How much to expect to pay for bills on my new house?

Wonderingaboutbills

I’ve been renting my entire adult life and have finally been able to get on the housing market and will complete on a house in a fortnight; however I’ve no idea what bills to expect?

It’s a three bedroom detached property with an energy efficiency of F31 and uses oil for heating; there’s two of us, I work from home and we’d describe ourselves as medium heat and energy users.

I am struggling to work out what our average bills should be to help me budget and to decide on whether I should keep my 123 account and convert it to a 123lite account after I’ve used most of my savings.

Also a lot of people have recommended I replace the oil with gas as it’s supposedly cheaper, would improve the energy efficiency and make the house more desirable? I have to money to do so but should I?

The old oil boiler is at least ten years old so maybe I should just bite the bullet and get it changed when I move in?

matelodave

If you've got an EPC then it should give you some idea of how many kwh you'll need to heat the place.

Regarding changing to gas - that's only worth it if you can get onto mains gas without too much of a cost.

Oil is still relatively cheap although the drop in the £ will probably change that in the not too distant future, however it will have a similar effect on both gas and leccy.

I wouldn't go for LPG as it's considerably more expensive than oil - I don't think it's ever been cheaper than oil and the LPG suppliers will jump onto the dfalling £ bandwagon as well.

A 10 year old boiler should be relatively efficient and spending out several £grand to save a hundred or so a year isn't very cost effective.

I'd work your way through the coming winter to see how you get on and spend money where you'll get most benefit..

I'm sure you could improve your F rating with a bit of draught proofing and insulation. It's far more cost effective than pulling out a perfectly serviceable boiler. Likewise you might find that better controls, like a programmable thermostat and a few TRVs might make a significant improvement to your comfort and costs.

Make sure that your hot water tank if you've got one is properly insulated and thermostatically controlled, especially if it's being heated by the boiler. Avoid using an immersion heater unless you are on an E7 tariff and don't waste hot water.