Your energy bills

Teacheranne

win

I cannot believe that anyone can live with the heating on a couple of hour twice a day between 16 - 18. I have my heating on 24/7 summer and winter, summer at 21 winter at 23 and I am still cold. I have a thyroid deficiency & Raynaud's so suffer the cold terribly, but still, it sounds pretty inhuman to me. I would rather economise on my food bill than on my heating, I am really alone here?

No, I think the same, to have the heating on for just a few hours a day at 18 degrees yet wear several layers, gloves, hat etc indoors is not healthy and not good for the fabric of your house. But, and it’s a big but, not everyone can afford to pay increased bills if on a fixed income so sometimes people have no choice. It’s wrong that this is the case nowadays.

However, sometimes I have a private smile when I read some of the posts, they appear like those jokey comments you hear sometimes “ You grew up in a house with an outside toilet? You were lucky, we had to walk five miles to use a leaky bucket in the middle of a field” Like it’s a competition to see who heats their house the least or wears the most layers! I know it’s not, just me being silly.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=ue7wM0QC5LE

Yes I do agree.

It is clear that some folk on here cannot afford to heat their house as it should be heated, given their age and health etc, which given the price rise ahead will make life very difficult and perhaps almost impossible for some.

DH and I were talking this morning saying that we could turn the thermostat down to say 18 or 19 and wear extra layers, but the last time we lived like that was in the late 50s-60s.
That would be so regressive and given DHs heart condition not terrible sensible.

We are lucky that we can afford the price rise, and I hope that situation continues, but this isn’t the case for everyone and to withdraw the triple lock at such a time is cruel.

The state pension in the U.K. is not over generous, and I think that it really needs to be reappraised at such a difficult period.

I know what you mean Teacheranne - no-one in this day and age should be having to wear outdoor clothes inside to keep warm. If it’s cold enough to need to wear a hat or coat indoors, then surely that can’t be healthy. Though if one simply can’t afford the bills…….

win

I cannot believe that anyone can live with the heating on a couple of hour twice a day between 16 - 18. I have my heating on 24/7 summer and winter, summer at 21 winter at 23 and I am still cold. I have a thyroid deficiency & Raynaud's so suffer the cold terribly, but still, it sounds pretty inhuman to me. I would rather economise on my food bill than on my heating, I am really alone here?

No, I think the same, to have the heating on for just a few hours a day at 18 degrees yet wear several layers, gloves, hat etc indoors is not healthy and not good for the fabric of your house. But, and it’s a big but, not everyone can afford to pay increased bills if on a fixed income so sometimes people have no choice. It’s wrong that this is the case nowadays.

However, sometimes I have a private smile when I read some of the posts, they appear like those jokey comments you hear sometimes “ You grew up in a house with an outside toilet? You were lucky, we had to walk five miles to use a leaky bucket in the middle of a field” Like it’s a competition to see who heats their house the least or wears the most layers! I know it’s not, just me being silly.

Maggiemaybe

Hi, Tina. As long as you have a smart meter, sign in to your account, choose My Energy from the menu top right (this is on my phone). Then choose Usage Graphs, and you can see your monthly usage for gas or electricity in £ or kWh. If you double click on any of the monthly plus signs (+) it splits the usage up into daily amounts. You can use the < and << to move back to previous months/years.

Apparently you can dig down further to get hourly usage if your smart meter is set up for it. Ours isn’t, which is probably just as well. A person could get obsessed!

Ah, no smart meter!

I am with Bulb and can check my usage daily, at the moment we seem to be using around £5 to £6.50 per day, including the standing charge, so a monthly bill of circa £170ish, for both gas and electric. We keep an eye and raise our DD as needed, plus with Bulb they like you to be a month in hand so to speak. We are not on a fixed rate as that expired, so just paying the variable rate or whatever it is called. We are taking more care than we used to with what we do, tumble drier usage drastically cut, better use of oven etc.

Hi, Tina. As long as you have a smart meter, sign in to your account, choose My Energy from the menu top right (this is on my phone). Then choose Usage Graphs, and you can see your monthly usage for gas or electricity in £ or kWh. If you double click on any of the monthly plus signs (+) it splits the usage up into daily amounts. You can use the < and << to move back to previous months/years.

Apparently you can dig down further to get hourly usage if your smart meter is set up for it. Ours isn’t, which is probably just as well. A person could get obsessed!

Maggiemaybe

^My opinion is that it is very important to see a bill every month, which is easily done with octopus^

I like to see mine a lot more often than that. I seem to be looking at my usage daily these days on the Shell site. We’re using less now than we did at this time last year, so the small economies we’re making seem to be working.

I seem to be looking at my usage daily these days on the Shell site

Interested in how you do that? I’m with Shell now and can’t see how to check daily usage?

rugbymumcumbria that seems to be a lot to pay- which company are you with? I live in an end terrace 3 bedroom 1988 house and I used to pay £58 and the cost for both is now around £110. I am with Octopus. I have the heating on all day most days at 18C.

You all seem to pay so little !! I pay £240/month combined for electricity (£170) and gas (£70). I'm in the middle of a 2yr fix so paying a competitive rate. I live in a 3 bed detached bungalow with my retired husband. Does anyone else pay as much as me? Or am I being rinsed?

I too keep an eye on ours Maggiemaybe same supplier and a smart meter (it lives in a cupboard switched off). Still on a fixed deal, usage very similar to a year ago, deal ends April, I’ll see what they propose.

My opinion is that it is very important to see a bill every month, which is easily done with octopus

I like to see mine a lot more often than that. I seem to be looking at my usage daily these days on the Shell site. We’re using less now than we did at this time last year, so the small economies we’re making seem to be working.

I did wonder the other day how much gas we’d saved since September, after dh bought a truly mini saucepan - just big enough for one egg - which he uses virtually every day.
It goes on the smallest burner, unlike the normal small pan which went on a medium one.

just to remind people who might not be too savvy wrt how a fixed rate works. The price per unit or kwh is capped at a maximum. Not the amount you actually pay per month.
If eg I pay £70 a month then that is just what was estimated at the start, of what might cover the total cost of units used in a year.

You could end up the year owing a lot or being owed a lot. I input my readings once a month and keep an active eye on my usage. At the moment my usage is more than £70 in a month and I owed octopus, so I upped the amount taken out every month

My aim is to go into next autumn with a decent amount of credit or spare cash capacity

My opinion is that it is very important to see a bill every month, which is easily done with octopus

Hello Tina49. We're with Shell energy and ours was £69 a month but we were new to this 2 bed large Flat last February and they recently told us we need to pay £173 for the last 3 months as our usage was more than they estimated. So going by that I think we will be paying about £99 a month now. ( thankfully we locked ourselves in to a deal for 2 years)

LucyW
Many years ago we knew that we were going to be without a shower and bath.
We found this idea very useful.

www.zoro.co.uk/shop/hand-tools/sprayers/5lpaps-5ltr-pump-action-pressure-sprayer/p/ZT1253432X?utm_source=google&utm_campaign=pla%2B%7C%2BHand%20Tools&utm_term=ZT1253432X&utm_medium=pla_css_2&targetid=pla-889992802717&loc_physical_ms=9045030&dev=c&gclid=Cj0KCQiAr5iQBhCsARIsAPcwROOqisSZT9Ts3AJ1OIL1Y-s9ar-43OfoBU108fME_i7RSKTu3fb7LQIaAh5iEALw_wcB
Mix your hot and cold water in the container and away you go.

Mummer you're right, everyone, including Nanatoone, will get the £200 off their energy bill which will be paid back.
It's the £150 off the Council tax that only applies to band A-D properties.

I use the wool balls in my tumble dryer. I get them from Little Beau Sheep. They are very good.

Nations I read it as EVERYONE gets the £200 like it or lump it , then even if you don't have bills now, if you say rent first home after it's been dished out , your bills will still have the deduction of £40 pa for FIVE YEARS wherever you live!! Unfair? Yes I'll thought out? Definitely. thought up by someone who has zero knowledge of finance and how it works? Yep! Hedge fund manager are professional gamblers , NOT. Accountants!! See Sunak for definition.......

We have mid sized 23yr old insulated 3 large beds detached. With octopus we paid £130/month combined fuel then they said they were increasing annual cost from £1049-£1749 what?!?! In one feel swoop , in September , before prices went up? Not happening mate! Warm house and moderate temp maintained jumpers applied as necessary. Switched to Sainsbury's fuel in October , pay now £ 1050/annum fixed rate always have a small credit(£75-100) which is taken up by winter use over months we use heating/fire. Strangely even though our houses are 100% kingspan insulated ,even the integrated garage! All neighbours had the cavity beads insulat, and only as it was free! Just me and my both side neighbours have refused this treatment x3 times ow, why? Well one neighbour is a structural engineer other is a builder and I used to work in construction too! We all know that this type of insulation is surplus to requirements in the case our our particular structures and stops the structure from 'breathing' results? Damp condensation and in extreme cases mould forming. And suprise suprise no less than 4 have told me that they have a mould problem! The only people gaining are......THE INSTALLERS! they get paid by the size of properties and are told to target big houses that basically don't need it!! Get paid less if the do small and old properties, how shocking!?!?! NOT!

I don’t pay a random direct debit a month, once you have a smart meter you can pay what you owe as you go. So mine varies every month based on my consumption. I can’t see the point in worrying about what I might owe as I would rather pay as I go along. I’m with Utility Warehouse, they are accepting new customers but the best deals are only for those that shift their broadband,phone, mobile etc to them as I did. As a widow I couldn’t cope with the potential of debt and being unable to pay. This works well for me. My monthly bill last month was £227 including all of the above plus house and boiler insurance. I have a largish 4 bed detached. I don’t know how much next month will be but I have been very cold whilst trying to keep costs down. I won’t get the “loan” from the government as I live in a band E property. I don’t yet get a state pension (roll on September) don’t work as feel wrecked after nursing my husband for so long and with arthritis would not be able to cope with a full time job. I have his widow’s pension to live on so times are tough. As I said roll on September to be able to be warmer next year.

Yoginimeisje the advice is not to get a new fix (they are high and there isn't a good deal anywhere) but to stay on the standard variable until prices begin to fall.

We have a 70s 3 bed semi and were on a £70 a month fixed deal. This is coming to an end and we will go on the standard variable tariff. Our payments will rise to about £110 a month. The house is not particularly well insulated and we don't think about what energy we use, just put it on if we need it. I think the fact that we bought new appliances last year when we moved in helps as they are energy efficient. We also live in the mild, dry East of England.

Good news is that our Water direct debit is going down by £7 a month!

I am amazed by the variation on this thread. There is no one answer for everyone.

I pay £79 electric & £73 gas so £152 dd per month with E-on. No tumble dyer, insulated walls etc. I've just moved to a smaller place from my 4bed, so hoping the bills will go down. When my term finished a month ago, I wanted to renew but it was double so stayed with the unsecured.

I phoned a week before my move and they told me I was £600 in credit, I phoned a week after I moved and was told I owed £700! I asked for the calculations in an email, the elec came through as £108 in credit , they said they would credit this to my bank acc. nothing on the gas as yet. So good job I refused to pay the £700 they wanted!!

So who do I switch to, to get a better deal locked in?

Scottish Power were a nightmare - especially errors and poor customer service! Octopus were fairly good, but we found EON would be cheaper when our fixed rate came to an end. We're in a three-bed semi. We were paying about £160 per month, then £197 for a short while. Now going up to £268. To fix was going to be much more expensive. Trying a comparison site, many companies wanted over £500 per month if we wanted a fixed rate with them.
Three of us in the house. My husband really feels the cold due to illness/medication, so the heating is on all the time. We also charge the electric car at home most of the time (fairly low mileage though at the moment). We mostly cook from scratch and have a TV and/or computer on most of the day. Dishwasher on ever day and washing machine at least every other day. Tumble dryer occasionally. Could cut down a bit but couldn't easily cut down a lot. I don't think there are any "good deals" around just now, I'm afraid.
Other governments in Europe are helping their citizens either directly or by capping the rises. In the UK, we're all getting a compulsory £200 loan later this year which won't begin to address the issue - whoopy do!