Electric Only

wilfred30

Whilst obviously not a regular occurrence, it can and does happen.  Just ask the people affected by Storm Arwen!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59506359

Just sayin ...........................

user1977

wilfred30 said:

Whilst obviously not a regular occurrence, it can and does happen.  Just ask the people affected by Storm Arwen!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59506359

Just sayin ...........................

Hence my distinction between rural/urban above...

warwick2001

user1977 said:

wilfred30 said:

It's not just about heating though. 

If you have a gas hob, you can still cook, boil a kettle to make hot drinks and hot water for washing.

For that reason, I wouldn't buy a house without any gas at all.

Great. But when was the last time you had a power cut of any significant duration? I can't remember any (in urban areas) since the winter of discontent.

Our last power cut was about 3 months ago, lasted 18 hours IIRC, and I even got a £75 compensation payment from Electricity North West it took them that long to fix it.

Long time to go without a cup of tea

maisie_cat

We have no gas here, it is in the nearest villages but unlikely to ever reach us. We have a pellet boiler for HW/CH although it wouldn't work in a power cut, we have an induction cooker that I love more than the gas we had in Surrey.
I anticipated having power cuts because they'd been common the previous time I'd lived rurally.
We have a wood burner in the sitting room and operate on a "heat the person not the room" basis. For emergency cooking we have a propane camping stove and a gas barbeque, although we've only had 2 separate days of no power so far. 
I terms of cost gas may still be cheaper after the effects of the price increases, and as you are anxious about it others may be when you come to sell.
If you download the EPC it will tell you what the heating system is and the levels of insulation as "assumed" by the assessor. There are quick wins in terms of saving electricity, the light bulbs are already mentioned and getting used to a lower temperature, it's 16 degrees in here and I have no socks on, not hot, but not freezing either.

veronicad1

We needed a new boiler so, as they are phasing gas out, we decided to go electric - had our gas meter removed etc.
The worst possible thing to do.  It was pretty good during the Summer as we have solar panels and the boiler has a 50 litre tank - we possibly saved a bit.  However, along comes Winter.  Our bills are now between £500 and £800 per month! To make matters even worse our house is cold! We are having to revert to gas again

[Deleted User]

If they put in a heat pump that's a good thing. Retrofitting is expensive and it will need to be done eventually. It's not just the pump, it needs bigger rads and more.

Spreadsheetman

[Deleted User] said:

If they put in a heat pump that's a good thing. Retrofitting is expensive and it will need to be done eventually. It's not just the pump, it needs bigger rads and more.

Absolutely. And if the wall/floor/roof/window insulation isn't good then it's going to be very expensive to run.

lincroft1710

My first house (45 yrs ago) was in a Suffolk village which in common with many other villages in the area had no mains gas. Had no CH just a few storage heaters, plus electric immersion heater for hot water

kevin1802

MikeFlash22 said:

We're looking at a house* 😂 

No there just looking At what nobody knows