Is your heating ON or OFF?

WantToBeSE

I left the thermostat on 16 all day and its not clicked on at all, which is nice
It was hailing when i woke up this morning, and was really cold until about 11am! DOnt know what thats all about...its quite sunny and warm this afternoon!!

T_T_2

WantToBeSE wrote: »

I left the thermostat on 16 all day and its not clicked on at all, which is nice
It was hailing when i woke up this morning, and was really cold until about 11am! DOnt know what thats all about...its quite sunny and warm this afternoon!!

Don't know about the hail but it was raining for quite a bit of the night and felt very cold when I woke up (as it always does when you have been wrapped up in the warm for the previous 7 hours). But by about midday it was nice and sunny and fairly pleasant outside.

Popperwell

Horrible day here, stayed under the duvet. Have extra clothes on and still too cold, we are also having a heavy downpour of icy rain and have thunder...oh dear...

carefullycautious

I find that I prefer to have the ch on in the morning for an hour as I like to shower in the warm and get dressed etc. I also use this time to air clothes that have been ironed by the radiators.

By doing this I don't need the CH on in the day or at night as I wrap up in warm clothes and as I write I have a lovely warm crochet shawl around my shoulders. By the time the temp has dropped too much it's time to get the hot water bottle and go to bed.

Do any of you have little tricks that work for you

Lily_The_Legend

The cold seemed to go right through me yesterday, so I had to put the electric fan heater on for a little while in the evening.

I was texting my friend at the time and she called me a wimp, but later admitted that after telling her DH he had got theirs out too. :rotfl:

Put a nice thick blanket on the bed last night and was nice and warm.

It's a bit warmer today and I feel ok at the moment.

Caterina

Caved in yesterday, was feeling down, miserable and depressed, and cold to boot. Put on CH for a couple of hours and felt much better. All the rest of the family also did and were thankful for it. From today I am going to zap the house for a couple of hours in the evening. It was so lovelly and warm in the house yesterday that when I went to bed I didn't need a hot water bottle, even though the radiator is off in the bedroom!

Justamum

Just out of interest how much do you pay for 1 kwh of electricity. Ours is 15.99p. I discovered that there is a lower tariff but we don't qualify for the lower rate as our heating isn't electric. I just wondered if ours is particularly high in comparison to everybody else.

Popperwell

Here my CH is gas, everything else is electric. I am now tied into a duel fuel deal until October 13 I found the comparison sites confusing and after getting almost into a serious mix up I went with NPower.

Being on a limited income and single even these deals aren't much good and I am still trying ration their use.

If I was perhaps paying for what I actually use and not having to pay a standing charge, If I was being charged the same amount per Kwh instead of more expensive for the first set amount of units and then after a certain point the units then come down to a reduced rate.

Now we have the confused announcement from the coalition via the PM that each utility should write to the customer and say you are on our lowest tarriff but that still means you would have to look for a better deal but competition would be even less and prices probably be uniform and likely as not even more expensive.

The suggestion is also that special deals that freeze prices for a period of time will end as will those plans where you have a duel fuel deal.

And again when he announced this possible change he always insists in putting in about wanting to help "The Hard Working" whether you work, need state help for a variety of reasons heat, light, water, food, roof over your head these are essentials for life and to keep you healthy, they are not luxuries.

So according to my information it says...You pay a higher rate for the first 4572 units of gas and 728 units of electric annually. Then any units after that are cheaper.

However, I have studied the information more closely today and it is not that simple.

It then says electric the first units are charged evenly throughout the year(2 a day)for gas the first units are charged as follows...882 In November, December, January, February. 272 in March, 271 in April and October. 46 in May, June, July, August and September.

So we can see that it is set up so you pay more when they know that you need to be warmer. As I only use at most 10 units of gas per week, I'll always be paying the greater amount.

And I now realise when they kept saying to me we need to see how much gas you use in Winter to get the DD charge correct what they were really saying is even if you use the same amount of gas and are frugal they will charge you more.

If they charged less in the Winter more us might be able to enjoy being warm and have it on longer. And they will collect a standing charge whatever energy you use...

So what do I pay? I include the 5% VAT
Daily Standing Charge(Electric)33.915p
Unit Charge(Electric)10.123p

Daily Standing Charge(Gas)42.840p
Unit Charge(Gas)3.327p

So they make approx £5 a week before I use anything so annually that's £260!

I wonder how different it is in Europe or in countries like the US, Canada and Australia. Better or worse.

Justamum

Popperwell wrote: »

So according to my information it says...You pay a higher rate for the first 4572 units of gas and 728 units of electric annually. Then any units after that are cheaper.

It all sounds very complicated.

We pay a flat rate of 15.99p a kwh for electric all year round (I don't have gas so not sure what that is now, but I know people who work for the local gas board don't use it because it's too expensive!)

Our monthly payment went up last year from £80 a month to £140, and this year it's gone up to £177 :eek: It's probably because I've had to use the tumble drier a lot because the weather has been so bad

Popperwell

JustaMum,
Sadly close on £2,000 for your electric bill! Oh Dear:(

Is being on an island used as an excuse regarding how electric/gas is generated/delivered as to it being even more expensive than the mainland?

Over here they keep saying our average for both is around £1,300 annually...perhaps if people used as they wish...if I switch to another company before the end of the agreed period they charge me a penalty clause of £60 for each so I have to stay put. Supposedly if stay for 12 months I get some kind of discount so I'll just have to wait and see...