Switch from Economy 7 to Gas

hellospring

Hi there,
Has anyone recently switched from E7 to gas? I'm trying to get an idea of how much this would cost for a small 2 bed flat. Even a very rough idea would be helpful.
I'm currently unemployed but have enough savings to buy a very small, run down flat. I'm living with family at the moment. My idea was to slowly do up the flat until I could live in it. I'm costing this out now to see if it is viable.
I think that as I am entitled to some benefits (unemployed single mum) I could get a grant to help me with this.
Has anyone had any experience with this? Either switching to gas or claiming grants to improve energy efficiency. Do you need to live in the property for a minimum period of time before being eligible? I have my eye on a flat in a location that can hook up to mains gas. The flat needs completely redone, but I figured heating would be the thing to start with.
I'm trying to find out if this could work or if it is just a crazy dream.
Thanks for any help!

footyguy

hellospring wrote: »

Hi there,
Has anyone recently switched from E7 to gas? I'm trying to get an idea of how much this would cost for a small 2 bed flat. Even a very rough idea would be helpful.
I'm currently unemployed but have enough savings to buy a very small, run down flat. I'm living with family at the moment. My idea was to slowly do up the flat until I could live in it. I'm costing this out now to see if it is viable.
I think that as I am entitled to some benefits (unemployed single mum) I could get a grant to help me with this.
Has anyone had any experience with this? Either switching to gas or claiming grants to improve energy efficiency. Do you need to live in the property for a minimum period of time before being eligible? I have my eye on a flat in a location that can hook up to mains gas. The flat needs completely redone, but I figured heating would be the thing to start with.
I'm trying to find out if this could work or if it is just a crazy dream.
Thanks for any help!

How can you afford to buy a flat if you are unemployed?

HappyMJ

hellospring wrote: »

Hi there,
Has anyone recently switched from E7 to gas? I'm trying to get an idea of how much this would cost for a small 2 bed flat. Even a very rough idea would be helpful.
I'm currently unemployed but have enough savings to buy a very small, run down flat. I'm living with family at the moment. My idea was to slowly do up the flat until I could live in it. I'm costing this out now to see if it is viable.
I think that as I am entitled to some benefits (unemployed single mum) I could get a grant to help me with this.
Has anyone had any experience with this? Either switching to gas or claiming grants to improve energy efficiency. Do you need to live in the property for a minimum period of time before being eligible? I have my eye on a flat in a location that can hook up to mains gas. The flat needs completely redone, but I figured heating would be the thing to start with.
I'm trying to find out if this could work or if it is just a crazy dream.
Thanks for any help!

Do you have too much in savings for income based benefits?

If you do get benefits then you would also get housing benefit which pays the rent for you on a good property. There's no need to live in a run down property.

E7 heating is not much more expensive to run. Taking into account all maintenance and repair costs it's very similar running costs to gas. What costs more is running additional heating during the evening or pressing the boost button on the immersion heater too many times.

macman

No you won't get a grant to install mains gas rather than E7. The cost all depends on the distance the supply has to be brought in (from a few hundred, to tens of thousands), also you would almost certainly need the freeholder's permission. Then on top you would need to spend maybe £4K on installing a boiler and CH system.
Stick with E7, it's a proven system used in many properties without mains gas.