Soaring heating costs, what's your plan.

It hasn't happened yet, and I quite enjoy giving them the runaround. (small things please small minds)

I have a heated throw which is keeping us warm and have an air fryer combined with pressure cooker I very rarely use the oven. We are lucky our house is well insulated, I have started to put heating on occasionally but just for half an hour and that combined with heated throw is keeping us warm. So far we have used £12.06 on gas & electric this month - we are £450 in credit on energy account but out direct debit is set to rise to £187 from £143 this month. We average £80 a month on gas & electricity so I will be contacting energy company at end of month to query this as we are so far not even using all the monthly direct debit. The energy company has also said they will review account May 2024 and not April 2023 as they feel 7 months is not long enough to calculate energy bills at the higher rate. I feel they are holding on to large credit balances to offset the debits on accounts of people who are struggling to pay their energy costs. We are on pension credit and our energy bill is almost 25 percent of out total income !

Germanshepherdsmum

Be careful MissA, you don’t want to be put on a pre payment meter.

It's exactly what will happen if you run up fuel debt.

My husband is one of those who ‘doesn’t feel the cold’. He has his chair right next to the radiator, and turns the heating down if he feels too hot! )Which is whenever the heating is on).

I’m considering a heated throw for when I’m watching the telly, and bedsocks for when my feet are freezing.

I’ve dug out my hot water bottles. Not just for bed (I get cold feet) but for watching television in the evening. Suddenly I’m the dogs best friend! I bought a lovely sheepskin cover for it and now it stays warm until I empty it next morning. I also have a tiny one which is great for putting in a pocket.

leeds22

The mother of a former colleague of mine died of hypothermia - she was a well off old lady who could afford to keep warm. A friend of mine, also comfortably off, is going down the same route, first it was no heating until October, now its November. I don't know how to get her to see sense.
We have the heating on for an hour in the morning and again in the evening, which is working out well.

So sorry to hear about your friend's Mother. So sad that she died from hypothermia even though she could afford to keep warm. I think it's worth mentioning that there are many frugal people who will not put the heating on under any circumstance and that's not because of the scaremongering this year, it's because of who they are and have always been- brought up to save money, not to spend it.

We have not put the heating on yet, but this is normal for us. I can't understand why anyone would put the heat on if they do not feel cold. I dislike the stuffiness it causes in my nose and am quite happy to wear a vest instead.

Air fryer, slow cookers, plenty of wood chopped for the woodburner and the heating on for only a couple of hours in the evening .

Georgesgran not all of us are lucky enough to still be on a fixed rate tariff. Mine ran out in April this year, just as the first price increase hit. The only other fixed rate offers I could find were extortionate! Hence I’m on the default variable tariff. You’re very lucky that your DD payments have halved. Make the most of while you can because I don’t think there’ll be many cheap fixed rate tariffs around next year!

The mother of a former colleague of mine died of hypothermia - she was a well off old lady who could afford to keep warm. A friend of mine, also comfortably off, is going down the same route, first it was no heating until October, now its November. I don't know how to get her to see sense.
We have the heating on for an hour in the morning and again in the evening, which is working out well.

so I wonder who are the people whose domestic bills are going up to £3500 a year and perhaps they can afford them

My DF's one bedroom flat has no mains gas. His forecast monthly bill is £300, which equates to £3,600 a year. His only income is his state pension and a small work pension.

I'll just tell him not to concern himself about it, because Georgesgran thinks he can probably afford it, shall I?

Nobody's exaggerating.

Saggi what a kind soul you are - thank you for sharing your story with us. I was feeling a bit sorry for myself, but my situation doesn’t seem so bad now. I shall take a leaf out of your positivity book. In answer to original post, we’ve had heating on for a few evenings. We’ve set ourselves a daily target (in money) and when the smart monitor shows we’ve reached that, we’ve switched heating off. Don’t use tumble dryer any more; use air fryer and slow cooker instead of electric oven. Other than that, there’s not much else we can cut down on.

To be honest and this might not go down well, I think the press needs to take a lot of blame for scaremongering and causing (some) undue panic.
My group of friends, from 68 - 75, some single, married, divorced, widows are all on dual fuel contracts, most until Autumn/Winter next year. We have all overpaid throughout the Summer, have a couple of months worth of credit and have had our next 6 months DDs halved and will also get the enhanced WFA, although, of course, we don’t intend to waste energy. Our children all seem to be in similar situations, with ‘things in hand’, and don’t need to heat their modern homes as they are out at work all day, so I wonder who are the people whose domestic bills are going up to £3500 a year and perhaps they can afford them.
Next year may be a concern for ‘us’ oldies, but the consensus is that we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

I haven't had central heating in over 20 years. Coal for multifuel burner has gone up from £10 to £14 a bag. My 20 bags has to last through. I forage wood that I cut and split. Going to get a rechargeable reciprocating saw so that I can go further to look with my trusty wagon. Lots of felled or fallen trees around. I do layer clothes...always have. Really not doing anything different to what I normally do in winter....

PS Sorry about awful typing, arthritis in hands and didn’t check before I posted, Gran Netter’s of course !

Come on fellow Gran better’s - it doesn’t matter how old (or young) you are, or what job you do ! It’s well documented that there are many many people working in lower paid community and vocational job roles. Where on earth would we be without our teachers, TA, LSA, nurses, care workers, retail assistants etc etc ? Don’t knock people for their choice of career or amount of hours worked, what we should be doing, more than ever, whatever our political leanings are us to support each other ! Especially women ! Stick together and help out wherever we can! I’m 63, still working full time (just) and have done for over 40 years and brought up four children and I have multiple health issues, what’s got my through all the ups and downs and bumps in the road is an amazing family and a fabulous network of friends !! Solidarity sisters

Haven’t had heating on yet, we have an electric throw which only had to use once so far, it doesn’t get really hot but warm enough to keep you cosy, also have an electric blanket for bed and just bough a halogen heater which only costs 5p an hour on lowest setting and 15p on highest, gas central heating costs 84p an hour, so will only use central heating when really cold.

i am lucky that i do not like summer and i am a winter person, i have never used the CH that was put in 10 years ago, i get through winter with a halogen or oil heater, neither have been on yet, the electric blanket will go on the bed this weekend and i will put it on for 10 mins when i get to bed. i don't drink tea/coffee but i make a slow cooker soup each week and batch cook casseroles in the slow cooker, never have the hot water on, i only have 1 or 2 dishes to wash as i use paper plates, hot water from the shower to fill the mop bucket for floors, i have a pre-payment meter ....my choice, i live on basic benefits due to ill health, no dla or pip and i live on my own. i will get through this winter because like everyone else i have no choice.

Saggi. What a lovely, uncomplaining post. Safe winter wishes to you and your husband.

Sorry not read all the posts.... I ordered a plug in 'throw' but sent it back as just not suitable, much too big, it was really an overblanket and big enough for full sized bed. I thought it would be knee rug sized and did not seem right or practical to double up and be plugged in. It was quite slinky and I agree with previous comment about people tripping up over them.

My husband ( thankfully) had just gone into full-time care after me looking after him since his stroke 26 years ago ….now has mixed Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia…. There were no places to be had except private , at cost to us of £900 per month … the council pay the other £2,600…..which all means I cannot afford to be profligate! So the heating will not go on til the 2nd December ( my birthday) as a present to myself…and then just 3 hours morning and same in evening. Then bed early…. but I went to visit him yesterday and he’s nice and warm and extremely well fed….. so I can cope with anything knowing g that!

I've noticed an awful lot of heated throws being sold on internet. Think they will be a popular Christmas pressie this year. We are just being sensible. Have turned water heater down a notch. I can't stand being cold in the house, but haven't needed heating on yet as it hasn't got cold here in South West.

I’m 63 with asthma, my husband is 68 with diabetes and fibromyalgia. We haven’t put the heating on yet and we’ll leave it off as long as we can. I wear layers and use a heated throw in the evenings. My husband still declares he’s warm enough wearing just a tee shirt ?‍♀️ The temperature is going below 18c in our house though. Once the air starts to feel obviously cold, we will put it on, probably setting the thermostat to 19c or 19.5. It was 20.5c last year. We have also stopped using the tumble dryer.

Underfloor heating here and it takes quite a while before any change in temp is felt so seems useless to put it on when I get up as by the time the warmth comes through the sun has probably heated things up anyway. So, thick jumper first thing and then during the evening I've been using the log burner in the sitting room.

MissAdventure

I'm going to put my heating on when I'm cold.

The energy companies won't go bust if I build up a debt and have to pay it off slowly.

They'll wait.

100% agree ! I’ve tried to build up a credit across last few months but it’ll go on when it’s cold enough !!

Just wondering how much profit the energy companies will be getting in future if everyone drastically reduces their consumption...