Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

Shocky-FM · 29 Nov 2022 at 15:05

Hmm, £320 a month now... Happy days. Next bill is going to be interesting.

HungryHippos · 29 Nov 2022 at 15:10

Curlyriff said:
It was 3degree in Oxfordshire two nights running so if there is zero background heat and been out for a week prior that I expect that why the house has dropped to 10.5c It is mostly the front door and kitchen window cause the rear door has blackout thermal curtains and all bedroom windows and dining window are blackout thermal roman blinds so pretty well insulated from loosing heat. 300mm thick loft insulation, insulated cavity walls and end of terrace so at least one wall is not external.

I have been home all day today with the PC on WFH and my office is 14c. My thermostat downstairs is still currently showing 11.5c right now.

Get that heating on for a bit, you don't want to let it drop too cold ideally.

andy_mk3 · 29 Nov 2022 at 15:19

Shocky-FM said:
Hmm, £320 a month now... Happy days. Next bill is going to be interesting.

Ouch. Mine just gone up to £190 from £127.

krooton · 29 Nov 2022 at 15:50

The coldest room in my house is the lounge, due to having a cat flap that is far from draught-proof.

Haven't gone below 14ºC yet at the coldest in November.

House generally gets to 16º during the day without heating on, office gets up to 20º just from PC/Monitor/Laptop and having the door closed.

Bluecube · 29 Nov 2022 at 16:42

I have my heating set to a minimum of 14C in every room. There're three or four north facing, shaded rooms that often drop below 14C which I'd rather keep warmish. Think my gas bill for November will be about £100

chrcoluk · 29 Nov 2022 at 16:58

Curlyriff said:
15-16c would be great. So far this 2015 house is down to 10.5c without heating on. There isn't any obvious heat loss other than the double glazing PVC windows being the largest issue. But yeah without using TVs and not cooking in evenings there isn't a lot of background heat otherwise to get the ambiant up.

Not sure whats going on there, I have wooden framed single glazed with draft issues, and I havent been below low 14s at absolute worst (no heating), currently 16C in this room. It hit 18C two days ago.

the shadow · 29 Nov 2022 at 17:01

andy_mk3 said:
Ouch. Mine just gone up to £190 from £127.

I am upset paying 37 this month :mad:

Curlyriff · 29 Nov 2022 at 17:06

chrcoluk said:
Not sure whats going on there, I have wooden framed single glazed with draft issues, and I havent been below low 14s at absolute worst (no heating), currently 16C in this room. It hit 18C two days ago.

The quality of these builds basically I think. Windows and doors are really low quality even though they double glazed. And yeah with zero background heat for almost 9 days and it being 4c in day and 2c at night then it cold.

Scougar · 29 Nov 2022 at 17:37

Well....been using our electric heaters a lot since heating oil is crazy price right now. I did sign up for an energy coop thing here and saved money on oil though. Was at least 20% cheaper that way. 109 US gallons. To top up the tank.

Uther · 29 Nov 2022 at 18:01

Curlyriff said:
The quality of these builds basically I think. Windows and doors are really low quality even though they double glazed. And yeah with zero background heat for almost 9 days and it being 4c in day and 2c at night then it cold.

Can't help feeling you are storing up a lot of problems by not having the heating on. That's not a healthy temperature, for you or the house.

smilertoo · 29 Nov 2022 at 18:03

Bah, our gas meter outside died and they forced us to get smart meters or pay £179 for a new one, bloody ridiculous.

LabR@t · 29 Nov 2022 at 18:08

Energy bills: 'We cut back but are paying three times as much' - BBC News

Many households are seeing their energy bills going up despite the power they use going down.

www.bbc.com

Prices have tripled what did people expert, seriously?

Vimes · 29 Nov 2022 at 18:11

Our balance with EDF was over £1100, with a monthly payment of £200. Having finally got through on the phone I have now changed our account payment type to a direct debit whole amount, pay for what you use monthly. It might work our better for us, at least having a few hundred paid back to our bank account will help.
Paying as we use each month, should be interesting.....

LabR@t · 29 Nov 2022 at 18:15

Ovo pays 5% on credit balances, might be worth considering?

Curlyriff · 29 Nov 2022 at 18:17

Uther said:
Can't help feeling you are storing up a lot of problems by not having the heating on. That's not a healthy temperature, for you or the house.

The house will be fine, cold in itself isn't an issue as long as there isn't condensation/damp conditions.

My health, I'm keeping warm, thermal trousers, t-shirt, hoodie and such otherwise. I'd love to put the heating on but I can't afford too unfortunately. My bill is super low but with my change in circumstances my net income is still £400 a month less than it was October with house mate moving out. I haven't got anything to cut as I already did all that in March so now I'm on to heating or food right now.

My food bill is down to £40 a month, no treats. And eating when out seeing my parents once a week and my boys twice a week.

CaptainRAVE · 29 Nov 2022 at 18:25

LabR@t said:
Energy bills: 'We cut back but are paying three times as much' - BBC News

Many households are seeing their energy bills going up despite the power they use going down.

www.bbc.com

Prices have tripled what did people expert, seriously?

Depends how much you reduce your use. We were already hugely overpaying on our DD and the lowest we could set our new DD was over double that of previous, despite our usage going down by 2/3. The energy companies treat us like mugs, it’s madness that the default is to pay for energy we don’t use. Hopefully now ours is set to just DD pay what we actually use, we’ll see on our next bill. I don’t have a problem keeping a surplus in my own account to cover any eventuality.

LabR@t · 29 Nov 2022 at 18:45

CaptainRAVE said:
Depends how much you reduce your use. We were already hugely overpaying on our DD and the lowest we could set our new DD was over double that of previous, despite our usage going down by 2/3. The energy companies treat us like mugs, it’s madness that the default is to pay for energy we don’t use. Hopefully now ours is set to just DD pay what we actually use, we’ll see on our next bill. I don’t have a problem keeping a surplus in my own account to cover any eventuality.

Using 2/3 less paying more.
But prices have gone up, it sucks but little more we can do.

It's staggering when I look at the comparison charts

Surveyor · 29 Nov 2022 at 18:47

LabR@t said:
Ovo pays 5% on credit balances, might be worth considering?

Not for new customers.

OVO Interest Reward | Help Centre

Learn more about the benefits you get with OVO Interest Reward if you signed up for an eligible tariff before 27th September 2021.

www.ovoenergy.com

As of 27th September 2021, we’re no longer offering the OVO Interest Reward scheme with our tariffs. If you signed up for an eligible tariff before this date, you’ll still get rewards. Learn about how the scheme works and how we calculate your payments on this page.

And for those that do qualify:

Your interest rate will also go up the longer you’re with us. In the first year you get 3%, in year 2, it goes up to 4%, and in your third year and beyond it’s 5%.

HungryHippos · 29 Nov 2022 at 18:52

Curlyriff said:
The house will be fine, cold in itself isn't an issue as long as there isn't condensation/damp conditions.

My health, I'm keeping warm, thermal trousers, t-shirt, hoodie and such otherwise. I'd love to put the heating on but I can't afford too unfortunately. My bill is super low but with my change in circumstances my net income is still £400 a month less than it was October with house mate moving out. I haven't got anything to cut as I already did all that in March so now I'm on to heating or food right now.

My food bill is down to £40 a month, no treats. And eating when out seeing my parents once a week and my boys twice a week.

Not to demean your seeing your parents but if you're going out for a meal with them once a week somewhere more expensive but you can't afford to put the heating on, I would seriously consider changing your priorities so that you still see them but it costs less when you do.

full heating my property for an hour is like £1 worth of gas, with all rads going full tilt. A meal out at a pub is like £15-£20 with a drink and stuff, enough to heat my house for 2 hours per day.

Curlyriff · 29 Nov 2022 at 18:56

HungryHippos said:
Not to demean your seeing your parents but if you're going out for a meal with them once a week somewhere more expensive but you can't afford to put the heating on, I would seriously consider changing your priorities so that you still see them but it costs less when you do.

full heating my property for an hour is like £1 worth of gas, with all rads going full tilt. A meal out at a pub is like £15-£20 with a drink and stuff, enough to heat my house for 2 hours per day.

No as in I go to theirs and eat at theirs whatever they cooking and have a catch up.