It's time to start digging up those Squirrelled Nuts!!!!

jimi_man

Sea_Shell said:

I'd say we're not frugal users, just live in a modern well insulated house, with an old style gas boiler with a hot water tank.

We're not sitting in the dark, with just a candle for heat!! 😉

Although we don't keep the house at T-Shirt levels of heat.

What sort of temperature would you say your house is? Heat is very much an individual thing, and what is hot for some maybe cold for others. I'm interested to know what you (or anyone) would define as hot or cold?

Sea_Shell

Audaxer said:

Sea_Shell said:

I'd say we're not frugal users, just live in a modern well insulated house, with an old style gas boiler with a hot water tank.

That's good that you have such low costs with an old style boiler. We changed to a combi boiler about 5 years ago to replace an 18 year old boiler and water tank. The new boiler is more efficient and works better for us as a couple, although the charges have gone up a bit recently to £93 per month. 

We have it serviced every year, and we've not noticed any drop off in performance.   We are well aware it could go at any moment, but "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".     

A new one may be more efficient, but unlike to pay for itself on that alone.

In a power cut, we still have gravity fed hot water.   We've been away overnight and still had hot water in the tank!

Sea_Shell

jimi_man said:

Sea_Shell said:

I'd say we're not frugal users, just live in a modern well insulated house, with an old style gas boiler with a hot water tank.

We're not sitting in the dark, with just a candle for heat!! 😉

Although we don't keep the house at T-Shirt levels of heat.

What sort of temperature would you say your house is? Heat is very much an individual thing, and what is hot for some maybe cold for others. I'm interested to know what you (or anyone) would define as hot or cold?

It's a balancing act, as the thermostat is in the hallway.   We like the main lounge at about 21°c, but that needs the thermostat set to only 16°.   Any higher and we roast in the lounge.    That keeps the bathrooms toasty too.   Bedrooms we like cool, usually have the window open, at least a bit, all year.

We don't like stuffy warm.   So yes, some might find that too cold.

We aren't open plan either, which helps.  Separate kitchen, diner, lounge.

jimi_man

Sea_Shell said:

jimi_man said:

Sea_Shell said:

I'd say we're not frugal users, just live in a modern well insulated house, with an old style gas boiler with a hot water tank.

We're not sitting in the dark, with just a candle for heat!! 😉

Although we don't keep the house at T-Shirt levels of heat.

What sort of temperature would you say your house is? Heat is very much an individual thing, and what is hot for some maybe cold for others. I'm interested to know what you (or anyone) would define as hot or cold?

It's a balancing act, as the thermostat is in the hallway.   We like the main lounge at about 21°c, but that needs the thermostat set to only 16°.   Any higher and we roast in the lounge.    That keeps the bathrooms toasty too.   Bedrooms we like cool, usually have the window open, at least a bit, all year.

We don't like stuffy warm.   So yes, some might find that too cold.

We aren't open plan either, which helps.  Separate kitchen, diner, lounge.

Yes ours is in the hallway too. So we had to do similar. My wife travels abroad for her job 4-5 times a month (not this year!) so often comes home at odd hours and likes the heating on when she comes in, so I bought Hive so she can switch it on when she's on her way home if I'm not there. 

We probably have it a little warmer - maybe 22. Working from home this year, I find that sitting around cools you off quite quickly so our heating bills are higher than normal.

Like you we had an old style boiler which was 25+ years old but eventually it gave up the ghost so we had it replaced with a condensing boiler. I also like the hot water tank system so we kept that, and I put a pump on both the showers to give them some decent flow. But I wouldn't have replaced it if I didn't have to as it's not cheap! £2800 though we did have a new - twice the size - water tank installed as well, otherwise it would only have been around £2000. You'd never get that back with cheaper heating bills.

Bravepants

MallyGirl said:

We use Pure Planet so green/renewable which might bump it up a bit. High ceilings are a killer - if you climb a ladder it is warm up there. We have water UFH in the orangery which is the room we use most but it is 6m x 4.5m with a big lantern roof over the lot, bathrooms and my office have electric UFH and the rest is just radiators which can't cope. 

It is all factored in to my 'number'.

I am just in the process of swapping to Pure Planet from Scottish Power. I was a bit worried because of a substantial number of bad reviews regarding their lack of a call centre. But I've gone for it anyway since I'm probably more comfortable managing it all by app than some.

MallyGirl

Bravepants said:

I am just in the process of swapping to Pure Planet from Scottish Power. I was a bit worried because of a substantial number of bad reviews regarding their lack of a call centre. But I've gone for it anyway since I'm probably more comfortable managing it all by app than some. 

I have never needed a call centre so couldn't comment on that. The app works fine and prompts me to submit meter readings every month. This is the second time they have decided that I have built up too much credit with them and just paid some back to me. My usage doesn't entirely fit their expectations even with them taking more in the winter months than the summer ones so it can get out of kilter. My DD is £160 in the summer and £240 in the winter but my summer usage can be as 'low' as £80 whereas a snowy January cost me £380 last year! It is all about the heating.

frugal90

£720 has and electricity for a four bed?  Really!!!!

frugal90

Meant to read gas, rather than has!!

Sea_Shell

frugal90 said:

£720 has and electricity for a four bed?  Really!!!!

Yes, really.   

Our usage has remained pretty constant over the years I've been tracking it, except for the "Beast from the East" winter.

Sea_Shell

Just looked at our annual usages (total KWH - duel fuel) and their corresponding actual annual payments for the years ending...

Dec 15 - 13480 - no data
Dec 16 - 14304 - £667
Dec 17 - 14157 - £677
Dec 18 - 15814 - £720  (Beast from the East - Feb 18)
Dec 19 - 14525 - £781
Dec 20 - 14319 - £722