MSE News: Poorest 'to switch heating off' if energy bills keep rising

rogerblack

CautiousKate wrote: »

The school at which I am Chair of Governors has recently received a Passivhaus rebuild.

Refurbishing to Passivhaus standards is extremely challenging.
In general, it will mean either totally stripping the internals, or re-cladding the outside with a considerable thickness of insulation.
Perhaps both.

If, for example, floor insulation is inadequate (and in many, or even most cases, it will not be possible to achieve this sort of standard with it - you're going to at least need to tear up the floors.

Proper sealing and vapour barrier and ... work may mean you need to also tear out the plasterboard.

Of course you're going to need to replace the windows, doors, ...

It gets really, really expensive, and unless done carefully, or even if - there may be no other option than to lose substantial internal volume.

PasturesNew

I've always rationed my heating, laid under a duvet all winter. The only real side to doing this is it actually limits what you can do while under a duvet... with limited mobility and a cold nose, you do find you're lying down doing nothing for 8 months of the year, waiting for summer.

There's always loads of things I COULD be doing that I put off because I'd have got cold. Even "cooking a proper meal" can be out of the question as you get cold waiting for it and it's easier to make a sandwich and dive under the duvet.

rogerblack

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've always rationed my heating, laid under a duvet all winter.

I strongly recommend getting an electric blanket.
It's much easier to turn it up, get too hot, and want to get out to cool off, than to motivate yourself to get out of a barely-warm-enough bed.
NEVER leave the blanket switched on when away from it however.

Consumerist

rogerblack wrote: »

I strongly recommend getting an electric blanket.

Couldn't agree more.

An electric blanket is probably the most efficient way of saving energy and keeping warm. Ours is a dual over-blanket which runs at 360W each side and it's only on intermittently unless you crank the control-stat up to maximum.

grahamc2003

Cardew wrote: »

Articles like this give the false impression that USwitch have some quasi-official status. USwitch are simply a commercial company with a vested interest in putting their name before the public so people will use them to switch suppliers. - Thank you Ann Robinson!

We would be better served if the views of the Energy Saving Trust or even a Government department, were sought.

Yeah - the commissions paid to companies like Uswitch are part of the problem of higher energy prices, not the solution.

You'd think with the number of IT consultants working in public service, a few of them could be tasked with knocking up a non-commission seeking comparison site including every tariff available as a sort of, err, public service.

Consumerist

grahamc2003 wrote: »

Yeah - the commissions paid to companies like Uswitch are part of the problem of higher energy prices, not the solution.

One of the contributing reasons I went to Ovo who don't seem to pay commissions to switching sites. They were high on the comparison site lists at the time too.

Cardew

rogerblack wrote: »

NEVER leave the blanket switched on when away from it however.

Presumably for the fire risk?

Some blankets are designed to be switched on for some hours before you go to bed - so would be on when away from the bed.

Others are designed to be left switched on all night.

The reason for fires is because of misuse or defective blankets - see

http://www.esc.org.uk/public/news-and-campaigns/press-releases/news/article/electric-blanket-safety-advice/

Treacle1983

I am just moving home to a bigger flat and am dreading how much the heating costs will be.

We (2 adults) barely used the gas heating in our current 1 bed flat - only really using the gas powered hot water for showers, doing dishes etc.. and have been using about £50 a month still.

Our new flat is much bigger but does have a much better energy rating certificate - I'm going to see if we can go til november before having to use the heating at all.

FATBALLZ

These 'poorest' always seem to be people who insist they must live in detached, poorly insultated homes in the middle of the countryside. If they're that poor they should move somewhere cheap to heat - my last address cost about £15/mth to keep at 20c all year round (including water heating). When you've taken all steps to reduce your bills and still can't afford it then you can moan, otherwise shut it.

HappyMJ

Treacle1983 wrote: »

I am just moving home to a bigger flat and am dreading how much the heating costs will be.

We (2 adults) barely used the gas heating in our current 1 bed flat - only really using the gas powered hot water for showers, doing dishes etc.. and have been using about £50 a month still.

Our new flat is much bigger but does have a much better energy rating certificate - I'm going to see if we can go til november before having to use the heating at all.

£50 a month? Was that the direct debit for both gas and electricity? Are you on a good online direct debit tariff? I just got my annual estimate and it thinks I'll use £180 over the entire year. That's for my 3 bed semi occupied by only myself. My electric heating is only used sparingly in 1 room at a time. Water is heated by E7 electricity and uses about 4kWh per night at a cost of only 18 pence per night.