The Cost Of Living Crisis

[Sweep]

5 minutes ago, Mounts Kipper said:

The Fuel price cap moves again April 1st. Fucking disgrace that this government aren't interested in helping folk with the payments, that's despite energy prices dropping, they actually are encouraging recession just to stop inflation. Cunts!     

I agree...

 

However, as you always say, if we don't like it, we can vote them out next time around, we just have to suck it up until then 

[Sweep]

4 minutes ago, globaldiver said:

With it not costing us the taxpayer too much so far, I think they’ll extend it.

I'd have thought that's very likely to happen, but this lot won't announce it yet, they'd rather people worry about it for a while first. Labour will no doubt announce that they would be extending it (if they were in power) in the next week or so, and then the Conservstive Party will follow suit at the end of March

[globaldiver]

8 minutes ago, Mounts Kipper said:

The Fuel price cap moves again April 1st. Fucking disgrace that this government aren't interested in helping folk with the payments, that's despite energy prices dropping, they actually are encouraging recession just to stop inflation. Cunts!     

Interesting, though to consider that anything the government does means that borrowing is higher for future generations.

The experts are predicting costs down from  July and so they might extend for another 3 months.

[Mounts Kipper]

Just now, globaldiver said:

Interesting, though to consider that anything the government does means that borrowing is higher for future generations.

The experts are predicting costs down from  July and so they might extend for another 3 months.

They should do... but they have said they wont. 

[DirtySanchez]

8 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Aye I got that message yesterday.

Wifes hair appointment gone up from £79 to £120 today.

£6 for a jacket spud and cup of tea just now.

Madness.

I paid £14 for my haircut, give them £15 and say keep the change 

It's now £17 so I won't be keeping up the same practice 

[globaldiver]

Should have been fracking a long time ago and pricing our own energy in ££, if that is doable.

Listening to the wrong sorts.

[Mounts Kipper]

2 minutes ago, DirtySanchez said:

I paid £14 for my haircut, give them £15 and say keep the change 

It's now £17 so I won't be keeping up the same practice 

I do not miss paying barbers to dance round my head for 30 minutes when it could be done in 5 minutes and pay through the nose for the privilege. Bald is brilliant.  :) 

Edited February 21, 2023 by Mounts Kipper

[DirtySanchez]

7 minutes ago, Mounts Kipper said:

I do not miss paying barbers to dance round my head for 30 minutes when it could be done in 5 minutes and pay through the nose for the privilege. Bald is brilliant.  :) 

Grey - yes

Bald - no chance 

And I've got the wrong shaped head for bald/shaved 😃

 

[little whitt]

59 minutes ago, Ani said:

My O2 bill has just had its annual increase 13.59% and still no signal at the Sheet of Metal Reebok Community Stadium

Yes i got the Text other day 

BASTARDS

[Tonge moor green jacket]

20 minutes ago, globaldiver said:

Should have been fracking a long time ago and pricing our own energy in ££, if that is doable.

Listening to the wrong sorts.

Fracking is a loser, over here.

It is estimated that only 10% of all gas down there would be accessible. Expensive to get at, and involves loads of water (that we are perhaps struggling to store enough as things are), sand (which requires extraction and delivery), and "chemicals". This last one is a nebulous entity, that seems to comprise of anything from a list of a couple of thousand substances supposedly found in some drilling fluids. Some of which allegedly haven't even been assessed for their environmental impact.

After all that, it would still be subject to market price anyway.

[gonzo]

48 minutes ago, globaldiver said:

Should have been fracking a long time ago and pricing our own energy in ££, if that is doable.

Listening to the wrong sorts.

Sounds good till its on your doorstep.

[tyldesley_white]

27 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Sounds good till its on your doorstep.

Thats always the issue 

Also on the cost, it's said that here in the US, it costs anywhere between $65 to $80 a barrel to get it out of the ground, so at the moment they are all making money (some just at today's price for WTI)

[Winchester White]

1 hour ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Fracking is a loser, over here.

It is estimated that only 10% of all gas down there would be accessible. Expensive to get at, and involves loads of water (that we are perhaps struggling to store enough as things are), sand (which requires extraction and delivery), and "chemicals". This last one is a nebulous entity, that seems to comprise of anything from a list of a couple of thousand substances supposedly found in some drilling fluids. Some of which allegedly haven't even been assessed for their environmental impact.

After all that, it would still be subject to market price anyway.

This.

Geologists who know their stuff have been saying for donkeys that the UK just isn't suitable for fracking.

[Spider]

1 hour ago, globaldiver said:

Should have been fracking a long time ago and pricing our own energy in ££, if that is doable.

Listening to the wrong sorts.

Not sure you’d be a fan if Regents Park decided to sell up. Apparently there’s plenty beneath us.

[tyldesley_white]

7 minutes ago, Winchester White said:

This.

Geologists who know their stuff have been saying for donkeys that the UK just isn't suitable for fracking.

Eagle ford Shale in East Texas is 50 miles wide and 400 miles long with an average thickness of 250 feet, which as 32 central gathering and treatment station and 1600 producing wells, just to give you some scale on what the US has 

[Tonge moor green jacket]

19 minutes ago, Spider said:

Not sure you’d be a fan if Regents Park decided to sell up. Apparently there’s plenty beneath us.

Moreover, we couldn't produce enough for our needs, so would still need to be in the "world" market.

Also a risk if you go down the route of removing ourselves from it even if we could, as one day it will run out/become to expensive to extract, and then we're back in anyway.

One thing we can become self sufficient at is renewables which are also sustainable. Just need a continued mix, maybe a bit more nuclear, and most importantly an increase in storage capacity, by whatever means suits best.

[Spider]

13 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Moreover, we couldn't produce enough for our needs, so would still need to be in the "world" market.

Also a risk if you go down the route of removing ourselves from it even if we could, as one day it will run out/become to expensive to extract, and then we're back in anyway.

One thing we can become self sufficient at is renewables which are also sustainable. Just need a continued mix, maybe a bit more nuclear, and most importantly an increase in storage capacity, by whatever means suits best.

Ironically, the one of the answers lies beneath our feet but deeper than a bit of gas.

Geothermal energy is vast and endless (well, until the earth explodes or is consumed by the sun). Drilling is awkward and expensive but worthwhile.

Air source and solar technologies is moving at a very fast pace now the governments around the world are on board. You can and (from 2025) must build a new house with no fossil fuel based supply. Electric only.

The UK is way behind the rest of Europe with this but in a way that means the technology we now have access to is tried and tested. Swedish and German companies are desperate to access the UK market but (sorry to say) Brexit has held that back. And before anyone argues I have sat in a meeting near Copenhagen and had baffled swedes and Dane’s tearing their hair out over it.

Currently only 2 UK companies make heat pumps here and one of them is owned by Germans.

We don’t need to frack. What we need are for the oil companies to stop having such massive influence.

We’ll get there.

[Sweep]

21 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Moreover, we couldn't produce enough for our needs, so would still need to be in the "world" market.

Also a risk if you go down the route of removing ourselves from it even if we could, as one day it will run out/become to expensive to extract, and then we're back in anyway.

One thing we can become self sufficient at is renewables which are also sustainable. Just need a continued mix, maybe a bit more nuclear, and most importantly an increase in storage capacity, by whatever means suits best.

Harnessing tidal will be key moveing forward, the brother of my Brother-In-Law works for a company working on it, he said it's still several decades away, as it's far more complex than people think. He has said that it will happen though.

Whilst we're waiting the 30/40/50 years for that to happen, we need to be building more solar farms, lobbing up more wind turbines and getting some nuclear power plants built

And, as you say, acquiring a means to store it, as we're sadly lacking on that front at present

[Spider]

Just now, Sweep said:

Harnessing tidal will be key moveing forward, the brother of my Brother-In-Law works for a company working on it, he said it's still several decades away, as it's far more complex than people think. He has said that it will happen though.

Whilst we're waiting the 30/40/50 years for that to happen, we need to be building more solar farms, lobbing up more wind turbines and getting some nuclear power plants built

And, as you say, acquiring a means to store it, as we're sadly lacking on that front at present

Katherine Fletcher, MP for Ribble (a decent Tory - they do exist) is pushing hard for small scale nuclear. Quicker and cheaper to set up and can be on grid within a few years. They are going to be a vital part of supply.

Wind and solar, likewise. Every house in the UK should really have solar panels and be getting free hot water or battery charge.

The house of the future will have its own battery to use in conjunction with mains power, and those batteries will be charged for free by solar and/or wind.

expensive yet, but once all the rich folk and WWays top earner adopt the technology, it becomes cheaper and more accessible to the proletariat

[Sweep]

4 minutes ago, Spider said:

 

Currently only 2 UK companies make heat pumps here and one of them is owned by Germans.

We don’t need to frack. What we need are for the oil companies to stop having such massive influence.

We’ll get there.

I was in a meeting the other day, and have to go back up for another one with a company that's developing heat pumps.......they're owned by the French though 🙂

You'll know far more about it than I do, as I'm only involved in the development of a suitable HMI, but one of the main worries moving forward, from the chaps I'm speaking to, is that there not being sufficient electricity supply to power the circa 500K units that are expected/promised to be installed within 5 years, as well as an entire EV infrastructure that is supposed to be coming

[Winchester White]

Our house is 10 years old and the covenant says no solar panels allowed.  Stuff like that should have been outlawed well before our house was built, bloody stupid.

[Spider]

Just now, Sweep said:

I was in a meeting the other day, and have to go back up for another one with a company that's developing heat pumps.......they're owned by the French though 🙂

You'll know far more about it than I do, as I'm only involved in the development of a suitable HMI, but one of the main worries moving forward, from the chaps I'm speaking to, is that there not being sufficient electricity supply to power the circa 500K units that are expected/promised to be installed within 5 years, as well as an entire EV infrastructure that is supposed to be coming

Needs sorting.

99% of homes only have single phase supply with a maximum draw of 100amps.

If you have 2 Tesla’s charging at night, they will use around 70amps. Put an electric oven on and all the lights etc… and something has to give.

3 phase supply is north of £40k and most companies won’t even install it unless 5-6 neighbouring properties can be done at the same time.

Theres also a massive lack of installers but Bolty is pinching all our skilled folk to go and fix his fuckikg scooter and taps in WA

[Jol_BWFC]

3 hours ago, globaldiver said:

Aren’t they all (inflation + 3.9%)?

RPI was 13.4% (apparently) and they added the 3.9% to get to 17.3%.

[Not in Crawley]

34 minutes ago, Spider said:

Needs sorting.

99% of homes only have single phase supply with a maximum draw of 100amps.

If you have 2 Tesla’s charging at night, they will use around 70amps. Put an electric oven on and all the lights etc… and something has to give.

3 phase supply is north of £40k and most companies won’t even install it unless 5-6 neighbouring properties can be done at the same time.

Theres also a massive lack of installers but Bolty is pinching all our skilled folk to go and fix his fuckikg scooter and taps in WA

Well my brother in law got a massive shock after charging his car at home. He also living on that new estate opposite the Reebok. I know nowt about any of this but if they can't fir these thing on there (where everyone has hybrids and two cars despite a one car drive) not sure how it gets done in older houses.

I do know the Conservatives are going hell for leather about the extention of ULEZ round here. Looked it up, and even with my second hand heap it doesn't affect us. If you have a diesel though, you'd be annoyed. Funny thing is, it doesn't seem to be the folk in vans (as they are compliant) its a lot of people sat in million quid homes and driving diesel that seem to be most upset.

Oh and my Dad, who thinks Kahn should be strung up from Tower Bridge. I did point out that I'm not sure this will effect him in Smithills, and its doesn't effect me, but that didn't seem to change his position on the matter.

 

[Tonge moor green jacket]

40 minutes ago, Spider said:

Needs sorting.

99% of homes only have single phase supply with a maximum draw of 100amps.

If you have 2 Tesla’s charging at night, they will use around 70amps. Put an electric oven on and all the lights etc… and something has to give.

3 phase supply is north of £40k and most companies won’t even install it unless 5-6 neighbouring properties can be done at the same time.

Theres also a massive lack of installers but Bolty is pinching all our skilled folk to go and fix his fuckikg scooter and taps in WA

Unrealistic to expect to charge two vehicles at once at home.

Also, teslas have a very good range, and for the vast majority of the time, alternative over night charging would be sufficient. Also true for vehicles with lower ranges too, as the majority of journeys in a day don't drain a battery.

Those undertaking a longer journey would likely top up at a public point anyway.

Oh, and I suggest you recommend those overseas suppliers to contact those Danish (other Scandinavian companies too) that are supplying and building our windfarms to great effect, prior to and possibly increasingly so since Brexit. They might be able to help.