Keeping warm fot the winter? Gas

type2tattoo

Hello I am new to this forum but wanted to ask a question, hope thats ok

I have had a pre payment gas meter fitted for just over a year because I couldn't pay the £460 ish bill. Southern Electric Gas told me at the time I would not cost me more??? anyway it has been nothing but trouble, the card has stopped working 3 times, the first time they reset it they forgot to add my debt so I was paying nothing off of it for a while, then they added my debt twice and all the money I tried to put on it went straight to the bill? so rarely had any gas for cooking

Now the cold weather is here, I keep trying to put money on it to keep warm but it goes nowhere

Last night I put £15 on, it took most of that for debt and left me with £4.50 emergency for the week, I treated myself and put the central heating on and the hot water it lasted 4 hours!!! and I was back to zero

Can anyone tell me if my old (20 years) boiler should cost £1 an hour to run?


btw I am on benefits New deal starting my own business (but mostly just working tax credits) and have an 18 year old son at home.

Does anyone have any suggestions aboutI can do to keep myself and my son warm and fed this winter?

Many Thanks

penrhyn

Insulate/draft proof your property, warm clothing from the charity shop.
Get to know when the local supermarket has short dated stuff on sale, bread, sanwitches and the like.
Is your son in work?

Cardew

type2tattoo wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if my old (20 years) boiler should cost £1 an hour to run?

£1 on a pre-pay tariff is approx 25kWh.

A boiler will easily use that in the first hour with a cold house as well as heating a hot water tank.

Depending on the size of your house, the insulation, and how warm you have the house it should then start using less gas. However many people budget for £25 a week or more in winter.

type2tattoo

penrhyn wrote: »

Insulate/draft proof your property, warm clothing from the charity shop.
Get to know when the local supermarket has short dated stuff on sale, bread, sanwitches and the like.
Is your son in work?

Thankyou Penrhyn I am well versed in money saving though, having brought up 3 sons mostly by myself

My son is in full time education but has a minimum wage part time job

Cardew Thanks for the info, doesn't look like I will be able to use the boiler then, thats far too much out of my £100 a week

I live in a rented property, been here 20 years, and have asked the landlord if I can remove the boiler (backboiler) and just have a wood fire as I can get lots of firewood free, do I have any rights to keep warm ? as they have said they doubt they would agree to this?

KimYeovil

No, you have no rights to destroy your landlord's property or make alterations. You may ask them, but they will tell you where to go (unless you pay them the deposit to cover putting the boiler back when you leave.)

You have rights to keep warm. There are working tax credits, emas, jsas etc to top up wages. As you say you have £100 per week then I fail to see why you are not prepared to use some of that money for heating. Next summer you may want to plan in advance and do what most poor people have to do and put money aside for winter.

Poor people spend our income on food and heating. That's called life. If you want a warm home then you have to pay for it. Work out how much it costs to slap the heating on for two or three hours of an evening. As already mentioned, after it's warmed up the running cost goes down. Don't panic after the first hour when you check the meter. And, of course, you should only be heating one room.

song_of_calliope

Would it be cheaper to buy a small electric space heater and heat just one room? I don't know whether this would be less expensive than using the boiler but perhaps someone on here would know.

Would it be cheaper when you need to wash to move the kettle into the bathroom and boil it several times to heat enough water for a shallow warm-ish bath? Or perhaps you could go to the pubic pool and use their showers a couple of times a week with sponge baths in-between, with the added benefit that you could have a swim too while you're there? I know the public pool has discounts for people on benefits.

KimYeovil

Well, this is something you should have thought of doing at the end of last winter rather than the beginning of this winter but after struggling through this winter you must set about clearing the debt. Once you've done this you will be free to change supplier and/or tariff and receive the cheapest prices. If you and your son have a total of £100 per week then you should easily pay it off over two months (once it's warmer). Remember you will have to save this up and pay it directly to the supplier - the debt on the meter will be set too low.

I genuinely can not understand the mindset of people on a low income who prefer to pay a small amount off their debts year-in year-out instead of just biting the bullet and living on next-to-nothing for a month or two.

song_of_calliope

KimYeovil, I think you replied to my post as if I were the original poster but in fact I'm not.

Also, I think you're being a little harsh! People make mistakes, you know (see above). Should have, could have, would have isn't going to solve this person's problems.

Yes she should have saved for this but she didn't. However, for one thing we don't know her exact circumstances so I don't feel we're in a position to judge. For another thing, the fact that she's on here on MSE is certainly a good first step towards taking control of her finances. I don't think we should scare her away but instead should make her feel welcome.

A_fiend_for_life

type2tattoo wrote: »

Last night I put £15 on, it took most of that for debt and left me with £4.50 emergency for the week, I treated myself and put the central heating on and the hot water it lasted 4 hours!!! and I was back to zero

Have they rectified the double amount of debt they put on the meter?

Is the amount deducted from the meter negotiable at all? You could maybe do with posting the name of the supplier so one of the reps will respond. I'm not saying anything will change but it's got to be worth a try.

Have you read this money makeover? (EDIT it won't help with the electricity at the moment but perhaps other outgoings)

Mankysteve

There giveing advice then thers being harsh but sometime you have to do that get to to though to people in this case I don't think it was called for. You should ask to reduce your repayment to the minimum over the winter which is think is £5.
Do an SOA http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280
Post it up proberly better in the debt section. That will give you a repayment plan and learn next year to build up some credit over the winter.

type2tattoo

Jeez I only asked for a bit of advice? and thanks to those that gave it

But the harshness isn't helpful! you know nothing of my circumstances .... you know what thanks for making me feel !!!! bye