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

michaels

Albermarle said:

Kim1965 said:

3 bed semi bungalow
 2021 consumption
14400kwh gas
3900kwh electricity
 2022  annualised consumption
7900kwh gas
2100kwh electricity. 
Fitted new boiler combi this year (2 months ago). This year i turned off a pond pump, garage fridge, daughter moved out. Stopped using dishwssher. Have a log burner and maily burn free construction timber offcuts. 

You have done well to reduce your energy consumption so much, although you will not endear yourself to the greens using a log burner......
Wood burning at home now biggest cause of UK particle pollution | Air pollution | The Guardian

I don't think you need to be 'green' in any way to object to your and your children's lungs being damaged by other people's lifestyle particulates whether they come from a diesel 4x4 or a log burner.

barnstar2077

I think I have you all beat! :  )

My electric and gas usage is pretty low (and I managed to fix my gas price last year, on a two year deal.)  The central heating hasn't been on since sometime in February, but the last few days I have been putting on an electric heater for ten to twenty minutes when I go to bed.

Ever since I bought my house (about twenty years ago), I have never set the heating to come on automatically, I just turn it on and off if I think I need it.  In the morning I get up and am out of the house within half an hour, so seems like a waste heating the whole house for that.  I am currently paying £25 a month for gas.  Many will think it extreme, but I really don't feel the cold the way a lot of people seem to.  I have always spent a lot of time outdoors, until recently I cycled to and from work and am just used to being out in all weathers and not really noticing it.

My electricity is about £50 a month, which is covered by the Government scheme at the moment.  I have a computer and large TV on all the time if I am in, and although they use a lot of electricity, just putting them on in the morning seems to keep the living room warm all day. 

I also have a couple of cheap to run electric oil filled radiators that I leave on a low setting in rooms when I have guests over.  People will comment how cold the hallway is, but the living room and bedrooms are fine.

I definitely used to put the heating on more before prices started to go up, but haven't found it difficult cutting back as I tend to dress warmly, and am never seen without some kind of cap or hat on anyway.  I will no doubt have to start putting it on again soon as my girlfriend hasn't been over since the weather turned a few days ago, but when I am here on my own I don't really think about it to be honest.  I think if I felt cold of an evening I would go to bed a bit earlier and read.  I always wake up feeling too hot in the middle of the night anyway, lol!

pensionpawn

Sea_Shell said:

jimi_man said:

Sea_Shell said:

Just looked up the figures and our annual usage to date is roughly...

Gas - 8000 kwh
Elec - 1500 kwh

2 adults, 1990s 4 bed detached, East Midlands

System Boiler (2021)
Dual fuel oven/hob
No Dishwasher
No Tumble Dryer
No electric shower


So as you can imagine, I'm just as flabbergasted at those who use shed loads more than us, as those who are flabbergasted at us!! 


It seems, like all our other costs, they are just low.  We don't actively try to make them low, they just are, because of how we live/are.

So, how low could we get everything IF we HAD to!!!?

Out of interest what temperature is your house? 

We used to have it at 21, we’ve now dropped it to around 19 in the evening but we’ve only had to switch the heating in a couple of times for a couple of hours each time, since April. We wear lots of clothing - thermals pretty much all winter till around March for me. 

The thermostat in the hall is set at 16c and turned down to 14c over night, but then on a timer (7am-9pm)

It came on for the first time this morning.

Yesterday evening, just when we heard it go off, the thermometer in the lounge said 20c (in with the doors closed).  

We always wear jumpers, socks, slippers and have blankets for watching TV .

We usually just start to feel a little too warm, just as it clicks off.  So we've got it about right.

16c! Even I wouldn't want it that low, let alone my wife / daughters. I lounge around in shorts and a t-shirt 12 months of the year. Thermostat set to 21c. Each to our own...

pensionpawn

Sea_Shell said:

Just looked up the figures and our annual usage to date is roughly...

Gas - 8000 kwh
Elec - 1500 kwh

2 adults, 1990s 4 bed detached, East Midlands

System Boiler (2021)
Dual fuel oven/hob
No Dishwasher
No Tumble Dryer
No electric shower


So as you can imagine, I'm just as flabbergasted at those who use shed loads more than us, as those who are flabbergasted at us!! 


It seems, like all our other costs, they are just low.  We don't actively try to make them low, they just are, because of how we live/are.

So, how low could we get everything IF we HAD to!!!?

Last 12 months: gas 8688 and electric (E7 27:73) 4406, and that's with 7kWs of solar panels (with solar divert) minimising electrical import by approx 25% and allowing me to switch off the gas April to September.

3 adults 1996 4 bed detached Wiltshire.
Gas for C/H and H/W only October - March

26 year old gas boiler replaced at the start of October
Dishwasher (daily on E7 or free on solar)
Oven - regularly
Wash / Dryer (E7 or free on solar)
Induction hob
1 kWs of PC equipment
6 kWs of UFH (stone floors kitchen / dining room and garage converted to an internal room, so not as insulated as the rest of the house)
LED lighting throughout
New windows and doors throughout
Power shower with free h/w April - Sep

Thermostat set to 21c

I'll minimise cost however not at the expense of comfort / convenience.

Beddie

Stargunner said:

Sea_Shell said:

Well, take just now for instance...

We're both sitting watching (sky) TV, in the same room with a lamp with an 11w CF bulb.   The rest of the house is in darkness.

As for gas, we hardly needed any heating during October, and just one "charge" of hot water each morning, plus some cooking (hob).

We don't run the hot tap to wash our hands, and don't have long showers.   I do have a weekly bath after a long run treat!! when we need to reheat a tank full.

When it's sunny and mild, we get a lot of solar heat from a west facing conservatory.    It gets shut off in cold weather.

We had a new boiler last July, so already in place for last October.


I don't feel we do anything extreme, and haven't really changed our habits since last year.

We're naturally 😇

Not turning your hot tap on to wash your hands, not being prepared to cook a roast as the oven will be on too long and sitting in the house wrapped in blankets sounds rather extreme to me.

I don't bother with the hot tap for hand washing, as it will waste about 10 litres of water while the combi boiler gets going to heat the water!

NedS

Sea_Shell said:

westv said:

No dishwasher?! I'd be losit without ours.

Well, I do have one.  He's about 5'10, 56 yrs old, answers to the name of...

😉


We also use our main electric oven for probably 50% of our main meals.   But no roasts etc.  35 mins max.   Fan assisted, so most stuff can go in from cold as it heats up quickly.

Also our DD bears no resemblance to cost as we're overpaying for Santander cashback 😉.   We've asked for (and had) two refunds as credit has built up.

I know exactly what is should be! 😇

Now that's class - a true MSE

We have overpaid and built up credit on our account as OVO are kindly paying us 4% interest on our credit balance (rising to 5% next year), which seemed worth having at the time and better than rates on offer sat in the bank. Of course far easier to get 4% now, but every little helps!

Sea_Shell

NedS said:

Sea_Shell said:

westv said:

No dishwasher?! I'd be losit without ours.

Well, I do have one.  He's about 5'10, 56 yrs old, answers to the name of...

😉


We also use our main electric oven for probably 50% of our main meals.   But no roasts etc.  35 mins max.   Fan assisted, so most stuff can go in from cold as it heats up quickly.

Also our DD bears no resemblance to cost as we're overpaying for Santander cashback 😉.   We've asked for (and had) two refunds as credit has built up.

I know exactly what is should be! 😇

Now that's class - a true MSE

We have overpaid and built up credit on our account as OVO are kindly paying us 4% interest on our credit balance (rising to 5% next year), which seemed worth having at the time and better than rates on offer sat in the bank. Of course far easier to get 4% now, but every little helps!

Is that an APR (or AER) or monthly flat 4% on the balance?

jimi_man

Sea_Shell said:

Stargunner said:

Sea_Shell said:

Well, take just now for instance...

We're both sitting watching (sky) TV, in the same room with a lamp with an 11w CF bulb.   The rest of the house is in darkness.

As for gas, we hardly needed any heating during October, and just one "charge" of hot water each morning, plus some cooking (hob).

We don't run the hot tap to wash our hands, and don't have long showers.   I do have a weekly bath after a long run treat!! when we need to reheat a tank full.

When it's sunny and mild, we get a lot of solar heat from a west facing conservatory.    It gets shut off in cold weather.

We had a new boiler last July, so already in place for last October.


I don't feel we do anything extreme, and haven't really changed our habits since last year.

We're naturally 😇

Not turning your hot tap on to wash your hands, not being prepared to cook a roast as the oven will be on too long and sitting in the house wrapped in blankets sounds rather extreme to me.

Each to their own.

It's not never, just not regularly.

Anyway, I'm not going to justify myself further.

And that’s the beauty of life, everyone is free (within reason) to do what they want without justification. Yes, what you’ve described is probably fairly extreme, but who cares as long as you are happy with your choices. Others are free to live how they want. 

westv

I'm interested to hear what classes as a long/short shower. Don't most people stay in for as long as it takes them to wash?
As regards hot/cold tap for hand washing, I always use the hot tap but would never dream of leaving it running just so the water was hot. I turn it on, if it's warm because I or someone else has recently used hot then fine, if it isn't then fine too.

NedS

Sea_Shell said:

NedS said:

Sea_Shell said:

westv said:

No dishwasher?! I'd be losit without ours.

Well, I do have one.  He's about 5'10, 56 yrs old, answers to the name of...

😉


We also use our main electric oven for probably 50% of our main meals.   But no roasts etc.  35 mins max.   Fan assisted, so most stuff can go in from cold as it heats up quickly.

Also our DD bears no resemblance to cost as we're overpaying for Santander cashback 😉.   We've asked for (and had) two refunds as credit has built up.

I know exactly what is should be! 😇

Now that's class - a true MSE

We have overpaid and built up credit on our account as OVO are kindly paying us 4% interest on our credit balance (rising to 5% next year), which seemed worth having at the time and better than rates on offer sat in the bank. Of course far easier to get 4% now, but every little helps!

Is that an APR (or AER) or monthly flat 4% on the balance?

It's a flat 3, 4 or 5% depending how long you've been a customer, calculated and paid monthly on the credit balance, although it seems they've now ended the scheme for new customers:

Ovo Interest Reward Scheme

Our OVO Interest Reward scheme

As of 27th September 2022, we’re no longer offering the OVO Interest Reward scheme with our tariffs. If you signed up for an eligible tariff before this date, you’ll still get rewards. Learn about how the scheme works and how we calculate your payments on this page.

How does OVO Interest Reward work?

The OVO Interest Reward is aimed at customers who have kept their energy account balance in credit. We pay it on positive account balances that are higher than your Direct Debit amount.

For example, if you have a positive balance of £150, and your Direct Debit amount is £100, we'll pay the reward on the extra £50.

Your interest rate will also go up the longer you’re with us. In the first year you get 3%, in year 2, it goes up to 4%, and in your third year and beyond it’s 5%.

How Interest Rewards are paid

We work out your Interest Rewards each month – and we add interest to any positive balance on your energy account balance between Direct Debit payments.

We’ll apply it to your account balance just before we get your Direct Debit each month. When you go to the billing screen in your online account, you’ll see the amount of interest you've earned during each current billing period. You can [login to your account] to see these updates.

It’s also good to know that while we give you interest when you're in credit, we'll never charge you interest when you have a negative balance.

How is OVO Interest Reward calculated?

The OVO interest reward is worked out the day before a Direct Debit (DD) is taken using the balance on that day.

This is how we work out the OVO Interest reward:

"(days since last calculation / 365) x balance prior to payment x interest reward percentage"

Here’s an Example

You have a balance of £100 when their previous DD was taken. Your last payment was taken two days ago and your level of OVO interest reward is 5%.

= 2(days) /365 x £100 x 0.05 (interest percentage) = £0.027 (rounded up to £0.03)

I couldn't find a link to the above that is accessible to those without an OVO account.