Eye watering amounts some pay for energy

EssexHebridean

whirlyhead said:

My £130 a month (actual usage) has gone to £295 a month (actual usage). That's a 3-bed terrace, 2 adults, well-insulated, heating on 4 hours a day, thermostat at 19 degrees.  I'm with good energy so no price cap.  I don't feel like we're using loads of energy - all low wattage lights, walk around in the dark a lot etc.  We're actually using less energy than this time last year!

Not sure what you mean by this - that because you're good with energy you saw the situation coming, fixed at the right point so have not seen unit costs reach the cap, and have been lucky enough to avoid a SOLR change? Or something else?  

victor2

EssexHebridean said:

whirlyhead said:

My £130 a month (actual usage) has gone to £295 a month (actual usage). That's a 3-bed terrace, 2 adults, well-insulated, heating on 4 hours a day, thermostat at 19 degrees.  I'm with good energy so no price cap.  I don't feel like we're using loads of energy - all low wattage lights, walk around in the dark a lot etc.  We're actually using less energy than this time last year!

Not sure what you mean by this - that because you're good with energy you saw the situation coming, fixed at the right point so have not seen unit costs reach the cap, and have been lucky enough to avoid a SOLR change? Or something else?  

Presumably he means the supplier Good Energy. They claim 100% green electricity, which I believe makes them exempt from the price cap?

Thrugelmir

ProDave said:

I keep saying it, but much of the UK housing stock is absolutely appalling in terms in (lack of) insulation and (again lack of) air tightness.

Lack of ventilation in itself brings on a whole host of issues to deal with. No end of mould related threads get posted. Closing doors, reducing the size of lving areas (open plan living fad), wearing suitable clothes, turning off turning down heating in rarely used areas of the property for example are equally if not more efficient in reducing consumption. Consumption is the key to lower prices. 

whirlyhead

EssexHebridean said:

whirlyhead said:

My £130 a month (actual usage) has gone to £295 a month (actual usage). That's a 3-bed terrace, 2 adults, well-insulated, heating on 4 hours a day, thermostat at 19 degrees.  I'm with good energy so no price cap.  I don't feel like we're using loads of energy - all low wattage lights, walk around in the dark a lot etc.  We're actually using less energy than this time last year!

Not sure what you mean by this - that because you're good with energy you saw the situation coming, fixed at the right point so have not seen unit costs reach the cap, and have been lucky enough to avoid a SOLR change? Or something else?  

Good Energy (the company I meant - my fault for not using caps!) are exempt from the price cap as they are 100% green electricity. I'm on the SVR so am paying the actual amount energy currently costs (or so I suspect), rather than the lower rate a lot of people will be paying as the price cap is keeping their rates down.

Cardew

I sometimes think there is little appreciation amongst 'younger' posters just how much old people feel the cold and indeed how 'low' temperatures in a house are a health risk. I read frequently on here about thermostats set at 16C or 17 C in living areas and that is far too low for most people. Indeed I think that those people either have a faulty thermometer or their thermometer is in a cool hall.

https://www.mobilityhelp.co.uk/why-do-old-people-feel-cold/

I had discussions with some elderly relatives in a large old house - their children had flown the nest - who rightly(IMO) stated their number one priority was to be warm in their own house. They had improved the insulation over the years, but there is only so much you can do with an old house.

The husband who was financially astute stated firmly that he was not prepared to be uncomfortable to save a few £hundreds a year. He had considered downsizing to a modern property but they had lived in the house for 40 years and it was their home. The cost of downsizing with stamp duty and all fees would be huge and dwarf the savings made on heating.

Thrugelmir

Cardew said:

The cost of downsizing with stamp duty and all fees would be huge and dwarf the savings made on heating.

What about all the costs of home ownership? Not least council tax. The older people are the less inclined they are to move.........

tim_p

Thrugelmir said:

Cardew said:

The cost of downsizing with stamp duty and all fees would be huge and dwarf the savings made on heating.

What about all the costs of home ownership? Not least council tax. The older people are the less inclined they are to move.........

Can’t say I blame them, the upheaval of moving house at any time of life is stressful enough let alone for someone in their 70s or 80s. 

Cardew has a very valid point about older people feeling the cold more. Numerous reasons but for example, with any physical disability often comes a complete  lack of inertia where the fear of a fall means that sitting in a chair all day becomes an easy and safe feeling choice. 

EssexHebridean

whirlyhead said:

EssexHebridean said:

whirlyhead said:

My £130 a month (actual usage) has gone to £295 a month (actual usage). That's a 3-bed terrace, 2 adults, well-insulated, heating on 4 hours a day, thermostat at 19 degrees.  I'm with good energy so no price cap.  I don't feel like we're using loads of energy - all low wattage lights, walk around in the dark a lot etc.  We're actually using less energy than this time last year!

Not sure what you mean by this - that because you're good with energy you saw the situation coming, fixed at the right point so have not seen unit costs reach the cap, and have been lucky enough to avoid a SOLR change? Or something else?  

Good Energy (the company I meant - my fault for not using caps!) are exempt from the price cap as they are 100% green electricity. I'm on the SVR so am paying the actual amount energy currently costs (or so I suspect), rather than the lower rate a lot of people will be paying as the price cap is keeping their rates down.

That makes sense - yes, there are others in a similar situation with firms like Ecotricity I believe.  I came across someone on Twitter the other day who was at their wits end with how much their (Ecotricity) electric was costing them - they had no clue the cap didn't apply! 

@tim_p Also frailty and sarcopenia can mean less physical coverage over the body and that in itself means someone will feel colder, faster. 

@Cardew I always wonder about those who claim their routinely have their heating set at 15 degrees or so as well - I do wonder how often it's just folk wanting to join in with the w1lly waving contests that so often seem to kick off on here about such things. It's got to be either that or they're sitting about in 5 layers, 2 hats, gloves and a heated throw. If you HAVE to live like that, fair enough, but I don't imagine it would be much fun, and if you don't have to I really have no idea why anyone would want to.  I've got a thermometer in the middle of the building and I try to keep that showing around 19 - 20 degrees. It'd be a few degrees lower in the bedroom which has no heating turned on. 

ProDave

Thrugelmir said:

ProDave said:

I keep saying it, but much of the UK housing stock is absolutely appalling in terms in (lack of) insulation and (again lack of) air tightness.

Lack of ventilation in itself brings on a whole host of issues to deal with. No end of mould related threads get posted. Closing doors, reducing the size of lving areas (open plan living fad), wearing suitable clothes, turning off turning down heating in rarely used areas of the property for example are equally if not more efficient in reducing consumption. Consumption is the key to lower prices. 

If you do it properly, then it's lots of insulation, make everything air tight, no window vents, no individual extractor fans, no letter boxes or cat flaps.  Then you ventilate the whole house with an MVHR (Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery) unit.  so you get constant fresh air without losing a lot of heat, no condensation, no mould and very low heating costs.

It is not rocket science and well known technology, and perhaps when builder realise such low running costs might be important to customers, we will see one of the mass market house builders offer this as standard?

brewerdave

ProDave said:

It is not rocket science and well known technology, and perhaps when builder realise such low running costs might be important to customers, we will see one of the mass market house builders offer this as standard?

I had a "conversation" with the agent for Taylor Wimpey at a new estate of detached houses being built on the edge of our "village". I asked him why 1. they weren't installing solar panels where sensible (plenty of large roofs facing South)  2. they were installing gas central heating rather than heat pump technology and 3. no triple glazing, only (not very impressive) double glazed units.
His answers were that all of those improvements would be far too expensive, not necessary for planning and increase the selling price by more than the market would bear.
 I suspect the true reason was that their profit margins would be squeezed too much!!
Builders won't do anything until forced by legislation thru planning laws.