A Birthday Present From nPower
Saturday is my birthday and I’ve just received this letter from my previous energy supplier nPower, who I left to their own devices some months ago.
Dear Me (They got my name right!)
As part of npower’s ongoing efforts to ensure our records are up to date, we’ve noticed that there is a credit on the above account. I’d like to apologise for the time it has taken us to identify this; it’s not the kind of service we strive to offer our customers.
Your bank account will be credited with £107.79 within the next 5 working days.
Thank you for your patience and understanding. If you feel that we may be able to help with your energy needs in the future, we’d love to hear from you.
So the money will pay for the small party I’ll be having on Friday night!
These are the sort of surprises I like!
Everybody Loves A Big Explosion
There was only a small protest at the demolition of the cooling towers at Didcot power station, early this morning.
But they were mainly locals asking if they could be blown up at a more user-friendly time than 04:30.
This report and video on the BBC, shows that as explosions go, it was a good one!
Is Iceland Part Of The Solution To The Problem Of Russia?
Putin’s Russia is increasingly becoming a problem to the rest of the world, as the events in Ukraine show. I’ve also been to Poland recently and talking to Poles, some are getting quite worried about Russian intentions.
We may impose sanctions on the Russians, but the real problem with our relationship, is that many countries in Europe are highly dependent on Russian gas. Germany is especially dependent and has the direct Nord Stream link through the Baltic.
But how do we replace all of that gas?
We already have a Langeled pipeline from the UK to Norway, the Interconector to Belgium and the RBL pipeline to the Netherlands. We are also importing compressed natural gas from the Middle East. We may also see the benefits of fracking in the next few years. So as far as the UK and our near Continental neighbours are concerned, it’s probably a case of “I’m Alright, Jack”
Gas may be a cleaner fuel, than the coal the Germans are rushing to use, but it still is a fossil fuel, although it only generates about forty percent of the CO2, that coal does when you burn it.
On my trip to Iceland, I saw how you could use geothermal and hydro-electric power to create heat and electricity to power a country and energy consumptive industries like aluminium production and data centres.
But they could generate a lot more and that zero-carbon electricity could be plugged into the European electricity grid. A project called Icelink has been proposed that would link Iceland to the UK and onward to Europe.
There is even plans on the drawing board in other parts of the world, where electricity is used to convert aluminium oxide or bauxite to aluminium in a smelter. The aluminium is then transported to where you need more electricity and then burned in a conventional power station to generate that power. After burning the aluminium is turned into oxide, which is then shipped back to be re-smelted into metal. It sounds crazy, but get the designs right and it might well be financially feasible and considerably cheaper than laying an undersea cable.
Connecting all of Western Europe’s gas and electricity systems together will allow everybody to share resources to mutual advantage.
If we do bring Iceland into this network, it will all help to make Russia’s abundant energy unnecessary and give Putin the cold shoulder, he deserves.
Geothermal Power And The New Island Of Surtsey
I was on a tour which was called the South Shore Safari. The first real stop was in an area of geothermal power stations, which gave good views of the new island of Surtsey
I can remember the formation of the island of Surtsey being shown on the television in 1963. It was a well-reported news story of the time.
Geothermal power is important in Iceland and contributes nearly 600 MW of electricity, which makes up about thirty percent of what they need. The Icelanders have by no means fully developed the maximum amount of power available, but they do generate a lot of hot water to heat Reykjavik and other towns. For comparison, our large nuclear power station, Sizewell B generates 1,200 MW.
I think the geothermal power station we saw is Nesjavellir. Wikipedia says this about the capacity of the power station.
Plans for utilizing the Nesjavellir area for geothermal power and water heating began in 1947, when some boreholes were drilled to evaluate the area’s potential for power generation. Research continued from 1965 to 1986. In 1987, the construction of the plant began, and the cornerstone was laid in May 1990. The station produces approximately 120 MW of electrical power; it also delivers around 1,100 litres (290 US gal) of hot water (82-85°C) per second, servicing the space heating and hot water needs of the Greater Reykjavík Area.
I woiuld have loved to have a tour of the power station.
What surprised me about geothermal power, was that the Phillipines are very large users of the technology, which is described as a geothermal success story in this article in Wikipedia. According to Wikipedia, twenty seven percent of their power comes from geothermal sources.
I suppose the only drawback with geothermal power is that for the generation of large amounts of energy, you are generally in an area prone to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.
It may seem strange, but even in Cornwall, a company is trying to use geothermal energy to generate electricity. Read about the United Downs project on Wikipedia. Whether it will ever work as planned, will be down to the skill of the engineers and probably the will of politicians.
Is OFGEM On Our Side?
According to this article on Uswitch, OVO Energy’s very customer-friendly policy of paying interest on overpayments is to be banned.
Obviously, OVO have not been sucking up to the regulator enough!
14-Jun-2014 – There has been update on USwitch. It includes this statement from OVO.
Our OVO 3% Interest Reward is a central part of our offer and something our customers tell us is really important to them. OFGEM shares our ambitions to make the energy market a fairer, more open, more honest place and on this occasion we’re happy to be working with them to try and help make that happen.
If nothing else the reports have been good free publicity for OVO.
Are Small Energy Companies Struggling?
I’ve just read this article on Blue and Green Tomorrow entitle ‘Unprecedented’ growth forces small energy suppliers to battle customer service issues. The first paragraph summarises the article well.
While dissatisfied energy customers are turning their back on the ‘big six’ suppliers, smaller firms are increasing their number of customers, but their exponential growth is also leading to higher complaints.
I have no current customer services issues with Ovo, who I switched to in December. Although earlier, I did have some issues with their login system.
I would expect that just like any new industry, these small energy companies will have customer service issues in their infancy, as more customers join before the staff are recruited and trained to deal with any problems.
Our Energy Future According To Ovo’s Founder
This article in the Guardian, lays out the future of our energy supplies according to the founder of Ovo Energy.
I agree with all that he said and I’d like to see more schemes like the Bunhill Energy Centre I saw last Open House.
The great thing about small energy schemes, is they are not capital-intensive and often can be hidden away in the most surprising places. They can also take heat from any source like Bunhill is going to do in the near future.
Are The Consumers Controlling The Energy Prices?
This article from Real Business entitled ‘Big 6’ Energy Companies To Lose Dominance in 2019 caught my eye. Here’s the first paragraph.
The UK’s ‘big six’ energy companies are losing customers to their smaller rivals at such a rate that they will control less than 50 per cent of the residential market in 2019, according to UKPower.co.uk.
So perhaps savvy comsumers and the Internet are actually in control these days?
I do wonder whether Miliband’s statement that he would freeze energy companies has actually got the Great British Public to think deeply about their energy use and they have seen they can save money by switching to a smaller supplier.
And from my own experience, once you’ve switched once, you realise that it’s not a painful process, so if it doesn’t work out, switching again will not be a problem.
Adjusting My Energy Direct Debit
I’ve now been with Ovo Energy for three months or so now and I’m beginning to see what my usage is going to be. It’s all a bit complicated as in that period, I’ve changed the boiler for a new and hopefully more efficient one.
So every so often, I take a look at my Direct Debit and see if I should change the amount, I pay.
This morning, I found this article about energy prices on This Is Money, so as they are saying this.
Small energy companies are trouncing their giant rivals, with two suppliers now offering average households cheaper gas and electricity bills for less than £1,000 a year.
First Utility has nudged Ovo Energy off the top spot by launching a one-year, fixed-rate deal for combined gas and electricity at £994 a year. It is called the iSave Fixed July 2015 and is based on medium energy users – typically a family of three or four sharing a three-bedroom house. Ovo’s dual fuel Cheaper Energy Fixed tariff is only marginally higher at £998 a year.
So I did drop my Direct Debit a bit, but I suspect it can go a bit lower.
I’ll have to work out a proper Control Engineering based philosophy so that I minimise my payments and never go into the red so to speak.
Altaeros
At a brief glance, the idea of a flying wind turbine, is akin to putting cows and pigs in the sky.
But enter a company called Altaeros Energies.
Look at their press release and video here.
It may seem wacky and totally off the wall, but the designers could have something.
When I did my electrical engineering degree in the 1960s, power was generated by either water from dams or steam generated by burning coal or oil or from nuclear.
There was no natural gas in the UK, and using it to generate electricity wasn’t in anybody’s book of ideas.
Now a good proportion of our electricity is generated directly from gas.
So don’t make any predictions about how we will generate electricity in ten or twenty years time.
The only certainty, is that a good proportion of our electricity will come from an unexpected source, that is totally discounted or even unheard of at the present time.
The Anonymous Widower 