General Chat

I've been invited to take part in a trial by my energy company to see whether I can help to reduce electricity consumption during peak periods.

Has anyone else received an invite?

I think you have to have a Smart Meter to take part but there again not everyone with a Meter will be invited as it is just a trial at the moment :-)

Not me, Belle, but I thought the government had cancelled the trials?

I think they were talking about going live tonight with everyone with a meter asked to save energy between 6 and 9pm and there was talk of financial rewards etc. It was because of the football, when matches finish the energy consumption went up and also when people got in from work but they cancelled tonight as they said the cause of high consumption not met by availability was not the football but low winds (assume that is a reference to wind farms.

If this doesn't make sense I agree but it was more or less what they said. But it is not, as far as I know, the trials that have been cancelled.

i have a meter but have not been invited by EON.

It says you have to sign up if you want to take part by 5 Dec :-)

I've signed up, want to do my bit if I can help :-)

Not me but I have a smart meter and been alarmed at the daily costs

Am a cold individual who needs to be warm so usually run my central heating at 22.5


But the cost now is astronomical


So I turn it down to 20 for overnight and keep it to 20 till I am so chilled I need to turn it up

So now it’s at 21.5 and slippers on
Even then it’s running at £9 plus a day

We don’t have a smart meter. Not by choice, they came and replaced the meter with a new one just as smart meters were being rolled out, but put an ordinary one in. Now they say that smart meters are not available in my area, so I can’t have one. It is annoying when others are being given the opportunity to save money

We don’t have a smart meter - don’t want one, although it would be nice for them to pay me for switching things off.
Although I don’t think this would happen to us but the thought of the power companies arbitrarily moving customers to pre payment is frightening.

Belle, Will you have to change your routine much in order to reduce electricity consumption between those hours ?

Do you cook using electric?
That would be the one that might be difficult, especially if you have a main meal in the evening.

a couple of years ago i bought a dual fuel Becko oven...gas hob, electric ovens....as there is only two of us I tend to use the top oven for most things, last weekend I did a slow cook in my slow cooker, loads of veg and a beef joint..... that joint has done us three meals so far and I intend finishing it off as a beef curry with rice, tomorrow...with thursday being pizza day...and friday fish n chips (home version)


and I mostly cook something every day whether from scratch or pre frozen.. i see sains' do a fair selection of ready meals...might invest in a few of those...

Bob re the slow cooker. how big was the beef joint, how long did you cook it and on slow, Medium, or high?

actually Ann, the beef was a half of a joint , i buy a big piece and cut it in half, repack it in freezer bags and it is then frozen..so is as fresh as the day it was bought.

thawed out with some spices, etc...
its a tesco sc356 3.3 litre slow cooker....and was on low for about 3 hours then turned to high when the veggies went in for 3 hours..

the 356 makes a good stew...

Thanks Bob. Have you done a chicken like that as well? Same timing

Gwyn, I think the idea is that after you register your interest you are contacted by email the evening before telling you how long the session will be the following day which will be between 4pm and 9pm and you will be able to opt in or out of that session at that time.

Yes, I do cook by electricity but as you know the evening before when the session will be you just work around it, it could be as little as 30 mins to a max of 5 hours :-). You don't have to sit in the dark with the heating off you just make sure you only have the lights on that you actually need, switch off those items that you would normally leave on standby and don't use electrical appliances especially items like cooker, washing machine, dishwasher etc :-)

not yet Ann, but two lambs shanks work well!!

Sounds interesting Belle.
With notice, one could work round the proposed timings.

I still have cheaper electricity overnight.... at the moment thats 12.30 a.m until 7.30.am.. so I do washing and charge the laptop during those hours and make my morning cuppa at the cheaper rate too.

There was a smart meter when I moved into here - but it's never worked.
Twice I've asked British Gas to repair it - twice they've ignored me.

Then i found out, if your standing order doesn't cover your bill, if you're on a smart meter, they can put you on a remote Pay-as-you- go thing, which costs more.
Well b*gger that. :-| :-| :-|

They can keep their 'smart' meter.
if they ever decide to turn up to repair it (very unlikely) i won't let them in.

We've been asked and agreed to take part in this too. We'll need to rethink when we do our cooking, maybe cook at midday then reheat quickly in the microwave in the evening. But that's a challenge we'll enjoy.

grannyfanny, as one of the supermarkets says ' ever little helps' :-). I hope the scheme does work and reduces the strain on the National Grid because I feel this winter could be quite challenging :-(

A few days ago there was no sun and no wind to talk of.
According to the Gridwatch website solar panels and wind turbines were producing the grand total of four percent of the UK electricity (2+2).
Nuclear was contributing fifteen percent, Hydro another two or three, coal had been reinstated, a little was being imported from the Continent but over sixty five percent was from burning gas.
Without massive investment in whatever form of electrical storage they can dream up zero carbon is a pipe-dream or days like that will see massive power cuts or continued reliance on fossil fuel.