18th Century Cottage. Listed Building. Conservation Area. No Garden. No Mains Gas

theoretica

First worth talking to an estate agent who knows the area - if you are just on retiring you might want to think about a long term plan, and it doesn't sound as though this property is ideal for you.  What could you get for your home and what could you afford with that? 

If you decide to stay, I would concentrate on isolating one room and heating that - and look at old fashioned methods of insulation, because they breathe and work with the building.  Curtains over doors (internal and external), heavy wall tapestries, thick rugs...

mnbvcxz

You can get some quite bijou oil tanks that hide in a front garden though oil boilers are not cheap and I'm not sure its still a long term good idea. You might look around the neighbourhood and just see what other people have got away with.

Modern high retention night storage heaters do seem the obvious standard fit for you. They do cost around a grand per room though. Its not clear if cheap economy 7 deals are still available either which are needed for them to make sense. There are some cheap deals from Octopus for things like off peak electric car charging though how easy they are still to get I'm not sure. 

The adventurous people try the air conditioner air to air heat pumps that in theory should warm up even your house relatively cheaply. Vaguely this sort of thing https://www.orionairsales.co.uk/mitsubishi-heavy-industries-air-conditioning-srk35zsx-r32-wall-heat-pump-35kw12000btu-240v50hz-11149-p.asp . If you have a courtyard behind you and a sixties extension that you would think you could put one there or on the wall of the extension? Not that much more expensive than a night storage heater to buy but they really get you on the installation cost. There are some rather overlong threads about them in this forum and they are for the adventurous pioneers.

On the more optimistic side I wouldn't give up all hope. In theory the world is moving towards you rather than away. Gas and oil are being discouraged and all electric houses like yours are meant to be the future with investment in future technologies to make that work. Which should be good for you. I think in a few years you should have a smart meter that when the wind is blowing charges up your night storage heaters very cheaply and when its not you shiver under an electric blanket. 

Oh and if you do become truly destitute and on benefits then there are sometimes grants around to help put in night storage heaters but they do tend to be rare and just out of reach....

Good luck.

danrv

Whether storage heaters or Aircon, it would only really need to be for main living areas.
Bedrooms, bathroom can have cheap electric heaters. 
For bedrooms, I use £20 convector type with 24 timer. 
HHR Storage heaters would need the associated E7 circuit and timer installed but the Aircon single split (as shown earlier) or multi split runs on a normal single rate.
In either case, an immersion tank for hot water would be needed.

Would have thought £3-4K for a couple of modern storage heaters or a two way Aircon system. 
Planning permission may be needed for the Aircon inverter, depending on how near neighbour’s property is.

Woolsery

Change often comes with age and retirement. We don't have enough background, but like those in charge of Western economies, your 'wriggle room' seems very limited and the problems identified are best faced now rather than later.

We don't know if you are in an up-market area, but assuming it's desirable, a move to somewhere more workaday could solve these issues and provide a property that won't be a money pit in old age. Yes, it will probably be modern, but keeping your present house is going to become like an expensive hobby. I had friends who loved their narrow boat, but it soon went when they took their pensions!

As an example, I discovered last week that my first poky little house in a conservation area sold last year for £520k. That sort of money would buy a fantastic, well-insulated property where I am now, with plenty left over for maintenance in the future. I don't live in a bad area; in fact crime etc is very low here, the community is strong and the views are stunning. I just chose carefully, realising the city where I'd been for most of my adult life was not the best place to be when retired.