Winter is coming - are people ready?

Keu

badmemory said:

I would be wary of trusting the gas usage too strongly.  My heating is always on thermostat at the same temp all yr round.  It has only come on once in the last 4 months, which is absolutely unheard of.  The nearest I have come to that in the last decade is once for 2 full months.  I am prepared for large bills but frankly hoping we don't have a winter of -10 degs again.

Wow, I would never feel comfortable to have the heating on thermostat unless it was below zero outside, never mind in the summer, albeit that we had April showers for a lot of it.

I noticed the OFGEM typical use for Electricity has come down by 100, 200 and three hundred for low, medium and high use properties.

I am not sure hat you mean by "trusting the gas usage too strongly" to me it is a matter of knowing what you use (the baseline) then figuring out what makes the biggest difference, cooking, washing up, showers.  I have probably gone too far for what most people will tolerate but I can live with it.  I think the problem people have with gas is the meter is in m3 and the bills are in kWh, it is easy to convert (for example currently multiply by 11.33426).  I know I used to use 0.680 a day outside of winter and now I have got that down to between 0.125 and 0.175.  In simpler terms I am using under 5m3 a month since I implemented draconian measures. If I did not track my usage I would have no idea what caused any increase.  At the moment I am on target to use under 40% of the typical use, so I guess I am saving 60% but there is no way I could afford typical use figure.

The weather seems to be running late this year, so I think it will be warmish until November, last year was challenging to hold off until December. 

TheElectricCow

Will only be my second full winter in my current property so still feeling out temps, but if we’re in for a cold one it’ll be interesting to see how the indoor temperature keeps up compared to last year.

The flat seems to run quite warm all year round, perhaps due to excessive heat from the neighbours and/or strong solar gain, so actual heating demand was met mostly just with the bathroom electric towel rail running in mornings when needed and recovering waste heat from hot water use. DFS events also skewed the data though as I did run panel heaters during the adjustment periods.

Last year was a lot of seeing how things went and adjusting as needed, but with a better idea of what to expect now and currently running on a time of use tariff which has cut costs by 10% compared to SVT. I’m in more prepared position this time around and will probably see slightly lower bills for roughly similar usage.

Regardless, I’m not a typical user by any stretch with summer time consumption on cooling far outweighing any need for heat in winter (even including DFS days), but I’m taking further steps to increase heat rejection for next summer to improve on this.

pensionpawn

Krakkkers said:

[Deleted User] said:

lessened by a solar installation this summer.

Prepare to be a little disappointed come Winter. My 6.35kWp array produced 110kWh in December last year. My best day was 10kWh and my worst day was 350Wh.

Yes, but still worth having, my 4kwp system gives around 110kwh in Dec/Jan peaking at around 600kwh in May/June/July.

My 7.12 kW split array (E-W) produced just 83 kWhrs last Dec, max 6.7 kWhrs and 0 on snow days, which can eliminate / degrade generation for days if the temp doesn't rise to clear it! In addition to new windows throughout (2 years ago) making a 25% saving in gas and a new condensing gas boiler 12 months ago (replacing my 26 year old warhorse) I'm as prepared as it gets. The unexpected bonus this year being the launch of Octopus Flux which has allowed me to build up a cash buffer from paid solar export since May. Combined with the solar generation FiT I forecast just missing a £0 annual energy bill. Time will tell!

Keu

dunstonh said:

I see the posts on here and the amount of energy some people say they are using seems huge to me.  I have been reducing energy all year so that I have the money to get through the winter, although I plan to be frugal all the way.  I did not put heating on until December last year and even then only used it on the very cold sub zero days.

We got our electricity use down from 17,000 kWh to 14,000 kWh last year.     Mainly on the back of learning about how we use energy and working on kWh rather than pence.   Oil use was down from 3500 litres  to about 2,200 but that was mainly due mild weather, mothballing a wing of the house over winter and a large increase in wood burning to give targeted heat.     So, I do agree with you.  Although no chance of getting through to December.   I suspect our heating will be on within a couple of weeks and the burners are close to being fired up on short burns to take the chill off.

So this leads me to question whether people actually realise how expensive it will be, there will not be the nice £67 credit this winter and those who do get something will actually be getting less than they did last year.

For us, it will be cheaper than 2019, mainly on the back of Eastern Regions very low off peak rate and oil being in the same ballpark.

Couple that with petrol price increases and supermarket which is still increasing prices every time I go in (loo rolls up 40%).

I'm not seeing large fuel increases in our area.  Slightly up on recent lows but not by much.   

I am not asking the Government to step in for every household again, I am just wondering whether people are actually ready?  Have they got to grips with their energy and are they really cutting back enough?

The government shouldn't have stepped in to begin with.   It disincentived self control and learning and ways to reduce use.      

I suspect most regular posters here have a good understanding of their energy use but the rest of the populus either don't care or are not interested enough.

Last summer, before support packages were announced these forums were full of people trying to understand their use and find ways to reduce it.    Some of the threads were a joy to read and contribute on as people were genuinely interested.     As soon as the Government decided to some more wealth transfers, those posts stopped appearing and the interest went away.    

Wow you show just how difficult it can be to cut back because of your property type, I grew up in an oil based heating system with real fires.

I thought the Electricity typical use was 

Low 1,800kWh

Med 2,900kWh

High 4,300kWh

Do you have 3 freezers and 4 fish tanks!!  My brother has 3 because of his dogs, but he has 24 solar panels. 

I would have a heart attack if I got a bill for 14,000kWh, but maybe you have an Electric car.

I agree that the Gov should probably have used more targeted support and you are right it was a distinctive for self control.  My Electricity would be lower but I moved 99% of cooking to Electric with air fryers etc, but I got rid of devices that were using most. 

rp1974

Keu said:

Wow, I would never feel comfortable to have the heating on thermostat unless it was below zero outside, never mind in the summer, albeit that we had April showers for a lot of it.

Living in southwest Scotland it's best described as changable weather wise,the thermostat turns on or off,that's the whole point of a thermostat though.
No disrespect intended,I've never held with the heating "season" mentality,which my now late Grandparents had so would sit in the cold despite being well able to afford it purely because it wasn't the "season".

I consider being comfortable at home a priority and economise elsewhere if and when needs be,whilst very aware that many people can't do so.

Having micromanaged our household energy consumption for far too long,we decided lifes too short and fitted a smart thermostat which keeps comfortable temperatures all year round irrespective of it being January or July,which it has done faultlessly for the past few years.

lohr500

Well we did spend a few hours yesterday and last weekend splitting a large stack of seasoned Ash logs in readiness for winter. My plan this winter is to use the log burner more to help conserve oil. The logs cost us nothing but we don't acquire enough to run a solid fuel boiler to replace our oil boiler.

We filled the oil tank several months ago when the oil price was at a low point and hopefully it will see us through until the Spring. I'll hold off switching on the heating for as long as possible and I will be setting a lower thermostat temperature and run times this year to try and reduce our oil consumption.

And I have been round some of the older window frames and fitted draught excluder tape. 

michaels

WE were looking at an £8k energy bill based on our usage, being clever with tariffs and frugal reduced this is £3000 (would have been £5300 on standard cap rate).  For example rolling 12 m gas is down from 38k kwh to 17.5k kwh.  House was noticeably cold over the winter and we used electric throws and individual room heating.

WE are changing tariff to one that better suits our winter usage pattern and have added a second hand heat pump into the heating circuit for this winter which we will run using night rate (8p per kwh) electricity from the car battery (V2H) where possible so hoping the bill will be down to £2500.

dealyboy

Excellent and timely topic with some really interesting personal contributions.

In my case I will use more electricity than last year when I really overdid the spartan moneysaving.

As I will be receiving £500 winter fuel payment, I will use it for it's intended purpose. My priorities are (i) my health so no going below 15C, and (ii) the property so drastically reducing condensation and potential mould. I will be using heat the person guidance so eloquently expressed by @HertsLad's thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6334019/how-to-live-without-heating-save-000s.

dunstonh

Keu said:

dunstonh said:

I see the posts on here and the amount of energy some people say they are using seems huge to me.  I have been reducing energy all year so that I have the money to get through the winter, although I plan to be frugal all the way.  I did not put heating on until December last year and even then only used it on the very cold sub zero days.

We got our electricity use down from 17,000 kWh to 14,000 kWh last year.     Mainly on the back of learning about how we use energy and working on kWh rather than pence.   Oil use was down from 3500 litres  to about 2,200 but that was mainly due mild weather, mothballing a wing of the house over winter and a large increase in wood burning to give targeted heat.     So, I do agree with you.  Although no chance of getting through to December.   I suspect our heating will be on within a couple of weeks and the burners are close to being fired up on short burns to take the chill off.

So this leads me to question whether people actually realise how expensive it will be, there will not be the nice £67 credit this winter and those who do get something will actually be getting less than they did last year.

For us, it will be cheaper than 2019, mainly on the back of Eastern Regions very low off peak rate and oil being in the same ballpark.

Couple that with petrol price increases and supermarket which is still increasing prices every time I go in (loo rolls up 40%).

I'm not seeing large fuel increases in our area.  Slightly up on recent lows but not by much.   

I am not asking the Government to step in for every household again, I am just wondering whether people are actually ready?  Have they got to grips with their energy and are they really cutting back enough?

The government shouldn't have stepped in to begin with.   It disincentived self control and learning and ways to reduce use.      

I suspect most regular posters here have a good understanding of their energy use but the rest of the populus either don't care or are not interested enough.

Last summer, before support packages were announced these forums were full of people trying to understand their use and find ways to reduce it.    Some of the threads were a joy to read and contribute on as people were genuinely interested.     As soon as the Government decided to some more wealth transfers, those posts stopped appearing and the interest went away.    

Wow you show just how difficult it can be to cut back because of your property type, I grew up in an oil based heating system with real fires.

I thought the Electricity typical use was 

Low 1,800kWh

Med 2,900kWh

High 4,300kWh

Do you have 3 freezers and 4 fish tanks!!  My brother has 3 because of his dogs, but he has 24 solar panels. 

I would have a heart attack if I got a bill for 14,000kWh, but maybe you have an Electric car.

I agree that the Gov should probably have used more targeted support and you are right it was a distinctive for self control.  My Electricity would be lower but I moved 99% of cooking to Electric with air fryers etc, but I got rid of devices that were using most. 

Typical is not a good guide.   We had Essex & Suffolk Water come out to us recently as they said we were using more water than our neighbours (nearest is a mile away) and said we were not using the same level of water as typical properties of our size in the area (there are no typical properties our size in the area)   Several times in the pre-booking phone call I dropped the hint that we were not typical.  e.g. they asked me to get a water meter reading whilst I was on the phone but I said I couldn't as I would need to get on the tractor and go half a mile down a track to the meter.  Or when I explained that our use last year was high because it was a drought and our reservoirs went dry and we had to draw from the mains to spray the fields.   The penny still didn't drop that we were not typical and some poor soul was sent out and when he arrived he said straight away that it was a waste of time.

Anyway, onto electric, the bill is not that bad for 14,000 kWh as around 70% of it is 8p per kWh.  About 9k of the use is the Electric AGA.  We got a PHEV in April which added 15kWh per day but we are still trending lower than our peak year before I made energy savings.    We are looking at going full EV on one of the vehicles which could take us towards 20k.

The annual cost works out around £3130 a year for electric only which is a lot on the one hand but not really relative to what we use.

Before the Government brought in its subsidy, our intention was to leave the AGA off apart from December (to allow for roasts over Christmas/new year).   Once the Government brought in the subsidy, the AGA was used as per normal.      And last years net electric bill was lower than in 2019 for us.

strawb_shortcake

My electric account is £240 in credit, and my bill is just about to increase from £60 to £72 a month. The last 10 weeks I've had my eldest home and used more electric than usual due to having a gaming PC running 12-13 hours a day. I am expecting a significant drop in energy use as my Daughter also moves out for uni this week. 

I'm currently debating topping up my credit, but I suspect my monthly bill will be around £75-80 a month so not convinced I really need to.

I do have to buy oil soon, prices locally are currently 75p ish a litre, not sure what way that's going to go in the next few weeks but can't hold off too long. We only use 750 litres a year but can't cut back on that