Is your heating ON or OFF?

BitterAndTwisted

Snowing now? Whereabouts in the country are you Rummer?

ab7

Been on today and we had snow today too Rummer, started at about 6pm not enough to lie for long but was nice to see the light patches of white on the grass - I'm West Lothian B&T - will be on tomorrow due light snow at 9am and looks like it'll be another cold one!

Kirri

Dropping here but still 18 degrees with no heating - getting worried though as even London temps are due to really drop from this weekend and I hate to think how much a month of using the heating would cost now!

lostinrates

The sun has helped this morning. No woodbuner to day. I have opened windows to air and will close soon as its greying over.

muffin_man_7

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

The only thing to be admired is some people's rigid fear of receiving heating-bills they can't afford to pay and resisting the temptation to put it on. There's little pleasure in not feeling snug when you remember what it was like to lounge around in a t-shirt and no socks on in the middle of a winter. Sill, turning that thermostat down by one degree at a time is hardly noticeable. When it feels too cool turn it up again if you can afford it, I say. Alas, no-one is giving out medals for fortitude and self-control yet.



Just seen the weather forecast this evening and there's snow a-coming at the weekend, looking most likely at the moment for those in the north-east and Wales. Get those thermals and snow-boots at the ready, folks.[/QUOTE



It's not just fear of high bills that stop some of us using the heating it's because some of usare on prepay meters and when the credit runs out you go without not a choice really i've only got £3 left on my gas and that is the emergancy credit and as we have a gas cooker we need to keep it for cooking and showers i have got an electric heater for each room very handy for warming up when you really cant put any more layers on but this week the use of them is rationed as well as elec on emergancy as well this is a downside of having pre pay but we will manage i've only had the ppgas for 3weeks so have't had chance to build up a credit for the bad weeks not just the temp dropping but me loosing some money in town hasn't helped oh well it can't get much worse (or can it i hope not )
as soon as i get my home top up thing i will be able to do it from home

BitterAndTwisted

I fully appreciate evrything you have said muffin man, I really do. The only good thing I can think of to say about pre-pay meters is that if you don't have the money to hand immediately you're not storing up a debt that you may not be able to pay later without a horrible struggle.

That might be less stress and worry for me on my paltry income but I don't want to have to pay that totally unreasonably high tariff. It beggars belief that pre-pay meters cost users more per therm/unit when they're alway paying for it in advance. To my mind that should be giving you a discount, not costing you more.

sistercas

little flurry of snow here this afternoon and a biting wind :eek:, heating is on

BitterAndTwisted

Kirri wrote: »

Dropping here but still 18 degrees with no heating - getting worried though as even London temps are due to really drop from this weekend and I hate to think how much a month of using the heating would cost now!

About 20% more than this time last year. Frightening. So, for ever hour I had the heating on each day last winter it will have to be less than 50 minutes this year to stay in the same place bill-wise.

In my mind I have saved a lot with the weather having been so mild recently, so should be able to get by when the temps drop like a stone for a bit. It's a personal challenge to keep warm and I didn't relaly feel that much hardship last year, timing a bath for when the heating was on for that hour was the hardest part really.

I just don't want to hoodwink myself into believing the worst is behind us. Wasn't it February 2009 when we had a sudden drop in temps and snow which stopped most of the public transport? That was the time when I was the only one in my office of over a dozen people who actually made it into work. Temping and being paid by the hour is a huge driver to tramp through knee-high snow. Some people in that office were living in ungritted parts of their towns/villages and couldn't make it in for over a week. Allegedly.

Kirri

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

About 20% more than this time last year. Frightening. So, for ever hour I had the heating on each day last winter it will have to be less than 50 minutes this year to stay in the same place bill-wise.

In my mind I have saved a lot with the weather having been so mild recently, so should be able to get by when the temps drop like a stone for a bit. It's a personal challenge to keep warm and I didn't relaly feel that much hardship last year, timing a bath for when the heating was on for that hour was the hardest part really.

I just don't want to hoodwink myself into believing the worst is behind us. Wasn't it February 2009 when we had a sudden drop in temps and snow which stopped most of the public transport? That was the time when I was the only one in my office of over a dozen people who actually made it into work. Temping and being paid by the hour is a huge driver to tramp through knee-high snow. Some people in that office were living in ungritted parts of their towns/villages and couldn't make it in for over a week. Allegedly.

I honestly don't think I can afford to have my heating on this winter now I'm not working, though I do at least have some in reserve on my electric account if I really have to use it next week. I don't want to go over the DD amount ideally though or they will put my payment up despite my reserve.

Yes Feb 09, had the worst ever snow I'd seen in London, first time ever the buses didn't run I believe? Even last winter most people who lived closer than me to the office claimed not to be able to get into work in the snow yet the buses were all running then and some could have walked even!

BitterAndTwisted

I'm not working either Kirri and haven't for a while so I know how difficult it is to get by on JSA alone. If I had a partner living here with me I'd probably not get even that. In my mind I have to set aside £10 a week each for the leccy and the gas. My one and only "get-out clause" in my mind is that I have a married couple as extremely close, kind and generous friends who promised to finance my utility bills for as long as it took. I have never taken them up on that offer but I know I could ask them if I was truly desperate. I might even be able to prevail on my lovely, sainted sister to help if I asked. This is a mental insurance policy which allows to me to be able to sleep at night. Others may not be so very lucky.