Is your heating ON or OFF?

Rosa_Damascena

Matty246 said:

I've heard talk of the standing charge being done away with. I hope so. It's so unfair, especially on people struggling and using as little as possible. You don't get to the checkout at the supermarket and get charged for your groceries and another one on top for the upkeep of the building. 

I do get the need for standing charges, although I am not fond of paying them.

MSE Martin's dual tariff suggestion is the best we are going to get, but we won't see it for 18 months at least. Hence I picked an 18 month fix recently, with a plan to change to minimise costs once more in June 2026. My usage wasn't low, its what I would categorise as ultra-low, but is still costing nearly £1,400 pa.

So for now, my heating is staying switched off.

MikeJXE

Rosa_Damascena said:

Matty246 said:

I've heard talk of the standing charge being done away with. I hope so. It's so unfair, especially on people struggling and using as little as possible. You don't get to the checkout at the supermarket and get charged for your groceries and another one on top for the upkeep of the building. 

I do get the need for standing charges, although I am not fond of paying them.

MSE Martin's dual tariff suggestion is the best we are going to get, but we won't see it for 18 months at least. Hence I picked an 18 month fix recently, with a plan to change to minimise costs once more in June 2026. My usage wasn't low, its what I would categorise as ultra-low, but is still costing nearly £1,400 pa.

So for now, my heating is staying switched off.

What world do you live in ? 

My heating is what I call low costing me £600 a year and in credit, my ultra low would be less than that if I wanted to be cold but I don’t. 

My heating is minimum 18 degrees 24 hours a day, I’m out today from 9am till 6pm but it’s still on 

SuzeQStan

MikeJXE said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

What world do you live in ? 

My heating is what I call low costing me £600 a year and in credit, my ultra low would be less than that if I wanted to be cold but I don’t. 

My heating is minimum 18 degrees 24 hours a day, I’m out today from 9am till 6pm but it’s still on 

Comparisons like this aren’t the most helpful as everyone’s circumstances are different - residences are bigger/smaller some have fillable cavity walls some are older properties with solid walls, some lucky ones have all the insulation options going etc.  

if we set our heating at 18 degrees 24 hours a day we would have gas charges in excess of the ones that @Rosa_Damascena mentions. 

Nelliegrace

The gas pipes were replaced in our street last year. Leak after leak was found in the rusted metal connection to the houses, in our 1970s semi, built on the cheap by one of the big, national companies with housing estates in every town and city. I expect we will all have to pick up the bill or expect more gas explosions. 

Rosa_Damascena

MikeJXE said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

Matty246 said:

I've heard talk of the standing charge being done away with. I hope so. It's so unfair, especially on people struggling and using as little as possible. You don't get to the checkout at the supermarket and get charged for your groceries and another one on top for the upkeep of the building. 

I do get the need for standing charges, although I am not fond of paying them.

MSE Martin's dual tariff suggestion is the best we are going to get, but we won't see it for 18 months at least. Hence I picked an 18 month fix recently, with a plan to change to minimise costs once more in June 2026. My usage wasn't low, its what I would categorise as ultra-low, but is still costing nearly £1,400 pa.

So for now, my heating is staying switched off.

What world do you live in ? 

My heating is what I call low costing me £600 a year and in credit, my ultra low would be less than that if I wanted to be cold but I don’t. 

My heating is minimum 18 degrees 24 hours a day, I’m out today from 9am till 6pm but it’s still on 

A world in which I'm lucky enough to have very spacious surroundings. I also have underfloor heating that I didn't twig was being activated overnight at the start of the year - I didn't realise this until I had a smart meter installed in the spring and asked why the bill exceeded £8 before the working day began.

When I switched tariff this week it was on the basis of a quote for "low use" households, and even with my greedy UFH my annual usage falls well below that level. Given that standing charges alone mount up to over £300 pa, you must be in an exceptionally small and well insulated home.

Rosa_Damascena

Well its been mild so far this year but in much of the country we need to brace ourselves for snow this weekend. At which point the heating will definitely be switched on!

I took a pic of my SMETS2 reading on NYE:


I can't help but compare it to when I paid my first energy bill (in a much smaller home) - I don't think it was more that £350 for the whole year! But we are going back 25 years now.

SuzeQStan

Our annual gas price above - we heavily supplement our gas usage with firewood which we won’t be able to do next year as our wood provider is winding the business up and other providers are at least 50% more costly

we must have had a big discount as we had been with them for a long time - we were paying £750 for 3 huge van loads of firewood per year which last us the full winter season. 

As won’t be using wood next winter we Have estimated our gas bill at £2100 based on current Jan 2025 prices.

If we used firewood from other more expensive wood providers the cost would be about the same as using gas alone, so we might as well go fully gas and move away from firewood as it is labour intensive.  Although I do love a cosy fire of an evening in th winter.

SuzeQStan

Can’t amend my previous message - wanted to add that estimated cost includes our annual electricity as well and standing charges. Solar panels cut our electricity costs right back

Rosa_Damascena

SuzeQStan said:

Can’t amend my previous message - wanted to add that estimated cost includes our annual electricity as well and standing charges. Solar panels cut our electricity costs right back

I'd be happy if it covered the daily standing charge, anything else would be a bonus!

Wednesday2000

Mine is on at the moment, but I am just about to switch it off as it is so nice for it to be milder here. There wasn't any frost in the garden when I woke up, unlike the past few days. I just got my Outfox the Market statement and we are still £124 in credit with them.