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Charlie Dearman wanted to get off the gas grid after the 'shock' of the Ukraine energy crisis – now sometimes he is even paid for using energy
A homeowner who has invested in solar panels, a heat pump and an electric car to help avoid soaring energy and fuel bills has said he is saving more than £1,000 a year.
Charlie Dearman started thinking about getting off the gas grid following the “shock” of the energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He’s now installed solar panels, a battery and a heat pump in his east London home and reduced his monthly energy bill to £65 per month.
Jake Hall, 35, was found dead
at his rented villa this morning, having sustained serious head injuries from smashed glass, reports claim.
The Civil Guard in Palma are investigating Hall’s death, who was on holiday at the time. Police are said to be investigating the theory that he died after “hitting his head against the glass door”.
No arrests have been made but four men and women who were staying at the hotel have been interviewed.
CULTURE
3 min read
TELEVISION
3 min read
The model and footballer shot to fame after appearing on the reality show The Only Way is Essex in 2015, quitting in 2024.
He had a child with fellow reality star Missé Beqiri of The Real Housewives of Cheshire in 2017, and the pair were in an on-and-off relationship. He had a second home in Majorca and often spent time there.
WORLD
2 min read
Heading to the polls for the
local elections today? Here’s everything you need to make
sure you’re able to vote, and
some dos and don’ts for when
you get there
In Scotland and Wales, you won’t need to show ID to vote.
Polling card
You don’t need to bring this with you, but it might speed up the process.
Pen or pencil
These will be provided though you can bring your own if you wish.
NEWS
4 min read
Children are allowed into the polling station with you, though they shouldn’t write on your ballot paper. Pets usually have to be left outside, except assistance dogs,
If you are disabled, you can bring someone with you to help you vote as long as they are over 18 – they do not need to be registered to vote. Polling station staff can also help you, and you are allowed to bring your phone into the polling booth as an accessibility aid.
Taking a photo or video in the ballot booth is illegal, as your vote is meant to be secret.
Campaigning isn’t allowed so don’t speak about candidates or wear political slogans.
People who have been drinking or are drunk can vote, unless they are disruptive.
You don’t have to vote, so there’s no reason for you to turn up at the polling station if you don’t intend to do so. If you do go, it’s worth knowing that:
TRAVEL
Train services across southern England are being disrupted by a fault with a radio system. National Rail Enquiries said the issue relates to how train drivers and signallers communicate.
It warned passengers that services may be delayed by up to 45 minutes or cancelled, and “major disruption is expected until the end of the day”.
The affected operators are CrossCountry, Gatwick Express, Great Western Railway, London Overground, Southern, South Western Railway (SWR) and Thameslink.
Exclusive
4 min read
NEWS
3 min read
TRAVEL
5 min read
news
Three Britons have now left the ship, as one man with symptoms evacuated in the Netherlands and two having flown home before the outbreak was discovered.
Two British people who left the MV Hondius and returned to the UK two weeks ago have been told to self-isolate. Their close contacts are being contacted to let them know the risk.
Three people have died so far from the outbreak on the ship.
Explained
3 min read
About 150 people are still on board the cruise ship, which is now docked in the Canary Islands, including 18 British passengers and four crew members.
They are expected to be flown home by chartered plane once it is confirmed they do not have symptoms. They will also be asked to self-isolate to minimise the risk to the public in the UK.
Hantaviruses are a group of 38 viruses carried by rodents such as rats, mice and voles, most of which can cause disease in humans. Symptoms vary from too mild to be noticed, to severe lung and kidney problems and even death.
It is thought it was brought onto the ship by a Dutch couple who visited a landfill site in Argentina.
I’m very pleased he’s now in hospital and receiving the treatment he needs.
PROFESSOR ROBIN MAY, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER AT UKHSA
Martin Anstee, 56, was evacuated from the ship in the Netherlands yesterday after becoming ill with the virus. He is now in hospital and his condition is being monitored.
news
The retailer has become the first in the UK to make a delivery by sky, with a pilot scheme running in Darlington, Country Durham. It hopes to slowly expand the option across the country.
A local farmer let Amazon use his land for test drives, ordering everything he could think of under the designated weight of 5lb (2.2kg) to be delivered.
Exclusive
3 min read
The certainty is people have never told us they want their stuff slower. This is effectively an autonomous drone that can do what a pilot does in a flight deck. It can do what ground crews do, and it can deliver a package.
12ft
Amazon is using its most advanced drone, the MK30, to deliver in Darlington.
At the moment, it only works for those with gardens or backyards for the parcels to be dropped off.
170,000
The number of successful flights completed so far – but more testing is needed before they are approved for UK-wide use.
Drone delivery is already available in five US states.
People who eat eggs more regularly could have a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a new study suggests.
27%
lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s, compared with those who rarely or never eat them.
The research followed nearly 40,000 adults aged 65 and over for an average of 15 years.
980,000
People are estimated to be living with dementia in the UK, with Alzheimer’s the most common cause.
This is forecast to rise to 1.4m by 2040 as the population ages.
Eggs contain choline, which the body uses to make acetylcholine, a chemical involved in memory and learning.
Eggs contain lutein and zeaxanthin, the yellow-orange pigments in food which could act as antioxidants.
They also provide some omega-3 fatty acids, which have been linked with cognitive function.
HEALTH
Researchers have pinpointed the potential cause of a type of stroke suffered by about 35,000 people in the UK every year.
The discovery could explain why widely used treatments don’t work, and could pave the way for new options.
Divorce Diaries
5 min read
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh and the UK Dementia Research Institute tested and tracked 229 people who had a lacunar or mild non-lacunar stroke. Patients with widened arteries were four times more likely to have a lacunar stroke.
This explains why conventional blood-thinners don’t work and highlights the need for new therapies to target the underlying microvascular damage.
Stroke research is chronically underfunded, with less than 1% of total UK research funding spent on the condition…Yet these findings illustrate the value of research and the potential it has to change the lives of stroke patients.
HEALTH
Scientists have developed an at-home test which can predict a person’s risk of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study led by the University of Exeter.
It involves a finger-prick blood test and an online brain assessment to help identify people at the highest risk.
Finger-prick blood tests look for biomarkers, p-tau217 and GFAP, which have been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
Scientists look at the blood test alongside computerised cognitive testing to identify risk.
The test results can be used to prioritise high-risk people for further testing and treatment.
Finger prick blood tests could revolutionise dementia diagnosis – they offer a low cost, scalable way to identify people who may be at higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease and who should be offered further checks.
Here’s how his costs have broken down:
Dearman lives in a 1930s terraced property in Walthamstow. Two years ago he approached neighbours to see if he could convince others to get solar panels, the idea being that they could get a discount from an installer.
“My initial idea was it’s all well and good doing something yourself for the climate, but obviously it’s got to scale. So I thought if you could get three people to do it with you and they inspire three more people then it rolls on like that,” he said.
A group of eight households on his street were able to obtain a discount from an installer, which brought the initial quote for solar panels and a battery on his home down from £10,000 to £7,000. The cost of the solar panels was £4,000 and the battery was £3,000.
Dearman has calculated that the value of the energy produced by his solar panels last year was £784. This is a combination of the cash he saved by using solar power instead of buying from the grid, and the money he made selling energy back to the grid.
His household used 61 per cent of the energy it generated and sold the rest back to the grid at a price of 15p/kwh.
Based on this calculation, Dearman will pay off the upfront cost of the solar panels in just over five years.
Deciding to invest in a battery has “unlocked loads of value”, according to Dearman. Batteries can store the excess solar energy a household generates, which means it can be used at a later point, for example when it gets dark.
Dearman said many people are not aware that batteries can play another important function that is not related to solar: utilising a “time-of-use” tariff, which varies the cost of electricity based on the time of day.
With these tariffs it is typically cheaper to buy energy during off-peak times, such as overnight, or when there is an abundance of renewable energy in the grid, for example on sunny or windy days.
Dearman utilities his battery in the winter by charging it overnight and using the power during peak times. This means electricity costs him around 6p per unit, compared to an average of 25p per unit from the grid.
He also makes sure to charge his electric vehicle when electricity is cheap. Sometimes he even gets paid to use energy; this happens when there is more renewable energy available than the grid can handle.
“The other day it had been windy and sunny so the electricity price was negative. So I put our car on charge that afternoon and was basically paid £4 to charge the car, which is remarkable as a concept,” he said.
After installing solar and a battery, the natural next step for Dearman was a heat pump. He received a £7,500 grant from the Government, which brought the cost down to £5,000. As he was renovating his property and replacing an old boiler anyway, the investment made sense.
It cost him an average of £27 per month to heat his home using the heat pump last year, compared to an equivalent £80 per month on gas.
Dearman said one of the benefits of using a heat pump was that “you have a constantly perfect temperature inside” as they work most efficiently when they are set to run at a stable temperature at all times.
However, one of the downsides was that installation can be disruptive as most people will need to upgrade their radiators as part of the process.
But for Dearman it is worth no longer being at the whims of global fossil fuel prices. “They came and dug up the gas pipe, which was quite satisfying after our heat pump install,” he said.
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