Finding the chase and cutting to it

Gas, not electricity. Four weeks ago, we noticed that our boiler light was red and the unit was definitively not heating anything: not the floor or the water which (during the summer) is its sole raison d’etre. Oh dear, we said, how annoying or words to that effect 😮 Still, the sun was shining and […]

Over the past few months, I’ve been discussing reducing our energy footprint and especially our bill. Really this is about achieving the best bang for your buck and is one of the reasons the world is looking to incentivise reducing our carbon and other emissions. We were lucky and did this early enough that we […]

We moved house 7 years ago (almost to the date) and got a bit of a shock when our first month’s energy bill came in – our electric bill was £101.  For a month. My friends are all groaning at this point, as I tell of how I sat in the kitchen looked up to […]

Being diabetic, I have a bigger footprint than the average person on the planet. As a household, we’re making an effort. The Electric Car According to the New Scientist this week, in the UK, a fully electric car has a much lower carbon emission footprint than a hybrid petrol/electric car this year and on-going years.  […]

Running the Leaf between the 10th August 2017 to the 9th August 2018 If we’re talking about power consumption, we need to discuss the Leaf.  How much is it costing us to run, bearing in mind we are now funding every mile from our home electricity supply? Month Distance travelled (miles) Energy economy (m/kW) Power […]

How on a minute, is there something you want to tell me? What do you mean? Well, you’ve blogged once in a blue moon the past year and this week, this is your fourth… Oh, I had an operation last week and while I am not up to my usual fettle (I am sleeping nearly […]

We had our smart meter fitted today.  Not only do we generate our own electricity (honestly, even today when the showers are continual, we are generating 140W) but we can see when to make the best use of that electricity. Given this has been a good year: from 1st January 2018 to the 9th August […]

We bought our Nissan Leaf on the 27th January 2014 out right apart from a 5 year lease on the battery, which gave us ownship of the battery at the end of the lease. Only two years later we were told we were on a “Flex battery lease” which has no end date 😮 And […]

I ended up with a day on my hands. I could have spent it feeling sorry for myself (and did start down that route) before I picked myself up by the scruff of my neck and gave myself a shake down! Get to the chase?  So what? Over the past 5 years, I have had […]

[Originally posted on the December 4th, 2016] Three years ago, as part of my job, I was involved in the UK role out of smart meters, which are basically mobile devices metering your gas and electricity and sending the data back to your energy provider.  As a consumer, this is great because you can see […]