AudioBoo - Those Were The Days.

Solar Power, Yes Please.

Over two years ago, on 15th October 2009 to be precise, i wrote a blog post all about climate change (Blog Action day 2009: Climate Change).
In that post i mentioned my feelings about solar power and the fact that here in the UK it seems to be the forgotten option when it comes to renewable power.

This topic has, once again, raised its head again over recent days.
Yesterday the High Court, here in the UK, ruled as unlawful a decision by the UK Government to change and reduce the subsidies on solar power. These are subsidies that are paid to the small consumer, typically a householder, to encourage solar power generation.

Meanwhile, two Parliamentary committees have also criticised the UK Government over the same issue.

Many commentators think that the Governments decision could sound the death knell for the production of solar panels in the UK, with the loss of many much needed jobs.
Apparently the reason behind the decision is that the installation of solar panels has proved far more popular than anyone predicted. Thereby, costing the Government more money in subsidies.

Whilst i do understand the Governments predicament, especially, in these testing economic times. Surely, we should be encouraging the use of solar power generation, not trying to put people off?
The fact that solar panels on private dwellings have been so popular shows that the general public want to install them. So, why not help them continue to fit them?

I have argued, to anyone who will listen, that we should be concentrating far more on solar power than on wind power to produce the nations renewable energy in the future.
The Government have pumped billions of pounds into wind turbines. Wind turbines that only work when there is a wind and, as we have seen recently, don't actually work that well when there is "too much wind".
Then there is the issue that, in many peoples opinion, wind turbines are a blot on the landscape. I actually quite like them myself, but do totally understand the objections. Solar panels, on the other hand, disturb nobody, make no noise and don't present a hazard to birds either.

I accept that the sun doesn't always shine here in the UK. But, ordinary daylight can still be used to generate solar energy, albeit not as much as on a sunny summers day.

So, for me, there is no issue here. Solar power should be encouraged.
The energy companies and the Government should be looking at ways of generating electricity through solar power and private householders should be encouraged to fit solar panels to their houses. This would then provide cheap natural power to the nation and help protect UK jobs as well.

But, putting on my cynical hat, i can see other reasons why wind power is usually put above solar power.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no plan by the big energy companies to use solar energy as a source of power generation. They all seem to be stuck with this fascination with huge wind turbine farms, both on land and at sea.
I do realise that for them to do this they would have to go down the route that other countries have taken and have solar panel "farms". I have seen this kind of thing in Spain. It takes land to do this and maybe that is the argument against it?

But, maybe another other reason is that wind turbines can't really be fitted to houses very easily?
Planning permission can be a real problem in this area. It can be with solar panels too, but they are nowhere near as visible, or ugly. Wind turbines, after all, are like an extension to a house, or building. Therefore requiring planning permission. Whereas, solar panels are fitted onto the house.

So, if you can't easily fit wind turbines to your house, but solar panels are easy to fit. Why would the energy companies want to encourage you to fit solar panels to your own house, helping you to generate your own electricity and therefore, reducing your need for the energy company in the first place?

If we were all able to afford and fit solar panels to our houses and buildings, we wouldn't need the energy companies at all would we? Or, at least, only for emergency power as a kind of back up.

Of course, the energy companies were created when the UK Government sold off and privatised the energy systems back in the 1980's. Which leads me to wonder, if we still had a Government owned energy system, would we still have this problem with renewable energy systems now?

I'd like to think that if we still had the old system we'd all be encouraged to fit solar panels and save ourselves some money. This way would also encourage householders to conserve energy. Because, if you're generating electricity yourself, you're bound to take more interest in how you use that energy.

This would, in turn, reduce the CO2 emissions of the UK, helping us meet our Kyoto and other targets.
It would also reduce our reliance on energy imported from abroad. Whether that be coal, gas from Russia and even electricity from France. We could not then be held to ransom by other countires and subject to their own price increases.
Surely, that can only be a good thing?

I suspect though, that this will not happen due to the power that the energy companies seem to have over the Government in the UK. They seem to be able to do whatever they want, with very little, or ineffectual Government interference.
All the time the status quo is maintained, the public will keep seeing their own energy bills rise far above the rate of inflation. As they have been doing over recent years.
The price of energy is now a major chunk of household expenditure. Something that never really used to be the case.

In my opinion, it doesn't need to be this way. Solar power needs and deserves to be encouraged and the ordinary householder needs to be given the means, at a sensible cost, to generate their own electricity.
But, what we need is a strong UK Government and some forward thinking to help provide the conditions for this to happen.

Power needs to be returned to the people.

Easy Money.

Today i made one of those phone calls that you don't get to make very often. A phone call that makes you a lot of money.
Okay, so the money was originally mine to start with. I just didn't realise that i was owed it.
Maybe i should just get on & tell the story?....

In the mail today, i received my latest electricity & gas bills. I get both utilities from the same company. I just happen to find it easier that way.

I have changed my provider on a number of occasions, as we can do in the UK & actually went over to this provider, a while ago, because a lot of their power comes from renewable sources.
Anyway, whilst studying the individual bills i noticed that the company actually owed me money, on both bills. Obviously i had overpaid them. Mainly due to the fact that i pay by direct debit. Once again, i just find it easier that way & you do generally get a small discount for paying that way.

On the electricity bill i was over £500 in credit & on the gas bill i was over £360 in credit! Yes, that amounts to over £850 that i had paid to this energy company, that i didn't need to.
I must admit that i had noticed on previous bills that i was in credit. But, i didn't realise it was by that much. Either that, or i just hadn't got around to ringing up the company & sorting out the over payment.

Well, this time i was straight on the phone to sort it all out. First off i checked that i had the correct meter readings, just in case of any error.
As it happens, the lady on the other end of the phone could not have been nicer & more accomodating. Well, i guess she should have been as it was my money i was asking for.
After checking that all the figures were correct & adjusting for the slight difference in the meter readings, i was still well in the black.

To cut a long story short(ish) I ended up getting the energy company to pay £700 (approx $1,000) back into my bank account. Money that i had overpaid & was therefore owed. I also got them to reduce my direct debit payments by over £60 per month.
I may still be overpaying slightly. But, i decided to keep it that way. For the moment at least. I can always adjust it again in the future & maybe get another bank payment as well.

As i mentioned in an earlier blog post. I have recently booked a return flight to the USA & this money will go a long way to ensuring that i have a really good time, whilst i'm there.

And all because i bothered to make a simple phone call.

I suppose the moral of this story is. Check those bills that come through the door, a little more closely in future.
Who knows. You may be owed some money as well.
If so, maybe i'll see you at Heathrow in April?