Is your heating ON or OFF?

mrsr

Kirri wrote: »

Took my electric reading today, am still inputting the figures online monthly so I can see exactly how much I spend per month - supplier wants them every 3 months but at least doing it monthly I can make adjustments when I see my bill going up and makes me much more aware of the spend.

Since the snow I've had heating on which is all electric - for 1 month my bill was nearly £44 (last month was nearly £32). That figure is too much while I'm on JSA... especially as the heating has only been on for not even half a month. I know they talk about the elderly all the time making choices but they do get a sizeable amount towards their winter heating, whereas on standard JSA there just isn't anything extra and it literally is more of a choice over food or heat!

FrugalLina wrote: »

I like the idea of inputting the meter readings monthly, Kirri, I think I will do that too, it will make monitoring usage much easier.

B&T, you have done well to cut your fuel bill so drastically this year and I fully intend to do the same!

I input my reading every week into http://www.imeasure.org.uk/ it's brilliant .Once it's set up it only takes a few mins every Mon,i can now go back to this time last year and compare wk by wk and thankfully i am using less

shegar

Wood.Justin wrote: »

I agree with the comments regarding just how nice it is now it's warmed up a little bit. I have changed the time the heating comes off (9pm) to see what impact that has on our billing, in terms of warmth it really didn't make too much of a difference once we jumped into bed! I have to remember to change the settings for the weekend however it does say that you can set a weekend mode. I must find the instructions to have a look at this!

I also submit regular meeting readings to Eon to monitor our usage as this does put us in control of our billing.

Ive always phoned my metre readings through to Npower so that I can keep up to date with my usage of gas and elec, its the best way not to get in arrears.........:DIts been a lot warmer the last few days and even had the sun out:D been lucky to dry washing out doors nearly everyday this week, which keeps it soft and smelling of fresh air too, plus cheaper than using the dryer.......:D

Living_proof

I work from home and have a heart condition which means I can't get badly cold. Last winter I did try leaving the heat of for as long as possible but I quickly became bone-cold and found I wasn't functioning properly and thought it was a false economy. There is only one month a year when the heating hasn't been on at all and that was July. Even in August the evenings get chilly up here.

I try not to have the heating on upstairs at all, apart from the heated towel rail in the bathroom but my bedroom was getting uncomfortably cold and I have given in to temptation. I even came to the not very MSE decision to buy a heated underblanket - the one you can leave on all night and where you can have one side on and the other off, etc. It is almost £70 but I finally caved in and ordered one from Argos today.

Whilst on the website, I looked at the latest reviews and someone pointed out that you need to use a plug each side of the bed. That got me thinking and when I went up to check out the electrics there is only one plug and the bedside lamp is plugged into that and there is no space for another plug or adaptor behind the bedside table.

That was the shortest-lived electric blanket in history. Back to the cherished (and cheap) hot water bottles!

sparrer

It was on for getting up, then when I sat down after housework it was so warm in the house I had to feel the radiator to see if it was off - it was, of course. Had the back door open until 5pm, then had one hour heating on this evening 9-10pm. I went up just now to get ready for bed and the bedroom is beautifully warm, thank goodness for efficient insulation. I hear the weekend is going to get colder again though. They have to spoil it, don't they?

Kirri

mrsr wrote: »

I input my reading every week into http://www.imeasure.org.uk/ it's brilliant .Once it's set up it only takes a few mins every Mon,i can now go back to this time last year and compare wk by wk and thankfully i am using less

I'm currently with Scottish Power and their website is quite good, it shows how many days of useage, units used, and also gives you line and bar charts of current vs previous year's useage, so all in all for a supplier website, I quite like the way I can monitor things on there.

Frugalina - I'm finding it so much more helpful logging it monthly to see what it's costing, makes it more real, (or shocking!) I just picked a day and stick to that though could always do every 30 days or so, but more difficult to remember then.

Jumper09

I switched mine off yesterday and it wasn't cold at all...but I had to have it on later to clear out the condensation from the tumble dryer as it was still too cold to get a lot dry on the line. Going to have to find some sort of solution...

FrugalLina

Thanks for the tips on regular monitoring of the fuel meters, I shall do a spreadsheet and take readings every month end as my last reading was 31st January. In fact, I peeked at my gas meter and I have used 22 units since the 31st and that seems quite a lot to me, despite what I thought were my austere measures

lyra

Off. Our heating's not working, so even if it wasn't mild, we couldn't have it on :mad: Lucky it's a 2 bed first floor flat, so it's liveable, if it was a draughty house or there was children/elderly people living here, it would be unbearable. My bills are inclusive so I'm caning the electricity with my electric blanket & mini heater...landlord can't complain as he's taking so long getting the CH sorted...:mad:

Kirri

Still got heating on today while it's 6 deg outside but just saw forecast and they are saying could be up to 17 deg by Thursday - here's hoping! Heating may go off tomorrow, it's not working properly anyway.

mrsr

lyra wrote: »

Off. Our heating's not working, so even if it wasn't mild, we couldn't have it on :mad: Lucky it's a 2 bed first floor flat, so it's liveable, if it was a draughty house or there was children/elderly people living here, it would be unbearable. My bills are inclusive so I'm caning the electricity with my electric blanket & mini heater...landlord can't complain as he's taking so long getting the CH sorted...:mad:

Hope you get it sorted soon,i know how you feel.The fan went in ours just over that cold snap last week,lucky we have cover so only took two days to sort.It must have been going for a while ,i didn't realise the awfull rattling it has been making for a while was a sign,i just thought it was where it's old,That will teach me.Keep warm wack that electric heater on.