My electricity use has dropped dramatically.

[papasmurf]

It was a humorous reply,I think people are aware of what happens

It idiots who did it locally weren't, (EDF has a fault detection helicopter that also detects abstraction.)

[cromwell]

Unfortunately it does not take a qualified electrician to do that it takes a fool. Abstracting electricity is a serious offence with a possible punishment of five years in prison. It is now easy to detect by the electricity supplier.
Locally it has resulted in cannabis farms being detected.

It was a humorous reply,I think people are aware of what happens

[papasmurf]

Of course not. It needs a qualified electrician to do that, not a DIY job.

Unfortunately it does not take a qualified electrician to do that it takes a fool. Abstracting electricity is a serious offence with a possible punishment of five years in prison. It is now easy to detect by the electricity supplier.
Locally it has resulted in cannabis farms being detected.

[Nick]

Of course not. It needs a qualified electrician to do that, not a DIY job.

Nice one

[Barry]

You haven't bypassed the meter have you?

Of course not. It needs a qualified electrician to do that, not a DIY job.

[cromwell]

Checked on my electricity usage online yesterday. I am near £200 in credit. That has happened since the old hot water tank and immersion heater were both replaced at a cost of £600. (The old tank was "only" 40 years old.) It won't take long to recoup the cost of the new tank.

You haven't bypassed the meter have you?

[papasmurf]

Just one thing though. where was that waste heat going? 

Probably into the loft.

[Unlucky4Sum]

Checked on my electricity usage online yesterday. I am near £200 in credit. That has happened since the old hot water tank and immersion heater were both replaced at a cost of £600. (The old tank was "only" 40 years old.) It won't take long to recoup the cost of the new tank.

Just one thing though. where was that waste heat going?  It's very likely it was heating your home so reducing your other energy use.  It's always hard getting objective heating use measures as amongst other things, the weather varies year to year.

When the prices were high we set our thermostats 1 degree lower but I've found it impossible to work out how much it saved us.  Intuitively it must have but how much?  

[Unlucky4Sum]

Dunno Barry Im no beancounter  bit if they have billions of other peoples money sitting on account they are not spending their own if they are asked for a couple of million are they ?  Yes it gets repaid .....eventually .....but then there are always others in credit that take the place so they will always have billions of other peoples money on their account .

Ignoring those customers in debt the suppliers are on average holding about £200 per customer as so called 'Customer Credit Balance'

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2024-03/Customer%20credit%20balance%20explanatory%20note.pdf

Doesn't sound that much IMHO when the average annual bill is over £2k.  And when you look at the actualy net profit margins on energy supply I can't see any case for any windfall tax.   https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/retail-market-indicators

[Streetwalker]

That's not true though, is it?
On a balance sheet customers deposits are a liability, not an asset as they have to be repaid.

I'm interested in how much electricity that old water heater was wasting. I suppose the element and insides were all furred up with calcium deposits?

Dunno Barry Im no beancounter  bit if they have billions of other peoples money sitting on account they are not spending their own if they are asked for a couple of million are they ?  Yes it gets repaid .....eventually .....but then there are always others in credit that take the place so they will always have billions of other peoples money on their account .

[patman post]

We pay a regular amount by direct debit throughout the year. It was surprising to find we were in credit by nearly £900 — this happened first when we installed an electric shower and a kitchen sink electric water heater and switched off the gas during and immersion heater during the warmer months. Our supplier reduced our payments and now regularly informs us about new deals.

We arrived at our current provider after several changes following recommendations and info provided by comparison sites. Admittedly, it's not all down to us — our last supplier went bust and was taken over. So I guess this was the best move we never made by ourselves...

[papasmurf]

I'm interested in how much electricity that old water heater was wasting. I suppose the element and insides were all furred up with calcium deposits?

Where I live there is no furring up, there was no furring up at all in the old tank, or the coil of pipes within it. 
I suspect it is the insulation on the new tank. Although the tank itself is the same capacity as the old one, there is so much insulation on it, it barely fitted into the airing cupboard. The new immersion is also 16amp, and is controlled by a digital timer not a mechanical one. (The timer also has a battery backup for when the mains are switched off. That backup has worked for six days in row when we have gone away.)

[Barry]

Which leads to the question of why a windfall tax was not imposed on them to help with fuel bills , they wouldn't have even been using their own money to pay  it .

That's not true though, is it?
On a balance sheet customers deposits are a liability, not an asset as they have to be repaid.

I'm interested in how much electricity that old water heater was wasting. I suppose the element and insides were all furred up with calcium deposits?

[Streetwalker]

£billions. I usually ask to get credit back. But the electricity credit I will leave it alone for the moment.

Which leads to the question of why a windfall tax was not imposed on them to help with fuel bills , they wouldn't have even been using their own money to pay  it .

[papasmurf]

Makes you wonder how much cash these companies are actually holding.

£billions. I usually ask to get credit back. But the electricity credit I will leave it alone for the moment.