Comparing two properties - to move or not to move

rubyjones13

We are currently in a grade 1 listed cottage, which is small, but has single-glazing and no woodburner. The cottage is solely electric and we have storage heaters, in the winter our bills are up to £400. It's horrible, we're with EDF and no other provider will touch us because they say our meter is complex (I've tried many times!). We have today looked at a bigger house, with secondary glazing, powered by LPG, which I know nothing about. A quick search online would suggest it's pretty good, but can anyone advise? We are in a small 2 bedroom cottage at the moment, this is a big two bedroom house with two outbuildings with electricity, which we would be using. Any advice on how they compare? 

QrizB

rubyjones13 said:

We are currently in a grade 1 listed cottage, which is small, but has single-glazing and no woodburner. The cottage is solely electric and we have storage heaters, in the winter our bills are up to £400.

£100 a week for electricity in winter is not uncommon for a poorly insulated property, even with storage heaters. If you're paying 15p/kWh that's almost 100kWh a day.

Can you tell the make and model of the heaters? Are you using any top-up heating at daytime rates?

rubyjones13 said:

It's horrible, we're with EDF and no other provider will touch us because they say our meter is complex (I've tried many times!).

What's your current tariff called? Have EDF offered you a smart meter? Have you asked for one?

rubyjones13 said:

We have today looked at a bigger house, with secondary glazing, powered by LPG, which I know nothing about. A quick search online would suggest it's pretty good, but can anyone advise? We are in a small 2 bedroom cottage at the moment, this is a big two bedroom house with two outbuildings with electricity, which we would be using. Any advice on how they compare? 

LPG's a similar price to mains gas, I think. Around 7p/kWh, roughly half the price of off-peak E7 electricity. 

It's impossible to say what your new house will cost you, but if it's "average" it'll cost you around £850 a year for gas and £680 for electricity. Plus whatever the outbuildings need - what are you planning to do in them? Occasional electric lights for storage buildings will add a lot less to your bill than eg. running a pottery kiln would.

rubyjones13

QrizB said:

rubyjones13 said:

We are currently in a grade 1 listed cottage, which is small, but has single-glazing and no woodburner. The cottage is solely electric and we have storage heaters, in the winter our bills are up to £400.

£100 a week for electricity in winter is not uncommon for a poorly insulated property, even with storage heaters. If you're paying 15p/kWh that's almost 100kWh a day.

Can you tell the make and model of the heaters? Are you using any top-up heating at daytime rates?

-we are using plug in oil filled radiators (delonghi dragon 4) in the day in the lounge and one in the bedroom at night (we have a young baby and the storage heaters don't keep us warm). It's 28p/kw peak,17p/kw off peak.

rubyjones13 said:

It's horrible, we're with EDF and no other provider will touch us because they say our meter is complex (I've tried many times!).

What's your current tariff called? Have EDF offered you a smart meter? Have you asked for one?

We've asked, they sent someone who said it's not possible. Octopus wouldn't do our energy because they think we have 4 meter serial numbers but we only have 2. Our tarriff is called 'deemed' and 'deemed off peak'. I send readings every month for an accurate bill. At the top of the bill it says our electric per year estimated is 2.5k. 

rubyjones13 said:

We have today looked at a bigger house, with secondary glazing, powered by LPG, which I know nothing about. A quick search online would suggest it's pretty good, but can anyone advise? We are in a small 2 bedroom cottage at the moment, this is a big two bedroom house with two outbuildings with electricity, which we would be using. Any advice on how they compare? 

LPG's a similar price to mains gas, I think. Around 7p/kWh, roughly half the price of off-peak E7 electricity. 

It's impossible to say what your new house will cost you, but if it's "average" it'll cost you around £850 a year for gas and £680 for electricity. Plus whatever the outbuildings need - what are you planning to do in them? Occasional electric lights for storage buildings will add a lot less to your bill than eg. running a pottery kiln would.

Outbuildings for pottery and carpentry, kiln not used for a year so doesn't factor into costs g=here currently (due to baby) but in new place would use kiln more (but its a small plug in one, not wired in, standard 13amp plug). 

rubyjones13

rubyjones13 said:

QrizB said:

rubyjones13 said:

We are currently in a grade 1 listed cottage, which is small, but has single-glazing and no woodburner. The cottage is solely electric and we have storage heaters, in the winter our bills are up to £400.

£100 a week for electricity in winter is not uncommon for a poorly insulated property, even with storage heaters. If you're paying 15p/kWh that's almost 100kWh a day.

Can you tell the make and model of the heaters? Are you using any top-up heating at daytime rates?

-we are using plug in oil filled radiators (delonghi dragon 4) in the day in the lounge and one in the bedroom at night (we have a young baby and the storage heaters don't keep us warm). It's 28p/kw peak,17p/kw off peak.

rubyjones13 said:

It's horrible, we're with EDF and no other provider will touch us because they say our meter is complex (I've tried many times!).

What's your current tariff called? Have EDF offered you a smart meter? Have you asked for one?

We've asked, they sent someone who said it's not possible. Octopus wouldn't do our energy because they think we have 4 meter serial numbers but we only have 2. Our tarriff is called 'deemed' and 'deemed off peak'. I send readings every month for an accurate bill. At the top of the bill it says our electric per year estimated is 2.5k. 

rubyjones13 said:

We have today looked at a bigger house, with secondary glazing, powered by LPG, which I know nothing about. A quick search online would suggest it's pretty good, but can anyone advise? We are in a small 2 bedroom cottage at the moment, this is a big two bedroom house with two outbuildings with electricity, which we would be using. Any advice on how they compare? 

LPG's a similar price to mains gas, I think. Around 7p/kWh, roughly half the price of off-peak E7 electricity. 

It's impossible to say what your new house will cost you, but if it's "average" it'll cost you around £850 a year for gas and £680 for electricity. Plus whatever the outbuildings need - what are you planning to do in them? Occasional electric lights for storage buildings will add a lot less to your bill than eg. running a pottery kiln would.

Outbuildings for pottery and carpentry, kiln not used for a year so doesn't factor into costs g=here currently (due to baby) but in new place would use kiln more (but its a small plug in one, not wired in, standard 13amp plug). 

Also, we only use one storage heater in the kitchen, the rest are off at the mains.