In the UK people are just waking up to the increses in costs of power, but here in Spain we are already taking the hit. Just last month, outr bill was 50% more than the previous year - and that was with us actively working on our consumption. The powers that be (pun intended) have changed the charging structure to a point where power costs differing amount dependent upon the time of day. Supposedly to "level out" domestic and industrial consumption, but actually just to scam the users. The weird periods they have invented for peak charges are 1000 to 1400 and 1800 to 2200. The lower (1/3 rate) is 0800 to 1000, 1400 to 1800 and 2200 to 2400. The "cheap" period (1/9 of peak and 1/3 of medium) is overnight and weekends (and holidays). Difficult to remember, even more difficult to manage and a bitch with the charging bands. It is pretty stupid when it is cheaper to put a heater on for 2hrs 55 mins before 6 than 60 mins after 6 - and actually cheaper to leave it on all night than use an hour of peak time.
Of course, that makes it pretty chilly in the evening watching tv, so we actually have blankets to snuggle under (and sometimes even hot water bottles)!
I actually worked out the peak-power-pullers some years ago when I needed to understand how to balance the load across circuits - and , as ever, it is the kitchen that is the culprit -well that and the utility, where the washer and drier get some pain. Kettle, toaster, microwave, oven - eating and drinking is expensive here in spain (well, at home anyway).
The aircon / heaters are an obvious big user, hence the blankets, but that is as far as we go - except for G doing the major washing at weekends.
Sanish electricity prices beg the same questions as the UK. How is it so bloody expensive when we produce about half of it from renewables - there should be some payback for those bloody windmills blighting the land / seascape!
Of course the answer is that the "companies" charge everyone against a global market price that they "could" buy and sell the power on. The power creators are, of course, quids in (think Shell for petrol and gas), especially as many of the "greener" alternatives have been publicly subsidised in the first place.
The key question here is why we can´t make better use of solar power - especially with the high number of hours of sunshine.
My inderstanding here is that the power companies have an "all or nothing" attitude to power - so you can´t mix "your" electricity with "theirs". I actually looked at powering the pool pump (another greedy little sucker) from solar, but a suitable panel didn´t quite generate enough and I was then informed of the rules.
So there we go - it is not an actual "shortage" creating a cost surge, rather greed, incompetence and intransigence. Sounds almost like everything in politics..
Anyone got any old storage heaters around?
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