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Heating - which should I choose?

royP_2
royP_2 Posts: 248 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
in Energy
I have just had my renewal quote from my energy supplier which is due on the 7th April as follows, which would you choose?

1 year fixed at £131.00 per month. Electricity unit rate: 32.87p/kWh  Standing charge:  52.47p/day. Gas unit rate: 9.10p/kWh Standing charge:27.52p/day.

Variable at £74.00 per month. Electricity Unit rate: 21.60p/kWh Standing charge: 25.66p/day. Gas Unit rate: 4.19p/kWh Standing charge: 26.11p/day.
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Comments

  • QrizB
    QrizB Posts: 20,045 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 14 February 2022 at 7:55PM
    If it was me? The variable rate
    It will rise to somethign like 28.4p/kWh and 48p/day for electricity and 7.2p/kWh and 27p/day for gas in april, but that's still less than the fixed rate they've offered.
    N. Hampshire, he/him. Octopus Intelligent Go elec & Tracker gas / Vodafone BB / iD mobile. Ripple Kirk Hill Coop member.
    2.72kWp PV facing SSW installed Jan 2012. 11 x 247w panels, 3.6kw inverter. 34 MWh generated, long-term average 2.6 Os.
    Ofgem cap table, Ofgem cap explainer. Economy 7 cap explainer. Gas vs E7 vs peak elec heating costs, Best kettle!
  • EssexHebridean
    EssexHebridean Posts: 24,886 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    That SC for the electricity element of the fix is eye-watering! 
    🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
    Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
    Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
    Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00
    £100k barrier broken 1/4/25
    SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculator
    she/her
  • QrizB
    QrizB Posts: 20,045 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    EssexHebridean said:
    That SC for the electricity element of the fix is eye-watering! 
    The capped average from April is around 45p/day, so 52p/day isn't all that much higher.
    N. Hampshire, he/him. Octopus Intelligent Go elec & Tracker gas / Vodafone BB / iD mobile. Ripple Kirk Hill Coop member.
    2.72kWp PV facing SSW installed Jan 2012. 11 x 247w panels, 3.6kw inverter. 34 MWh generated, long-term average 2.6 Os.
    Ofgem cap table, Ofgem cap explainer. Economy 7 cap explainer. Gas vs E7 vs peak elec heating costs, Best kettle!
  • Verdigris
    Verdigris Posts: 1,725 Forumite
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    EssexHebridean said:
    That SC for the electricity element of the fix is eye-watering! 

    That'll be the SVT rate, for me, in the South West region, come April. Luckily I'm moving to Wales, soon, so it will be about 4p cheaper. Strangely, it will be the same DNO, Western Power.
  • EssexHebridean
    EssexHebridean Posts: 24,886 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 15 February 2022 at 10:14AM
    QrizB said:
    EssexHebridean said:
    That SC for the electricity element of the fix is eye-watering! 
    The capped average from April is around 45p/day, so 52p/day isn't all that much higher.
    It just still feels like quite a chunk more, to me. I think it's that it breaches the 50p barrier - a bit like when beer prices in London were approaching the £5 marker - nobody wanted to be the first to go past it, and the odd times people did "ahead of the crowd" it just felt really "ouchy"! (Now of course a sub-£5 pint in London is very much a rarity!) 

    Verdigris said:
    EssexHebridean said:
    That SC for the electricity element of the fix is eye-watering! 

    That'll be the SVT rate, for me, in the South West region, come April. Luckily I'm moving to Wales, soon, so it will be about 4p cheaper. Strangely, it will be the same DNO, Western Power.
    I feel for folk in the SW - they've already got the priciest water in the country, and will shortly have some of the priciest energy standing charges too by the sound of it! 
    🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
    Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
    Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
    Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00
    £100k barrier broken 1/4/25
    SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculator
    she/her
  • StevieD54
    StevieD54 Posts: 113 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 10 Posts Name Dropper
    With these predicted big power bill rises on the horizon, I’m always thinking about the way our place is heated. Currently have the standard gas combi boiler, 9 rads, 2 showers, detached bungalow, gas boiler in internal airing cupboard.

    Have been considering electric radiators, e.g. manufacturers such as Haverland. The new generation of electric rads look fantastic and seem very controllable, plus no maintenance of course. Another attraction for me is the instant heat they give out, i.e. 5 minutes to warm up a room, whereas our current rads take at least 30 minutes.

    Has anyone on here switched their heating from gas to electric rads? Haven’t really thought about the water heating, though I guess there are electric water boilers out there? All things considered, e.g. maintenance costs, no boiler noise, no rad leaks etc, is gas really still the best option for heating the house?
  • markin
    markin Posts: 3,860 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Verdigris said:
    EssexHebridean said:
    That SC for the electricity element of the fix is eye-watering! 

    That'll be the SVT rate, for me, in the South West region, come April. Luckily I'm moving to Wales, soon, so it will be about 4p cheaper. Strangely, it will be the same DNO, Western Power.
    Its so windy in Wales it snaps off wind turbines in half, are you sure you want to move there?



  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,129 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    If your gas combi takes 30m to produce any heat in the rads, them something is seriously wrong with it. It should take less than 10m. Have you bled the rads? Have you flushed the system? Serviced the boiler?
    Why on earth do you think all-electric heating is going to be cheaper than gas? The bulk of our electricity generation in the UK is from gas-fired power stations.
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • Gerry1
    Gerry1 Posts: 10,852 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    QrizB said:
    StevieD54 said:
    Has anyone on here switched their heating from gas to electric rads?
    No, don't do it, it will cost you 4x as much to run.
    Read this thread, not necessarily all 74 pages but the last 3-4, at least.
    Edit: @Gerry1 has opinions on this, as well.
    Not just me: the ASA and Trading Standards aren't exactly their biggest fans !

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