Putting a Perspective on Water and Heating Use.

modsandmockers

As above, but if you're certain you want to stay with SSE then it ought to be possible to do a comparison of just the SSE tariffs by logging onto your online SSE page. If you decide to switch to one of them, you should be able to do so there and then. If you switch to a fixed tariff, then bear in mind that you will need to be aware when the end date is approaching so that you can choose a suitable replacement tariff. If you do nothing, you will be automatically put back onto the standard variable tariff, and at the moment standard tariffs are usually the most expensive.

Do you know whether your SSE account has any outstanding balance? At this time of year, it would be reasonable for it to show a credit balance because of the winter bills which are about to descend (I'm assuming that you pay a monthly DD plan).

macman

Little point in asking advice on here and then saying that you don't want to move from SSE because of the apparent effort involved. The time you have spent posting on this forum is probably longer than it would take to switch. Armed with your annual kWh figures for each fuel, and your postcode, 5 minutes on a comp site to find the best deal and then maybe 20 minutes to sign up via a cashback site? You don't have to switch any DD's, that is done for you by the incoming supplier.
However, since Standard tariff is invariably the most expensive, any other SSE tariff will be an improvement: you simply need to decide if you want a fixed or a variable tariff.
Your annual gas usage is about 25% higher than the UK average: you didn't state your electricity usage.

modsandmockers

macman - I think you're being a little harsh. I would guess that the OP has up to now been one of the 70% of customers who never gives a thought to their energy contracts. This is the very group which MSE is continually shouting at about the advantages of switching.

The retail energy industry is insanely complicated for the customer to understand, and this forum regularly hears from people who get into serious difficulties as a result. The OP is doing the right thing by beginning to ask some questions - good luck to him!

aggypanthus

Well done to the replies to the OP, with patience and help.

I was one of the complacent ones on a standard BG tariff, who then switched with the boards own comparison site recently. It was easy to switch .

I went for 2 supppliers as this was cheaper than dual fuel fix.

silverwhistle

modsandmockers wrote: »

macman - I think you're being a little harsh.

The retail energy industry is insanely complicated for the customer to understand, !

A little, but true if the OP has made commendable efforts to inform themselves but then don't want to take the next step.

I'd agree that it's difficult to sort out the best deals. I used to work for the customer's energy provider (many years ago!) so am quite happy at working out my own best deal with the help of a calculator and a pad of paper. The number of times* I've cursed various b****y web sites for hiding the unit rates and standing charges. The Tariff Comparison Rates (TCR) the companies use are useless to me. As it is I'm on an incredibly high unit rate with a zero standing charge because it works for me - I use about a 20th of what the OP does.

*Just now, in fact, although to be fair it was a lot easier to find than before. It's just that they try and take you down the line of using their own comparison tool.

Incidentally it looks like the One Year Fix v2 would be best from SSE. (Disclosure: ex-employee and shareholder!).

nickpe

Again thanks for the tips and advice people - and yes macman i do think you are being a little harsh. As pointed out i hold my hand up and say im one of the many people out there who seem to have been bamboozled by the companies - but im trying to do something about it. I take on board your comments about needing to consider other companies.

As for our usuage -this really is the biggest mystery of all to me... both me and my partner work full time, therefore the gas is not used through the day only for an hour in the morning then on an evening. My partner is very liberal with the use of heating and electrics on an evening at weekends (and i've tried my best to whine on at her to turn it off once the house is warmed up!!!) - i think she now realises the costs and is hopefully going to be abit more conservative abouts its use!

We pay £80 a month for our gas and £35 for our electric - these amounts are based on our lasts years useage.
Im quite happy with the £35 electric as i consider that to be reasonable, but in my opinion the money we are paying for gas is very high and i just dont understand how we can be using that much. I have checked our bills and its not as tho we are in credit.....i even thought have we got a gas leak but thats unlikely. Our boiler is pretty old (its not a combi) so im wondering would it be more cost effective to invest in a new boiler on one of those price plans where you can pay for it monthly.

victor2

nickpe wrote: »

We pay £80 a month for our gas and £35 for our electric - these amounts are based on our lasts years useage.
Im quite happy with the £35 electric as i consider that to be reasonable, but in my opinion the money we are paying for gas is very high and i just dont understand how we can be using that much. I have checked our bills and its not as tho we are in credit.....i even thought have we got a gas leak but thats unlikely. Our boiler is pretty old (its not a combi) so im wondering would it be more cost effective to invest in a new boiler on one of those price plans where you can pay for it monthly.

Forget a new boiler as long as the existing one is working. The cost to put in a modern condensing boiler will far outstrip any savings a greater efficiency may give you over the life of the boiler. It will never pay for itself.
Look instead at how well your hot water tank is insulated and what control you have over the heating. TRVs on the radiators is probably the easiest way to improve the performance. Then use them to control individual rooms and look at areas you are heating unnecessarily.

nickpe

Ok thanks - i bet i sound a right novice asking these questions i just dont know very much about central heating - other than turning it on!

We have the timer on the gas to come on at 5am til 6am (this is sufficient for 3 people to use the shower and wash morning pots) to heat up the hot water - and we have the heating on 6am til 7am this gets the house warm each morning..... we then leave for work around 8.15am

We then have the timer come back on for hot water at 3pm to 4pm (this give us enough hot water for the evening)...... is it possible that the mornings heating of the hot water would be sufficient to last the whole day - ie am i heating up a hot water cylinder that may already contain enough hot water for the night?

We then have the heating set on a timer to come back on 5pm to 7pm..... i really have no idea how our bills are £80 per month for gas.... my guess is the missis just turns the dial to "ON" whenever im out of the house.

victor2 wrote: »

Forget a new boiler as long as the existing one is working. The cost to put in a modern condensing boiler will far outstrip any savings a greater efficiency may give you over the life of the boiler. It will never pay for itself.
Look instead at how well your hot water tank is insulated and what control you have over the heating. TRVs on the radiators is probably the easiest way to improve the performance. Then use them to control individual rooms and look at areas you are heating unnecessarily.

victor2

First thing to do is get off their standard tariff. No change in lifestyle required at all. If you want to stay with SSE then phone them up and ask about their rates for a 1 year fixed tariff. It can vary by region, but looking at their website and my area, the rate for gas is 3.48p per kWh and 23.02p per day standing charge - these include VAT at 5%, where your current 4p per kWh works out at 4.2p when VAT is included.
If you are happy to shop around and switch suppliers, then you'll probably find a better rate and could also go through a cashback site. If you do choose to stay with SSE, be warned that there is a £30 per fuel exit fee if you leave the 1 year fix before it ends.
Just doing that change within SSE will reduce your monthly cost. If you are paying £80 a month for gas now, it will probably drop to something like £70 or less. Haven't checked electricity prices, but they may drop slightly as well.

Once you've sorted that out, and got immediate savings, you can then look into how your heating and hot water systems run...

macman

Not harsh at all, I was simply pointing out that you've already done 90% of the work required to switch, and that now hesitating to change supplier because of concern about a single change of DD (which you don't have to do anyway) is somewhat irrational. You could save up to £300pa for twenty minutes work...I don't know of any other work that pays £900 per hour.
A properly insulated hot tank should stay hot all day. The heat loss is minimal, but remember than in winter it serves to heat the house anyway.
You are not using £80 of gas each month, that is simply what your DD is set to, which is (if correct) one twelfth of your annual consumption. In summer it's probably less than £20 per month, as you can expect to use 80% of the annual total in the coldest quarter.
By all means look for economies (not a boiler change though), but the biggest single saving you can make is to switch tariff, as you are currently on the most expensive.
If you post your leccy usage, someone will probably be happy to run the comp site figures for you, since we already know the region. The cheapest SSE fix is not very competitive, it's only showing a typical saving of £103pa over Standard tariff for your region.