First time buyer - utilities questions

freeman3030

Hi all,
On monday, I'm putting in an offer on our first home which will hopefully be accepted. Very excited, but am concerned about Bills and want tips on how to keep them down. By the time we move in, we should be coming into slightly warmer weather, so wont have to have the heating on much if at all.
I have been thinking about electric mainly and have seen those smart meters so we can see what we're using. Do electric companies give/sell you them or do you buy them yourself? Also are they easy to install?

We've budgeted £40 for electric and £40 gor gas per month, but I dont really know how much energy we're going to use.
Details of the property:
* 2 bed flat, 1st floor with a flat above in the attic (so a three story detached house converted into flats)
* UPVC Double glazing all round
* Gas combi boiler (estimated about 6 years old - can't remember the make but something like 'baxi' rings a bell)
* Gas 4 ring hob
* Electric oven

I do plan to swap the light bulbs to energy efficient ones. We really will do all we can to save on our energy usage, but I want to know if we're in the right ball park?

I will be cooking homemade meals 4/5 evenings a week which will use the gas more rather than throwing a pizza in the oven... I'm scared/excited/nervous/happy and worried all at the same time!!

lolavix

Each persons bills will vary so it's hard to estimate. Our gas and electric come to £115 a month in a 1 bed flat, which seems quite high to me.

A.Penny.Saved

As #2 says, it depends largely on you and it's very difficult for other people to guess what you yourself is like, with regard to how warm you like to be. Some people dislike high temperatures and prefer a cooler environment of 17 to 18C in a lounge. People like this will have lower heating bills than people who like it 25C+ in every room.

Every degree lower will lower your bills quite significantly. Maintaining 20C uses quite a bit more energy than maintaining 17/18C.

The electric oven could be a problem if you have to use it IMO. Electric does seem to cost more to heat in my experience, certainly heating rooms and for ovens, I would expect that to be by a larger margin. There is no reason why you couldn't replace the oven if you wanted to.

Baxi is one of the budget boiler makers so you could be correct if you think it did sound something like that.

My Gas/Electric bill is currently £61 a month for a 3 bed terrace, recently switched supplier and it did come down from about £68. I prefer my lounge at lower than recommended 20C, 16/17C is common.

Getting a digital thermometer might be worth investing in. Something moderately accurate will give you an idea of the actual room temperature rather than relying on thermostats which can be very inaccurate in my experience. It might help you keep the temperature to a more moderate temperature. Every little bit lower will lower your bills. Even if it meant putting on a jumper. It's surprising how some people sit around in T shirts heating their homes to well over 20C in order to do so.

Best of luck with your offer.

freeman3030

Thanks for the replies guys. Especially the tip on having the heating set on 17/18 - i'm currently living with my parents and have just gone to look at the thermostat in the hall and its set on 16... and I feel fine at this temperature. I also forgot to mention one other thing, there is an open fire in the lounge of this flat we hope to buy, so could always light that on a sunday evening.

A.Penny.Saved - is your gas/elec bill £61 combined or per utility? Because if it is, then I should have a buffer of £19 per month to play around with as I do plan to be careful with what I use/leave on.

Roll on monday, I just hope my offer gets accepted!!
Many thanks

A.Penny.Saved

freeman3030 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys. Especially the tip on having the heating set on 17/18 - i'm currently living with my parents and have just gone to look at the thermostat in the hall and its set on 16... and I feel fine at this temperature. I also forgot to mention one other thing, there is an open fire in the lounge of this flat we hope to buy, so could always light that on a sunday evening.

Don't use thermostats as a guide to room temperature because they are very inaccurate. I have never seen an accurate thermostat! They always and I mean always read lower than the true temperature. Mine is set at 13C when the real room temperature is 15-17C, the thermometer reading slightly higher, maybe 17.8C.

At a guess, I would say your parent's room temperature is probably more like 19C. Therefore, expect your energy bill to be a fair bit higher than mine. Possibly 50% more.

I would recommend that you get a cheap indoor/outdoor dual sensor digital thermometer or for more accuracy, a conventional mercury thermometer. The digital ones always seem to read higher than the real values. I have a more expensive, £50 dual input K/J/T/E/R/S/N type C/F/K thermometer which I have checked by doing some boiling water tests to test it's accuracy and it is closer than the cheap thermometers and even that reads slightly low. The room thermostats are always way out in my experience. The two that I have had were always much lower than the real values and my parent's one was the same.

A.Penny.Saved - is your gas/elec bill £61 combined or per utility? Because if it is, then I should have a buffer of £19 per month to play around with as I do plan to be careful with what I use/leave on.

Roll on monday, I just hope my offer gets accepted!!
Many thanks

Yes, ATM having only switched supplier in late August/early september and going from a previous years energy usage, they calculated my monthly combined direct debit as £61. With my previous supplier there were two payments which totalled £66, I just checked my bank account to verify that figure. In truth, my lounge temperature was probably lower than 17C, a room digital thermometer read 15 to 17, however the accuracy is poor and it reads about 1+C higher than the true temperature using a more accurate digital thermometer. That is how much difference the room temperature makes. However to offset that I am at home all day so heating is on for long periods and I have to keep my bills down.

Richie-from-the-Boro

freeman3030 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys. Especially the tip on having the heating set on 17/18 - i'm currently living with my parents and have just gone to look at the thermostat in the hall and its set on 16... and I feel fine at this temperature. I also forgot to mention one other thing, there is an open fire in the lounge of this flat we hope to buy, so could always light that on a sunday evening.

A.Penny.Saved - is your gas/elec bill £61 combined or per utility? Because if it is, then I should have a buffer of £19 per month to play around with as I do plan to be careful with what I use/leave on.

Roll on monday, I just hope my offer gets accepted!!
Many thanks

A chimney without an effective restrictor where outside air does vent into the room would lose 8kWh per 24 hours of heat. Your lifestyle is the one single biggest influence on your costs, and that's the one thing you have not mentioned.

- married seven kids in and out of the doors all day, leeching heat
- AP's home all day, all day and extra heating needed
- couple work all day, heating not needed, only in occupation 6pm to whenever

Be scared/excited/nervous/but be very very happy in your new life. Best wishes.

Wywth

freeman3030 wrote: »

Hi all,
On monday, I'm putting in an offer on our first home which will hopefully be accepted. ...

Why are you waiting until Monday?