Fuel Poverty

In the UK, fuel poverty is said to occur when in order to heat a home to an adequate standard of warmth a household needs to spend more than 10% of its income to maintain an acceptable heating regime.

Hmmm. Living out in the sticks we don't get access to gas, and therefore cannot benefit from the dual fuel discounts that are offered by many energy companies.  This makes my blood boil, which does help me to keep warm. 

We are not centrally heated... I know when some people walk into our home they think it's cold.  It's going to be.  It's old and has poor energy efficiency.  There are a lot of drafts and thick solid walls.

Her and Him Next Door live in the extension built with modern insulating materials and know how. They do have oil central heating, but this winter are being more economical (they previously kept it turned up high to keep Gran warm and snug). We all now put on that extra jumper instead.

Last time we filled up with oil (2489 litres which services both homes) it cost us an eye watering £1358.73.  This lasts for approximately six months. 

Our family also heats water and cooks with oil.  To compensate for not having the benefit of central heating we increase the Rayburn temperature to keep the core of the house warmer, especially on those very bitter days. 

The oil guzzling monster.

We have two electric radiators to supplement the range, these are situated in the one up, one down part of our home which is our snug and master bedroom (a separate house originally that has been knocked through).  These radiators check out the temperature of the room and do not let it fall below a chosen setting (which can be individually programmed into a seven day variable cycle).  Rather than heating the area, we tend to use the radiators set at a level to just about stop the rooms from actually freezing!

Hopefully our solar panels will also help reduce the hefty electricity bill, which has been approximately £2,200.00 per annum - again for both properties.

The ever watchful radiator...

We are also fortunate enough to have an open fire and a wood burner.  We use the wood burner a lot in the snug (which also negates the electric radiator coming on in the evenings by increasing the room temperature).  We are lucky in that we live surrounded by trees, so have a handy source of wood.  We also find the Ecofan effective, it works by pushing warm air from the wood stove out into the room. Circulating the heat increases efficiency and apparently is particularly effective when the stove is recessed in an inglenook.  It's also free to operate as it's powered simply by the rising heat from the wood burner. 

Our trusty wood burner, with resident Ecofan on top.

In total our fuel has cost us knocking on for £5,000.00 per year between us.  It's a lot of money, no matter how you look at it.  Paying for fuel is making us poor.  I'm going to start knitting that extra thick jumper now; with matching socks and vest.

Post Script
One benefit of our heating 'system' is we'd be fine in a power cut.  Them Next Door would soon be rushing round with their tails between their legs.  Our Rayburn can run without electricity and their fancy pants one cannot - so we'd have some warmth, be able to cook and have gallons of very hot water.  And of course the wood stove would carry on as before.

Christmas austerity (aka Scrooge like tendencies)

Well times are tight... how to economise on the Christmas time spending spree?  Hmmmm.

I'm sorry, try as I might we still shop at Tesco.  One beneficial side effect of this is their double your points offers (part of their reward scheme).  This year I took full advantage and bought some toys and alcohol direct in the store - with vouchers that during a specified period of time can be exchanged for double the face value. I do think you need an A level or something in how to redeem vouchers, but I was on a mission and nothing would deter me from it.

Although I was pleased with myself, I had to go back and buy a toy I didn't really want as I was one penny short of my voucher sum - and you have to spend equal to or more than the total value.  (I was informed of this by someone who took rather too much pleasure at the prospect of making me stand at the back of the five mile queue again).

I bought quite a few gifts at local craft fairs.  Good value for money, locally made.  Result.

I thought about culling the card writing... but still can't bring myself to do it.  We've many visitors over December so all cards and gifts that can be handed out, are being.  Just to save on the postage.

I received a few items ordered from Amazon.  Unfortunately a smashed nail varnish in one parcel ruined the packaging of the other items contained therein.  Amazon replaced immediately and did not want the originals returned.  Of course this is great service and they now have a loyal customer who will continue buying from them.  I have re-packed the affected items myself though and they are still going to be gifted - albeit smelling pungently of ethyl acetate.

G10 is looking to wrap up some pre-loved books to share this Christmas.

If I could I would make beautiful things... but I am just not talented enough.

I try to buy thoughtful presents.  But they will not be expensive things I'm afraid.  J and I rarely buy much for each other - just a small gift so G10 can see us giving and receiving.  This saves us money.  If there is something we particularly need or want we can always treat ourselves in the January sales and pay half the price for it.

We've never bought much for G10 either.  She asks for little.  She is always pleased with whatever she gets.  Certainly until she was 7 or 8 we could have given her a cardboard box and she'd have been happy with that.  We try to save for her regularly though instead.  And of course she has grandparents and a large family that spoil her.  She does OK.  I also think that it's important not to get everything handed to you on a plate just because you asked for it.  Santa has limits.  (Perhaps I'm a cruel mummy). 

I refuse to go into debt over Christmas. 

Ahh the Christmas tree.   Now they have become expensive.  But really it's our only decoration. We have a few other bits and bobs around.  But the tree is predominantly it.  OK I splurged here - but it's a gift to all of us and our friends and family visiting over December and the festive period. 

Nadolig Llawen i pawb.

Our Christmas treat.

Today we escaped to Yesteryear....

Continuity - in one day.

This morning I went to church and passed the newly dedicated seat to Gran and Grandad that Her Next Door had organised.  

Sweethearts together again...

You've seen lots of pictures of Gran, but here is Grandad in his younger days looking very smart in his Scout uniform. And next to him my daughter G10 wearing her Guide outfit ready to take part in a concert and play her violin this afternoon.  She's following in Grandad's footsteps and made us all here, and those looking down on her, very proud.    

My lovely Grandad as a King's Scout circa 1930 and G10 today.

No Man's Land

When either J, G10 or myself are out, Topsy likes to sit on the curve of the stairs.  This is so she can wait and watch for the door at the same time.  Only when we are back altogether again will she join us and sit in front of the fire in the snug.

A family dog.

The Letter T

This week's prompt over at Taras is the letter T. Well I had two this morning... tense and trees.

I became a little bit agitated when G10 at the last minute before leaving for school, decided she had to take a memory box to Guides this evening (and she is not coming home in between times).  Scrabbling around to find items to go in (and take out - really why a plastic dinosaur?)  Of course we had to share a moment to wonder and stare at G10's first baby grow.  Was she ever so tiny?  I felt quite broody.  For a nanosecond.

Anyway I digress. 

The next panic was trying to find G10's spellings.  We hunted high and low, I accused J of having them last so it was obviously all his fault.  Actually he hadn't and it wasn't but I was blowed if I was going to admit that.  At the very last second we found the errant spellings in Them Next Door's place.  Even though G10 had looked there herself - I've come to the conclusion that she really does not have eyes that see.

Anyway I was stressed and a little bit tense.  As I walked towards the office I could hear the stream... sounding louder than normal due to the drop torrents of rain we've had recently.

I thought to myself, take 5.  So I took 5; I stopped and stared at the magical light that the soft sunshine and slight mist were creating in the trees and the soothing sounds of rushing streams cascading down the valley.  Then all was right with the world again.

The wood looking exceptionally beautiful this morning.

Are we making any money?

Thought you might be vaguely interested agog to know how we are doing with our new solar PV panels.

Well here goes, I've had to use the calculator so hopefully all figures are correct.  If you notice any glaring mistakes feel free to let me know, maths has never been my strong point.

The two weeks before we had the panels fitted we consumed:-
279
185 kWh

Then the two weeks after (I've disregarded the week we had them fitted as mid week) we consumed:-

137

119 kWh



No actual sunshine, but still generating.



For the full four weeks we've been 'live' we have generated:-

33.8

29.2

43.7

30.8 kWh respectively.

That's a total of 137.5 kWh units (not bad for October).  For each unit generated we receive 43.3 pence, plus a further 3.1 pence for any kWh exported back to the grid.  Our FIT electricity supplier calculates the export figure simply by halving the figure we generate.

That means in cold hard cash terms for this four week period we will receive a total of £61.67 tax free from the government, for both the kWh generated and exported under the FIT scheme.

On top of generating and exporting we are also of course reducing our electricity bill by using as much as we can when we generate, so for example I delay my washing machine to come on when the sun is up and plug in all mobile devices to recharge their batteries in the day.  The daytime energy consumption is helped by the fact that there are four of us at home in the day, throughout the day.  

How we work out exactly how much we are reducing our electricity cost is a little difficult to calculate as there could be times when we do not use absolutely all of the energy generated.  I thought instead, simply as an interesting exercise, I'd contrast last year's readings from our electricity meter against this year's readings.
 
October          1st Week      2nd Week         3rd Week      4th Week       Total Used
2010               183                223                    270               237                 913
2011               137                119                    135               203                 594

In short a saving of 319 kWh.  All the reduction of kWh usage in this comparison obviously cannot be put down solely to the installation of the solar PV panels, other variable factors should be taken into account.  For example; external temperature conditions, general home energy conservation strategies implemented, whether we were home in the evenings etc. Still I like the figures.

One last little thing.  I still haven't got used to seeing how our home energy monitor now sometimes goes down when we switch a light on. That's simply because when we are generating more than we are using the monitor reflects the credit available.  When we switch something on, the figure on the monitor reduces because that electrical item consumes some of the generated electricity available for free use.

The Inverter

IMPORTANT: Government reducing FIT payments soon?

There is a rumour that from December 12th 2011, the tariff payment will reduce to 21p/kWh for solar photovoltaic systems of up to 4kW.  I found this information on the energy saving trust website, note that this proposal is not final.

Falling costs in solar installation, (the Government) quoting a fall from £13,000 to £9,000 for an average system since the tariffs began, mean that homeowners should still see a decent rate of return on their investment, quoting figures of around 5% return. But that's well shy of the 10% return owners are currently getting.  In short if you are considering it ACT NOW.

Bear in mind too that it can take some time for your application for FITs to be received by your FIT licensee (FIT electricity supplier).  It will of course always be after the date on which your PV system is installed.