Huge £467 per month gas bill ??

silverwhistle

Ouch! I was doing my weekly consumption check this morning as I have yet to receive an NPower bill, and pro-rata'd for the month I'm using £50 + standing charge for a three-bed terrace. My £21 month's usage for electricity is a bit distorted by having solar panels! Maybe a daily consumption check in your current situation to see how impacted you are by outside temperatures, daily habits etc.

Sounds like insulation is a priority for you. Next week Lidl have one of their special offers on a temperature probe that might help you identify the worst weaknesses: http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/SID-D346BF82-E153D782/www_lidl_uk/hs.xsl/our-offers-2491.htm?action=showDetail&id=9087

Whilst you sort that out, perhaps you could make yourself a 'snug' where you could all retreat to when it gets colder. As someone above pointed out, you could use the top, double-glazed floor, and loft insulation is normally one of the easiest, cheapest and most effective improvements you can make.

My only other suggestion is that Decathlon have a sale on with some good base layers and fleeces!

pleasedelete

aqua111 wrote: »

Thank you but even those of us who are not 40%Tax Payers are allowed to give our opinions!!!!!!!!!!!!

50%- the tax rate is 50%- 40% is the mid rate.

ChasingButterflies

Hi,

Two years ago we briefly rented an old stone property and managed to receive a horrible gas bill (as I recall 6 weeks use was as much as the previous quarter was in a much larger more modern property) So I understand your shock!

We have since moved to another property (circa 1975) which had steel single glazed windows, 1" loft insulation, and lots and lots of draughts... also a project house in many respects!

We purchased one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Decker-TLD100-Thermal-Detector/dp/B0044R87BE to help see where the draughts were coming from and to see which radiators weren't distributing heat.

Once we established where the leaks were coming from we were able to, top up loft insulation (not that cheap but diy-able) as there were no "free" schemes available to us.

The first winter fix was for me to make thermal lined curtains for all the windows and use them which did help a little. Also hot water bottles and fleece pj's for the kids at bedtime. We then
installed double glazing (which tbh has made a huge difference to heat retention - although I am pretty sure we will not recover the cost of having that work in savings to heating bills!)

We are also very slowly going round and filling in gaps that we find i.e. walls/ skirting etc...

We replaced how water cyclinder and rads as they were old, too small and not working properly.

I can't see my gas bill until tomorrow but I am hoping that it is cheaper than last year!

Are you on a standard tariff? you tend to get put on one of them and need to ask to be put on a cheaper tarrif when you move.

I am a home all day and tend to wear fleeces (sometimes more than 1!) and only put heating on when the kids are coming home.

susan42

Hi we have a large house and have the heating on 6.5 hrs a day and our bills a lot less. When we first moved in there was an electric switch in the garage didn't know what it was for. We found out it was for heating water and our bill was £450. Since timing the water it has been a lot less.

Really yours is about right as if you have the heating off in the summer and take an average it will work out half of what you pay now , you cannot really get a true reflection until you have a twelve month of bills

[Deleted User]

As your still doing the house up its going to be hard to do much to keep the entire house warm, I would do the same as others have suggested retreat to maybe one or two rooms and just keep those warm.

I would also rent a thermal imaging camera to check where all the cold spots are, as your doing the house up its the perfect time to find all the issues so they can be dealt with as you do up the rest of the refurb

pixiepie99

I'm afraid I agree with others that the bill is most likely correct. But worry not; I was in a similar situation to you last year and we've managed to massively bring our gas bills down without spending huge amounts of money.

Here's my list of things you may want to consider:

- Sign up for MSE's energy club and check you're on the cheapest tarrif. If you're not, switch quick. Even if there's a penalty for switching it's probably worth it.
- Check where your thermostat is. If it's in the hallway (as many are), you're wasting money heating a room you don't spend any time in. Move it into your living room (or wherever you spend the most time) and concentrate on getting that room to a comfortable temperature and turn down the radiators in any rooms you don't spend much time in and bedrooms (bedrooms ought to be fairly cool).
- If you haven't already got curtains up at every window, get some ASAP. The heavier the better. Ikea sell big long ones suitable for the big high rooms in Edwardian houses. As soon as it gets dark, close all your curtains to stop your heat escaping (keep curtains open during the daytime to benefit from solar gain).
- Go "draught hunting" - seal up gaps between the floor boards and skirting boards, get big rugs down on bare floorboards, get draught excluders for ill fitting doors, if possible get curtains put up above your front and back door etc etc - anything to keep your valuable heat in your house rather than out in the street.
- Check that your boiler is powerful enough (if it's new, I assume it is) and that your radiators are efficient and are big enough to heat your rooms (we have a big Edwardian house as well and in some rooms we have 2 radiators!). One of our biggest savings has come from spending a few hundred quid on new radiators.
- See if you qualify for free insulation. I think energy providers get funding to provide this even for people who are not their customers. It's likely this will end soon so 'd start checking it out ASAP if I were you (we got free loft insulation installed last year through a local initiative called Get Toasty but I assume there are similar things all over the country. Your local authority will be able to advise).
- When you get your windows replaced, prioritise your ground floor as this is where you'll spend the most time.
- Get used to wearing thick jumpers... you might even be able to turn the heating down a little.
- See if you can get away with having the heating going of an hour earlier in the evening.
- Try to go out during the day to give your heating a break, even if it's just for an hour or so.... libraries are free and heated!

Good luck!