4 million UK adults are in gas, electricity or water bill arrears

zenshi

My friend is in housing association house with pre pay meter and spends £40 per week on electric. She lives alone and doesn't have tumble dryer etc. she can run one storage heater twice a week only in that cost. I could t see how she was paying that much but I have seen it!

mandi

lindsloo wrote: »

Have about 200 debt on gas and electric, paying it back at £6 per week on both. I spend £50 each week on gas and electric, my house is old and very very cold. My heating is always on low and I sit in the dark with the tv off to save electric. When the heating funds get low before the end of the week I have to turn the heating off, in weather like this it's not funny. I'm so cold I sit and cry from frustration and wonder how I got my life so wrong.

That's very sad lindsloo .

Have you tried applying for a grant with your energy supplier ?

Are you receiving any benefits at all ?

lindsloo

My supplier only gives the grant to those in receipt of pension credit, and I can't move because of the debt. As soon as its gone I will move to British Gas. I get the benefits I'm entitled to but because I choose to work as a single parent I don't get much. I work 12 hour shifts so spend half of my week at home, it's a very old system which has no timer, it's on or off. Even left on, the house is so cold I stay in bed with the electric blanket. Before I had the meters fitted the gas bill came in £400 for a quarter. I had insulation fitted under the grant, I cellophane the windows up its just and old cold house.

As soon as it warms up and I can turn the heating off I am upping the debt payback so that little bit extra can go to the heating for next winter.

exarmydreamer

Old houses can't have cavity wall insulation, we struggle with a Victorian 4 bed house. It's become horrendous to heat and my husband is a gas engineer. He has changed the boiler, flushed the system (several times), changed radiators and fitted all with TUV's, but it is still freezing. Loft has been insulated and back and front door changed because they were drafty. I'm thinking of making window duvets for extra insulation.

I feel for everyone who is struggling, my mother has no central heating in her house but she prefers it that way?. I really worry about her.:(

darren_clarke

in the last 2 months, i have put £400 in the prepayment ele meter, it was that high the ele company came out to check meter, as there was a sudden jump in usage, after i phoned up and complained

exarmydreamer

Making window quilts
Last year a new Canadian neighbour moved in nearby and one thing lead to another and she couldn't believe we all didn't have window quilts. Especially me as I have single glazed north facing windows at the front.
I spent an afternoon helping watching her make one.
Bit like watching someone driving a car then having a go yourself
Took her 2 hours, took me 3 days and mine looked like the equivalent of a small childs first lot of homemade cakes! DD's window is 7' wide and 4' tall so I made 2 quilts.

Probably more links than you can cope with, but includes homemade ones and pdf guides how to:


http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green...mal-Shade.aspx

http://www.warmcompany.com/warmwindow/Warm.pdf

http://energyboomer.typepad.com/ener...-make-ene.html

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects...hemalShade.htm

http://www.windowquilt.com/products/WQ_brochure_web.pdf

http://www.manytracks.com/Homesteading/winquilt.htm

http://countrylife.lehmans.com/2007/...window-quilts/

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art34745.asp

http://www.green-energy-efficient-ho...-curtains.html

I made the first set without a vapour barrier.
1. I got a lot of condensation on the windows with and without window film.
2. Within a month, mould on the lining
If you have double glazing maybe you wouldn't need a vapour barrier?

So I removed the back and replaced with new old sheets and added an old shower curtain (cut to size obviously) on one and a £ store mylar sheet to the other.
Both worked really well and no more condensation or mould problems.

They were made with charity shop white sheets, charity shop cot blankets and I embroidered small flowers on the bottom to fit in with her room.
Hung them from a tension road at the top and used velcro to secure them to the frame at the bottom and sides.

They made a massive difference to her room temperature, more so than window film or the interlining I had put in the curtains.
I'd take a picture but they are in the loft at present.

For my sons tall windows I will make insulated roman blinds but for the other windows I will make quilts.
If your windows are the same size as pillow cases that would make it very easy to do.

I have seen them put up with magnetic tape, drawing pins, velcro, curtain wire etc and they can stay down all the time or hand rolled and caught in ties at the top during the day.

They are a step up from putting a fleece up at the window and I'm sure they will eventually become popular over here with the cold winters we seem to be having lately.

I also made a door curtain on the same principle for my sons flat to cover an opening between rooms but allowed extra floor drape and this worked well too.
Used an old single quilt, the other mylar sheet in the pack and a purple sari from charity shop for £1....(the amount of fabric you get in a sari is amazing) he has a hippy looking flat and it fitted in well with his wall hangings. He has asked me to insulate them too for him. I told him I'd lend him or his GF my sowing machine!

HTH

This the start of a thread on the 'Old Style Money Saving Board' on Making Window duvets, it has all the clear instructions for making these, especially later on in the thread as to where each layer is best set. Hope this is useful Lindsloo.:)

rbrown51

I owed British gas £1500 approx, due to a gas leak on a fire as we found out later, BG said the only way to sort this debt out was to go on a prepayment meter and pay £6 per week of the debt, we were putting in the region of £25 per week on the card which meant £19 for gas, we applied to the energy trust for help and they obliged and cleared the debt. we now find that even though there is no money coming off for debt the gas seems to be costing a lot more, we seem to be having to put £30 per week on the card, anyone know if this is legal, any advise much appreciated.

C_Mababejive

mandi wrote: »

If only it was so simple ..

Reading the article the reason for the arrears is because people can't afford to pay .

Fitting a pre payment meter is not only more expensive , but means they have to cut back somewhere else ? I wonder how many people are in arrears simply because they dont't want to pay as apposed to those who can't afford to pay ?

With the weather conditions as they are at the moment and the introduction of bedroom tax I inagine the figures will be far higher in the weeks to follow .

That really is too bad and i do appreciate the situation but i am in full time employment,as is my partner. We have to actively manage fuel consumption as well as everything else like food,transport,..everything..Thats what you have to do. Manage or do without.

bryanb

exarmydreamer wrote: »

Old houses can't have cavity wall insulation,

But they can be lined with insulated plasterboard. It makes a big difference. You lose a couple of inches in room size though.

jobdone1

The reality of this situation is simply, Wage increase since the 2008 crash has eithier stalled to date or been very very low 1% for the few and now they are slashing increases to benefits. Remember benefits for most are a top up to peoples low wages. So with this in mind and private companies allowed to increase bills way way way above inflation then is it any wonder people cannot afford the bills any longer. Yes lets bang on about installing plaster boards but for goodness sake we should be able to afford the essentials we are not a third world country or are we.