Devolved power

Is it inevitable that everything becomes more complex over time? Electricity used to be supplied by a single source at a regionally common price. Privatisation introduced 'choice' at the cost of a regular chore to pick the right tarrif from the right supplier, which includes an element of gambling about future price changes. Smart meters have added a new category of tariff options with additional gambling involved, and an incentive  to monitor your behaviour and respond all the time to dynamic changes in price 

Solar panels can be overlaid on this to add to the choices and to add another factor - sunshine - that you have to take into account in your financial choices and your behaviour. Now add in some batteries and the set of inter-related equations, choices, management and risk of malfunction ratchets up a notch. Perhaps the batteries happen to be on four wheels that take you to work - so they need to be fully charged at certain times but are available to use at others; more choices, more monitoring, more tech, more stress

Tonight we went to a meeting about a local energy network that is being established for the village and district: a co-operative arrangement between a local solar farm, an energy retailer and a facilitating company that enables local consumers to buy some of their energy directly from the farm, at a price that is lower than any normal tariff, but more than the farm gets from the grid. It almost certainly means cheaper energy for a customer and a better deal for the solar farm; I haven't decided yet if it is a good thing for the electricity grid, society or the planet

What is certain is that it is yet another tranche of complexity to add to the pile - and much of the talk in the meeting was about the simplicity of the initial scheme, compared with a potential future involving investment in shared batteries, new power generation sources, dashboards and apps

Approximately two percent of our domestic spending goes on electricity. How many layers of angst do I need? How do you identify a final straw? When do I get time off to smell the flowers?