Electricity Price Hike

[John Wright]

The conclusion for me is that electricity prices in IoM and UK are both too high. I’m paying about half that here in Spain, and yes, I’ve factored in the equivalent of standing charges.

Used Si! Compare, and could shave another 12% off.

[Derek Flint]

1 hour ago, John Wright said:

The conclusion for me is that electricity prices in IoM and UK are both too high. I’m paying about half that here in Spain, and yes, I’ve factored in the equivalent of standing charges.

Used Si! Compare, and could shave another 12% off.

The mystery is why?

[John Wright]

25 minutes ago, Derek Flint said:

The mystery is why?

When I first came out here, 30 years ago, many things were much cheaper. Infrastructure wasn’t as good. A full food shop trolley was half the cost as at home, fuel for the car was cheaper, eating out was much cheaper, even in tourist areas, theatre, circus, opera and ballet were much much cheaper. Now, electric apart, everything has caught up or got ahead of IoM/UK.  Electric supply is the only thing that is consistently cheaper.

Part has got to be lower solar generation costs and the fact it’s 30% of the National generation market, but they’ve had huge grid and solar and wind installation cost. Same with roads. The motorway network is improved and expanded and most is now toll free. Water, which used to be undrinkable due to heavy mineralisation and chlorination, is now very good. Lots of it is still very hard. I’ve just installed a reverse osmosis plant. 

I had cause to use A&E on Saturday, I’m fine now, free, apart from the prescription. Checked in, triaged, seeing Dr, within 5 mins of arrival. Tests run. Saw Dr second time. All in less than an hour.

I think it’s because productivity here is good, even after siesta and alleged Spanish practices. IoM and UK are grossly inefficient and low productivity. That equals high cost.

[Mann O Mann]

34 minutes ago, Derek Flint said:

The mystery is why?

The reason is due to the transition to renewables where the cost of subsidy to the offshore wind farms and investment in are electrical infrastructure in order to cope with the increased load will be passed on to the consumer via higher electricity costs. This is going to cost billions for many years to come.

Offshore wind farms depend heavily on Government subsidy in order to operate.

With the lack of investment in nuclear ( the UK is decommissioning more than they are building ) and the lack of development in the UKs own offshore oil and gas fields it has made the UK ( once a net exporter of energy and now a net importer of energy ) reliant on expensive spot market energy especially gas from the USA ( it is 5 X cheaper than home grown gas due to the lack of investment in the UK into this energy source amd the USA is making a significant return on this ) and the Middle East ( cheap energy from Russia is off the table ).

unfortunately it is only going to get worse as the UK under the current administration has decided to fast forward  to a supposedly greener energy future while not investing in base load energy . 
 

Attached is the energy mix today in the UK where the sun is shining but the wind ain’t blowing making the UK increasingly dependant on international energy from foreign shores .

When the wind is blowing it accounts for between 25% to 35% of our energy mix and Gas about 25%.

Unfortunately going “Hyper” Green and not developing or continuing to invest in base load power will mean Hyper Energy Costs while we transition over the 15 to 20 years.

The USA is investing heavily in developing its gas fields whilst also developing renewables at the same time . It is a shame the UK has not taken the same belt and braces approach.

 

 

[Tinpot]

Do Spain and others have taxes and levies applied to their electricity costs like the UK do?  If fact, do we on the island?

“

• Household consumers in the UK faced higher electricity prices in the second half of 2023 than those in any of the 27 EU countries – standing at £0.36 per kWh (all taxes and levies included).

• One reason that electricity prices are high in the UK is that gas sets the marginal price more often than in any EU nation, doing so 97% of the time in 2021.

  Another reason is because electricity is subject to carbon taxes, whereas gas used for heating is not. In addition, levies on bills, which pay for some subsidies for renewable energy and for schemes to tackle fuel poverty, are strongly skewed towards electricity rather than gas.

  Without taxes and levies applied – which include any taxes or charges relating to environmental or social policies and VAT – electricity prices in the UK stood at £0.27 per kWh and gas prices stood at £0.07 per kWh.”

Where we on the island are really getting stung is our gas.  In the UK their electric is the highest is Europe but third gas among the lowest.  We are among the highest for both.

[Non-Believer]

6 hours ago, Derek Flint said:

The mystery is why?

A captive, monopoly market and an unwillingness to regulate, certainly previously in the case of gas, look how long it took Tynwald to act in the face of blatant profiteering by MG. And it took a local taxi driver to keep the concerns to the fore, some of our politicians were heavily defending the situation up to that point.

As for the cost of electricity, well anybody with an eye on recent history knows full well the reasons behind that.

Edited 1 hour ago by Non-Believer
Typo

[Tinpot]

1 hour ago, Non-Believer said:

A captive, monopoly market and an unwillingness to regulate, certainly previously in the case of gas, look how long it took Tynwald to act in the face of blatant profiteering by MG. And it took a local taxi driver to keep the concerns to the fore, some of our politicians were heavily defending the situation up to that point.

As for the cost of electricity, well anybody with an eye on recent history knows full well the reasons behind that.

And that’s relevant to prices in the UK being higher than Spain how exactly?

Edited 18 minutes ago by Tinpot