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Luz
Dec 30, 2022 16:20:29 GMT 2
Post by slowcoach on Dec 30, 2022 16:20:29 GMT 2
Luz is still a big thing around here. Adverts for rental accommodation, workshop space, etc., may still contain the boast that there is Luz. (mains electricity). There are still some unreformed properties here in this village that remain Luzless (rhymes with ruthless). The electricity market has been transformed in recent years and especialy since mid 2021. Transformed from something rational into something confounding, complex and immensely profitable. Welcome to the mercado libre. I have spent much of the last 2 weeks simply trying to switch electricity providers in a considered and sensible way and ... I've not given up. I have made almost no tangible progress but I have not given up. Question: How on earth are customers choosing an affordablr supplier? Answer: I suspect that they are not. Let us pick a supplier not quite at random: Iberdrola offers 10 different tariffs. Choosing the most appropriate one requires omniscience or great good fortune. And there are many, many suppliers that have multiple offerings. There are comparison websites including one run by the government but they are next to useless in that they are either oranges and apples, totally opaque, or happy to phone you to disclose their recommendation. I have decided that entering phone numbers at random serves no socially useful purpose so I have learned to reject any site that really, really wants to hold my hand while it slits my throat. What I have learned is that some of the suppliers are bit more expensive than others are. Do I mean 5% more? Noooooo Do I mean 10% more? Noooooo Do I mean 50% more? Were getting warmer Some are more than that. Some are even charging >100% over the odds. It just so happens that the final step of freeing the market coincided with the 2021 fuel price crisis, every supplier put their prices up. It seems that some had bigger boots to fill. It all got a bit buried in the general cost of living crisis. I am horrified by just how opaque and deceptive some of the suppliers are. But also in how inadequately the workings and failings of the mercado libre are explained. It is complicated but not that complicated, but it truly is obfuscated. I can only imagine that people give up, phone a friend, draw lots, or cry. It is a disgrace. And in free market terms it is a disaster. BTB Would you be comfortable with your choice of tariff if were named "confidence" or "tranquillity"? Arrrrrrrrgh!
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Luz
Dec 30, 2022 21:02:57 GMT 2
Post by OnlyMark on Dec 30, 2022 21:02:57 GMT 2
I have heard of and read horror stories regarding suppliers in Spain. Never anything good and often not knowing what they are really getting until they've signed up for it. It's all just a hassle that is unnecessary and stressing. Mind you, same with a number of things in Spain (not unique to Spain though) I remain sympathetic but smug knowing my electric bill is zero. It wasn't to start off with, it was a considerable number of thousands of Euros. But since 2010 it's been "free".
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Luz
Dec 31, 2022 11:21:15 GMT 2
Post by slowcoach on Dec 31, 2022 11:21:15 GMT 2
Yes and you're are pretty green too!
The contrast is with the regulated market for gas (supplied in bottles on contract). It works really well, it might, or might not be a bit expensive compared to some countries, but the price is predictable, gazetted six time a year for the following two months, and comparatively stable,. It took a big (60%) jump between 2021 and summer 2022, before falling back slightly, but that jump was off a multiyear low. it seems that it is only around 10% more than it was during 2014.
It is of course, a regulated market, with prices set by the national government, and I guess that will be reason enough for people to wish to change it for something offering customers more choice. Luz now has lots of choices, nearly all of them ruinous (Sometimes who have got to laugh).
FWIW right now we are reaping what might dubiously be a benefit if climate change. It is warm, wet but warm, about 5ºC warmer than it should be.
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Luz
Dec 31, 2022 12:05:56 GMT 2
via mobile
Post by lumi on Dec 31, 2022 12:05:56 GMT 2
Electricity prices in Singapore also went up quite a lot with prices between companies varying considerably (not sure that it is to the extent you'd escrived though, slow). But we are fortunate that regardless of company you choose, the service is reliable.
When we get our electricity (and water) bills, it always compares our usage to other similarly sized properties in the neighbourhood and our usage is always well below average. Often just one quarter of the average user. We aren't particularly stingy with our electricity (we run the air con in the evening and the whole night in our bedrooms) but I suppose we only use it in rooms we are in and don't have a TV running all day or anything. But even so, to use so much less than average surprises me when, in my opinion, we don't try any special vigilance or efforts.
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Luz
Dec 31, 2022 16:38:57 GMT 2
Post by slowcoach on Dec 31, 2022 16:38:57 GMT 2
When we get our electricity (and water) bills, it always compares our usage to other similarly sized properties in the neighbourhood and our usage is always well below average. Often just one quarter of the average user. We aren't particularly stingy with our electricity (we run the air con in the evening and the whole night in our bedrooms) but I suppose we only use it in rooms we are in and don't have a TV running all day or anything. But even so, to use so much less than average surprises me when, in my opinion, we don't try any special vigilance or efforts. Excuse my cynicism, I would wonder: Is this information easy, difficult, or impossible to verify? How could they compile it? Why are they providing it, i.e. how do they hope to benefit from doing so? Is it true? If you were, as some must be, using excessive amounts would they tell you, and to what end?
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Luz
Jan 3, 2023 0:21:51 GMT 2
Post by tzarine on Jan 3, 2023 0:21:51 GMT 2
luz is one of our pinoy relations
so, slow, i wondered if you knew that luz
our electricity bills have gone up so much. #$%^&*()_+_)( ConEd (ny provider)
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Luz
Jan 3, 2023 16:54:41 GMT 2
Post by slowcoach on Jan 3, 2023 16:54:41 GMT 2
Not familiar with it as a name, I presume a girls name and one relating to Nuestra Señora de la Luz.
But how is it pronounced? Is it like "Lose"?
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Luz
Jan 3, 2023 22:27:59 GMT 2
Post by tzarine on Jan 3, 2023 22:27:59 GMT 2
slow it is pronounced the same & is a female name
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Post by Netsuke on Jan 4, 2023 7:29:13 GMT 2
For some reason, I thought Luz was either a place or a woman!
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Luz
Jan 20, 2023 12:03:23 GMT 2
tzarine likes this
Post by slowcoach on Jan 20, 2023 12:03:23 GMT 2
Let there be ...
The more luces the merrier.
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Luz
Jan 20, 2023 12:25:26 GMT 2
Post by slowcoach on Jan 20, 2023 12:25:26 GMT 2
In Spain the prices for Propane/Butane supplied on contract are regulated by central government and they are now down to pre-European War levels.
Wholesale electricity prices are way down for now, at less than 10% above 2015 prices.
When this will be reflected in most domestic customer mercado libre prices is another matter.
There is an option for domestic customers to purchase electricity at a regulated rates called PVPC (Precio Voluntario para el Pequeño Consumidor) but the rates changes hour by hour as announced every evening for the coming day. These prices reflect the wholesale prices and are likely to prove to be cheaper than mercado libre prices in the long run but they are volatile.
So far this year a unit (kWh) has costed as little as €0.03 and as much as €0.34 at various times.
I suspect that PVPC or similar will be the future. People trying to maximise electricity usage when it is cheap. E.G. charging electric vehicles at weekends and in the wee small hours,
There
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Luz
Feb 13, 2023 11:12:03 GMT 2
Post by slowcoach on Feb 13, 2023 11:12:03 GMT 2
Investigating smart meter's use and abuse.
IHD (In Home Display) for smart meters. The IHD model 6 supplied by "bulb" (a UK energy retailer) has a temperature sensor From the "bulb" website:
What does it do with your temperature history? Probably sufficient detail to facilitate gleaning a shrewd idea of when you are likely to be in or out.
What does the privacy policy have to say about your temperature data? A text search for temperature finds no occurrences.
How long do they keep personal data: Their policy seems to be not to tell you how long!Well it is just as well that companies always look after your data and it never gets hacked.
FWIW One of the concerns about smart meters is the facility to cut off the supply remotely, e.g. (Russia, North Korea, China, the kid next door you just pissed off).
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Luz
Mar 12, 2023 23:50:00 GMT 2
Post by tzarine on Mar 12, 2023 23:50:00 GMT 2
not luz met a pura short for puraficacion
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