Home energy

I think that you will be pestered forever if you return information to the utility company. I am sure that our names and numbers are sold, especially solar panels.

OMG Stansgran- if I received a bill for that amount per month I would have to find a darkened room and collapse there. I pay £54 a month for both with EDF. I have a "modern" 3 bedroom house and I have spend a considerable amount of money insulating it etc. I would, like you, not feel confident about giving information because of what you may receive as "help" ie home improvements etc. EDF do leave me in peace. Your bill does appear to be excessive unless you have 5+ bedrooms etc.

Thanks Harri and Charley. I have had the house insulated but the boiler is old and if I replaced it I would have to have the piping replaced I'm told. As I have piping in concrete floors I don't want the hassle. I know our immersion is on too high as DH likes a near boiling bath . I would prefer the immersion on lower full time but we agree to disagree. I can't use their comparison website without logging in and letting them know the address.

Been discussing energy use with DH and he says we are now using a third more energy than we were before extension. Our combined gas and electric are still under £200. The brand new boiler is very efficient and powers two showers as well as water and heating. We do, however, have a lot of electric gadgets such as CCTV monitors and we do heat our garage with an electric radiator.

Energy companies are obliged to put money into energy efficiency measures.
I would double check that info re the piping stansgran - could just be a plumber trying to talk up the job into something bigger?

Stansgran it does sound rather expensive to me we pay just under £60.00 per month in total with E-0n we have no gas at all and also have a lot of electrical gadgets but bear in mind we only have a one bedroomed apartment,but 1 bathroom and en-suite shower to bedroom so we are pleased with our overall bills.
I would never give other details about our home to them though as I'm sure you will be inundated with salescalls from companies.

we pay about £200 per month for both, live in a well insulated house, 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, but DH works at home so more power and heating used during the day than some people. Don't use tumble drier, no excessive electrical appliances, and no immersion. When you have a new more efficient boiler it is usual to have new piping and radiators as old ones likely full of sludge, this isn't a plumber trying to con you!

Thank you again. I thought that the sludge could be cleared out with chemicals. I use a tumble dryer and prefer a bath to a shower. I cook a lot with electric oven and hob and we use the computer ,sewing machine dishwasher without thinking . We had a power cut last week and I was shocked by the silence. I think I probably have the right cost for our house. It meanders a bit . I know DH leaves his phone on charge and his golf trolley. I suspect it's the immersion.

We also had the central heating pipes set in the concrete floors.When we had a new boiler installed about 6 years ago we were told it wouldn't be as efficient as it was what is called "a one pipe system" I am not technical but the water flowed into the radiator at one end and out at the other. Sounds logical doesn't it? However we had a fair few problems and had all the piping replaced by "a two pipe system" all now on view and we have had no problems since. We have since been told that BG will only replace boilers with repiping at the same time.I can't verify this.

Yes, we get told we use considerably more than other consumers in our post code (their definition of neighbours), which is not surprising since most of the houses in our postcode are considerably smaller than ours and are both built many centuries later and not Listed. Even if all the houses were the same, household composition and needs can be so different. A family with a number of small children will almost definitely consume more energy than a single person in an identical house who is out 12 hours a day.

The reason they do this is the current fashionable marketing philosophy of 'nudge'. David Cameron even has 'nudge' unit at 10 Downing Street. It works on the belief that we are all sheep who desperately want to conform to herd norms so if 'they' want us to do something the best way to do it is to 'suggest' that if we don't do it we will be different from other people and that we will therefore immediately change our habits in order to conform. Hence telling you, you are using more fuel than your neighbours, they hope you will immediately rush out and increase your insulation in order to conform.

I was complaining on another thread about the motorway sign that I keep seeing 'Take your litter home, it is what other people do' (nudge, nudge). It makes me want to immediately throw some litter out of the car window.

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