Winter must be around the corner....

sheffield_lad

I can't get mine to agree below 22deg lol, and given up explaining that anything above will not get the heating up any quicker grrrr

although happy with current bills of around £1200 gas/elec (£100 per mnth), given house is 4b detached.

Eellogofusciouhipoppokunu

DervProf wrote: »

Exactly.

Even if you can't afford a new, efficient boiler, chances are you can afford a thicker jumper or an extra t-shirt. I go into so many clients/firends houses and it's like walking into an oven (obviously only on gas mark 2 !). I`ve touched their radiators and nearly burned my fingers. Why ? I find it rather uncomfortable and unhealthy to be in a room heated to 23 degrees (+ !), no matter what the outside temperature. I like ~18 degrees myself, others may like a bit more, but seem to think that because it's ~zero outside, indoors needs to be like a sauna.

People seem to not only want to walk around in tshirt and shorts in midwinter but to have every part of the house at the high same temperature.

In the old days people just used to heat the rooms they were actually using. The hallways were unheated and bedrooms had fires lit and bedpans used just before bedtime.

Bringing that up to date, you can get central heating manifolds that allow you to split your central heating into zones and heated at different times and at different temperatures. You can have a loop from the manifold for bedrooms heated to a lower temperature than the living room and coming on in the morning just before you get out of bed and again for a short while in the evening before going to bed. Hallways can have much cooler temp settings with most of the heat (and expense) going on heating the room you are in most of the time - ie. the living room.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

I don't like paying by Direct Debit, so can never use the cheapest deals.

Graham_Devon

wotsthat wrote: »

I'm more than happy for Graham to preach the message "prices are going up there's nothing you can do about it except keep paying". If it weren't for people like GD the dividend stream from my utility shares would be much less healthy.

My strong advice is for people to get on the British Gas standard tariff and stay there. Ignore Martin Lewis at all costs - moneysaving is the devil's work.

Awww.

All I did was report the news. Never said anything about what can / can't be done, yet you fall over yourself to make it sound as if I did. Seems making things up is all you have left

Everyone else, bar chewy appear to have managed to discuss the opening post.

thor

DervProf wrote: »

Why ? I find it rather uncomfortable and unhealthy to be in a room heated to 23 degrees (+ !), no matter what the outside temperature. I like ~18 degrees myself, others may like a bit more, but seem to think that because it's ~zero outside, indoors needs to be like a sauna.

You are not one of those fat topless geordies seen at Newcastle matches are you? I guess some people just react to heat differently.
I hate cold with a passion(but do still go jogging at temps below -10 degrees celsius) and positively welcome hot summers when thermometers hit 30 plus. Sadly that has not happened often enough over the last few years.

DervProf

thor wrote: »

You are not one of those fat topless geordies seen at Newcastle matches are you?

I certainly am not, pet.

I do feel the cold, but ~18 degrees C is fine. It feels neither warm nor cold, and that's how I like it.

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

All I did was report the news. Never said anything about what can / can't be done, yet you fall over yourself to make it sound as if I did. Seems making things up is all you have left

I've discussed the OP and have posted my own figures.

Lazy journalists, and their followers, very rarely revisit their articles. How many times have we seen articles about prices rises of 19% or so with a calculation of what that 19% looks like if you multiply the current average by 19%?

A year later the same journalists are reporting another big price rise - you'd think they'd eventually notice that average bills never rise by the headline figures they previously reported.

Energy is getting more expensive no doubt. I'd guess over the timescales I've posted it's gone up by more than inflation - not much more though and certainly not the twice yearly double figures that the media would have us believe.

Zekko

Women are apparently are more sensitive to the cold.

http://www.bodyandsoul.com.au/health+healing/news+features/why+women+feel+the+cold+more+than+men,13259

We don't have particularly cold winters in this country (atleast down South).
An extra layer is usually more than enough to keep warm until around December/January time!

Graham_Devon

wotsthat wrote: »

A year later the same journalists are reporting another big price rise - you'd think they'd eventually notice that average bills never rise by the headline figures they previously reported.

Sorry, but the average yearly bill, is the average calculated yearly bill.

Theres no getting away from that and suggesting it's a false number made up by journalists.

What are you going to suggest next? The average fuel spend isn't actually an average fuel spend and shouldn't be calculated as such when prices rise?

For your info, the average domestic fuel bill has gone up over 100% since the year 2000 and nearly doubled since 2006 alone. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/household-bills/9020125/Energy-bills-almost-double-in-six-years.html) That's some way over inflation, so how you can say it's not going up more than inflation is beyond me really, but I'm sure you have some bizzare reasoning.

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Sorry, but the average yearly bill, is the average calculated yearly bill.

Theres no getting away from that and suggesting it's a false number made up by journalists.

It works like this. Headline price increase of 20% - reporters suggest this will take the the average bill from £100 to £120. Fast forward a year and we're talking about a 10% rise - that's 10% of £120 right? Well it would be if average bills EVER increased by the headline increase.

I'm not suggesting journalists are making the size of the average bill. More that they don't notice it doesn't increase as their articles suggest.

Graham_Devon wrote: »

For your info, the average domestic fuel bill has gone up over 100% since the year 2000 and nearly doubled since 2006 alone. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/household-bills/9020125/Energy-bills-almost-double-in-six-years.html) That's some way over inflation, so how you can say it's not going up more than inflation is beyond me really, but I'm sure you have some bizzare reasoning.

Yes it's me being bizarre. The average fuel bill has gone up by 100% since 2000 and doubled since 2006? One of us might need a lie down to think about what that means.

I didn't say energy bills on average weren't going up by more than inflation - in fact I said I guessed they were. Taking your 100% increase since 2000; that's a 6% pa rise since 2000. Not great but not that far ahead of inflation.

The biggest step change I saw in my own bills was a big rise in 2005/6. That's when I started to take some action - my utility bills have stayed the same or decreased since. The alternative (being 'average' and doing nothing) would have likely cost me about £3000.