What rates are you being offered by your provider at the moment?

brewerdave

NannaH said:

Mstty said:

VUDU85 said:

With EDF and had been paying £90 p/m in January which was a fixed rate price that ended on 31st March (great timing)

Now on the variable tariff which initially increased to £149 but is going up again this month to £294

EDF are offering a fix for the low monthly sum of £503 

I really need to look into our consumption again as we're always using ~ 22,000 kwh gas per year in a 2 bedroom house, always seems too high

First thing is to generally turn the temp down on the boiler.

Check you aren't heating water all day and to again a high temp. Most are happy with 45oC showers this time of year so have a play and take that into winter. 2 bed house so presume not too many people maybe an hour a day heating hot water before you normally take showers.

What type of boiler do you have?
Is it set on ‘comfort mode’  for hot water?  If so, turn it off.
I can’t fathom how you use so much gas,  it’s 3x higher than mine in a 1970’s 3 bed semi with combi boiler and gas hob.  Is your heating on all day every day in the winter trying to reach temperature due to the room thermostat being in a cold place?
Are you having baths every day? 
Mine is in my living room,  set to 20 degrees when it’s very cold,  on for an hour early morning, 90 mins around lunchtime then 4.30-9.00pm when it usually kicks in once or twice to maintain temperature. 

@NannaH -You must have extremely good insulation - if you can keep your semi @ 20 deg C on 5000kwh in the Winter period  (as posted elsewhere) -either that or your thermostat must be jiggered and you don't feel the cold ! 

wibbler

Mstty said:

Check you aren't heating water all day and to again a high temp. Most are happy with 45oC showers this time of year so have a play and take that into winter. 2 bed house so presume not too many people maybe an hour a day heating hot water before you normally take showers.

Reading this I should keep the water at 60c to avoid the chance of legionnaires disease (and other water-borne diseases). Who knows which advice to follow, but thought I should mention it here:

https://www.hse.gov.uk/healthservices/legionella.htm

andy23

Is it mentioned anywhere what units of usage the average household consumption is based on for the price cap calculations ?

Can help me get an idea of my figures again this... 

andy23

If my figures are correct his is my usage over a year and costs, Vrs and British Gas 'offer' just seen on my account.... It's over Martins recommendation by fair way...

Standard Variable					BG Fixed Sep 23v2
Electricity	unit	cost	total cost		Electricity	unit	cost	total cost
Day kwh	2,106.00	0.30315	638.4339		Day kwh	2,106.00	0.72541	1527.71346
Night kwh	555	0.20269	112.49295		Night kwh	555	0.339	188.145
	2,661.00					2,661.00
standing charge	365	0.44837	163.65505		standing charge	365	0.28398	103.6527
			914.5819					1819.51116
Gas					Gas
Day kwh	9,942.54	0.07282	724.0157628		Day kwh	9,942.54	0.16794	1669.750168
standing charge	365	0.2722	99.353		standing charge	365	0.2448	89.352
			823.3687628					1759.102168
					£1,840.66
					£153.39
		Yearly	£1,737.95		105.9	%	Yearly	£3,578.61
		Per month	£144.83				Per month	£298.22

MuckChucker

wibbler said:

Mstty said:

Check you aren't heating water all day and to again a high temp. Most are happy with 45oC showers this time of year so have a play and take that into winter. 2 bed house so presume not too many people maybe an hour a day heating hot water before you normally take showers.

Reading this I should keep the water at 60c to avoid the chance of legionnaires disease (and other water-borne diseases). Who knows which advice to follow, but thought I should mention it here:

https://www.hse.gov.uk/healthservices/legionella.htm

I believe low 50s is enough to negate legionnaires

Marchesi007

MuckChucker said:

wibbler said:

Mstty said:

Check you aren't heating water all day and to again a high temp. Most are happy with 45oC showers this time of year so have a play and take that into winter. 2 bed house so presume not too many people maybe an hour a day heating hot water before you normally take showers.

Reading this I should keep the water at 60c to avoid the chance of legionnaires disease (and other water-borne diseases). Who knows which advice to follow, but thought I should mention it here:

I believe low 50s is enough to negate legionnaires

You need to heat Domestic Hot Water to 60c to stop Legionnaires Disease. We have a Air Source Heat Pump which runs DHW at 55 degrees but is programmed to heat the tank to 60 degrees once a week to kill any LD infection. We run the heating at 50 degrees which hopefully will reduce the electricity bills this Winter!

NannaH

My house has cavity wall insulation,  the loft insulation isn’t particularly thick,  most of the house windows,   other than french doors into the conservatory,  unheated kitchen plus the landing,  have double glazing from 1996 when we moved in.  

We have a 5 year old Vaillant combi boiler,  only half the rads have trv’s.   I’ve never seen my living room drop to less than 14 degrees overnight in winter,  no matter how cold outside.   My thermostat is set to 15 degrees overnight and rarely comes on. 

The temperature on my salus heating controller and my weather station are within half a degree.   

damsonjam

Anyone else considering the BG Price Protection v3 (got this today) offer to fix

gas 

Standing charge:  24.48p per day

Unit rate: 16.992p per kWh

at electricity at

Standing charge:  25.587p per day

Unit rate: 61.629p per kWh

these figures don’t pass Martin’s 95% (or 100% !) test based on BG’s projection but I wonder if I’m missing something ..

Max68

Sorry for the potentially silly question but I always thought hot water should be stored at 60 °C at least in order to kill legionella bacteria?

Mstty

This is the problem a burn to 60oC once or fortnightly is enough.

Most keep their hot water at 60oC and just waste money.