onesea Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 Just now, Tiggie said: A pub near me has just closed up. Apparently they can't afford the utility bills anymore Winter has not started yet, certainly our heating hasn’t gone on. We have had a couple here do this I wonder how many are taking the opportunity as the pub is worth allot more in other uses. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeHorton Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 37 minutes ago, Tiggie said: A pub near me has just closed up. Apparently they can't afford the utility bills anymore I think this will be a common theme in the coming months sadly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 Just now, MikeHorton said: I think this will be a common theme in the coming months sadly Yep, totally agree. They were talking to business owners on radio 4 the other day. A woman running a farm and ice cream manufacturing with energy bills going from 100,000 to over 300,000 a year. A guy running an Indian restaurant with things like chicken doubling in price. Costs increases that are hard to pass on but if you don't what's the point in running a business that makes no money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender Posted August 30, 2022 Author Share Posted August 30, 2022 Yup all of the above sounds like a disaster in the waiting @Tiggie had a guy on radio who has 6 chippies said fish now costs more per oz than steak and when his leccy deal comes to an end its likely they will just have to stop trading, energy bill will quadruple, his staff want a pay rise to combat inflation, suppliers want more cause costs have gone up, no one is going to pay £28.00 for fish n chips which is what he's worked out is needed, as he put it his family will be fine as they have invested money along the way but his 25 permanent staff will be fooked. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiggie Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 @Bender my boss has just spent 20 grand on the same fish that cost him around 11 last year Laughably we had a customer complain at our price increases and claimed it was people like us that are causing the issues by being greedy and hiking our price up and that if we would lower our price more people could afford it and all would be right with the world Tried explaining to him about suppliers costs, increase in gas, electric, fish prices etc etc but no, it was our fault for being greedy bast*rds 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essem Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 Hopefully this shock will push research into cheap, clean(er) energy production, maybe starting with the fission reactors which don’t produce weapons grade, and renewables backup. Longer term hopefully fusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi Bullfrog Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 If businesses are struggling think about the voluntary sector. Their costs are going up but they don't have prices to raise. And donations are likely to dry up as people struggle to make ends meet. Yet for many it is the voluntary sector that has stepped in when they fall through the cracks. I'm currently working to open village halls as warm banks but how long they can do it for remains to be seen. They don't get the protection of a price cap on energy bills, some have already risen by over 1000%. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rennie Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 The best chippy in Telford are saying they'll have to close! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essem Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 10 hours ago, rennie said: The best chippy in Telford are saying they'll have to close! which chippy is that, I’m not far from Telford and always on the lookout for a good chippy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerontious Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 17 hours ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said: If businesses are struggling think about the voluntary sector. Their costs are going up but they don't have prices to raise. And donations are likely to dry up as people struggle to make ends meet. Yet for many it is the voluntary sector that has stepped in when they fall through the cracks. I'm currently working to open village halls as warm banks but how long they can do it for remains to be seen. They don't get the protection of a price cap on energy bills, some have already risen by over 1000%. There is a massive amount of worry in the care sector too. Obviously something will have to be done as these people cannot go anywhere. The sort I (usually) look after were originally locked away in mental institutions which to a great extent no longer exist. And as for the huge number in dementia care... there is nowhere for them to go. The vast majority of care homes are run by business or charities. And there is no cap. The crunch will arrive very soon. very soon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyrider Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 23 hours ago, MikeHorton said: I think this will be a common theme in the coming months sadly yes i went into our local pub on saturday night and there was two people in i think its the fact that they serve good food during the week and that's why it's still open 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rennie Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 13 hours ago, Essem said: which chippy is that, I’m not far from Telford and always on the lookout for a good chippy The Victorian Fryer, Furnace Lane, Wrockwardine Wood/Trench Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rennie Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 We use electric induction furnaces at work. They use an awful lot of power! up to 8MW each (that's MegaWatts, 8 Million!) We have 4 of them, they're on almost constantly. I have no idea how we're going to cover the upcoming energy price rises I hope The Boss has a plan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozzie Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 10 hours ago, rennie said: We use electric induction furnaces at work. They use an awful lot of power! up to 8MW each (that's MegaWatts, 8 Million!) We have 4 of them, they're on almost constantly. I have no idea how we're going to cover the upcoming energy price rises I hope The Boss has a plan If your factory area has a big area, and it has heat requirements. See if they would be interested in a solar array on the roof, battery backed installation. If they have gas boilers for hot water, or steam, these could be replaced with gas engines up to 8MW worth easily. Likely less as it's only really efficient sizing it to your thermal requirement, the electricity it makes is just the bonus. The pay back at the minute is only a few years. And current predictions show this crisis persisting for a couple more yet. So maybe worth a shout. We are up to our eye balls with work for the NHS who are throwing in solar, heat pumps and whatever else they can to off set gas consumption. When the gov has money to spend on that, it says a lot about what they think is likely over the next few years! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi Bullfrog Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 7 hours ago, Fozzie said: If your factory area has a big area, and it has heat requirements. See if they would be interested in a solar array on the roof, battery backed installation. If they have gas boilers for hot water, or steam, these could be replaced with gas engines up to 8MW worth easily. Likely less as it's only really efficient sizing it to your thermal requirement, the electricity it makes is just the bonus. The pay back at the minute is only a few years. And current predictions show this crisis persisting for a couple more yet. So maybe worth a shout. We are up to our eye balls with work for the NHS who are throwing in solar, heat pumps and whatever else they can to off set gas consumption. When the gov has money to spend on that, it says a lot about what they think is likely over the next few years! We looked at heat pumps but found that the running costs didn't work out, and that was before the price of electricity went sky high. Unless things have changed within the past year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender Posted September 1, 2022 Author Share Posted September 1, 2022 17 minutes ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said: We looked at heat pumps but found that the running costs didn't work out, and that was before the price of electricity went sky high. Unless things have changed within the past year? Yes it's got worse, average saving on a good heatpump (air) was 20% ish cost saving, that was with electric at 16p kwh, gas has gone up but Leccy has gone up disproportionately, I know folk now looking to be paying more for the air source than they were for the condensing boiler, couple that with the slow reaction time of air source and it's not good. If you can have a turbine or a very large solar system with a big storage you'll be fine 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rennie Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 The Norfolk nutters (Brother and Sister in law) have a heat source pump thing fitted, they've had it about 3 years, as far as I know it's never worked! they constantly have so called experts visiting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender Posted September 2, 2022 Author Share Posted September 2, 2022 7 hours ago, rennie said: The Norfolk nutters (Brother and Sister in law) have a heat source pump thing fitted, they've had it about 3 years, as far as I know it's never worked! they constantly have so called experts visiting If its been badly designed or sized it's performance will be worse than what they had. Temp range for air source heating system is 30 to 50 c, good luck if you expect to be any where near the high end, if you want to know how warm your place will be with a heat pump set your boiler to 35-40 ie probably as low as it will go and see how warm it is in the depths of winter. Don't forget you need to know how cold your going to be in 6hrs time too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi Bullfrog Posted September 2, 2022 Share Posted September 2, 2022 A friend installed a ground source heat pump years ago but he's a clever chap and went into it himself first, so he has the right radiators fitted and the system works quite well. Their house isn't a hot a some people have their central heating on but it is comfortably warm. We have more than enough land available to install the ground works needed but we'd need to replace all our radiators and pipework - but I know for sure we won't be here for more than 4-5 years at the most so it's just not viable. It's tied accommodation so we can't sell the system with the house. It would only make sense if we recouped the cost in heating bills within a couple of years. Hence we're preparing to heat upstairs but leave downstairs off. I'll move a desk into a small spare bedroom and my wife already has a desk in another bedroom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keith1200rs Posted September 2, 2022 Share Posted September 2, 2022 Anyone know of a reputable charity that you could donate the £400 fuel rebate if you don't need it, to help people who do? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
husoi Posted September 2, 2022 Share Posted September 2, 2022 33 minutes ago, keith1200rs said: Anyone know of a reputable charity that you could donate the £400 fuel rebate if you don't need it, to help people who do? You will be paying £400 wages for someone instead of actually giving the money to those who need it. Plus tax to the gov. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozzie Posted September 2, 2022 Share Posted September 2, 2022 15 hours ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said: We looked at heat pumps but found that the running costs didn't work out, and that was before the price of electricity went sky high. Unless things have changed within the past year? I'll give you the small rant, as I had a bad feeling before hand, which I feel has more than been confirmed by a couple of projects. Heat pumps are a gimmick. For homes that can power them with solar/battery or on an EV car energy tariff (only lasts 4 hours a day), they could just about make sense. But as a direct replacement to boilers, they are horrendous. They don't even do much to offset the gas you would have used, as the grid is 50% gas fired turbines. Here's the live link, and I bet it's around 50% no matter when you click it this year: https://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/ Which makes you ask why the gov would scramble to litter their NHS hospitals with them? Conspiracy to drive up costs so they can sell it off? No, in my view that would require a degree of intelligence they don't have. More likely is this is the latest knee jerk reaction, similar to when they ran towards diesel with reckless abandon. They've just seen the headline "replace GAS boilers", and that's their focus. What was infuriating on a recent site visit was I walked all over the roof of a hospital doing cable routes, finding supplies for BMS outstations to control all the kit they are throwing in, and when asked why they aren't doing the solar array... Roof would need replacing as it's a bit old, and they don't have the money for it. They are going to see their electricity costs rise 300% without... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiggie Posted September 2, 2022 Share Posted September 2, 2022 My Brother in Canada pays around $190 a month for his electricity usage and he is not frugal! has the hottub on permanently, doesn't worry about what machinery he has running in garage etc. That works out at approx £125 He is on hydropower where he lives, about 60% of Canada is using it, the Government sell their surplus electricity down to the US which helps keep costs down . Cynical old me still thinks we would be paying over the odds if that came here 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 2, 2022 Share Posted September 2, 2022 1 hour ago, husoi said: You will be paying £400 wages for someone instead of actually giving the money to those who need it. Plus tax to the gov. So no one in a charity should get paid? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerontious Posted September 2, 2022 Share Posted September 2, 2022 Music venue. previous energy bill £10,000 new bill £144,000 they are closing immediately. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.