Advice on energy bill

crookey5389

This is my first winter in my new home and up to a few days ago I was really worrying about how much I am paying for my energy. I was only turning the heating on (17 degrees) in the evening for about 3 hours and my smart meter was showing me it was costing me over £3 a day (dual fuel with Eon, cheapest tariff). I realised it was so expensive because the boiler was always heating up from cold. I thought I would have to start having the heating on for a few hours extra which would have cost me the earth.

So I decided to try keeping the heating on all the time. It absolutely scared me to put the heating on from cold and then leave it on 17 degrees as I didnt want to look at the smart meter. I decided to do it gradually so the first day after having the heating on for the 3 hours instead of turning it off I turned it down to 11 degrees. The next evening I increased it to 17 degrees then after the 3 hours I turned it down to 12 degrees, and so on. Now the house has got used to having some heat and I now have the heating on all the time on 17 degrees and according to my smart meter it is still costing me about £3 a day. So that is £3 a day for 3 hours heat vs £3 a day for 24 hours of heat. I have also heard maintaining a constant temperature is more efficient for the boiler.

I just wanted to share this for others who have high energy bills. Im not saying keeping the heating constantly on would be cheaper for everyone but it has certainly worked for me. I am also confident this will solve my damp problem.

Robin9

crookey5389 wrote: »

................ it was costing me over £3 a day ..................

£3 a day during winter is not expensive - it will only stay that way for a few months. Come the summer it will probably halve.

PS Look at seperate gas and electric tariffs and see if you can save.

crookey5389

I agree, but this was for only having the heating on for 3 hours. I am confident once the whole house gets used to the temperature it will be even cheaper. I dont think i need to shop around, I just wanted to share this with others who may struggling with their bill.

McKneff

I have a smart meter and warm air central heating, my OH spends around 3 hours a night in the conservatory with a convector heating on.
Look at your meter as a matter of course.
At the moment mine is around 3.50 a day but i can see it, as the days will get warmer, this goes down dramatically to less than a pound a day in Summer. This has happened all the time but obviously i can now see it.
The first time, when it was hitting 3 a day, like you I was panicking but it does level out over the year.
I pay about £90 a month for gas and leccy and that also evens out over the year so dont worry

PeterGr

Now should also be the time that you start taking regular meter readings / tracking your Smart energy data. You have 2 meters to track, and having real kWh data now will give you something to compare with into the summer, and then next winter.


Shopping around comes when you need / have to renew or change your tariff. Having your annual energy consumption in kWh for gas and electricity allows you to choose the nest tariff(s)