustration more representative of the typical ("non enthusiast") setup. As a more real world example, my parents are on an early FiT and export well over 50%. I've tried to at least get them an immersion redirect but they won't as they worry the cylinder is too old and don't trust the immersion in it or will be damaged or leak. To be fair, it must be getting on for 50years old now, but they won't consider replacing it until it finally dies and is done by the homecare cover, no doubt in yet another botched rush job. Question now is where prices go from here, can people be bothered to shop around for this in addition to price they pay for import which push up competition, or they just sit there at 5p and fail to even track inflation. And the biggest, British gas, hasnt even revealed its hand yet. Perhaps one reason the smaller players may succeed here is if they can offer deals the big ones are constrained to by legislation? E.g. AIUI big players must offer tariff to all regardless of who is the supplier, but can a small player offer special deals for people that have both import and export provided by them? Certainly looking at Social Energy website I get the feeling their model assumes they're providing both.

I would question if you need heating in that area. In our last house I fitted UFH in the hall and on the landing. But I found because both the hall and landing were surrounded (apart from the front door) by other heated rooms, that the heating in the hall and landing never ever came on. It was in hindsight a waste of effort heating those zones. In the present house I did not bother with heating in the hall or landing.

3 hours later... Fit on the battery is impressively accurate. 0.3mm layers at 25%. Not sure how resilient it'll be long term. It's quite lightweight tbh. Just seen you can get special paint to improve the surface (by smoothing) and durability of 3D printed models.

Hang on...I've been reading elsewhere: "Dewalt and Makita have the BMS/LV cut off in the tool. Ryobi, Ridgid, Milwaukee all have a basic BMS in the battery. Makita batteries marked with a * (star) or yellow marking have over-heating and over-discharge protection. The non-star ones do not".

There is a company near me advertising this, without insulation under that slab you might as well cut your money up and throw it out of the window.

definately easy enough, though had the brickie known, he would have built a one block thick wall instead of half where they joined at the ends to avoid staggering them, he couldn't understand why it wasn't a slab as he said it would have been cheaper.

Get a good quality Spanish slate (CUPA), the H3 is just as good as Scottish slate and you can get them in random sizes

The forum needs a good definitive reference thread on blocks. When I was starting out in self build I wasted hours online trying to comprehend the scope of blocks available and their pro's and con's.

Best way to do it is to have your temp site supply be your final supply. E.g, on my site, I'm in the process of building the temp kiosk at the property boundary that the power company will bring their cable to. Once the house is ready, I'll dig a trench from the temp kiosk to the house and lay duct and cable. Then it's a matter of taking cable from kiosk to house. So, your temp connection application should be rated for your final demand.

And....... Granted, after 27.6 weeks, not that I am counting ? Not even a request for an extension with the decision. Massive thank you to the buildhub community for the help getting this through! Can't quite believe it's actually got permission after the sites history of refusals and us asking for more than those! Today feels like a win!

Hmmm: makes me wonder whether there's any mileage in - for key parts of our builds - a Labour Exchange. Off the top of my head, for my build, I can think of at least four things that would be sooooo much easier with just a bit of help. Just a bit of muscle and good humour. I'm not talking about specialised (say) Sparky work, or the clever bits of plumbing that many here seem to do. In exchange for a similar amount of time and effort on 'your build' .... Or is that too hard to organise? Or make work?

Aren't these the forms you need to send in?... The CIL exemption form is here (must be granted before you start). https://ecab.planningportal.co.uk/uploads/1app/forms/form_7_self_build_part_1_exemption_claim.pdf The commencement form is here (must be received by the Collecting Authority before you start). https://ecab.planningportal.co.uk/uploads/1app/forms/form_6_commencement_notice.pdf Make 100% sure you follow the rules or you become liable for the CIL. Do not start before the exemption is granted and they have received the commencement form (post with tracking). Note that the commencement form asks for a commencement date. Make sure that's after the decision date they give you.

Building Control When you think you are ready ask BC to make a final inspection. Our BCO wanted to.. a) witness us pressure test the drains b) check that all panes of glass were coated (he had a tester with him) c) check all safety glass was marked with the appropriate standard. d) I think he also asked for some paperwork from the electrician. Planning Make sure any planning conditions have been discharged. There is a fee for discharging conditions and to minimise that try and get all the conditions discharged in one go. Postal Address The council are responsible for allocating the formal address/house number etc. Some councils have different names for this department but try "The Address Development Team" or ask the planning department receptionist what it's called. They will send you a form on which you can enter a house name. Council Tax Well before completion the council sent us a letter from the Valuation Office (I think) stating that they thought we would be complete on some random date. We wrote back to tell them a more likely date and they accepted it. Council tax bills will arrive soon after. Telephone Get the connection process started asap as this can take awhile. We were in our house 6-8 weeks with no phone while they upgraded overhead lines. VAT Refund You have three months to submit your reclaim from the date of completion. You can only claim for things purchased prior to completion so don't forget any materials like paint that you intend to apply after moving in. Note that some things like plants and landscaping materials can only be reclaimed if they appear on a landscaping plan submitted or required as part of your planning application. Check to see is any trades have charged you VAT in error as this cannot be reclaimed from HMRC.

Our nearest pole was about 20 yards down the road. My builder ran a cable underground to the bottom of the pole and Openreach happily connected it up once they got organised. We left enough cable in a coil at the bottom to reach the top with some spare. The main problem was Openreach disorganisation. Someone from BT/Openreach rang me once a week to tell me that they were "working on our connection" and that went on for a long time. Then one week they stopped calling. I rang them and the lady I spoke to insisted that the work had been done, which it clearly hadn't as I could still see the coil of wire. She was so convinced that the computer was right that the only solution was to agree with her that it must be faulty. The poor old fault engineer that arrived insisted on testing my line at the master socket before he would listen to me. Once he understood what the real problem was he made a few calls and things got sorted very quick. PS: I don't think we made BT/Openreach aware in advance that we would be putting in an underground cable to the pole. I think we just ordered a new connection that they were probably expecting to be an overhead. The engineers were happy to have an easier job than they were expecting.

@joe90 No. Not the billionaires end. We re the ruff part your lot was looking down on from the top of the hill. Ldub =Lawrence weston. ?