My mother's energy bills

Robin9

chris_n said:

I would suspect the heating is incapable of reaching 30 as all of the heat goes up the chimney! 

During the hot spell the temp in my house reached 34

Sea_Shell

Robin9 said:

chris_n said:

I would suspect the heating is incapable of reaching 30 as all of the heat goes up the chimney! 

During the hot spell the temp in my house reached 34

I think the sun is a little bit more powerful than a domestic boiler 😉

QrizB

macman said:

No CH system could ever get the house up to 30C, because the rate of heat loss would be enormous.

I disagree with this statement.

If your CH can maintain 20C when it's -5C outside, it will have enough power to maintain 30C when it's +5C outside (and 40C when it's +15C outside).

macman

I'll leave it up to you to to do the practical test on this. Just don't send me the gas bill.
If I understand what you are saying, it's that the rate of heat loss is the same if the temp differential is the same, regardless of whether it's below freezing outside, or 30C?
That implies that any CH system could heat a property to maybe 55C if the outside temp were 30C?

chris_n

macman said:

I'll leave it up to you to to do the practical test on this. Just don't send me the gas bill.
If I understand what you are saying, it's that the rate of heat loss is the same if the temp differential is the same, regardless of whether it's below freezing outside, or 30C?
That implies that any CH system could heat a property to maybe 55C if the outside temp were 30C?

Theoretically that is more or less correct but you would need a higher flow temperature to achieve it.

Georget79

macman said:

Temp varies between 20C and 30C?! Tell us you're not serious!
20C is a reasonable average. 21C is about the max that most people are comfortable with. If you are seriously turning it up to 30C, then you've answered your own question: it will never achieve that temp, but in trying to do so the boiler would be running full bore all the time. Is it on 24/7 in the heating season?
She will get £400 credited back on her electricity bills in 6 bites from October, plus the usual WFP and the additional pensioner allowance., so £500  if 77. Plus £150 CT credit on bands A to D.
If she has dementia, then she may count as SMI and so can be disregarded for C Tax, which means that you will get a 25% SPD discount, if there are no other adult residents.
Check the loft insulation is up to standard, very easy to fix if not.

I've just checked and the radiators don't even come on unless the dial is past 25. Would this indicate a faulty boiler? I'll be giving them a call.

I've never paid attention to this before, my own flats heating system was different and I'd just assumed all was correct at her house. 

Alnat1

That would indicate that the temperature is already 25C

Georget79

TheBanker said:

Are you heating the whole house? If so, is it possible to turn off the radiators in un-used rooms and just heat the room your mum is in at the time, and her bedroom before bedtime if needed?

And yes, as the poster above suggested, look into whether there is any funding available to improve your insulation. If you have an open chimney then the heat will all be going up there rather than staying in the room. I have no idea what support is available in Scotland but your mother's condition may open up additional sources of help. Your energy supplier might be able to make some suggestions, have you had a look on their website? Or your local council, or the Citizens Advice?

Do you/your mother own the house, or is it rented (and if so, is it from the council/HA or a private landlord)?

Yes I will make sure everywhere else is off. I've also just realised the radiators don't even come on until the dial is at 25 so this explains a lot. I'll need to find out what's going on.

Yes she owns the house. I'll look into everything you suggested, many thanks for your time

Georget79

Thanks to everyone for their advice and suggestions. 

I'm still a little confused why she is getting charged almost £100 more per month than the estimate on this websites tool, if anyone has any ideas why that might be (I entered correct usage into the tool) would be great, thanks

Brie

The reason they are asking for so much money is they are greedy.  They will say that the increases to the DD are to "ensure you don't get into debt" and "to safe guard you".  Which is for the most part poppycake.  

What you need to do is look at the actual usage over the last year and then calculate what you will need to pay in Oct.  And then, once you have taken account of the current credit on the account, see what monthly amount will cover that.  There is absolutely no reason for you to pay them anything extra if you don't want to.  Tell them what your mom's DD will be and stick to that amount.  If they seem unwilling to cooperate then you need to ask to be put on a DD that pays for your exact current use.  That means every month will be different but at least you will only be paying for what is used, not some made up number.

I've needed to do similar as my energy provider was providing an inaccurate estimate based solely on our use from last Jan/Feb without accounting for the lower use in the summer.