Two boilers, two providers

good_intentions

For historical reasons we have two separate gas feeds into our house with two separate meters, and one electricity supply for the whole house. It is a period 5 bed property - not huge but spacious. We have been unable to persuade energy providers in the past to understand our meter situation so we have half our gas and all our electricity with Octopus and half our gas with SSE ( which is more expensive per gas unit). Already our energy bill is running at nearly ten thousand pounds a year even though our old house is pretty cold in winter and we ration the heating. Goodness knows what we will be paying by January.
Can we save much money by trying again to get both gas meters with one company (presumably Octopus) or will the savings ( which might include at least reduction in standing charges) be so small as to make little difference? Any ideas?

Keep_pedalling

What is stopping you from getting rid of one of the feeds and the associated standing charge that goes with it?

Vincero

Keep_pedalling said:

What is stopping you from getting rid of one of the feeds and the associated standing charge that goes with it?

Probably the ridiculous decommissioning fees some providers ask for made it not worth it. In comparison with increased standing charges and a monthly bill going up to £500 for some, a supplier asking that much to disconnect / remove a meter is suddenly no longer relatively as bad.

Do both boilers heat the same radiator loop or is the heating system split?
Is there a technical reason for 2 supplies, e.g. there was a requirement as the volume of gas via a single supply wasn't suitable?
To be honest, reducing the metering will help save on standing charges saving maybe up to £125-ish a year depending on your area and supplier.

In terms of the house being cold in winter, insulation is likely to be the key issue - as long as it's output is high enough, even an old inefficient boiler should warm your home - if the property is very leaky in terms of heat then that will be the bigger issue. Of course older period buildings tend to have higher ceilings which means more of an area to heat so that is also a drain on money/energy.

QrizB

good_intentions said:

Already our energy bill is running at nearly ten thousand pounds a year even though our old house is pretty cold in winter and we ration the heating. Goodness knows what we will be paying by January.
Can we save much money by trying again to get both gas meters with one company (presumably Octopus) or will the savings ( which might include at least reduction in standing charges) be so small as to make little difference? Any ideas?

Your high energy bill has little to do with your dual supplies (the standing charge on a gas supply is about £100 a year). It's likely that your household is using far more energy than is typical.

Do you know your annual electricity and gas use, in kWh, for each of your accounts? Can you share that info plus details of your current tariffs?