Infrastructure: Keeping Warm at the End of the Line

Once again, infrastructural constraints, this time in relation to the gas grid, were raised by participants as a dimension of place that plays a significant part in the shaping of household energy consumption;

It’s geography that is the greatest force and power. We’re off mains gas aren’t we? We’re at the end of the line in terms of the grid.

(Dylan, 40s, remote hamlet) Nine out of the eleven households were off the mains gas network (see Table 1); none by choice. While the electricity network is very complete in both urban and rural areas, the gas grid is not as well developed (Groenenberg et al., 2011), with large swathes of rural Wales being beyond its reach.

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Within my sample, households that were beyond the reach of the mains gas network, perhaps unsurprisingly, tended to be located in smaller, more remote settlements and isolated dwellings (see Table 1). However, there were some that were off-grid in more sizeable communities, such as Jon, who relied on bottled LPG given that mains gas was unavailable in the otherwise well-serviced seaside town in which he lived. For all of these households there is little prospect of ever being connected to the gas grid given their geographical distance from the existing network and the inherent costs involved with their connection.

3.1 Off-grid Energy: Variable, Volatile & Vulnerable

Unlike their counterparts that are connected to the mains gas network, off-grid households do not benefit from having a fuel supply that is always ‘on tap’. Instead, they are reliant on purchasing alternative fuels, such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and heating oil, which is most often physically delivered to their homes by a local supplier.

While Megan and Bryn were fortunate enough to be able to purchase LPG in person from a local depot, many participants noted that their fuel(s) of choice was transported over sometimes-considerable distances in order to reach their homes. For example, Jon’s LPG delivery was by far the furthest travelled, as it was delivered from Leamington Spa, a distance of over a hundred and fifty miles away from his home by the sea. According to Jon, the distance travelled by fuel deliveries undoubtedly has an impact on the price he pays for gas.

Given that they had a more expensive per calorie (primary) energy source (Baker, 2011;

Consumer Focus Wales, CFW, 2011), several households stated that they would resort to supplementary heating in order to extend their fuel supply. Indeed, Ffion, Dylan, and Ceris²⁵ all stated that they would wait until it was “cold enough” (Ffion) to start using the central heating, relying instead on the fireplace/ log burner to keep heating prices down.

In a similar vein, Michael noted how increasing LPG prices over the years had led him to do the same;

When we first moved here, which was sixteen years ago, bottled gas was about forty-six pounds for a big cylinder. It’s now about a hundred and fifty -it was up by about a hundred and ten at least- but I expect it’ll go up again.

So it’s more than doubled, its probably gone up by two hundred and twenty percent, which is probably -in terms of our consumption- probably another two or three hundred pound a year. But we [recently] had a lot of trees blow down over there, so we’re now gearing up to produce more wood for our wood burner, so we’ll probably rely more on the wood burner stove, which only heats one room [...]

(Michael, 60s, isolated dwelling)

Like Michael, many other households reported acquiring free firewood in a similar manner;

Peter largely uses off-cuts from his carpentry business to fuel his Rayburn, and Glyn and Eluned manage their own patch of woodland from which they source their firewood. The couple also salvage wood from skips, roadsides, public land and from commercial logging operations conducted in the nearby forest; “it’s better than letting them rot isn’t it?” (Glyn).

Such practices of sourcing wood converts what would otherwise be a waste product into a free source of energy. According to Glyn, collecting firewood in this manner is “part of the culture [here]”. Indeed, another participant from the same region, Ceris, also noted that she collects firewood in much the same way. Collecting firewood from commercial sources such as forestry land, however, carries with it questions of legality and permissions, even when harvesting offcuts with no commercial value.

Household Composition House type Age of house Connection

to gas grid Space Heating Water Heating Beckett 3 adults Detached, isolated 18th century,

Solid wall Off-grid Wood (Rayburn) Wood-burning stove

(estimate), solid wall Yes Central Heating – Mains Gas Immersion heater

Butler 2 adults Detached, isolated 1990s Off-grid Central Heating – Bottled Gas

Wood & Coal (open fire) Immersion heater Grey 2 adults Mid-terrace, large

accessible village 19th century

(estimate) Yes Central Heating – Mains Gas Immersion heater Evans 1 adult

2 children

Semi-detached, small village

19th century

(estimate), solid wall Off-grid Central Heating – Oil

Wood & Coal (open fire) Immersion heater

Gwilym 2 adults Detached, hamlet 1850, solid wall Off-grid Electric storage heaters Electric under floor system Wood-burning stove (x2)

Immersion heater Wood-burning stove Smith 1 adult Detached bungalow,

small accessible town 1980s Off-grid Central Heating – Bottled

Gas Immersion heater

Griffiths 2 adults

3 children Semi-detached, small

accessible village 1980s-1990s

(estimate) Off-grid Central Heating – Bottled

Gas Immersion heater

Davies 2 adults 2 children

Detached

farm-house, remote hamlet Unknown, solid wall Off-grid Central Heating - Oil

Wood-burning stove Immersion heater Dreyer 2 adults

3 adolescents Detached, isolated 1650, solid wall Off-grid Wood & Coal (Rayburn) Wood-burning stove

Wood & Coal (Rayburn)

Immersion heater

Another, albeit unexpected, issue relating to being off the mains gas network was brought to my attention during the second round of interviews by Ffion, a young single mother of two that lived in a small village located just within the borders of Snowdonia National Park. Like many of those on her street, Ffion periodically purchases logs in bulk (“if you want to get them cheap, you have to buy them in bulk”), a couple of bags of coal and heating oil in order to heat her home²⁶. In the months between our interviews however, some unnerving events had been unfolding in the village and surrounding areas that had put Ffion on edge;