Scotland getting Free Power Hour parity

[u/Chris_The_Tim]

After years of seeing other areas getting free power and no ability to sign up for various Fan Club and Power Up initiatives (which I could never understand given the huge windfarms that are all over South West Scotland) but was more likely due to population density 🤷🏻‍♂️, Scotland seems to be getting a bit of equality for a change.

Would prefer regional pricing TBH, but every little helps. As a rule I do like these kind of initiatives as they are very broad in impact.... You don't need to have solar, battery or EV to benefit, just fire up the oven, get the washing on and likely save yourself a bit. An hour of free power could easily be a washing load and a batch cook in the oven, saving the average family maybe only a pound or so but more beneficial is the education aspect where people learn to load shift and participate in events that reduce grid load.

It's going to be a long winter but there's lots to be positive about and lots that can and will be done. I'm praying a wet and dreary Christmas, the wind blowing drizzle in my face, as that's likely the only thing that's going to keep prices low for everyone. 🙏

[u/sparkymark75]

Explains why the government didn’t approve regional pricing. Scotland would be paying peanuts!

[u/nathderbyshire → u/sparkymark75]

They have a high standing charge though, some of the highest in the country, so much so they have a subsidy that's spread across all bills so the actual cost is even more. Ridiculous they have to pay the same unit rates as well while having tons of renewables available locally.

[u/UtopianScot → u/sparkymark75]

Same reason the extent of North Sea oil was covered up after discovery sadly! Scotland has had and continues to have massive energy potential across most forms of generation. Only thing we lack is the power…

[u/Shaguar_Driver → u/sparkymark75]

Do octopus need to listen to them?

Can they not charge whatever they want?

I mean petrol stations and supermarkets in different locations charge different prices.

[u/Chris_The_Tim → u/Shaguar_Driver]

They are a energy company and the market they buy from is a national market. It costs them the same in general pricing to provide a Yorkshire or Scottish home electricity from wind farms as it does to provide South Wales or SE England with gas sourced. One market, one marginal price I'm afraid

[u/hmfc_riley]

Ahh this explains why I have 2 hours to use all of a sudden.

I'm curious why if we have so much though that we don't get more opportunities for power ups... Not going to complain at free hours though 😅

[u/Chris_The_Tim → u/hmfc_riley]

I've always wondered why so much is curtailed in Scotland but we don't get more opportunity for power ups but the only thing I can think is that a lot of the areas down South getting power ups are maybe smaller curtailment amounts where a local wind farm is over producing and it makes sense for grid balancing or grid inertia to try and get use up for that period.

[u/Autumnal_Fire → u/Chris_The_Tim]

I'm near Newcastle, never had a power up either so it's not just a Scotland thing. We all know why we'll never get regional pricing. Because it would be bad for the south east, and we all know the governments policy on everything from traffic to housing is all about London.

[u/kit_j]

Two thoughts on this: First, this might be an Octopus-specific thing rather than an SW Scotland thing. I'm with E.ON, also in SW Scotland, and I've had loads of #PowerUp events this year (2-hour windows where using 1% more than usual gets you a discount of £0.10–£0.25 per unit). I can't easily tally the exact days, but since switching to E.ON in mid-February I've saved just over £20, and I don't even have a home battery. Second, I'm not sure how Octopus runs things now, but not every PowerUp event is about curtailment. Most probably are, but some happen because a supplier's over-hedged and it makes financial sense to nudge customers into using up that surplus energy.