MSE News: Energy bills topped £500 over winter

markharding557

Some people are wealthy enough to not have to worry about heating bills-my parents are in that category.

KimYeovil

Yes, I know. The point is more that a lot of people who claim to be on tight budgets for some reason waste lots of money. Of course those who can afford to live in insulated comfort season in season out without taking advantage of natural variation are free to do so. But the statistics suggest that either most people are very comfortably off or that most people are wasteful. I suspect the former rather than the latter.

karatedragon

Joyful wrote: »

It would be fantastic for you if this is correct. Just in case your meters are not set correctly ( in which case you can run up a bill) please check for the price per unit you should be paying with your Supplier and then check the same on the meters. If they are the same you can rest easy.

I have checked the price contained in the meter and it is commensurate with Ebico's advertised pricing. Phewwwwww:T:T

Joyful

Well done. :TI would still like to know more though. Do you live in a flat with people below you? What temp do you have the house set at and how many hours a day in the winter is your heating on for? I assume your heating is gas?

karatedragon

I live in a top floor flat. 2 Bedroom. I find the place always seems warm so don't put the heating on mych. The water is heated by the condensing combi boiler as and when it is needed.

davidgmmafan

"We are seriously struggling and before you say turn your heating down, we cant, we had to have it on full as we have a small baby and DF suffers with pnuemonia, even then with the heating on as we had it on we still froze and spent all december, january, february and the most part of march with reoccuring chest infections. As it was still bloody cold in our house."

I strongly advise you speak to your supplier to see what sort of help they can offer, they will probably have a social tariff which is usually cheaper. Also they will be able to register the vulnerable people living at the propery which means A In the event of a power cut or similar you are a priority to get to, this used to be called priority service register I believe
B They wil have a very hard time cutting you off, which could help if you are struggling.

kjsmith7

davidgmmafan wrote: »

"We are seriously struggling and before you say turn your heating down, we cant, we had to have it on full as we have a small baby and DF suffers with pnuemonia, even then with the heating on as we had it on we still froze and spent all december, january, february and the most part of march with reoccuring chest infections. As it was still bloody cold in our house."

I strongly advise you speak to your supplier to see what sort of help they can offer, they will probably have a social tariff which is usually cheaper. Also they will be able to register the vulnerable people living at the propery which means A In the event of a power cut or similar you are a priority to get to, this used to be called priority service register I believe
B They wil have a very hard time cutting you off, which could help if you are struggling.

I agree, but at the same time, not being cut off isn't going to stop them from getting into debt. If OP rents the house, move if appropriate - you may get cheaper rent/council tax, etc., but you should look for an energy efficient house, enquire as to insulation, boiler age, etc. If you own your home, and you receive benefits (even things like Child Tax Credit), as long as your income is low enough you may want to consider Warm Front to get energy efficiency grants (meaning you don't have to pay the money back) for things like insulation, double glazing, etc. Warm Front is only available in England, but there are equivalent packages in Scotland and Wales.