Im paying £400pm with British Gas :(

Northlight

GloriaShaw85 said:

Meantime, I’ve received an email saying “ your current HomeEnergy Secure Dec 2023 tariff comes to an end on 31st December 2023. On 1st January 2024, we'll move you to our Standard Variable tariff” without giving much information as to what that means. Is this a good thing or does it make no difference? Should we change our tariff anyway?

The BG Home Energy Secure December 2023 tariff is fairly close to the current / January price cap. Moving off that to standard variable isn't going to make any significant difference.

dunstonh

, and because the underfloor heating stays hot for ages if it’s on so we avoid putting it on as we can’t understand it).

Underfloor heating shouldn't be hot. Well, it can be but you will eat energy if you bring it to a temperature that is noticeably toasty.   It should be just about warm.   underfloor heating is more about slow and steady ambient heat compared to radiators which are fast and higher heat.

When I said “we’re hot” I meant, generally, as people, we are hot people. I wear dresses without tights in winter. We used the underfloor heating last year and didn’t understand it. When we didn’t want it on, it took ages to not be hot so we just resigned to never use it, which we have adhered to.

If you are wearing summery clothing in the winter then chances are your thermostat is set high.   And that means you are going to be paying higher energy bills.    19.5c would likely require a jumper on but be comforable.  Whereas 22c would allow for summer clothing.   You could more than double your energy use for heating at 22c compared to 19.5c.  

What temperature do you have it set to?    Remember, that the higher it is, the greater the energy use. 

GloriaShaw85

MultiFuelBurner said:

GloriaShaw85 said:

There is my husband and myself and our toddler. We live in a small semi detached, and have been paying £300-400pm with british gas. A smart meter was installed 6 months into our tenancy (we’ve now been here for 2 years), and despite rarely having the heating hot (because we all feel hot most of the time, and because the underfloor heating stays hot for ages if it’s on so we avoid putting it on as we can’t understand it). I’ve constantly chatted online to them explaining there has to be an error because the high cost is largely due to the gas being high (the electricity side is always less than the gas). They always tell me it can’t be wrong as a smart meter gives the readings. 

I finally had the opportunity to talk to someone who has arranged to send an engineer to look at things tomorrow morning. 

Meantime, I’ve received an email saying “ your current HomeEnergy Secure Dec 2023 tariff comes to an end on 31st December 2023. On 1st January 2024, we'll move you to our Standard Variable tariff” without giving much information as to what that means. Is this a good thing or does it make no difference? Should we change our tariff anyway?

In a previous post of yours where you had extraordinarily high electricity use despite using gas central heating (circa 70000 kWh of electricity) you were going to do an audit and the same people responding above told you what to do.

You never returned to that post.

In all honesty if you aren't willing to put some effort in then your bills will remain high. There is some great advice here in this forum so if you want lower bills the best thing to do is start replying to the questions asked and put some effort in

1) it’s so difficult to find posts you’ve submitted if you’re not regularly on mse

2) I suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia , and suffer servere flare ups. The pain and stiffness make things very difficult for me, hence my inactivity on posts etc and just carrying out tasks in life. With the medication, it also makes me quite forgetful 

3) I do greatly appreciate everyone’s time to respond and to advise. Sometimes the information seems quite overwhelming and it confuses me when I’m on medication in particular. 

MultiFuelBurner

GloriaShaw85 said:

MultiFuelBurner said:

GloriaShaw85 said:

There is my husband and myself and our toddler. We live in a small semi detached, and have been paying £300-400pm with british gas. A smart meter was installed 6 months into our tenancy (we’ve now been here for 2 years), and despite rarely having the heating hot (because we all feel hot most of the time, and because the underfloor heating stays hot for ages if it’s on so we avoid putting it on as we can’t understand it). I’ve constantly chatted online to them explaining there has to be an error because the high cost is largely due to the gas being high (the electricity side is always less than the gas). They always tell me it can’t be wrong as a smart meter gives the readings. 

I finally had the opportunity to talk to someone who has arranged to send an engineer to look at things tomorrow morning. 

Meantime, I’ve received an email saying “ your current HomeEnergy Secure Dec 2023 tariff comes to an end on 31st December 2023. On 1st January 2024, we'll move you to our Standard Variable tariff” without giving much information as to what that means. Is this a good thing or does it make no difference? Should we change our tariff anyway?

In a previous post of yours where you had extraordinarily high electricity use despite using gas central heating (circa 70000 kWh of electricity) you were going to do an audit and the same people responding above told you what to do.

You never returned to that post.

In all honesty if you aren't willing to put some effort in then your bills will remain high. There is some great advice here in this forum so if you want lower bills the best thing to do is start replying to the questions asked and put some effort in

1) it’s so difficult to find posts you’ve submitted if you’re not regularly on mse

2) I suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia , and suffer servere flare ups. The pain and stiffness make things very difficult for me, hence my inactivity on posts etc and just carrying out tasks in life. With the medication, it also makes me quite forgetful 

3) I do greatly appreciate everyone’s time to respond and to advise. Sometimes the information seems quite overwhelming and it confuses me when I’m on medication in particular. 

If you click on your own name, scroll down to where it says threads and click. That will show you all the threads you have started.

It might be worth reviewing that post first and updating us all as to what you have and have not done 👍

If you are forgetful then you could write it down and tick it off and make notes so you know what you have checked and what you have not and the results.

Angelica123

GloriaShaw85 said:

MultiFuelBurner said:

GloriaShaw85 said:

There is my husband and myself and our toddler. We live in a small semi detached, and have been paying £300-400pm with british gas. A smart meter was installed 6 months into our tenancy (we’ve now been here for 2 years), and despite rarely having the heating hot (because we all feel hot most of the time, and because the underfloor heating stays hot for ages if it’s on so we avoid putting it on as we can’t understand it). I’ve constantly chatted online to them explaining there has to be an error because the high cost is largely due to the gas being high (the electricity side is always less than the gas). They always tell me it can’t be wrong as a smart meter gives the readings. 

I finally had the opportunity to talk to someone who has arranged to send an engineer to look at things tomorrow morning. 

Meantime, I’ve received an email saying “ your current HomeEnergy Secure Dec 2023 tariff comes to an end on 31st December 2023. On 1st January 2024, we'll move you to our Standard Variable tariff” without giving much information as to what that means. Is this a good thing or does it make no difference? Should we change our tariff anyway?

In a previous post of yours where you had extraordinarily high electricity use despite using gas central heating (circa 70000 kWh of electricity) you were going to do an audit and the same people responding above told you what to do.

You never returned to that post.

In all honesty if you aren't willing to put some effort in then your bills will remain high. There is some great advice here in this forum so if you want lower bills the best thing to do is start replying to the questions asked and put some effort in

1) it’s so difficult to find posts you’ve submitted if you’re not regularly on mse

2) I suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia , and suffer servere flare ups. The pain and stiffness make things very difficult for me, hence my inactivity on posts etc and just carrying out tasks in life. With the medication, it also makes me quite forgetful 

3) I do greatly appreciate everyone’s time to respond and to advise. Sometimes the information seems quite overwhelming and it confuses me when I’m on medication in particular. 

If you click on the profile pic in right top corner of page and then the bell icon - you can see notifications for any thread you have participated in or flagged.

Your bill is way too high. Either the meter is faulty or you have extremely high use. Changing provider won't help unless you tackle the underlying issue. 

What is your thermostat set as? Are you sure the underfloor heater is off? Are you regularly checking the meter to see when the spikes of usages are happening? 

Krakkkers

That kind of usage can only be heating of some sort whether underfloor heating, water or radiators, it's not PC or lights.
You have a smart meter so check your usage hourly using IHD or a 3rd party app.
Check it when your heating is on and off to see if it really is off.
It's not difficult and you can find out the issue today switch off the culprit straight away.
I would know if someone switched on a 10w bulb in my house.

Krakkkers

I don't know why these kinds of threads continue as its a simple process to work out where the power is going whether disabled or not.

Robin9

@GloriaShaw85    Have you family or a good friend who can help here ? There's a lot of money involved, money which may be able to help you in other ways.

EssexHebridean

Let's not turn this into a tit-for-tat-spat eh? Ultimately - for many of us who are regulars on here it may indeed seem quite straightforward to work out "where the power is going" - but that's because we already have the knowledge around the subject. I know for a fact that there are plenty of other subjects where I may have precisely no knowledge, and someone else who is knowledgeable there might well be baffled as to why I can't understand that area - it comes down to not being able to know things that you've never had the opportunity to learn! Also not everyone has the means to track their every watt of energy!

The forums exist for precisely this reason though - helping people who don't already have that knowledge to gain it. If everyone knew anything, we'd all be very bored on here! ;-) 

OP - is your only form of heating the underfloor or do you have a standard central heating system alongside? Do you have a thermostat that shows you the current temperature in the property? If so, what temperature does it say you are at right now? That might help people to gain some insight into your level of personal comfort, as that is something that is very individual - I wouldn't be warm enough with short sleeves and bare legs until it got to low 20's, whereas someone else might feel perfectly fine like that at 17 degrees! (Even now, sitting in my office at 20 degrees, with leggings, a fleece and solid walking trainers on, I've got cold hands and feet!) 

jvjack

up. thoughtful posts above.