spainrico

As crazy as it may seem it appears that decreased electricity consumption due to energy-saving measures and increased power generation via green systems is causing a problem - what a strange world we live in!

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czkkgnp1d2xo

rspltd

It is even more bizarre than that. According to analysis by energy technology company Axle Energy, using publicly available data from the electricity system's balancing market platform Elexon, in 2022 the National Grid spent £215m paying wind generators to turn off, reducing the total amount generated by 6%, and a further £717m turning on gas turbines located closer to the source of demand, in order to fill the gap. It is said that this was done over 30 times. Furthermore the National Grid pays fossil fuel producers to be on standby should the wind be insufficient to generate enough electricity to satisfy demand.

growinspain

In France they have had to turn off the Nuclear reactors because of excess "green" energy...

astera

Bottom line: high energy prices are a complete SCAM. From here we need to deduce who is to blame for this.

It's absolutely ridiculous that with today's technology we are paying more for energy than we used to...

tdrinker

In the UK, we're frequently told that more renewable energy is the route to lower energy prices. But green taxes keep increasing to fund new renewable projects. Further, whilst the proportion of renewable energy has increased, electricity prices have not reduced. The wholesale price of electricity is largely determined by the price of gas, so when the gas price increased significantly due to the Ukraine war the price paid for renewable electricity also increased, despite the running costs of wind, solar, etc. being unchanged. Result, renewable energy companies are making an absolute killing at the expense of the consumer.

astera

Expensive domestic energy is the scam of our lifetime.

Privatisation of any utility company always end in the same way. Massive dividends, massive debts... and then tax-payer money (and surging bills) being needed to save them.

Fred James

Can someone explain to me why electricity in the UK is about three times the price it is in Spain?

rspltd

In a word - no! Because it doesn’t seem to be. This is the latest figures issued this month

Price

Day. Month Year Date
UK Electricity 72.05 -3.05 -4.06% -4.00% -24.04% Jun/21
Germany Electricity 72.63 0 0% 7.65% -31.75% Jun/21
France Electricity 68.29 -2.42 -3.42% -21.10% -65.16% Jun/21
Spain Electricity 85.92 -4.68 -5.17% 91.96% -29.83% Jun/21
Italy Electricity 115.73 -0.65 -0.56% 22.60% -10.56% Jun/21

Of course, these are only spot prices and don’t take into account all the other’extras’ such as standing charges, time/ demand related charging, and distribution costs. ’

DLC

According to that the spot price in the UK and Spain is the same, the UK's is given in pounds and the rest are given in euros.

If I compare current spot prices then the UK is about double the cost and if I compare monthly energy bills then the UK's prices are also higher.

Fred James

I couldn’t care less about spot prices. All I can say is that I currently pay the equivalent of 9p per unit and the new UK capped rate is 24.5p. Standing charges in Spain are not significantly higher unless you have a higher than average potencia.

When the UK rate was nearly 40p I was paying 12p.

Lynn R

And UK bills are much higher even though they pay only 5% VAT on domestic energy (permanently) whereas our IVA in Spain has now gone back up to 21% and there is also the 5% tax on electricity consumption. I believe that if consumers in the UK want fixed rate deals they have to accept being tied into their supplier for the duration of the contract whereas here we have the "sin permanencia" contracts where we pay a fixed rate but are free to switch suppliers at any time.

Fred James

And as you are now using Imagina, not only are you free to leave at any time, they are contracted not to increase your price for three years.

Definitely a “cake and eat it” situation. I can’t see that happening in the UK!

My bill from them today was zero, thanks to the solar.

Lynn R

I've now had my second bill from them and the new contract is keeping my bills at exactly the same amount they were for the same months last year, in spite of the 15% increase in IVA and the reinstatement of the 5% electricity consumption tax so I am happy with that and grateful for you bringing them to my attention. Their potencia charges are higher than my previous supplier though (around €7 a month more than I was paying with Iberdrola), so I wouldn't recommend them for second home owners, that's my only caveat. My potencia isn't particularly high at 5.75kw and we are all electric so I wouldn't want to lower it.

You will be stuffing your cushions with €50 notes soon with all the cash you are saving on electricity bills!

Fred James

Even more satisfying was deducting €3000 from my tax declaration this week!

spainrico

Can you share more?