Cheapest Way to Heat a home

matelodave

If you dont have your own annual figures then make a guess - its what the energy companies do (they call it an estimate).

A good starting guess is 12500kwh for gas and 3500 for leccy. You can also do one for 10000 & 3000 and even one for 15000 & 4000 to give you an idea of whether the s/c makes much difference. You put these figure into the comparison site to find out roughly how much it will cost for the year. - You dont care about savings, you just need to know the annual cost

You then give your estimated consumption (in KWH not £££) to your energy company of choice and hopefully they'll set your direct debit at 1/12th of the annual cost. You then diligently send in a meter reading once a month and just as diligently (again once a month) CHECK your on-line statement.bill to ensure that your estimate is roughly in line with your actual and that your DD's are going to balance the account at the end of your contract.

You need to bear in mind though that you'll use a lot more energy (mainly gas if you've got gas heating) between October and March than you do between April and September, so for part of the year you may be in debit and part of the year in credit but it should balance out if your estimate was roughly correct.

st999

So are my wife and I but we believe in keeping warm - heating on 0700 till 2200 at 22 deg. Yes there's a cost.

I'm retired as well and my heating is on from 07:50 to 23:35 and I used 13894 kWh of gas in the past year.

I have also worked out that I use 11 kWh a day for hot water and cooking so my actual usage for heating was 9879 kWh for the past year.

Leodogger

The opening balances when we started with SP were :

Gas - Opening figure (estimated on 9/10)- 622 (I did supply the actual figure myself on setting up the contract of 589.697 supplied by the estate agent when the tenant left the property,but obviously they must have checked the smart meter and got a later figure!). Smart Meter read on (closing date on bill) 29/11 was 795 .

Elec - Opening figure (smart meter 9/10) - 2285
Closing figure (smart meter 29/11) - 2609

A total of 52 days usage.

Robin9

Gas 795 - 590 = 205 x 11.2 = 2300 kWh approx 44 kWh a day (yes more gas in winter but balanced by less in summer) = 16000 kWh a year

On your SP tariff £57 a month; SSE £41

Leodogger

I will have to take a look at SSE but I also need to contact SP about their statement on the front of my bills which says that a cheaper deal is on offer that could save us £194 pa on both gas and electric, bearing in mind that SP have £60 exit fees to switch to another company.:)

Leodogger

I have just worked out that I use 6.23 kwh a day for cooking and hot water and 37.26 kwh for gas.

As you say though this is only an average based on our usage so far and that would be reduced on the gas side by less usage in the summer.

matelodave

Do you cook with gas or leccy, how do you heat your hot water

Leodogger

I cook with electric and all my heating is a gas fire and a combi boiler for central heating.

Robin9

Leodogger wrote: »

I will have to take a look at SSE but I also need to contact SP about their statement on the front of my bills which says that a cheaper deal is on offer that could save us £194 pa on both gas and electric, bearing in mind that SP have £60 exit fees to switch to another company.:)

Do take SP estimates with a big pinch of salt. The comparisons will be against their Standard Tariff and not against the tariff you are on.

Do your own sums.

But you may well be able to transfer within SP without an exit fee.

Continue to take your own readings - keep a simple spreadsheet.

Leodogger

I'll bear that in mind, thanks.