I've had a real sense of de ja vu this last couple of days. The windowsill in the living room is once again full of the jars from the kitchen. There is mess and chaos all around and the sound of electricians feeding cables, shouting across to each other and chomping on their lunches.
Yes, we are in the final throes of the building work, well to be more exact, the connecting us to the National Grid via our solar panels. It should of course have all been completed back in October ...
... when this picture was taken.
But it was deemed necessary to move our electricity meter to the outside of the house before any connection could take place and it has taken this long to get things arranged.
So now the shelves in the kitchen are once again empty, the hatch in the false ceiling was open and wires trailing down just moments before this photo was taken ....
... something just like this one on the other side, as wires were fed through, connected and then re-routed.
Soon hopefully this stage will be complete, the meter will be moved to it's new secure cupboard on the exterior of the house and then we will be connected. As well as giving us 'free' electricity it will mean that the solar panels and all their electronic wizardry will be feeding excess power first to our storage batteries, so we always have a backup supply, and then to the National Grid .... and the garage and workshop roof will be earning us money.
It's taken us a long time to get here, but at last we are on the point of being able to tick off one more aspect of self sufficiency.
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Reverse Advent - Day 15
A Filofax. It's in fantastic condition considering it used to be bulging with all my activities and day to day notes needed to manage two shops and travel across the Lake District on a daily basis, but of no use to me now in my smallholding life. This last few years it has merely been an overly large address book and Christmas card list holder. So it's off on it's way to someone who will hopefully be able to put it back to it's proper use.
Sue xx
I hope that you are soon all connected and can get your kitchen back to normal! xx
ReplyDeleteI don't envy you the mess Sue but the end result will be worth it.
ReplyDeleteWishing you the same as Amy above, plus looking forward to seeing a photo of your lovely interesting looking kitchen. Woohoo, getting a cheque from your energy provider is the best feeling. The reverse of how it used to be... dreading the power bills each quarter. Our panels have paid for themselves during these five years since they were installed and still getting paid for the power we feed into the grid. Win, win. :)
ReplyDeleteThat will be such a good feeling to be self sufficient with energy. It's a dream of mine too, one day. Hope it all goes smoothly and you can get everything back to normal asap!
ReplyDeleteHi Sue. The jars on the window sill look very effective even if they are not meant to be there!
ReplyDeleteI know!! Is it wrong that I love having jars of food on my living room windowsill ;-)
DeleteDid it cost you a lot to get the meter moved? I have read lots of horror stories about firms charging £5k or something ridiculous to re-locate an electricity meter.
ReplyDeleteI just asked Lovely Hubby and he says it cost us just over £600. It's cheaper if you go with the main energy providers for your area.
DeleteWe have solar panels and they save us quite a large amount of money on electricity over the year.
ReplyDeleteWe had our solar panels fitted in September.....I must admit to checking how much we produce each day, and have even been known to pause the washing machine if a large cloud appears! note to self...must get out more...enjoy :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful present for Christmas - free power.
ReplyDeletexx
It's great to be able to say another stage closer to self sufficiency. It won't be long now, how wonderful is that.
ReplyDelete