Oil heating cost

oobiemoobie

Hi,
ok so I'm a student, and for my final year at uni I'm going to be living in shared housing. It's a 5 bedroom house with 6 people living in it, it's completely detached (surrounded by huge grounds and all), single glazed.

So my problem is, the house is oil heated. Included in our rent we get 1400L I think, but none of us have ever used an oil heating system before so we're all a bit clueless about how much it costs. My grandad suspects 1400L will be enough for half the year and then we'll have to buy more.

We also have two log fires, and I guess we could wear lots of jumpers to keep warm. But there's also 6 people showering every day, so I'm worried about how much we might ultimately need to spend on oil. Can anyone give me some advice/suggestions on how much we might need to put aside for extra oil? and also some tips on how to save on it!

Cardew

1400 litres is just over 14,000kWh. Oil costs are around 65p/litre

Your consumption depends on many factors, boiler efficiency, insulation standards, room temperatures etc. However I suspect your Grandad is correct - they normally are!

One factor most students don't take into account is that bedrooms tend to be used as bed-sitting rooms; for watching TV, entertaining and even occasionally studying!!

A Central heating system is designed so the radiators in a bedroom will keep the room a few degrees lower than the living rooms. Also when the the room in which the thermostat is situated is up to temperature, the central heating will shut off and there will be no heating in the bedrooms. This is a particular problem if you use the log fires.

Most students will then get electrical fan heaters for their rooms and electrical costs soar.

Over the years on MSE there has been thread after thread from students about disputes over energy costs. Student A has girlfriend staying most nights, Student B doesn't go home during holidays, Student C has deep baths every night, heaters in rooms etc etc.

It really is essential that you get everything sorted out at the beginning and get money paid in on time - and ensure the delegated 'bill payer' actually pays the bills.

oobiemoobie

Hey, thanks for your reply.

65p a litre? Wow.

I'm hoping there won't be too many disputes as the other people in the house are mature students (at 20 I'm the house baby) and I think at least some of them would be used to the cost of bills ect.

The arrangement was very last minute for my boyfriend and I, we got a call two weeks ago to say that we'd have to find somewhere else to stay :eek:

Anyway, I'm hoping the age of the other tenants will help avoid most f the usual disputes.

Cardew

oobiemoobie wrote: »

.

65p a litre? Wow.

It seems prices have dropped a little over the summer and 60p/litre is more representative.

suki1964

I have a five bedroom house and use on average 1800 litres of oil a year and that keeps the house from freezing

To keep warm we have multi fuel stoves in both up and down stairs living rooms. We use smokeless and logs

The oil is used morning and evenings for a few hours a day to beat hot water and to keep the core temp of the house to around 19oc. We use the stoves in the rooms we need to keep warmer when sat around around watching tv etc

My house is in a field on the NW coast of Ireland so it's pretty cold here most of the year

Off mains gas isn't cheap. Keeping warm is our biggest expense. However we learn to live in a cooler house and dress appropriately, jumpers, cardigans and slippers and even throws to snuggle in to

Most people are used to over heated buildings. Now days I can't shop in department stores without breaking out in sweats