Octopus "Saving Sessions"

[SteamyTea]

34 minutes ago, NSS said:

Don't worry Steamy, I doubt anyone will trawl back through your 14,000+ posts to check whether you ever did 😉

I did agree with someone, that is about as far as I got to criticism.

[Marvin]

On 29/10/2022 at 10:47, SteamyTea said:

Nor has people's understanding of the very, very, basic science if energy usage.

How often do we hear on the news/consumer interest programs about people talking about their energy costs, but not their actual usage.

Like saying a car costs £2500, but not specifying which car, or how old it is.

More like saying I spent £4000 on fuel for my car but didn't say how many miles I did.

[Marvin]

On 29/10/2022 at 12:07, joth said:

Longer term, the proposition is not just to avoid the £ cost of the gas being burnt at peak times, but also save on the massive year-round capital and operating overheads of having N peaker plants sat around doing absolutely nothing for weeks at a time, and many hours of the day, just in case they're needed to cover those moments of absolute peak demand. 

 

Then we need to spend money on energy storage facilities to support the Green energy  supplied. over 24 hr period and longer.

[SteamyTea]

28 minutes ago, Marvin said:

Then we need to spend money on energy storage facilities to support the Green energy  supplied. over 24 hr period and longer.

That is happening, probably at a faster rate then it was going to happen.

It just does not happen overnight.

[joth]

1 hour ago, Marvin said:

Then we need to spend money on energy storage facilities to support the Green energy  supplied. over 24 hr period and longer.

They need to do both: incentivise reductions in peak demand, and invest in storage. And retain a minimum set of peakers. It's so easy to create false dichotomies and make perfect be the enemy of good when it comes to "green" issues.

 

[billt]

11 hours ago, Radian said:

I can understand that. But who would be 'remotely throwing' that switch anyway? And in what circumstances?

 

I don't know about remotely, but smart meters can be used with prepayment accounts so I'd guess that the supply will be disconnected if the credit runs out just like the old prepayment meters used to.

[SteamyTea]

32 minutes ago, joth said:

It's so easy to create false dichotomies and make perfect be the enemy of good when it comes to "green" issues

Yes.

Just yesterday I was overhearing a couple talking about getting a new car, the wife (German) was convinced that even a small EV will use more energy than a petrol car.

Now I don't know all the details, but she was so adamant I wanted to ask if she thought wind turbines and solar panels suffer the same, as I still hear that spoken as a truth.

[ProDave]

15 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Yes.

Just yesterday I was overhearing a couple talking about getting a new car, the wife (German) was convinced that even a small EV will use more energy than a petrol car.

Now I don't know all the details, but she was so adamant I wanted to ask if she thought wind turbines and solar panels suffer the same, as I still hear that spoken as a truth.

I have heard people talk about "all those big fans on the hills using electricity"  Surely they are joking?  But II am sure there really are some that thick.

[markc]

16 minutes ago, ProDave said:

I have heard people talk about "all those big fans on the hills using electricity"  Surely they are joking?  But II am sure there really are some that thick.

They have to make the wind somehow

[SteamyTea]

25 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Surely they are joking?  But II am sure there really are some that thick.

They are 'crisis' actors following a carefully crafted, but factually wrong script.

The idea is to make people doubt what they know, or just stop engaging with people. 

Did I say people, I meant arseholes.

[NSS]

Our first 'saving session' is between 5pm and 6pm today with a rate of £2.25 for each kWh saved. Can't see us making much when the average we've used in that hour over the last 10 days is less than 0.4kWh 🤣

[SteamyTea]

About 90p.

Bet you wished you had used more now.

[jack]

11 minutes ago, NSS said:

Our first 'saving session' is between 5pm and 6pm today with a rate of £2.25 for each kWh saved. Can't see us making much when the average we've used in that hour over the last 10 days is less than 0.4kWh 🤣

 

Same here, but trying to use less during that period is still the right thing to do.

[NSS]

2 minutes ago, jack said:

 

Same here, but trying to use less during that period is still the right thing to do.

I agree Jack, but short of sitting in the dark for an hour with no TV on (try telling Mrs NSS she can't watch 'The Chase' 🙄) and switching off the fridge and freezer, I'm not sure what we can do 🤔

[Nick Thomas]

Same here, my weekdays for that period are ~0.1-0.5kWh. Then there's the bonus for being a TOP SAVER and the PRIZE DRAW to be allocated randomly.

 

Sigh.

 

I've signed up for it anyway, but the only special effort I'll make is to turn off the heat pump for the period. Won't make a huge difference.

[NSS]

I do wonder whether those who potentially stand to benefit most from this scheme are savvy enough to have even signed up for it. Whereas, those on this forum are likely already energy aware.

[Kelvin]

53 minutes ago, Nick Thomas said:

Same here, my weekdays for that period are ~0.1-0.5kWh. Then there's the bonus for being a TOP SAVER and the PRIZE DRAW to be allocated randomly.

 

Sigh.

 

I've signed up for it anyway, but the only special effort I'll make is to turn off the heat pump for the period. Won't make a huge difference.

It’s more about incremental gains multiplied by potentially millions of people. We are too used to waste in wealthier countries whether it’s energy, water, food, or packaging. Add in the amount of unnecessary stuff people buy from clothes to electronic tat. This has been driven by low inflation and cheap money. Obviously the two extremes at either end of wealth curve still exist so the well off don’t need to cut back anywhere (luxury goods don’t tend to suffer in a recession) and the poor struggle to survive. 
 

As a very minimum if people think twice about their energy usage it won’t be such a bad thing in the long run. 

[jack]

1 hour ago, NSS said:

I agree Jack, but short of sitting in the dark for an hour with no TV on (try telling Mrs NSS she can't watch 'The Chase' 🙄) and switching off the fridge and freezer, I'm not sure what we can do 🤔

 

Yeah, fair enough. Now that I think about the actual time slot, 5-6 pm isn't a great time for us to be reducing energy either. We rarely cook before 6, there's no hot water heating happening at that time of day, and the ASHP isn't likely to be doing any heating at this time until it gets colder.

 

I haven't looked back further, but yesterday we used something like 0.8 kWh between 5 and 6. Short of stopping work for an hour and turning my computer and monitor off, I'm not sure what other easy wins there are. I'm not switching off the fridge or the freezer, as knowing my luck I'll forget to turn them back on again!

[SteamyTea]

Not sure how long ago Octopus made this offer, but a few minutes on Gridwatch would have shown the times that were most likely to be the 'saving session'.  Should have just burned up a few kWh.

Not exactly a surprise that national usage goes up around tea time is it.

[ProDave]

This experiment is the carrot, we will pay you if you use less than normal.

 

Next will be the stick, we will charge you more to use electricity in those peak times.  That is what smart meters are all about, and why a lot of us want to resist having one as long as possible.

 

I guess the present price cap is the only thing stopping them using the stick at the moment?

[JohnMo]

I tried to get a smart meter, but they failed to get it to connect to the data collection centre.  So I now have a dumb smart meter. I am the vast total of 1.5m away from a large village, and they couldn't get it to work, so no hope in a remote area.

[SteamyTea]

15 minutes ago, ProDave said:

I guess the present price cap is the only thing stopping them using the stick at the moment?

Not stopped them with E7.

 

Still.

Anyone can do what I have done, if they really want to.

 

Edited November 15, 2022 by SteamyTea

[SteamyTea]

1 minute ago, JohnMo said:

1.5m

That is very close, under 5'

[JohnMo]

1 minute ago, SteamyTea said:

That is very close, under 5'

Oops should of been 1.5 miles. 5' is way to close for comfort.

[markc]

7 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

I tried to get a smart meter, but they failed to get it to connect to the data collection centre.  So I now have a dumb smart meter. I am the vast total of 1.5m away from a large village, and they couldn't get it to work, so no hope in a remote area.

Don’t all smart meters connect through the property Wi-Fi ?

my octopus meter does … well occasionally but I don’t monitor it anyway