On Friday, 20 May 2016 15:47:36 UTC+1, whisky-dave wrote:
On Thursday, 19 May 2016 22:49:21 UTC+1, Steve Walker wrote:

Lower the
power, so they take longer to boil, and you'll just end up with a point
where the early ones are still on and the late ones have turned on,
possibly giving an even bigger peak load.

That's what I was getting out if we lower kettle power ratings.
And if we are doing that to eliminate peeks will it really work if we halve all teh kettle they'll take more than twice as long to heat up unless there is a 100% efficint kettle which I don't believe exists.

I doubt people will wear halving kettle power to 1.2kW. At best from 2.4kW down to 1.5, giving a power reduction of 0.9kW. Lots will hang on to old kettles of course, and many will buy new 3.1kW ones direct from China. A market for 4kW Chinese ones will also develop of course.

As Steve says the lower power kettles will then be on for longer, so peak power reduction among these might drop by say 50% of the ideal 0.9kW.

50% using green kettles gives 50% 50% x 0.9kW peak power drop
20% using old 3kW kettles gives 25% x 0.6kW peak power increase
20% using new 3kW kettles gives 20% x 0.6kW increase
and
10% using 4-6kW, ave 5kW gives 5% x 2.6kW increase

Total: peak kettle power goes UP by 0.275kW per kettle.


NT