EDF have upped our monthly DD to £860, equivalent to £10,300 per year for our 3 bedroom semi

ariarnia

IanIanIanIanIan said:

Simplest way to stay in control is to move to 'Monthly Variable Direct Debit Whole Amount' and only pay monthly for what you use and get a monthly invoice (instead of six monthly 'billing' of EDF) which just confuses things, and also lets you see exactly how you are going without surprises.

At home start a 'Household Budget Account' perhaps a separate bank account or simply a running spreadsheet, into which you pay a fixed amount monthly but enough to cover your expected bills for the year.  Your account, your money!

A household budget account is ideal for ALL or your fixed outgoings, car tax, insurance, club fees, etc. All the outgoings you may predict somewhat well.  The monthly payment into the account is then a fixed monthly amount which takes the sting out of paying a yearly high bill by spreading the cost over twelve months.

people moving to variable dd now will need to understand they will need to find more money in the short term. we are now in the coldest months of the year and bills will be their highest over the next few months so you will have to find the money to pay the high bills immediately and it wont be until next winter that your household budget account will be able to cover the costs. if you want to move to a variable account then i would suggest waiting until spring when your heating is off. then look at your energy account and annual usage so you can start fresh building up credit in your household account in preparation for next winter's higher bills. 

k_man

You may need to turn the heating up in the office (or possibly the room above) now though, as that constant 550W may be missed!

mroshaw

k_man said:

You may need to turn the heating up in the office (or possibly the room above) now though, as that constant 550W may be missed!

I jest you not - my missus and I have donned our Xmas jumpers early, and bought some furry slippers! 

Spoonie_Turtle

mroshaw said:

k_man said:

You may need to turn the heating up in the office (or possibly the room above) now though, as that constant 550W may be missed!

I jest you not - my missus and I have donned our Xmas jumpers early, and bought some furry slippers! 

No judgement, just curious - did you not wear jumpers/slippers already?  What was your usual attire?  (Genuinely curious, I've never been able to go around in just a T-shirt or long-sleeved top except in the height of summer.)

Chrysalis

ariarnia said:

IanIanIanIanIan said:

Simplest way to stay in control is to move to 'Monthly Variable Direct Debit Whole Amount' and only pay monthly for what you use and get a monthly invoice (instead of six monthly 'billing' of EDF) which just confuses things, and also lets you see exactly how you are going without surprises.

At home start a 'Household Budget Account' perhaps a separate bank account or simply a running spreadsheet, into which you pay a fixed amount monthly but enough to cover your expected bills for the year.  Your account, your money!

A household budget account is ideal for ALL or your fixed outgoings, car tax, insurance, club fees, etc. All the outgoings you may predict somewhat well.  The monthly payment into the account is then a fixed monthly amount which takes the sting out of paying a yearly high bill by spreading the cost over twelve months.

people moving to variable dd now will need to understand they will need to find more money in the short term. we are now in the coldest months of the year and bills will be their highest over the next few months so you will have to find the money to pay the high bills immediately and it wont be until next winter that your household budget account will be able to cover the costs. if you want to move to a variable account then i would suggest waiting until spring when your heating is off. then look at your energy account and annual usage so you can start fresh building up credit in your household account in preparation for next winter's higher bills. 

Or use less energy, be disciplined on the heating.

dunstonh

mroshaw said:

dunstonh said:

you dont say what you replaced them with. 

These are the bulbs I bought to replace the 40W halogens: https://amzn.eu/d/gSI7ed4.

Not all bulbs are created equal.  The build quality of some makes them more or less tolerant.  Sometimes the dimmable version can avoid the buzzing.   MR16s are probably the hardest bulbs to get right.

 It's a great step in your plan to reduce, though.  That is about 3kWh per day in one hit.  Those bulbs will pay for themselves in weeks.

ariarnia

Chrysalis said:

ariarnia said:

IanIanIanIanIan said:

Simplest way to stay in control is to move to 'Monthly Variable Direct Debit Whole Amount' and only pay monthly for what you use and get a monthly invoice (instead of six monthly 'billing' of EDF) which just confuses things, and also lets you see exactly how you are going without surprises.

At home start a 'Household Budget Account' perhaps a separate bank account or simply a running spreadsheet, into which you pay a fixed amount monthly but enough to cover your expected bills for the year.  Your account, your money!

A household budget account is ideal for ALL or your fixed outgoings, car tax, insurance, club fees, etc. All the outgoings you may predict somewhat well.  The monthly payment into the account is then a fixed monthly amount which takes the sting out of paying a yearly high bill by spreading the cost over twelve months.

people moving to variable dd now will need to understand they will need to find more money in the short term. we are now in the coldest months of the year and bills will be their highest over the next few months so you will have to find the money to pay the high bills immediately and it wont be until next winter that your household budget account will be able to cover the costs. if you want to move to a variable account then i would suggest waiting until spring when your heating is off. then look at your energy account and annual usage so you can start fresh building up credit in your household account in preparation for next winter's higher bills. 

Or use less energy, be disciplined on the heating.

thats not really relevant to how the person pays the bills it just influences how much they have to pay. someone switching to variable dd at the start of winter who thinks they can make regular payments into there own account will still face higher bills over winter than summer even with lowered usage (unless they don't turn the heating on at all) and for the first winter wont have any excess set aside to cover the difference. 

people who switch suppliers in winter are allowed to go into debt on there energy account and set a dd amount lower than their actual monthly usage because their dd will be higher than their summer usage and it will balance out over the 12 months.

someone on a variable dd is not allowed to go into debt (the energy company will chase payment or require a change in payment methods) so will have to cover the full winters bills. it will only be after winter the monthly amount they put aside will start to build up in there own account ready for next winter. 

Chrysalis

ariarnia said:

Chrysalis said:

Or use less energy, be disciplined on the heating.

thats not really relevant to how the person pays the bills it just influences how much they have to pay. someone switching to variable dd at the start of winter who thinks they can make regular payments into there own account will still face higher bills over winter than summer even with lowered usage (unless they don't turn the heating on at all) and for the first winter wont have any excess set aside to cover the difference. 

people who switch suppliers in winter are allowed to go into debt on there energy account and set a dd amount lower than their actual monthly usage because their dd will be higher than their summer usage and it will balance out over the 12 months.

someone on a variable dd is not allowed to go into debt (the energy company will chase payment or require a change in payment methods) so will have to cover the full winters bills. it will only be after winter the monthly amount they put aside will start to build up in there own account ready for next winter. 

Its quite simple lets say you like me and your bill is consistent all year round (not all of us need to be bathed in heat).  So in the summer get over billed and in winter closer to what you use.  Switch to Variable DD, pay less in summer and same or little less in winter.

If its someone who uses more in winter "and" the supplier has been correctly predicting their annual usage, then what happens then is they under pay in winter, and over pay in summer. 

So lets say they pay £100 every month, summer bill is £70, winter bill is £130.  The difference is based on heating.

If they halved their heating the bill would be £100, they would be paying the same as the previous DD and also would have the benefit of only paying £70 in the summer.  It might be more if the account was in debt at the switchover so a one off higher payment to settle the debt, or less if the account was in credit.

Essentially fixed DD is good for people not good with managing money and also good for isolating money to be set aside for use to pay for energy, but it has some pretty horrible downsides such as making people not understand how energy billing works and making people treat their tarrif as unmetered since fixed DD systems dont instantly react to usage changes.

Its only now with the energy cost crisis, people start looking into smart meters, their usage and so forth.  With so many not taking action until as late as the day their supplier informs then their DD is going up because the DD is all they care about.

Spoonie_Turtle

ariarnia said:

Chrysalis said:

ariarnia said:

IanIanIanIanIan said:

Simplest way to stay in control is to move to 'Monthly Variable Direct Debit Whole Amount' and only pay monthly for what you use and get a monthly invoice (instead of six monthly 'billing' of EDF) which just confuses things, and also lets you see exactly how you are going without surprises.

At home start a 'Household Budget Account' perhaps a separate bank account or simply a running spreadsheet, into which you pay a fixed amount monthly but enough to cover your expected bills for the year.  Your account, your money!

A household budget account is ideal for ALL or your fixed outgoings, car tax, insurance, club fees, etc. All the outgoings you may predict somewhat well.  The monthly payment into the account is then a fixed monthly amount which takes the sting out of paying a yearly high bill by spreading the cost over twelve months.

people moving to variable dd now will need to understand they will need to find more money in the short term. we are now in the coldest months of the year and bills will be their highest over the next few months so you will have to find the money to pay the high bills immediately and it wont be until next winter that your household budget account will be able to cover the costs. if you want to move to a variable account then i would suggest waiting until spring when your heating is off. then look at your energy account and annual usage so you can start fresh building up credit in your household account in preparation for next winter's higher bills. 

Or use less energy, be disciplined on the heating.

thats not really relevant to how the person pays the bills it just influences how much they have to pay. someone switching to variable dd at the start of winter who thinks they can make regular payments into there own account will still face higher bills over winter than summer even with lowered usage (unless they don't turn the heating on at all) and for the first winter wont have any excess set aside to cover the difference. 

Actually the lower temperature of water coming in to be heated, the need for more hot meals/drinks, longer lighting will all add up to higher bills in winter anyway.  Not as drastically as with heating turned on, but still higher than summer. 

And quite how they'll get through winter without the heating on - or any other form of extra heat incurring extra costs (e.g. hot water bottles, electric blanket, even extra layers of clothing needing washing) … well, unless they're burning free wood, I'm not convinced it's entirely possible.  If it is possible, it'd be very miserable - and run the risk of pipes bursting if it freezes, which would be very expensive to fix, possibly more expensive than having the heating on.

Chrysalis

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Actually the lower temperature of water coming in to be heated, the need for more hot meals/drinks, longer lighting will all add up to higher bills in winter anyway.  Not as drastically as with heating turned on, but still higher than summer. 

And quite how they'll get through winter without the heating on - or any other form of extra heat incurring extra costs (e.g. hot water bottles, electric blanket, even extra layers of clothing needing washing) … well, unless they're burning free wood, I'm not convinced it's entirely possible.  If it is possible, it'd be very miserable - and run the risk of pipes bursting if it freezes, which would be very expensive to fix, possibly more expensive than having the heating on.

I think whats become clear is we all have different tolerance levels to heat and cold.

In summer its a nightmare for me I am constantly sweating, sleep on top of the duvet etc, to try and and cool down.

Winter is a lot more comfortable for me, and most winters I use "no" central heating, none at all, 

I do wear more layers in December, January, Feb time.  I spend more time under the duvet as well, when I visit other peoples homes, it tends to feel like an oven for me when I walk in and they usually wearing t-shirts, sleeveless tops that sort of thing, so summer clothes temperature mid winter.

Now whats funny about this I recently had a massive draft issue fixed on a window, it was the cause of a huge amount of outside air been let into the property, and even with this issue I didnt use heating nearly all the time, so this winter should be easier for me than usual.