Renovation alllllllllmost done! And a rant about crazy electricity prices.

 

It has been a long, slow process for sure. We have lived in this house for over two years. A big reason it is STILL not finished, in addition to the fact that I needed to save money and also rest  in-between projects) is that my reno guy got very sick, and then it has been super difficult to find workers. I now have a new reno company, but they are very busy and it is still taking a long time, as they have been able to spare me  a day or two here, and a half a day there.. We are still missing quite a bit of electricals, a new thick door in between the cold foyer and warm entrance hall, which has not come yet and I don't know when it will come as apparently the company had a machine break and could not finish my door. And yea, I hear getting replacement parts for things can be difficult. I am also having insulation added under the roof, as well as ventilation holes. 

Which brings me to the hot (eh, pun not intended) topic du jour, namely THE PRICE OF ELECTRICITY.
Is it out of control in your neck of the woods as well?

Last spring and summer our officials were telling us that we have enough production capacity, there is no risk of running out, etcetera. Nothing was done to get reserve capacity ready. The reserve capacity we have even now, is not brought online. The price of electricity for many people is between 30-50 cents per kWh and now they dug up a technical upper price cap from under some rock and announced it is 400 cents, or 4 euros, per kWh. And that we had actually already been pretty close to the price getting out of hand and surging to the upper limit. And pretty much that we should all live in cold and dark, not shower too often, and forgo morning coffee because rolling blackouts loom. 

I for one, would much rather welcome rolling blackouts than have peoples lives be destroyed by bankruptcy due to not being able to pay their electricity bills. 

My old contract was under 5 cents per kWh, and many people still have these cheap contracts. Mine ended in October, and I pay +- 30 cents, but it changes monthly and I don't know what it is going to be exactly during the winter months. February is expected to be the most expensive one. This contract ends in mid April and I am hoping to get a better one then. If not I will just get something with a 2-week cancellation time, so when / if the prices go down I can switch to a cheaper one. Or will they stop offering affordable fixed contracts altogether? That could very well be the case, as there is so much uncertainty and craziness. 

So, what to do with 6 to 7 times higher electricity price? First of all, I am so happy that I thought about these things when buying the little house. It is small, so less to heat. It has a fireplace that retains heat. And I have the wood stove now, and a sauna in the garden that is heated with wood. I even have a source of free firewood (the price of which has doubled in two years here in the Southern part of the country at least!) if I can get it cut down and brought home. For which I just suggested a deal to my reno guys, who both heat with wood. It goes like this: They get free firewood as long as they bring me some too. 
When it gets to freezing temps, like it is now, I have to burn wood every morning and evening to keep the house steadily warm. When it gets to really low temps, I will need to just burn more wood each time. 
And burn some in the woodstove as well. 
Then I may have to use the radiators some, if it gets extremely cold, but I try to avoid that as long as possible. 

It is a lot of work, but if I were to just blast the electric heaters, my bill would be over 1500 euros per month at the price I am paying now per kWh. I still need to have the bathroom area heated with the electric underfloor heating, and my daughter uses an electric radiator in her room upstairs. I'm just telling her not to keep tropical temperatures there. Now, our electricity use is very low for a single family house. It was a little over 10000 kWh per year, when I calculated 12 months, and that included winter months when I got tired of burning wood and just heated with the radiators, so with being consistent with heating mostly with wood throughout the whole winter I could easily lower that by some thousands of kWh! I'm taking it as a challenge to see how low we can get to this winter. The summers are not a problem, as majority of the electricity goes to just heating. Last summer our lowest monthly bill was 42 euros with the old cheap contract. What I am not going to do though, is tell my teenage daughter she can't take showers. Okay, so keep them short, but by all means, do wash yourself! I still mostly bathe in the bathtub, but it is pretty small, and I never fill it to the brim, so it has not been an issue, as is obvious from the low energy use during the summer months. 

I have high hopes though that the extra insulation will lower our need for heating, be it electricity or wood. It will be very interesting to see. This will be done the week before Christmas, so it's effect will be fully seen  in January's bill.

A lot of people are very desperate and very angry. The cost of production of electricity has not gone up, and the electrical companies are making a killing. I just hope it's only figurative, and that people are not going to freeze to death this winter! There have been some political decisions made to compensate for the high bills with tax paybacks and social security handouts, but a lot of people will not be helped by them, or the help is too little too late. I for one will not benefit anything from those decisions. 

But as more and more people have their old cheap contracts end and are forced on the 700-1000% more expensive contracts, the discontent and outrage will grow in proportion. So how are the powers that be going to fix this? There seems to be no effort nor will to do anything. It is like - dare I say it - it is planned this way.

Meanwhile, I take this as another job. It does take some work to carry in the firewood, light it up, watch the coals and remember to close the chimney plate at the right time... but if by doing this I save, say 800 euros per month during the cold months, then it is definitely worth my time and effort. It also necessitates a slow lifestyle. You have to bet at home to watch the fire, and this takes hours every day. It would be more difficult to do this if I was working outside of home. 

I am so thankful that I CAN pay my bills and we will get through this winter just fine. 
Even so, come Lord Jesus! 
  





   

The Worst Blogger Award

 

I totally deserve it! I have not posted at all this year. 

My father passed away in January, and shortly after also my uncle. It was a shock, and it has made me feel so lonely! My dad was the person who I felt would always be there to help me any way he could, without counting the favors. Having now lost both my parents and my marriage, it has been a struggle at times. 

I am happy though about having moved to where my sister and her family live. 
I am happy about having this little house to live in with my sweet daughter and our two fluffball cats. 
The garden has been a source of joy, I was so excited about my little grapevine making tiny little sweet grapes, about the tomatillos that I at first thought were Thai eggplants, about the newly planted apple trees and a cherry tree making fruit the first summer, the many many gorgeous flowers blooming all the way from early spring to late autumn! 

I have occasionally been very frustrated and tired of the renovation, mostly because it is very hard to get anyone to come and help out. Last summer I was sure I would have plenty of time to get everything finished before Indiana's birthday, but now I will be happy if this will be wrapped up before Christmas. It has been going on for over two years, so I am really looking forward to being done with the renovations! Obviously there well be things to do still, but those will not affect our living space and will be so much easier. Some painting outside, and adding insulation and ventilation underneath the roof come to mind... I am dreaming of a greenhouse as well, I have collected lots of old bricks and some old windows, and now I just need to find someone to help me build it. It would have been so nice to have it ready for the next growing season, but I have decided to be content with finishing the interiors, then I will rest, and think about a new project in the spring, Lord willing! 

I have trouble with my joints, it has gotten worse and now I finally went to the doctor. There is some inflammatory condition as my fingers swell up when I do something heavy, like carry bricks or dig  in the garden. I am waiting for the test results, and depending on what is the cause, there may be some relief. But this is another thing I need to consider - my hands are not holding up so well and if I overwork them, I will ruin them faster. Even just holding a book or a phone is painful at times... 

Right now I am finishing up the winter preparations in the garden, I have put up protections around the fruit trees and berry bushes so that the bunnies will not eat them, like they did last winter, and I still need to rake some leaves and put some frost protections to the most vulnerable plants. And clean the front of the house of some garbage that needs to be taken to the garbage recycling center. I have done some trips there already, so thankfully it is not that much that is left! 

Inside the house we are just missing some moldings and baseboards and one door that was supposed to be delivered already but there are machinery problems at the factory. The door will be put in between the cold foyer and the warm entrance hall, to keep the heat from escaping. The current door is super flimsy, and with these electricity prices, the new door is worth the investment. 
Oh, and there are lots of electricals to be installed still. 

I did the wallpapering, some baseboards and trims, clay plaster walls, painting ceilings and trims and some floors, ripping out some of the old materials and three silly narrow inconvenient built-in closets.. oh and helped with installing the lovely antique woodstove. 

I am hoping for a mild winter this year, for sure! My electricity contract expired and I am lucky that I got a business contract, so my electricity "only" doubled as of month ago. I am also glad that our house is small, and that we have a fireplace and now a woodstove in the kitchen as well. I mean, if there is going to be rolling black-outs, I will still be having my morning coffee! 
Our total electricity use has been about 10 000 kWh per year, but I know it can be lower with using more wood for heat, as heating the electric radiators is taking most electricity by far. The difference in electricity use between a summer month and a cold winter month can be five-fold. I have an endless source of free firewood at our woodsy lot, but really not the strength and means to cut down the trees and haul them home. Perhaps I could manage some young, thin trunks, if there was no other way. So far I have bought my firewood and also I took some from my dad's house that we sold this summer, and I need to cut some leftover lumber to firewood size whenever we get a dry, sunny day...  So anyway, I'm good for this winter.  

I will share some pictures of the finished interiors when everything is done and I have managed to organize our belongings as well. Right now there are still so many tools and supplies laying about, and things waiting to be designated a place. I promise though that it won't be a year before I post again!