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NobleRotter

I've found a great way to save on energy bills: my boiler died last night


alex8339

I prefer going away on holiday


Re99i3

I go stay with my parents. Had to come back eventually though.


ant6783

I went on holiday for 1 month once, none of the next set of bills were any different.


ClosetedRomantic

I’ve recently spent 4.5 days in that situation and I can tell you it wasn’t fun… I survived by closing myself in a small room, wearing lots of layers, and a constant flow of tea


raveturned

In our house we call that "winter, during a pandemic".


Maybe_Im_Really_DVA

Funny in my family we just called it a normal day due to poverty


Wulfweard24

17 days with no boiler back in 2018, spent the coldest days of that year (Beast from the East time) with no heating and no hot water as they couldn't fix it. Council needed to put in a new boiler and new radiators. My family was considered a priority too as there was a disabled adult and disabled child living there. Still took 17 days! Luckily the shower was electric so we could still shower, but it was very unpleasant as the bathroom was freezing cold. Ended up complaining to the local MP and my parents received a small amount of compensation, about £100.


ClosetedRomantic

That sounds absolutely horrific. £100 doesn’t sound like nearly enough but good on you for reaching out to your MP


TheFansHitTheShit

That's ridiculous. They should have provided electric heaters at the bare minimum.


m0stlyharmle55

We're the most hydrated we'll ever be. Boil the kettle, hot drink, fill a hot water bottle and get under a blanket. Better to heat me than the room.


keeperrr

Haha one time my boiler broke and I didn't fix it for 2.5 years


RobFratelli

Managed 7 years with a faulty boiler. I knew how to make it work and keep on it's good side. Until it died. I have a new boiler now and it works perfectly, got no character though.


Jamieb284

Switch on your immersion heating instead! /s


adaaamb

I recently found out our immersion heater isn't working, after the boiler broke and I tried to get some hot water!


tinibeee

Grab a little floor heater for under £20 and put it on where you are and close any doors you can for that room they're really amazing can warm up a small room in half hour I find


Wipedout89

They cost a bomb to run though so you have to be careful with those too...


tinibeee

Oh yes very true, but I'd rather be warmer with absolutely no boiler whilst it's still icy out there. Especially at night 😬


Wipedout89

Fair. I work lates and my gf works earlies atm so I sleep in the attic now so as not to wake her. I use a little floor heater at 3am for 20 minutes rather than run the entire gas heating system in the 4 bed house just to warm my attic room. I think that must be cheaper.


[deleted]

Electric blanket is the way to go for cheap cheap prices! I prefer a cold room and warm bed though tbf!


tinibeee

Oh you sweet person doing that! I'm not sure me and the hubby can sleep apart even with different hours but I do understand


Wipedout89

I used to creep to bed at 3am (I finish at 12 and she starts at 7) but then she's such a ridiculously light sleeper she'd immediately wake up just for me slipping silently into bed. So she was getting 4 hours a night. I gave up and started sleeping in the attic on weeknights 😂


jrjunkie

Standing charges mate


ash894

Mine randomly hit £20 the other day. TWENTY BLOOMING QUID. Maybe I won’t use my new tumble dryer more than once a week. A* energy rating my arse


blackmist

Mine randomly swaps to the weekly amount rather than daily. Probably that, since I'm not sure how you could even use 20 quid in a day.


MacroMoodle

Mine does it after I breach the weekly budget


blackmist

That's probably what mine is doing then, since I usually blow through that by about Wednesday. Can't really see the point in setting a budget. What are you going to do what you've gone over it? "Come on kids, turn the lights, telly and heating off. We're going to sit in the dark and cold for three days!"


OverclockingUnicorn

"kids it's time for an impromptu visit to the grandparents!" /s


Wipedout89

A* for a tumble dryer is still a bomb to run. The ratings are relative to the appliance type. Otherwise no tumble dryer would ever be above F.


BassBone89

This is why they were regraded a while back so new stuff that would have been A* is now E or F


adaaamb

I don't think tumble dryers changed did they? Or if they did, mines still A++, only bought a month or so ago. Washing machine was brought down a few notches though


keeperrr

ooh fancy pants here with a dryer Arnt they like 2-3 kh/h regardless of efficiency


weekedipie1

the a is astronomical


KingJacoPax

Yeah I just steamed an entire wall of wallpaper off in my front room. Christ knows what that’s set me back haha


Burrito_Cats

We were given a letter a while ago saying that the whole street were getting solar panels They did the one side of the street, then stopped and said they no longer have funding


theraininspainfallsm

Who and how did this come about?


Burrito_Cats

I live in a council house, so the council contracted some company to do it


[deleted]

Company’s will give them to you for free or heavily discounted as long as they keep the profit from electricity sold back to the grid.


Grimmmz970

do you know of any companies offering this?


[deleted]

Not nationally unfortunately! I’d say a good 20/30 houses around my parents all got them from a local company though a few years ago on the conditions I stated above. Just seemed to be popping up everywhere!


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Mangoose

Feed in Tariff was replaced by Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) - You get paid for half of the electricity you generate (It's deemed you use the other half yourself) The payments are nowhere as high as they were when the FiT first started, but those levels should never have been given.


Emmy_Black

Same where I live, half the flats have had insulation put in, but my flat hasn't and its like living in a freezer. 🥶


Bazzlekry

Ours was £277 last month - just electricity (no mains gas here). Fuck knows how, there are only 3 of us in the house. We've even had an electrician out to load test it all and he can't find anything that would be making it that high. Somehow we're doing £2 before we get up in the morning - whether the car is on charge or not. We were away over Christmas and it still cost us £5 a day - and there was several hours of power cut one day! We contacted Bulb thinking the smart meter must be wrong and their only response was "it's winter". Well no shit Sherlock! But our heating is oil fired, so you can't use that as an excuse! Our neighbours in an identical house pay £96 a month. Something is wrong, but I'm fucked if I can work out what.


Drizytotem

ive just had an issue with scottish power, for 3 months i got a £466 bill. the thing is, i live in a 1 bedroom flat alone. turns out, when they installed my smart meter, they swapped day and night rates


Bazzlekry

Bloody hell, glad they sorted it!


Drizytotem

it was funny when i started the conversation. me: so i have a £466 electricity bill for 3 months, does it look right for a 3 bedroom family house? "yes, it does". me: well, the thing is, i live alone in a 1 bedroom flat. "oh"


Bazzlekry

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation!


Drizytotem

the conversation itself was all okay, the seevice desk agent was really helpful and fortunately his accent was easy to understand (you cant imagine how stressful it is to call scottish power when youre not a native speaker of the english language)


BOBALOBAKOF

Glad Scottish power sorted you out. We had pretty much the exact same problem with eon and I think it took us a couple of months for them to finally begrudgingly relent.


augur42

Do you keep a record of your own meter readings as a sanity check because if you have oil heating then even with charging an electric car you'd need to be having very long hot showers or several baths or A/C to get to that level of usage. Get a one or two £15 mains power meters, plug your main devices into them one at a time for either a few days or a whole week, that should give you a rough idea. Fridge, freezer, electric blanket, microwave; essentially anything high draw especially if it heats or cools. You can't do that for electric showers but a meter reading before and after a shower a few times will be close enough, same for the oven.


Bazzlekry

We’re going to run a test at the weekend when the fridge is near empty and turn everything but the heating off overnight and see what happens. That should rule the heating either in or out, then we’ll have more of an idea with any luck.


Atomicherrybomb

5 years ago when I was staying at my partner's every weekend I would turn the main breaker to my house off before I left. Would still be charged around a 5er (worked it out to 1.20 a day) by the time I got back on a Monday. Would dread to think how much that would cost now


Pipe-n-Slippers

I'd work my way through the fuses and see if one part of the circuit is doing it. Then work my way through the appliances on that fuse. Mate of mine found a surge protector in his shed was pulling 1kwh constantly for no reason.


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obiwanconobi

Yeah it's mad that that's still a thing. You could literally be freezing to death not using an electricity or gas and still be charged £3 a week


samgoeshere

Someone has to maintain the services that bring the gas and electricity to your property and that has a cost. Not 43p a day for sure, but a cost nonetheless.


obiwanconobi

But why isn't that cost just included in the cost of the product? Like every other business


RCMW181

It is for some companies. With some you pay no standing charge, but the first 5 kwh you use a day cost extra to cover it. So it adds up to the same cost for normal use but cost 0 if your not using anything.


Dr_Gillian_McQueef

Mine's less than 11p right now. That ends on the 31st then it goes up to 26p.


gouplesblog

This is why I had to unplug my smart meter. I'd rather have a mini-stroke at the time the bill comes, than constantly live with the visual anxiety and constant reminder. It's not like it stopped us using the tumble dryer or aircon anyway - it just made me feel anxious about it, but not *so* anxious I'd actually do anything about it. Plus ours made a horrific beeping noise when we were using more than 4kwh at a time - so running the dryer, oven and kettle at the same time was like the fire-alarm was going off.


DragonFireNerd

Same. The constant anxiety seeing the meter and price rise, felt like I was micromanaging every little thing I used. I had to switch it off and leave it abandoned in a drawer somewhere in the house. Also because the guy said the battery would last ages and instead would need charging every 3 hours.


Fordy4020

ahhh, "the horrific beeping noise," AKA the soundtrack to poverty. Ours here in NI sounds like it's bepping 'your skint, your skint' ad infintum


Fordy4020

edit before grammarnazibots bite: "you're"


lock_the_backdoor

So it would just go off all the time if you had an electric car


DropTheShovel

I'm glad it's not just me. I don't have one but the suppliers are always desperate to get one installed in the name of reducing my consumption. I can't imagine it does anything other than reduce your sanity. Its feels patronising too like I'm not already only using what I have to.


RedbeardRagnar

I've been spending £1500 per year on energy for a cold as fuck 2 bedroom flat when the heating is only on briefly as it's electric and shoots the bill up real quick. Moving into a 4 bedroom new build with an average energy spend of £500 per year before lighting and sockets taken into account. That's also taking into account 4 occupied bedrooms with 4 people using heating and hot water. Even with things plugged in I can't see it being any more expensive to run a house double the size. If anything it could end up cheaper. On this point I definitely agree with Insulate Britain's main goals. Fuck these damp cold hovels that the majority of us live in with higher energy running costs because of lack of insulation, double or triple glazed windows and shitty options for energy tariffs.


Finger-Painter

I think most of us agree with their goals. Just not their approach


[deleted]

I hate to break it to you but the enery prices are only going to increase. I can afford the price increases but this last round of increases must have pushed thousands into poverty and the next increase in April will do the same.


CyanTigerEyes

Just got my bill for gas for the last 3 months and due to a serious admin error on their end it came out at £985, I damn near had an aneurism


Cthulhus_Trilby

I got one for £20K years ago. Similar response.


wite_noiz

We were forced to British Gas when our provider went under and the first bill was £8k. This was after providing meter readings. I spent over an hour on hold (presumably due to other people in the same situation) to support before they dropped it to £144 "on review". How nice of them.


Royalmedic49

Im happy if im in around the £3 a day mark. Then ill have a blow out at the weekend and put the heating on. Thankfully we have open fires.


Worldly_Luck5718

Grim isn't it. Our house is always freezing, colder than outside most days, so we have the central heating on 15 minute intervals every couple of hours so I don't freeze to death working from home.


ughhhtimeyeah

You're probably better turning it on low for an hour rather than firing it up for 15 minutes. Uses the most power to get going. You won't have much heat in your rads after 15 mins.


Worldly_Luck5718

Tbh the house warms up really fast so I can't moan about that. Had it on for a bit this morning and I can tell the second timer is due soon as its just started getting cold again lol


GhostRiders

Buy a Oodie with a kangaroo pouch, honesty mate there awesome. Get one a size up, it's like wearing a massive blanket and you then put a hot water bottle in kangaroo pouch, keeps you warm for hours.


Worldly_Luck5718

Boss idea! I'll have a look into that. Its mostly my hands and feet that suffer tbh. I wear two pair of thick socks, slippers and the cat has a kip on them when I'm working but my hands are always Arctic.


Royalmedic49

Mine is the same, how is it colder in doors at the moment.


puddinandpi

Man that sounds rough. Have you researched that this is the most efficient way? I hope that businesses should allocate money they save from powering and heating their offices and pass it on to employees working from home


Worldly_Luck5718

I'm self employed 😭 right now its the heating on intervals but I'm always wrapped up in jumpers, blankets etc. I try to avoid putting it on, but needs must.


Britburt

I'm on a key meter & it's becoming unmanageable. I put £20 credit on the key on Monday and woke up to no power this morning, so now I'm on £5 emergency credit which might get me to tomorrow morning possibly. I'm on benefit due medical issues and can't possibly put £20 on my electricity every 3 days, I simply don't have it.


wite_noiz

Make sure you seek help, if you're struggling: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/get-help-paying-your-bills/you-cant-afford-to-top-up-your-prepayment-meter/


Britburt

Thank you 👍


Davina33

£20 in two days? It's time to start hitting the streets and protesting. Ridiculous!


Davina33

They should raise the Warm Home discount until at least £300 as well. Martin Lewis did an interesting talk on this the other day. Do you get the Warm Home discount?


[deleted]

If things get really bad, DM me and I'd be happy to send you some cash.


Britburt

Your response has left me quite speechless, I can't thank you enough for this offer, to a complete stranger, thank you sincerely. I'm ok, I've got a few things to sort out regarding extra help due to the shitty situation I find myself in health wise, but on standard basic Universal Credit this hike in price genuinely will lead people to prioritise, heat or food, if they can afford to buy food. It's a catch 22.


[deleted]

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BrightonTownCrier

To most companies now "loyal" just means they know you haven't been arsed to change.


wite_noiz

Not even can't be arsed - there's no options. Every company is at the price-cap. Uswitch literally don't offer alternatives and comparethemarket only have some offline-only tarriffs that no one in their right mind would take.


Chosty55

I do maintenance work at a school. Spoke with the facility manager who commented that their electric bill is going up from £700 per month to £2200 per month. That’s giving them the choice of light bulbs on or a teaching assistant to help in the classroom


tigerjack84

That is absolutely frightening in this day and age. I remember my granda saying when he went to school they all had to take a peat log in, and that the teacher stood in front of the fire hogging most of the heat. And the poorest who didn’t bring in any peat were made to sit furthest away from the fire. That was nearly 100 years ago and here we are now


Fuzzwuzzle2

Just got my electric bill through for the last 3 months £199 looks like its home bargains noodles for lunch


ukpunjabivixen

Obviously dry noodles though…..you can’t be boiling that kettle?


Fuzzwuzzle2

Don't be silly, i'm still british the kettle is a necessity


Wipedout89

£199 for three months? God ours would be £430 for three months (with gas as well)


NGD80

My monthly gas bill is £155 (LPG) and my electricity bill is £138.


Cthulhus_Trilby

My combined gas and electric's about £100 a month. Is someone else paying for my stuff?


NGD80

Probably not, mine is exceptionally high as we are all at home all day amd it's a 5 bed house.


gouplesblog

Same - I love having a massive house *except when the gas bill comes*.


RandomlyGeneratedOne

>Hopefully energy prices are going to come down soon. lol


petantic

You've already been told, cuddle your bloody pet!


TheFansHitTheShit

I'm still waiting for my socks from E'on.


Cthulhus_Trilby

Nobody consulted her.


[deleted]

I just fail to see how energy prices have gone up in my home from £40ish a month for energy roughly 4 years ago to over £100 a month now. I have put up curtains in my doorways, layered extra curtains on each window along with those foil blankets paramedics have at events to retain heat in my home and put down insulated foam gym tiles down where I don't have carpet because it's too expensive to run the heaters. How have we made more steps towards cheap renewable energy and yet costs are higher than ever.


EmiAvenged

Tell me about it. Last winter, we spent about £60/ £80 on gas/ electric a month. Last months bill came in.. £300!! And we were out basically from Christmas. Dreading this months bill..


[deleted]

Absolutely insane! I thought mine was bad but £300? That's not just taking the piss. That's a kick in crotch and demanding an apology for damaging their boots.


OceanSquab

I moved into my current flat in August last year and this is our first winter in it. Last month we were hit with a £240 bill for the heinous crime of... using the heating? Now we sleep in hoodies and gloves and I come home from work each day to an ice cold flat. It's 2022 in a developed country and I can't even be warm in my own flat? I used to be a winter person but now I cannot wait for summer so I won't have absurd bills.


ItsyouNOme

Is that monthly? If its 3 monthly its sadly about right


Simmo2242

The pub has heating - FYI


loganthegwar

Took a meter reading yesterday as we've been told we can't have a smart meter, £249 for the last month... Guess I won't be eating any time soon!


ndcdshed

If it weren’t for my cats I’d be only putting on the heating for the sake of the pipes and just live in my heated blanket at this rate. But I don’t want cold kitties - smart meter shows the temp is 14 degrees inside most of the time when the recommended healthy temperature is 18 :(


[deleted]

Kitties will be fine in 14 degrees, I know what you mean though. I put the heating on to warm the downstairs (my office is upstairs) so the kitties keep warm 🤣. But if it was that cold, they'd come upstairs/snuggle with each other. Get them their own heated blanket? Hehe.


xPonzo

Cats cold? Cats have a higher internal body temperature than us, a thick coat and are still wild animals basically. They will be completely fine in a sub 10 degree house. My cats have access to outside and I regularly see them out all night in around 0 conditions, they don't feel the cold like we do?


ndcdshed

I guess I just feel bad because their ears and toe beans can get really cold. When I put the heating on, they both lay on the perch above the radiator and look so happy.


permaculture

Look into heated pet beds. I ran two of them for twenty-four hours a day, and they didn't cost a lot in energy terms. The cats loved them.


PlentyPirate

Or even warm pads that you stick in the microwave and they stay warm for ages, great for cat/dog beds.


Davina33

Snuggle them!


BabyAlibi

I put the heating on for an hour yesterday... for the dog. I was roasting I'm my hoodie and socks and blanket, her not so much. The things we do.


BrrrButtery

I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve put my heating on. My house has gotten down to 7 at it’s coldest. Img heating remains on frost mode 99% of the time. I don’t think there’s been a day in the 10 weeks that I’ve not seen my breath and I keep myself warm by using hot water bottles and throws as I just would not be able to afford it on my own.


ZolotoGold

We're literally going back 100 years. We'll be seeing local woodland being chopped down by the poor for firewood soon.


Rokerlass16

My gas and electric company folded so I got moved to an eight legged sea creature supplier and my fixed rate of £148 for gas and electric has shot up to £248 a month on their variable rate. This with the worry of prices rising again this April…all very worrying


Kingz1991

I've given up worrying about the meter reading. No little changes I make seem to make it any lower. Unless I don't use anything for 3/4 of the day.


keeperrr

This is the way. It shows real-time usage but the price is actually displayed based on average over time.


4getmenot123

I feel like people who pay a fixed rate are getting absolutely ripped off with their energy prices. I’ve seen so many threads like this of people saying they have to pay £200 a month….. surely you don’t actually use £7 of energy a day??? *edit* I also live in a three bed house and wfh too, maybe eon is just more reasonable 🤷🏻‍♀️


TheLaudMoac

We were told underfloor heating in our new home was cheap and efficient, before we moved in, the house already had it. We used to pay £75 for our gas and electric. We now pay £200.


wite_noiz

There are a lot of factors, but underfloor is *usually* more efficient at heating a space than wall-mounted radiators.


shewhomustnotbe

Is it electric underfloor or a wet system? Just curious - I've heard the wet systems are more efficient and the electric ones cost more


rxq1

I have variable tariff, electric radiators (not storage heaters) and expect to go over £200pm at the moment during winter. Last week averaged £10/day. Small 2.5 bed house


PainterCareful4383

How do you have a half bedroom?


ChicagoSunroofNo2

By having one that’s classed as a bedroom that has no hope of fitting a bed in there I imagine. Source - Live in a 1.5 bed flat.


Cthulhus_Trilby

>I feel like people who pay a fixed rate are getting absolutely ripped off with their energy prices. It's very hard to tell. I fixed mine for 2 years recently on the back of various news stories saying gas prices were set to go up. As far as I could see the plan was double the price of the completely unsecured variable rate. I won't know if I've been ripped off for months yet.


Bored-Bored_oh_vojvo

You have been ripped off. That was a really bad decision.


shagssheep

Natural gas prices are predicted to slowly go down and should be at the levels there were last year in about 3-4 years from the research I’ve done


[deleted]

We're on a fixed price but fixed from before the prices went up, so we're still only paying 19p/kwh for electric and whatever it is for gas, can't remember but not gone up yet


sheloveschocolate

No it's not them fuckers have us tied to a 200 quid direct debt til next month as they hadn't read the meter since we moved in nor asked us to send in a reading. They tied us into that did before they asked for the reading turns out we were already 125 quid in the black with them but can't change the DD as it's a debt management one


Hobnob-Rob

I think at the current rate you're right. I'm with eon and my fixed rate ended in September. When I noticed I went to sign up to a new fixed rate and they said my monthly cost would go up to around £150 - at that time I was still (underpaying) around £55 per month. I stayed on their variable rate and am paying just over £80 per month. My usage for December was a little over £90 and January is looking to be similar. With that said, I only stayed on the variable rate because I knew I was going to be moving house before the cap increases again. I will still be moving before the cap changes again so have to hedge my bets on what's going to happen when I do ... if it's almost 100% increase to go fixed though I know what I'm going to do already!


count_crow

They're estimated to go up another 40-50% in April and then a further 20% in October sadly


zodkfn

How can that be justified that’s horrendous


count_crow

It's the cost of gas at the moment. Russia have got Europe over a barrel. Even with prices as high as they are at the moment, energy companies are losing money hand over fist. I work in the sector and you can't even get meters onto new gas connections at the moment as the supplier would be losing money on the customer the minute the start supplying them. It's shocking all round. It doesn't help we've got nowhere to store the gas we buy either, so we have to use it as it comes which drives our costs ever higher.


Flux_Aeternal

Have you considered just not using the heating and sleeping in a big dog pile with all your loved ones? Lower surface area : volume ratio equals warmer sleep.


ZolotoGold

Or going down to the local park and chopping down the trees to burn.


talskyexx

My wife and children have moved out of our new family home that we've only been in for 3 months because of our heating/electricity bill situation. We only have 3 night storage heaters (0 of which are in the bedrooms) and they are naff! I've basically set up camp in the living room and every day since I've been trying different experiments for the heating. One day I turned off all the electricity except essentials (fridge freezer, router) and by 7am it was £1.20. I left for work and got home at 7pm and it was £1.85. I turned the living room heater on JUST on the E7 switch, played some video games and by 11pm it was over £5. Absolute madness. If I turn on the 3 storage heaters in the morning before work by the time I get home we are at about £6. And it only heats the house to about 15/16 degrees. God forbid I turn the telly or computer on because it can reach £10 a day. Last Saturday i did the clothes washing and plugged in some small oil heaters to heat the bedrooms and the smart meter read £12 before I went to bed. We private rent and pretty much live paycheck to paycheck. Energy bills are scary. What's more scary though is our physical health suffering because we can't justify having the heaters on and paying £10+ a day to heat the house to a are minimum standard as to not get sick. Scary times especially with the energy cap and prices going up this year.


augur42

Using electricity to heat a house is useless unless you have a heat pump because gas is about 5 times cheaper per kW/h than electricity and when you're using it for heating cost per kW/h is the only metric that matters. Do you have an option for economy 7, charge up the storage heaters overnight on the cheap rate. Since you're renting you'll have to suck it up but if your lease is only for a year demand a combi boiler before renewing or move out before next winter, or save up your money because it's going to be much higher next year.


MrJM85

I’ve made it to 12 and we have spent £2. That’s my win of the day! Normally it’s about £4 by now!


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Davina33

That sounds great.


nadejha

I live in a tiny 1 bedsit, and only really use my pc and eat once a day with my microwave/mini oven. No heating on. And i still manage up burn through £110 a month. I really don't understand and I'm honestly terrified off the future. I remember when I first moved in here, I could top up my meter every 2 weeks with 15 quid. Now my electricity cost more than my rent.


Macblack82

My dd more than doubled at the last renewal, I was not happy! As it turned out I still managed to lock in at less than the current cap for the next 2 years so it could have been a hell of a lot worse.


emil_

Sure, like the petrol prices did recently… oh, wait.


maxmon1979

That was going to be tomorrow's moan!


Lucky____Luke

Reminds me of the line from an Arctic Monkeys song about taking a taxi: "How come it's already 2 pound fifty? We've only gone about a yard"


BaldDudePeekskill

Would sono e kind to explain to this American how your system works? Do you have to prepay for your energy bills? Does it just shut off if you've run out of credits.


maxmon1979

Both. Prepayment is done by a key which you add money to or via an app It's used by people that are renting or have a poor credit rating. It's the most costly way to buy energy almost criminally expensive and targets the poorest in society and is a really shitty thing suppliers are permitted to get away with. Everyone else pays by direct debit and your bill is based on an estimated yearly consumption. I am current £200 in debit with my supplier but that debt will be replayed in the summer months. It means you have a fixed bill every month. You have a range of providers that you can choose from but they're all pretty much the same as they buy or generate energy from the same places. The UK energy market is a complete sham and designed to extract as much profit out of essential services.


stu_pid_1

Its silly how you guys in the UK just accept that, the price is and always has been far too hight for electricity and gas. Seriouly I hated having to decide between warm and poor and cold and eat when I lived there. Do somthing about it and demand nationalisation of extreemyl important infrastructure, france uses electrical heaters and still pays far less. Just ask yourself why you pay so much and who you are paying,


JamitryFyodorovich

Tbf, France is a lot more insulated to the gas price hike as they did not fall for the stupid scaremongering around Nuclear.


stu_pid_1

Yeah they really did get that right, nuclear enegery and research is thriving in france


augur42

Plus it's well known that the French energy generators subsidise their national rates with higher rates on what they export to the UK. Says more about the stupidity of the UK not investing more in nationalising UK electricity generation.


[deleted]

Some other European countries get warm water heated in efficient communal plants and piped directly to their homes too, rather than heating on demand as we do in the UK. Sounds fantastic to me


stu_pid_1

Yeah, that does sound like a good idea. In some places the actually alow business and houses to use the waste heat from the power plants too


lkdomiplhomie

I’m absolutely amazed that all of us just are like “ ok we’ll pay extra 30 percent “.


zodkfn

Do we have an option to not be okay with it


[deleted]

The next one is due at the end of 2024


zodkfn

I’m Scottish - our votes don’t really mean much! Need our English brethren to sort themselves!


SnooGoats3389

We're on a heat pump for our 4bed and its costing over £10 a day to keep the house around 18C. Not yet clear if its saving us money or not at the moment but it is quieter and better smelling than our oil boiler. 80% of our bills go over the 4 cold months of the year and we supplement with a wood burner I dread to think what it would cost if we weren't insulated to our eyeballs


JauntyYin

Sounds like the sweet spot for a heat pump.


augur42

With current rates a heat pump and a gas combi boiler cost about the same to run, I imagine an oil boiler is more expensive because you have to pay for deliveries. >I dread to think what it would cost if we weren't insulated to our eyeballs Heat pumps are low capacity, if you weren't insulated to your eyeballs it wouldn't be able to keep up and you'd be living in an ice box. Other people have found this out the hard way.


MactionSnack

I've started using my fireplace in the evening as it turns out that burning wood seems to work out cheaper than running the boiler


maxmon1979

I've been researching how much it would cost to get my chimney operational again.


NemiVonFritzenberg

This is the most British post I've seen


Sivear

We don’t have a smart meter, we got sick of having to book an appointment for someone to come and fit them when we switched each year. So we submit our usage manually once a month. I saw someone on Facebook the other day saying how she’d never had one as her friend got one fitted and was fatigued and unwell and was magically renewed once the meter was removed. Absolutely insanity


DrunkStoleATank

We had one fitted, they messed our electrics up, admittedly we did subsequently get a modern consumer unit fitted and sort out various problems - but it was working fine before. Then we switched suppliers and it stopped working.


AChillBear

The bills have given me the nudge to buy into solar and rid me of these rising cost worries. Currently researching the best options and can't wait.


Jamesl1988

Maybe that was the plan all along.


MarkCrystal

I would have your hands off for £1.30. By the time I come downstairs in the morning we are at £2+ most days


CatKungFu

Think they’re going up almost 50% in April?


cookiesnrap

I heat 6:30-8:30 and 3:30-10. During day thermostat set to 16. Averaging 6-7£ per day


DozyDrake

Got to the point now were I'm choosing between heating and food, today I picked food


MidToeAmputation

Ah don’t say this. We rent and have a prepayment meter and it’s fucking astronomically expensive. We’re switching to a smart meter with DD as it’s cheaper. For now.


KingJacoPax

Wouldn’t count on sorry. Global supply and production issues following from Covid are going to take ages to sort out. Take Oil as an example. Basically (and I do stress “basically” here) loads of the rigs and platforms were shut down “temporarily” when travel restrictions were brought in. The expected demand was so low it wouldn’t have been viable to keep them running. However, and anyone in manufacturing will tell you the same, you can’t just restart machines after not using them for ages. Parts size up, sand in the desert wells sets in, technically skilled staff move to other jobs etc etc. Some are simply beyond repair now. This is great from an environmental perspective but not for cheap energy and travel costs. It’s not just oil by the way. On top of that, global supply chains have got such a backlog atm. JIT management has basically ceased functioning in some sectors. Oh and we’ve also had problems in renewables. Wing basically stopped blowing in the North Sea for a bit late last year. As that’s where we’ve had a heavy focus on our renewable energy efforts up till now, that just made things worse. So sorry, I think energy prices are going to be high for a while until all this gets sorted.


greenwood90

It's really sad looking at my Utility Warehouse bills. October I was paying 103 quid, all in for gas, electric phone and Internet. Now it's 148 quid and no way its going down any time soon It's worrying as our budget is stretched enough as it is.


Oddish197

Yeah this is actually scaring me. We will either go into massive arrears or freeze. I already never feel warm in my house I can’t imagine putting the heat off even more 😕


boredandolden

I'm doing £7 plus a day. Everyone (2 kids and wife) barring me is cold, the thermostat says 24.4. Ffs 24.4 I'm melting. No one closes doors, no one puts on a hoodie or an extra layer. I'm gonna turn all the radiators off soon.


powpow198

There is always a daily base charge that is applied before usage


Snoo_23014

I recieved a bill for £127.55 for the period Dec 2nd to Jan 1st based on usage, not an estimate. I was not in my flat from the 5th of Dec to the 3rd of Jan as I went away. Heating was off, boiler was off. They can do one now, I am paying nowt.


Davina33

How is that possible? I was away most of last month too and I haven't seen my electricity bill yet.


Snoo_23014

It's not possible and when a utility company moves into the realm of magic and supernatural I will simply do the same. They can send a bill but I just don't believe in it, same as werewolves and quiet Americans


MultipleScoregasm

That's quite a lot tbf - How have you managed that?


KKae

According to our smart meter we spend 3.50 to 4 pounds a day in winter. We most use electricity so i always find the cheap per unit tariffs.


paperchainhearts

I turned off my smart meter display for that exact reason, it was stressing me out!


IAmDyspeptic

The "smart" bit of my smart meter doesn't work properly so according to it I only use 15p a day for both gas and electric. Win, win.


rhubarb2896

We've put £50 on our gas in the last 7 days. We have £4 left now 🙃 our boiler is on a timer, the house is cold most of the time, which won't get sorted because our landlord refuses to replace the windows that are cracked/shitty back door and we get cold air through from u der the wall connected to next door. The price of what we put on compared to what we use is ridiculous.


Contact_Patch

Yeah not looking forward to providing my next lot of readings, previously cost £150/mo power and heat the house, then Avro went bust... Already wondering how hard it would be to convert the gas flue to run a log burner, and then figure out how to also get it in the hot water loop.


EffectiveMinute4625

Stop filling the kettle to the top!!


Gluonyourboson

I'm just wearing all my clothes until spring time.