Free electricity

Before we went to Italy in September our electricity provider was occasionally offering us free power for one hour at specified times when there is plenty of renewable energy available.  We were given at a days notice and any electricity above our average usage at that time of day was free, we of course signed up and managed to grab a maximum of £4 worth of free electricity.  We missed out a few times while we were away but yesterday got an email to say this morning, for 2 hours,  7 am to 9 am we could again use the offer.  We didn’t need asking twice particularly given twice as long to use as much as we could.  Mr FF set the alarm and at 7 am precisely switched on our emergency oil filled radiator, after he worked out how to do so as it hadn’t been needed for some time. He then got back into bed saying the kitchen would be roasty toasty by breakfast time.

I however had other plans, I got up and :

• Completed and tumble dried a load of washing
• Put the immersion on for a tank full of hot water
• Hoovered with the big Dyson
• Charged every thing that could be charged, phones, cordless vacuum etc
• Ran the dishwasher

We both had a steam session that really warmed us up. We also ran the bathroom underfloor heating that never gets used and the heated towel rails too.

By the time we sat down for our porridge, cooked in the microwave within the free zone, we were extremely hot as the outside temperature had warmed up following yesterday’s snow and ice and we had more heating in the apartment than normal.

This offer is a big improvement on last years when we had to save power by turning off as much as possible for an hour at peak times to receive a credit.  I got sick of sitting in the cold and dark for a few pounds and called a halt, particularly when I discovered MrFF sitting in the office with the computer on. I’ll be interested to see how much free power we used today, we should be notified within 7 days, I’ll let you know.