What extra support measures or regulations do you expect the government to bring in this winter?

Mstty

Alnat1 said:

I agree with others, much more energy saving information needs to be given, especially around how to best run the heating system that you already have.

We see people on here with sky high bills, plugging in electric heaters because they think it costs too much to put the gas central heating on etc.

Second this and the people that constantly rave about leaving the hot water on all day. I've seen the figures on the new tanks heat to 65oC and it loses 1.5-2kwh a day but that's if you don't draw a drop of water down a hot water pipe so that's up to 14kwh a week without drawing a drop of that heated water. 

Sorry that's my pet hate lol

Recent highlights are the £10,000 predicted energy bill come October😮 get to know your heating system like you do your petrol pump price.

But yes far and away the best energy saving advice is divorcing the partner who is into gaming on a desktop machine with 5 monitors attached👍

funny.money

Alnat1 said:

I agree with others, much more energy saving information needs to be given, especially around how to best run the heating system that you already have.

We see people on here with sky high bills, plugging in electric heaters because they think it costs too much to put the gas central heating on etc.

I'm probably guilty of the above. Just husband and me in a large 5 bedroomed house.  The living room downstairs is quite large.  Last winter we decided to turn one of the unused smaller bedrooms into a small  'snug'.  It's really cosy and we like it,  so much so that even since the warmer weather we've not moved back downstairs as we intended to do! Anyway we have an electric oil filled radiator in the snug which we put briefly on and off last winter when we started to get too cold.  We got by quite well with a duvet over us while watching TV. Go to bed with hot water bottles.  I can't believe that this is not cheaper than heating the whole house with our gas central heating whilst sitting in one room. We're old enough to be in the 'we didn't have central heating when we were young and managed fine' brigade. Are we really doing the wrong thing?

savers_united

As much as people are going to find it hard, must also remember that chances of getting a job at the minute are also good. So there are alot of people in work, I think if the jobs market was bad and people out of work then more support would be needed, what the Gov't are doing here is helping those on lowest income inc those who are working but not earning enough. With UC tapers and NI contributions as a full package alongside handouts and grants it can run into the thousands of extra support per household. 

ariarnia

funny.money said:

Alnat1 said:

I agree with others, much more energy saving information needs to be given, especially around how to best run the heating system that you already have.

We see people on here with sky high bills, plugging in electric heaters because they think it costs too much to put the gas central heating on etc.

I'm probably guilty of the above. Just husband and me in a large 5 bedroomed house.  The living room downstairs is quite large.  Last winter we decided to turn one of the unused smaller bedrooms into a small  'snug'.  It's really cosy and we like it,  so much so that even since the warmer weather we've not moved back downstairs as we intended to do! Anyway we have an electric oil filled radiator in the snug which we put briefly on and off last winter when we started to get too cold.  We got by quite well with a duvet over us while watching TV. Go to bed with hot water bottles.  I can't believe that this is not cheaper than heating the whole house with our gas central heating whilst sitting in one room. We're old enough to be in the 'we didn't have central heating when we were young and managed fine' brigade. Are we really doing the wrong thing?

i think its two things. first working out if its actually better or not for you by doing some basic maths rather than assuming 'logically it must be' and two... think about/compare it to turning off/too zero radiators in rooms you dont use rather than using an electric heater in rooms you do. 

QrizB

funny.money said:

Alnat1 said:

We see people on here with sky high bills, plugging in electric heaters because they think it costs too much to put the gas central heating on etc.

I'm probably guilty of the above. ... Are we really doing the wrong thing?

No, in your case - large house, small household, only heating one room - there's a fair chance you will save money.

Do you have year-on-year energy bills that you can compare? Don't compare prices (they vary too much), compare kWh used per month instead.

Alnat1

In your case it sounds like you did everything right and moving into a smaller room is a really good idea. We thought of moving into the dining room last winter until we realised it's the only room in the house, apart from bathrooms, with no tv aerial point.

Ultrasonic

One way I keep heating bills down is very much to focus on heating my lounge far more than the rest of the house, and bathroom for when I'll have a shower. I do this with gas central heating and TRVs on all radiators.

funny.money

QrizB said:

funny.money said:

Alnat1 said:

We see people on here with sky high bills, plugging in electric heaters because they think it costs too much to put the gas central heating on etc.

I'm probably guilty of the above. ... Are we really doing the wrong thing?

No, in your case - large house, small household, only heating one room - there's a fair chance you will save money.

Do you have year-on-year energy bills that you can compare? Don't compare prices (they vary too much), compare kWh used per month instead.

Thank you........ and only today I have managed to do a spreadsheet of readings back to October 2020, so I will soon have two years worth.  It was made slightly more difficult as then we were with GNE got moved to EDF when they went under,  then we transferred  to Utility Point and got moved back to EDF when they ceased trading!

SanguineOnSaturn

Does anyone know if the October forecasted capped rates allow for the possibilty Nord Stream 1 may not resume any supply following the current shut down? I know we are not directly reliant in the UK but it will increase demand for LPG and push up prices presumably.

Alnat1

Same Ultra although I really need to sort out getting the radiators balanced, living room is annoyingly last on the system.