British Gas

subzero · 30 Jul 2008 at 17:39

Seriously any alternatives to gas heating as british gas puts its rate up by 35% today..

Rotty · 30 Jul 2008 at 17:43

subzero · 30 Jul 2008 at 17:47

Thinking more along the lines of a change entirely from gas,as i think the trend will be for all major gas suppliers to raise their charges,how come they can still raise them when the price per barrel of oil is dropping.

Rainmaker · 30 Jul 2008 at 17:50

subzero said:
Thinking more along the lines of a change entirely from gas,as i think the trend will be for all major gas suppliers to raise their charges,how come they can still raise them when the price per barrel of oil is dropping.

Because gas doesn't come from a barrel of oil?

Rotty · 30 Jul 2008 at 17:50

a lot is purchased in advance so the price cuts lag a while, oh and the fact that they are robbing *****

no easy alternative, electric heating will almost always cost much more to run and everything else will have huge initial costs

Swordfish · 30 Jul 2008 at 17:53

Rotty said:
a lot is purchased in advance so the price cuts lag a while, oh and the fact that they are robbing *****

no easy alternative, electric heating will almost always cost much more to run and everything else will have huge initial costs

Electrcity cost on average 4 times as much as gas, as they actually use gas as one of the methods of generating electricity.

Lets all give up everything and go and live in the woods !!!!

Posty · 30 Jul 2008 at 18:08

nope, unfortunately the UK is very depended on the stuff because we used to have a huge amount coming from the North Sea but not anymore

subzero · 30 Jul 2008 at 18:11

Rainmaker said:
Because gas doesn't come from a barrel of oil?

So why did they recently link the rising price of oil per barrel as a reason for this summers rise in gas charges

Slinwagh · 30 Jul 2008 at 18:14

subzero said:
So why did they recently link the rising price of oil per barrel as a reason for this summers rise in gas charges

Passing the buck, shifting the blame and any other way you want to put it.

Biohazard · 30 Jul 2008 at 18:16

Centrica make the money from buying the commodity on the general market and making a small mark up selling it to you.. volitile gas prices mean that the companies profit margins are small and are quickly swallowed up with the price rises.

Their business model isn't the greatest tbh.

Think northern rock, kind of.

Cyanide · 30 Jul 2008 at 18:19

Everyone's putting the prices up by pretty much the same at the moment so you'll get shafted no matter where you go

Surfer · 30 Jul 2008 at 18:26

getting shafted on necessities like heating aint fun.....

Biohazard · 30 Jul 2008 at 18:34

Thats what happens with finite commodities.

Ben M · 30 Jul 2008 at 18:36

go to a comparison site.

dowie · 30 Jul 2008 at 18:40

I wonder if this announcement has come now because British Gas is about to announce poor results so want some good news to prevent their shares from getting spanked.

subzero said:
So why did they recently link the rising price of oil per barrel as a reason for this summers rise in gas charges

because they are correlated

Posty · 30 Jul 2008 at 18:50

subzero said:
So why did they recently link the rising price of oil per barrel as a reason for this summers rise in gas charges

from what i have read it is because continental Europe has historically bought gas contracts pegged to the oil price. in the UK we never did this because all our gas came from north sea, however in recent years we have had to buy gas from continental Europe where gas is a lot more expensive to top up our supply due to stagnant/falling supply coming from the north sea, so increases in Europe due to oil price gets fed into the UK supply too.

Heliospherez · 30 Jul 2008 at 20:18

1.) Firstly, super-insulate your house, then reduce what you waste - And even if you think you don't waste much - take a step back and take a real look.

Then.....

2. ) Install a Herald 8 Multi fuel stove with backboiler & get the house re-plumbed(powered with wood, rubbish and small amounts of coal/peat)

3.) Solar water heating tubes with double size water tank.

4.) Solar Voltaic Panels for Electric - Grid Tied power generation (Electricity will also start going up at massive rates, possibly by 200% over the next 4 years - this will be even more of a shock to all those houses that have 4 Plasmas going in the kids bedrooms, those 16 x 50W spots turned on every night underneath their gutterings and water heaters, cookers and 20+ transformers plugged in 24hours a day - even when not used for anything)

Could you deal with a £1000 Electric bill on top of everything else ???

All in all the above changes will cost around £12,000 now - but will reduce my bills by £1000 a year when complete. Then assuming the prices for Energy keep going up, it will be saving me £1200 the next year, then £1400 the following year. You get the picture.....

This is the way I'm going anyway. Currently at phase 2, and have already saved a packet.

You may forget about gas and Oil & electric as methods of keeping warm & don't try and stick your head in the sand and imagine the prices ever, ever coming down substantially...... it's going to get a lot LOT worse over the next 5 years.

Now is the time to re-think how we heat our homes & it's time everyone woke up to the cost of energy.

Hedge · 30 Jul 2008 at 20:28

Solar is only good option i reckon.

and you can get a grant from government to help too

Energize · 30 Jul 2008 at 20:29

The energy companies are shooting themselves in the foot, the more they put prices up the less (sensible) people use.

JaffaJedi · 30 Jul 2008 at 20:34

Also windpower.. you can get a 30% grant in Scotland for installing a wind turbine.

you can connect it to your fusebox or sell it back to the grid, or both. With wind and solar, and a wood burning stove you could be free of most greedy gas/electric companies.

Granted the initial outlay is expensive, but if you are staying put it will pay back.