The reality of going off grid in the uk in 2024

My current struggles with EDF energy as I am attempting to live fully off grid in Cornwall down here at Spring Cottage. They want me to pay even though I don’t want their electricity.
I’m lost for words. I’m not paying EDF to be off grid, Seriously, take your electricity and do one! #offgrid #offgridliving #offgridstruggles #springcottagecornwall

[aaronsmith-jovanovic]

They dont want people off grid sadly.. good on you for stepping up to it

[deepee]

Excellent work brother. Hope this starts a movement.

[martinjames]

Yes. You are correct. "No service required or requested. Property is not fit for habitation. The sooner you come and get your equipment, the less the rent charged will be."
Thank you.

[timsmith]

Outrageous! and well done on standing your ground brother.
…. I’m getting a strong vibe that your Spring Cottage is absolutely amazing, right?
…. here’s an excitable ’tee-hee’ and hey, you’ve just embarked on just the most amazing chapter of your life, right?
…. here’s to THAT whatever the bother! …. 🤪👊

[astridjordan]

Same as cancelling your tv license....7th year and I still get threatening letters..they don't like you doing well without them

[col]

You have to contact the national grid not the electric company. National grid will come disconnect the property at a cost, they will give you a quote and it can be from 1K to 15K to disconnect fully as it has to be done safely. Or you can pay a standing charge of around £300 a year to be switched off but stay connected as a back up. I have the national grid as a backup and pay no standing charge as it’s disconnected. Connecting back up is a call to any electric company.

[HartwoodFurniture]

After 4 years and many mistakes off grid, I now have a stable system. If you are still building yours, make sure to do substantial research. If you are already up and running, I would be keen to what system you settled on.

[adamwhite]

They do it with internet services too. Even if you don't want or don't need optical fibre internet at home, you still have to pay for the option of using it because of the access point. It's absolutely absurd!😠

[sweetchestnut]

Yes!! Fight the good fight .. that is not acceptable. Please post how this pans out.

[duffers]

You should reserve it and charge them for keeping their equipment on your property at a rate of £10storage a day 😂

[delgrandoroacho]

Yeah i refused to pay and they came removed the meter. There was / are ? companies that don't have standing charge. Good luck.

[Xorthis]

UK energy companies are thieves.

I expect that no human read your mail and it's being handled by an automated system. Inform them that you are going to charge a daily storage charge if they do not remove their property from your property in 14 business days.

[owenaylward]

I can't wait to see you hopefully winn

[RichPober]

You need to specifically request that the energy supplier remove their meters from your property. This should be done free of charge. You can speak to the Energy Ombudsman Service and Citizens Advice to get them to clarify how you should go about arranging for the removal of any electricity meters. You can also ask them how you can go about requesting the meter removal without exposing yourself to any standing charges, as you were not using any electricity. However, this potential standing charge liability would need to be clarified, as it may arise from the time you take ownership of the property, irrespective of whether you do or don't use any electricity. Sometimes liabilities incurred by previous owners can be inherited by the new owner, even if the property has been vacant for a number of years. This situation can happen with council tax that has not been paid on a vacant property by the previous owner. If the property has been vacant because it was uninhabitable, then this is a strong case for no charges to be applicable in the case of council tax. However, I don't know if the same arguement can be used in the case of electricity standing charges not being applicable, because the property was vacant due to it being uninhabitable.

[sukotu]

Similarly, I've been looking at buying land here for a while and looked into financing options. My bank explicitly says you can't use a personal loan to buy land or property, but they'll happily lend you up to £50k to buy a car. They don't want people checking out of the system of capitalism - you have to keep consuming more and more, or the system doesn't work for them - the capitalist billionaire class.

[RichPober]

If the electricity supplier will not remove the electricity meters then you can request that they change them to pay-as-you-go / prepayment meters. These meters will not incur a standing charge, however they will have a higher unit charge. That way an electricity connection can still be maintained to the property in case of emergency or if a heavy electrical load is required to be be run.

[lorenzosamyn]

In Belgium, where you live it's obligated to have a connection to the grid. Succes!!!

[antnfs]

Good luck pal, you’ll fucking need it.

[titan]

First off it’s not their infrastructure, it’s a common infrastructure for any and all electricity and gas companies.

You could have save yourself the hassle and just gave them a termination date and told them your were going to be out the country

[cupraJock.]

I would've emailed them saying you used their paper for proper use and that it got wiped across your ass.😂😂😂