Energy bill increases

[mjr]

Hmm, it must be bloody hard to raise children in this current financial situation. I remember just trying to 'teach' them to turn off unused lights
was a thankless task. Nowadays it almost becomes essential.
Tumble dryers, dishwashers 'et al' all sucking up the electricity.

Nowadays, you just tell your smart home hub to switch the light off when the last child's mobile device leaves a room

 

[youngoldbloke]

Our experience - £160 per month electricity DD currently. New build. Double glazed. Air source heat-pump, underfloor heating on ground floor, rads first floor, plus towel rails in bathrooms. Thermostats in every room. All electric. It has taken over 12 months to become familiar with room settings required, but finally getting the hang of it. Main gripe is that the system is noisy! The main manifold is situated centrally understairs and the pump is audible when heating comes on. The house has minimal glazing on the north side - only 3 small windows - and the heat gain from numerous large windows on the south side on a sunny day is fantastic. Sunshine on a cold winter day will raise the room temperatures to 22 degrees. Insulation is as required by the regs, but I believe the system would work even better if additional insulation was added in the roof space. I can't see how an efficient heat pump system could be installed in an existing property without major alterations. However there has been very little discussion about replacing gas combi boilers with electric ones, which appear to be increasingly available.

 

[numbnuts]

Our experience - £160 per month electricity DD currently. New build. Double glazed. Air source heat-pump, underfloor heating on ground floor, rads first floor, plus towel rails in bathrooms. Thermostats in every room. All electric. It has taken over 12 months to become familiar with room settings required, but finally getting the hang of it. Main gripe is that the system is noisy! The main manifold is situated centrally understairs and the pump is audible when heating comes on. The house has minimal glazing on the north side - only 3 small windows - and the heat gain from numerous large windows on the south side on a sunny day is fantastic. Sunshine on a cold winter day will raise the room temperatures to 22 degrees. Insulation is as required by the regs, but I believe the system would work even better if additional insulation was added in the roof space. I can't see how an efficient heat pump system could be installed in an existing property without major alterations. However there has been very little discussion about replacing gas combi boilers with electric ones, which appear to be increasingly available.

I rent from housing association and was taking to one of their gas engineers the other day and he said electric boilers will replace your gas one and it maybe as early as next year, but he said the cost will be massive if you want heating.
PS I've still not had the heating on this winter so far so good

 

[jowwy]

I rent from housing association and was taking to one of their gas engineers the other day and he said electric boilers will replace your gas one and it maybe as early as next year, but he said the cost will be massive if you want heating.
PS I've still not had the heating on this winter so far so good

not sure what association your with, but that information is not what's being said in wales......it would cost way too much to replace all gas boilers with electric

 

[Scaleyback]

Our experience - £160 per month electricity DD currently. New build. Double glazed. Air source heat-pump, underfloor heating on ground floor, rads first floor, plus towel rails in bathrooms. Thermostats in every room. All electric. It has taken over 12 months to become familiar with room settings required, but finally getting the hang of it. Main gripe is that the system is noisy! The main manifold is situated centrally understairs and the pump is audible when heating comes on. The house has minimal glazing on the north side - only 3 small windows - and the heat gain from numerous large windows on the south side on a sunny day is fantastic. Sunshine on a cold winter day will raise the room temperatures to 22 degrees. Insulation is as required by the regs, but I believe the system would work even better if additional insulation was added in the roof space. I can't see how an efficient heat pump system could be installed in an existing property without major alterations. However there has been very little discussion about replacing gas combi boilers with electric ones, which appear to be increasingly available.

That's interesting. My situation
I had a new condensing gas boiler installed 2 years ago, a Viessmann (German made) best dam boiler I have ever had (I'm 75 I've had a few)
We have a 3 bed detached house built 1983. Cav wall insulation, double glazing, loft insulation but according to latest advice probably not enough !. We are retired, home a lot, obviously, and our heating is on from 6a.m - 10 pm. every day. Thermostat set at 21 from 6 a.m until we get 'moving' say. . . 9 am. Then set at 20 degrees until sunset when it goes back up to 21. These 'rules' not set in stone, if we are cold, heating gets turned up. Currently my Direct Debit is £150.00 a month. I 'upped' this recently from £100.00, because I knew I would no doubt fall behind.
This is currently sufficient for Gas and Electric but come April I am probably going to have to raise it again. N;B I am with Octopus Energy, I can freely adjust my DD whenever I want. (I doubt I would be allowed to drop it below what Octopus deem sufficient) We are fortunate that we can afford the energy, however I don't just 'let it rip' I don't like it (£80.00) a month covered us last year !. We have family with children who cannot afford it and we regularly help them with their bills. What a sad state of affairs, I believe every human has a right to a roof over their head, food in their belly's and the ability to keep warm. I know . . . I know, I'm not living in the real world.

 

[mjr]

Our experience - £160 per month electricity DD currently. New build. Double glazed. Air source heat-pump, underfloor heating on ground floor, rads first floor, plus towel rails in bathrooms. Thermostats in every room. All electric. It has taken over 12 months to become familiar with room settings required, but finally getting the hang of it. Main gripe is that the system is noisy! The main manifold is situated centrally understairs and the pump is audible when heating comes on.

What size house and what power heat pump, if you don't mind saying? With your cost and the reported noise despite the huge advantages your new build has over my 1980s, either your house is big (so big pump to drive the system) or it sounds like the system flow may be being throttled by too many thermostats which would also make noise.

 

[jowwy]

have to be honest, if i was building my own house right now. i would smash it full of solar, multiple battery banks for winter and try not to use grid electric or gas as much as possible........i would even put a small windmill up for winter months too, when it blowing a hooly

 

[Electric_Andy]

I'd say almost certainly you are unless you are on a fixed tariff and/or very frugal with the gas and leccy

Yeah I have no idea, I was on £54/month which covered both last year, and I built up £120 credit. I'm now £240 in credit but as I say, I don't have a bill yet since forced to change to EDF. I don't have a tumble drier or dishwasher, my heating is set at 19 degrees from 06.30 to 20.30.

For anyone interested, my tariff is:

Electricity: 28.41p per kWh and 51.62p per day standing charge.
Gas: 7.47p per kWh and 27.22p standing charge

Looking at national averages, I think that is more expensive than most, but I can't change yet

 

[gbb]

Our experience - £160 per month electricity DD currently. New build. Double glazed. Air source heat-pump, underfloor heating on ground floor, rads first floor, plus towel rails in bathrooms. Thermostats in every room. All electric. It has taken over 12 months to become familiar with room settings required, but finally getting the hang of it. Main gripe is that the system is noisy! The main manifold is situated centrally understairs and the pump is audible when heating comes on. The house has minimal glazing on the north side - only 3 small windows - and the heat gain from numerous large windows on the south side on a sunny day is fantastic. Sunshine on a cold winter day will raise the room temperatures to 22 degrees. Insulation is as required by the regs, but I believe the system would work even better if additional insulation was added in the roof space. I can't see how an efficient heat pump system could be installed in an existing property without major alterations. However there has been very little discussion about replacing gas combi boilers with electric ones, which appear to be increasingly available.

£160 per month just for electricity ? I assume you have no or very low gas use ?
We're paying that for dual fuel, standard boiler with a hot water tank. Granted we don't use the heating that much but do use a lot of hot water.

Unless i'm missing something, while the eco impact of your system is good, the financials are'nt that good surely ?

 

[youngoldbloke]

What size house and what power heat pump, if you don't mind saying? With your cost and the reported noise despite the huge advantages your new build has over my 1980s, either your house is big (so big pump to drive the system) or it sounds like the system flow may be being throttled by too many thermostats which would also make noise.

House is around 2100 sq. feet. Heat-pump is 7kw and there are 7 separate zones each thermostatically controlled.

 

[vickster]

Yeah I have no idea, I was on £54/month which covered both last year, and I built up £120 credit. I'm now £240 in credit but as I say, I don't have a bill yet since forced to change to EDF. I don't have a tumble drier or dishwasher, my heating is set at 19 degrees from 06.30 to 20.30.

For anyone interested, my tariff is:

Electricity: 28.41p per kWh and 51.62p per day standing charge.
Gas: 7.47p per kWh and 27.22p standing charge

Looking at national averages, I think that is more expensive than most, but I can't change yet

You have the heating on all day? Mine stays off in the day unless super cold (I do wfh) and rarely above 18 deg

 

[youngoldbloke]

£160 per month just for electricity ? I assume you have no or very low gas use ?
We're paying that for dual fuel, standard boiler with a hot water tank. Granted we don't use the heating that much but do use a lot of hot water.

Unless i'm missing something, while the eco impact of your system is good, the financials are'nt that good surely ?

No gas. Everything electric. Washing machine, tumble drier. I would expect to be in credit at the end of the contract. Shape of all-electric things to come!

 

[ianrauk]

Electricity: 28.41p per kWh and 51.62p per day standing charge.

That seems a very high standing charge
I'm on E7
Electricity day unit rate: 26.75p per kWh
Electricity night unit rate: 9.81p per kWh
Daily standing charge: 24.12p per day

 

[Jody]

Electricity: 28.41p per kWh and 51.62p per day standing charge.

That's higher than my new increased tariff

 

[Scaleyback]

My current Tariff is:
Electric 19.64p per Kwh SC 26.45p
Gas 3.73p per Kwh SC 23.85p

I am expecting this to go up in April when Ofgem increase the price cap.
Electric_Andy, are the Tariff prices you are quoting from April 01st ?