Off-grid living ‘not a dream, it’s a nightmare’

Jo Lonsdale and Jane DownsNorth East and Cumbria Investigations

BBC Vanessa Corby is standing in front of her door. She is wearing a brown jumper with a poppy pinned to her right shoulder. She has short, styled reddish brown hair and black-rimmed glasses and smiles to the camera. Behind her is a white wall with a yellow rose bush growing up it. There is a green panelled door with a central window over her left shoulder. — Vanessa Corby was quoted £44,000 for a connection to mains electricity

Some 2,000 households are thought to be off-grid in the UK, having no access to mains power. With connections quoted at prices up to £478,000, why is it so expensive and why do people stay?

On the table in Vanessa Corby’s 19th Century cottage in Northumberland’s Tyne Valley sits a plate of rocky road biscuits.

“You don’t have to use the oven to make these,” she says.

She is accustomed to playing a daily juggling game with her appliances to avoid overloading the generator, for fear of a sudden plunge into darkness.

“If you factor in how much I had to pay for my system, the solar panels, batteries and generator, it’s costing me about £800 a month,” she says.

Solar panels and a generator bring some comforts, but Vanessa Corby would much prefer mains electricity

A frame on the ground holds eight solar panels in two rows of four in the foreground of the picture. It sits on a huge expanses of grass and in the distance is a wing of the stone cottage. The circular end of a green LPG gas tank is also visible, between a shed and the main building. — Solar panels and a generator bring some comforts, but Vanessa Corby would much prefer mains electricity

In 2017 she was quoted £44,000 for a connection to mains electricity but access issues meant she could not go ahead.

“People dream of living off grid, but it’s a nightmare,” she says.

She wants to stay in a house she loves but worries about managing as she gets older.

“When the system goes down, it’s me that sorts it.

“There’s no priority services register for off-grid pensioners.”

Doris Englemayer has to drive to a garage to collect diesel for her generator

Doris Englemayer is standing at the rear or her car. Inside the boot you can see three jerrycans of petrol. She is in her 50s, wearing a headband, a jacket and a dark coat and is smiling. — Doris Englemayer has to drive to a garage to collect diesel for her generator

Ms Corby’s house is connected to her neighbour Doris Englemayer’s home via a track that requires a 4×4 vehicle and a stout constitution.

Neatly lined up in her garage are the jerrycans she uses to collect diesel for her generator as oil companies won’t deliver to her home.

She too worries about the future.

“The previous owners spent decades trying to get mains electricity,” she says.

“I know I could never afford it, but running my off-grid system is pretty intensive.”

Anne Hutchinson says in 2000 she and her neighbours were quoted £180,000 for a connection to the mains

Anne Hutchinson is a woman in her 80s sitting in an armchair. She is smiling and is wearing a blue top and has white hair and glasses with pink cheeks. Behind her is a dresser with books and photographs on display. — Anne Hutchinson says in 2000 she and her neighbours were quoted £180,000 for a connection to the mains

Anne Hutchinson has also spent decades trying to get mains electricity to her isolated farmstead near Wark in Northumberland and leaves torches “in strategic places”.

“I can usually find them up in the dark,” the 85-year-old chuckles.

In 2000 she and her neighbours were quoted £180,000 for a connection.

For years she just had a generator and, even though she now has solar panels as well, she still watches her energy use carefully.

“I’d love an electric fire, but it uses so much diesel,” she says.

Many of the off-grid homes are a long way from the nearest poles and in protected landscapes, so new lines would have to be buried.

Steve Batey received an estimate of £478,000 from Northern Powergrid in 2013 for an underground connection to his property and those of two neighbours.

“We’re in the national park so we’ll never get one I reckon,” he says.

Steve Batey has accepted a mains connection is not arriving anytime soon

The energy regulator Ofgem admits it does not know exactly how many households are off grid in the UK.

It tried to find out in 2019 with a call for evidence and concluded there could be as many as 2,000, but there was not enough data for an exact figure.

It did identify that Northumberland “had a cluster of such properties”.

Christine Nicholls, from the charity Community Action Northumberland (CAN), calls the situation “appalling”, adding “people are being left behind”.

CAN’s research suggests there could be up to 450 off-grid households in the county.

“Generators are expensive and dirty,” she says.

“People have to constantly monitor their energy use, they have that worry day in, day out.”

Red dots marked the off-grid properties identified by the Northumberland National Park Authority in 2015

Northumberland National Park Authority A map of Northumberland with lots and lots of red dots showing where off-grid properties are. They are clustered to the west and north of Newcastle. — Red dots marked the off-grid properties identified by the Northumberland National Park Authority in 2015

The answer to why Northumberland has so many properties off grid probably lies in its geography; it is one of England’s most sparsely populated counties with extensive uplands.

Rural historian Paul Brassley says such areas were never a priority for the electrification programmes of the 20th Century.

“If you’re having to get supply a long way, that makes that whole process pretty expensive for the amount of electricity you’re going to sell,” he explains.

Christine Nicholls believes rural poverty played a part too.

“Most people got a connection for free, but you still had to pay for internal lighting,” she says.

She accepts that “a very small percentage” of those who live off grid originally chose to do so, but says, even among this group, there are many who would now welcome a connection.

Ellie Langley chose to live off grid at a smallholding in Upper Weardale

Ellie Langley A track runs bends to the left as it runs between two dry stone walls with green fields dotted with sheep on either side and hills in the distance. Just visible is a house with trees behind it. — Ellie Langley chose to live off grid at a smallholding in Upper Weardale

Ellie Langley bought her smallholding at Ireshopeburn in Upper Weardale, County Durham, because she wanted to be “more connected to the planet”.

But she does worry about the financial challenges of staying off grid.

“The wind turbine is 20 years old now and replacing it will be beyond me,” she says.

“I’ve got battery storage too, getting new ones will be very expensive.”

She recently looked into the cost of getting mains electricity and was told it would be £51,000.

Malcolm Hogg chose not to have mains electricity in his new house because it would have cost him £27,000

Malcolm Hogg Malcolm Hogg is standing outside his house with a spaniel in his arms and another one at his feet. Next to him is a car with an open boot. The house is new but built in a traditional style. He is a man in his sixties wearing black trousers and top. — Malcolm Hogg chose not to have mains electricity in his new house because it would have cost him £27,000

Not everyone off grid is in an older or remote property.

Malcolm Hogg built a new house on Bellbank Farm near Bewcastle in Cumbria.

He enquired about a connection to mains electricity but was quoted £27,000 by his supplier, SP Electricity North West.

He is “quite happy” with the package of renewables he installed instead, but would have had a mains connection if it were free.

Dave Richardson, one of CAN’s off grid energy advisers, says some affected properties are in “relatively urban areas”.

“Some are not very far from a power supply at all, but are still being asked for quite a lot of money for a connection,” he says.

Off grid energy advisor Dave Richardson says cost keeps many people off the mains

Dave Richardson is a middle-aged man with short hair, a trimmed beard and glasses. He is wearing a brown jumper and a blue coat and behind him is a vista of rolling fields and a grey sky — Off grid energy advisor Dave Richardson says cost keeps many people off the mains

Northern Powergrid, which maintains electricity supplies across the north-east of England, says it is “committed to supporting communities through rural electrification projects”, but that industry rules exist “to ensure consistency and fairness to all customers”.

“Public funding plays a critical role in making projects viable,” the statement adds.

One project which did get cash from the public coffers was the electrification of Northumberland’s Upper Coquet Valley in a scheme costing £2.6m.

However, the connections to several remote farms were largely a by-product of the government deciding an electricity supply was needed to three emergency telecommunication masts there.

The government paid to connect farms in the Upper Coquet Valley

Shona Anderson A cherry picker is inserting an electricity pole into the ground in a field. In the distance is a cluster of farm buildings and beyond that open moorland — The government paid to connect farms in the Upper Coquet Valley

Christine Nicholls thinks the government should pay for all rural electrification schemes.

“It only needs to be done once and then these people can catch up with the rest of the country,” she says.

“Things have improved with renewables and battery storage but you can’t power an electric vehicle with off-grid systems.

“How are these households going to cope in the future?”

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said it was “working closely with Ofgem to lower costs and help those in rural areas connect to the grid”.