Already electrified everything I use. Didn't even cost much and I could have gone cheaper if I was being frugal.

And the cost of electricity is pinned to the price of the most expensive fuel, which is gas.

Lame.

Nukes are the more efficient future; batteries and sunlight is the near-term solution, with sunlight/wind and pumped reserve (backing the hydro) in the middle.

20% of last year we were below 100g/kWh. That was up from 14.5% the year before. So, every year it's becoming more and more common.

The 2030 target is to be below that level averaged over the year.

It's not that uncommon. Last year we were below 100g/kWh (the 2030 target) for about 20% of the time. We averaged 83g today.

Chart from mygridgb.co.uk

Look over the last 12 months and you'll see renewables are 30% over the year. 30% Gas, 15% Nuclear and 10% Biomass. The rest is imported from France (mostly Nuclear) and Norway (Hydro).

This year should see another 3GW of wind start up at Dogger Bank, with similar amount scheduled for the next couple of years. This will be more and more common.

Look at : https://grid.iamkate.com/

We don't have time for nuclear and it's not cost effective. More renewable and more batteries is cheaper and quicker and already happening. Last year, gas was 29.7% and wind was 30.1%, gas will be down again looking back a year from now.

https://grid.iamkate.com/

How far off of this being normal are we?

At first I was like "hey where's the coal?" and for once, I was pleasantly surprised.

Hopefully we can make a smooth transition off gas and make it vastly renewable.

Great news.

So why do we need more nuclear then?

That’s good

Just watch out for when the current CEO leaves.

Oof, amen.

Amazingly, they're huge now and still consumer friendly. Just watch out for when the current CEO leaves.

I guess whilst they're in the consumer-friendly phase of their business growth cycle, I'm rooting for them, I just wonder about the future once they've cornered the market

Octopus was set up because they felt they could use technology to out-compete other energy companies by under-cutting them. Their model of operating is to find ways they can drop prices.

It's a model that has served them very well, going from zero to a multi-national energy supplier in about 10 years with more customers than nearly anyone else.

Partly, it will be they do care. But also, them appearing to care brings in more customers. This isn't going to change prices anyway, directly, because of the way energy is priced by the most expensive source, gas. Renewable companies already have a great profit margin because they are so much cheaper than gas, but with more storage, it could be cheaper still. I.e. more profit.

I guess I'm just wondering why a for-profit company would want to incentivize price drops for consumers

Yes. What's that matter?

Are they not a for profit company?

National Grid is a private company

well shut me up...!

National Grid is a private company

They are funded via OFGEM, and infrastructure building doesn’t happen overnight.

Having a bleeding edge grid would be bad. There is lots of approval and testing that adds to delivery timelines, along with the funding

We haven't got many geographical sites that support pumped storage. They got surveyed back in the 50 and 60s and the ones that were suitable got built.

This is part of Octopus's push for regional pricing so that demand can be encouraged local to the generation by dropping the local price. They argue that the saved money on curtailment and repurchasing power in a different location would mean prices could drop across the country

Also, NESO just switched the queue for grid connection applications from "First Come, First Served" to "First Ready, First Connected" because the backlog is so long for DNOs (Distribution Network Operators) that there's a lot of zombied projects that rushed to get the application without planning permission or funding because the wait is so long.

Hopefully this coupled with additional funding and planning reform will be enough to get the extra transmission capacity that is so desperately needed, even for energy storage sites.