Bought a house with an aga - it guzzles gas 25,000 kWh so no idea what to do! Utilities Warehouse?

lizziewillsavemoney

Hi - as the title says I bought a house that had a gas Aga - basically an oven that stays on all the time. Since I moved in I’ve turned it off in the summer but it still costs me a fortune. I’ve got to renew my gas but I have dyscalculia (the number equivalent of dyslexia) which means I’m really struggling to understand my next move! I’ve  read all the info but I’m just confusing myself - I’m currently in So Energy Carrot tariff which gas is 24.83 day and 2.75 per kWh.  So energy fixed tariff would be 26.1 day and 9.75 per KWh. Variable tariff is 26.1 day and 4.04 per KWh.  I know Martin says din’t go to fixed unless it’s 50% less then you pay now but my gas bills are so ridiculous that I can’t work it out! 

Should I be finding a new fixed or go to variable for now. 

Utilities Warehouse contacted me and offered a fixed that’s cheaper then any other fixed on all comparison sites but only fixed until Dec 2022. 

EssexHebridean

What's the deal from UW? (Not the monthly cost - the actual unit rate/standing charge) 

(Also - just to be sure - you say "UW contacted you" - was this completely out of the blue as an unsolicited contact? If so be VERY sure that it's genuine before giving them ANY details - it is pretty unusual these days for energy co's to work like this). 

QrizB

lizziewillsavemoney said:

Hi - as the title says I bought a house that had a gas Aga - basically an oven that stays on all the time. Since I moved in I’ve turned it off in the summer but it still costs me a fortune.

My parents had a wood-fired one. Does yours do anything useful like heat water? If not, leave it off all year round and only light it when you plan to use it.

lizziewillsavemoney said:

So energy fixed tariff would be 26.1 day and 9.75 per KWh. Variable tariff is 26.1 day and 4.04 per KWh.  I know Martin says din’t go to fixed unless it’s 50% less then you pay now but my gas bills are so ridiculous that I can’t work it out!

That fixed tariff is far more than the April price cap is expected to be, even in the worst projections. In your position I would stick with the variable for now and check for fixes again in a month or so.

worrywart_3

You can’t just turn off a gas aga on and off when you want to use it take hours to heat up and not worth it. Gas agas got discontinued yesterday after years in afraid with these increases it will cost an absolute fortune to run turn it off and buy a normal cooker. I have an electric everhot on all the time cooker it costs a fraction of an aga to run but still equates to half my electricity bill. I’m also with so carrot I won’t be fixing as the fixes they are offering are horrendous I will be going on the variable 

wittynamegoeshere

Get rid of the thing and buy a sensible oven, they're just not suitable for the reality of the modern world, they probably never were.

Agas sort of made sense in the solid fuel days, made much less sense when gas or oil fueled and make zero sense when electric.

I do not understand the obsession with the things, which seems to be driven mainly by fashion and status.

lizziewillsavemoney

EssexHebridean - or won’t let me reply - keeps saying I’m 9 characters too short,, 

Variable gas is 3.9 kWh, 18 standing charge
elec is 20, 17 standind

fixed gas is 6.75, standing 15.8
elec 32, standing is 11p 

Flight3287462

wittynamegoeshere said:

Get rid of the thing and buy a sensible oven, they're just not suitable for the reality of the modern world, they probably never were.

You obviously have never had one.

Some of us were brought up with no central heating and lovely warm Aga in the kitchen was a godsend.  

If you live in a rural area they still can be.

lizziewillsavemoney

wittynamegoeshere 

The Aga was in the house when I bought it - I doubt I would ever have bought one as when I looked it up it cost around £12,000. I do have a normal oven as well which I use when I turn mine off in the summer to save money 

in_my_wellies

Mine is an ancient wood burning Aga, ticking over all the time and used everyday. No way could I afford to run a modern gas or electric one which I have always though extravagant 
Mine heats water and five radiators

worrywart_3

An everhot uses far less at my current fix it’s about £10 a week, given that I then don’t use a microwave, kettle tumble dryer or a standard oven I’ve worked out it cost me about 50p a day in exces of what i would pay that’s not taking in to account it warms the downstairs and I don’t have any heating but it’s warm in the kitchen they are also well suited to solar

wittynamegoeshere

Flight3287462 said:

wittynamegoeshere said:

Get rid of the thing and buy a sensible oven, they're just not suitable for the reality of the modern world, they probably never were.

You obviously have never had one.

Some of us were brought up with no central heating and lovely warm Aga in the kitchen was a godsend.  

If you live in a rural area they still can be.

The heat doesn't appear for free, you pay for every bit of it.  You could probably have installed heating and fuelled it for less than the cost of running the thing.

If you want a warm house get some heating installed and switch it on, at least then you'll be paying to heat the parts of the house you actually live in rather than in a corner of a kitchen, probably mostly heating an external wall and/or extractor.

They are utterly pointless, perhaps with the exception of the originals which used solid fuel so perhaps avoided the hassle of stoking and warming up, perhaps if the olden days housewife or servants were at home all day baking bread and whatever else.

They're just a class badge, a status symbol of being one of the country house types.  Often in a suburban newbuild!