Energy bill increases

[jowwy]

Unfortunately my gang is on the wall behind the TV & cannot be got to, it goes down the wall & into a socket under the floor. I wonder how much current one of those Alexa sockets use in standby mode, as that would be the logical option, save any wiring etc.

shucks.....not always easy when we hide sockets away

 

[Deleted member 26715]

It's is really sad for a country that initiated the world first civil nuclear program in 1956 to see its citizens counting power consumption of fans and bulbs. What about those who can't afford heating in winter. Many of them suffer in silence and in their old age it is not at all fair.

But there is a fear of the inevitable big bang especially if you put them in the hands of greedy capitalists who will cut the safety inspections to a minimum

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I still have storage heaters. I quite like them anyway. As it’s a bungalow I’m going to try and get by this winter with just the hall one on and letting the heat from that get to the other rooms. I can see a few days with.a fleecy blanket over me will be required!

Sister has just moved out of a bungalow with storage heaters, cost her £350 a month last year, would hate to think what the cost would have gone to this year.

 

[Jody]

I think I have enough fluorescent bulbs to last decades. Bought loads of them when they were on offer at 10p each. Most of them were around 8w so a good saving over halogen

 

[mjr]

I may have done my sums wrong of course, and there is the issue that if your hearing is on a thermostat,

Pardon? It's too hot for me to hear you

it will in principle need to put on an equivalent amount more energy to make up for that no longer coming from the bulb.

Probably not completely because most bulbs are up near the ceiling or hard against walls, where people generally aren't, so it's OK if that immediate area is a bit cooler, but of course, the extra cooling of the main body of the room matters.

 

[mjr]

Also getting in the habit of using the laptop on battery, now I've fitted a new battery - had to be plugged in before, so only plug in when needed.

Surely unless you're charging from solar or economy 7 or similar, that won't help because of the inefficiency of charging a battery? I'm assuming your "power management" settings are similar for mains and battery power and that the laptop mains transformer isn't rubbish at low loads.

The rule of thumb for low power always used to be to charge the battery and then eject it, although you then lose the benefit of the laptop staying on if there's a power cut.

 

[cyberknight]

My niece can't afford to top up her electric meter as it is (asked her mum for money last week),so goodness knows how she'll manage come winter.

piece of the news today , the advice was deferred payment so the companies and goverments dont have a clue or don't give a monkeys
Talking to someone today and he thought their will be a lot of people defaulting on rent/mortgages soon.Im lucky that atm we are getting disability / carer's allowance as my pay rise hasn't even covered the increases so far

 

[gbb]

It's is really sad for a country that initiated the world first civil nuclear program in 1956 to see its citizens counting power consumption of fans and bulbs. What about those who can't afford heating in winter. Many of them suffer in silence and in their old age it is not at all fair.

Tis true. For all my previous post about people I know on benefits who squander it...there are plenty living on the breadline who don't. I genuinely feel for them. At the same time its mixed with our experiences of our own life that was conducted on meagre wages, no benefits whatsoever, we worked hard, budgeted hard, led pretty meagre lives yet came out on top, house owning with a healthy savings pot. Living within ones means is the key, its something a lot of people won't do.


I've read a couple articles lately where Rolls Royce are developing SMRs, small modular reactors that show great promise. Each being the size of a couple football fields but can power a small city.

Sister has just moved out of a bungalow with storage heaters, cost her £350 a month last year, would hate to think what the cost would have gone to this year.

Genuine sympathy, we had similar when were young and fairly newly married...we simply couldn't use it, couldn't afford to, it was so expensive.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

piece of the news today , the advice was deferred payment so the companies and goverments dont have a clue or don't give a monkeys
Talking to someone today and he thought their will be a lot of people defaulting on rent/mortgages soon.Im lucky that atm we are getting disability / carer's allowance as my pay rise hasn't even covered the increases so far

Pay rise this year, the first in 5 years amounted to £84 per month, not seen the benefit of it, but I suppose if I hadn't received it we'd be in a worse position.

Genuine sympathy, we had similar when were young and fairly newly married...we simply couldn't use it, couldn't afford to, it was so expensive.

Not using it wasn't really an option, my father who at the time was 97 felt the cold, my 83 year old brother in law has severe Parkinsons, so he too has difficulty keeping warm, they've moved into a house with oil heating but that has jumped in cost, especially as somebody has helped themselves to over 3,000 litres of the stuff whilst they weren't living there.

 

[PaulSB]

You should be able to switch to a monthly DD regardless of meter type. Might be worth making payments at the level you anticipate each month until they can figure their shoot out.

With British Gas it's more complicated than it should be. If one wants monthly billing with direct debit it has to be a variable DD when a lot of people, myself included, prefer a DD for the same monthly amount to help with budgeting.

The other alternative is quarterly billing with a fixed monthly direct debit. Of course quarterly billing can lead to nasty shocks for those who don't take monthly readings and then calculate their usage that month.

 

[gbb]

With British Gas it's more complicated than it should be. If one wants monthly billing with direct debit it has to be a variable DD when a lot of people, myself included, prefer a DD for the same monthly amount to help with budgeting.

The other alternative is quarterly billing with a fixed monthly direct debit. Of course quarterly billing can lead to nasty shocks for those who don't take monthly readings and then calculate their usage that month.

But, you could argue this is where taking responsibility and basic budgeting is a basic necessity. Take control, monitor usage, budget and put by each month toward that quarterly bill. As you say, those that don't take readings...and responsibility, cant really complain .

 

[ColinJ]

With British Gas it's more complicated than it should be. If one wants monthly billing with direct debit it has to be a variable DD when a lot of people, myself included, prefer a DD for the same monthly amount to help with budgeting.

The other alternative is quarterly billing with a fixed monthly direct debit. Of course quarterly billing can lead to nasty shocks for those who don't take monthly readings and then calculate their usage that month.

My current quarterly bill is variable DD but I want a monthly DD. I would prefer that to be variable so I just pay for what I use. I don't like the idea of overpaying, and I definitely do not want to get behind in my payments.

I checked my electricity usage over the past 24 hours - only 2 kWh - I can live with that! 3 kWh would probably be more typical because I didn't use the microwave or fan ovens yesterday.

Once I have the smart meter set up properly and the heating eventually goes back on, I will have to work out if it is cheaper to use a small electric convector heater next to me, or the central heating on its lowest setting with most of the radiators in the rest of the house turned right down.

 

[jowwy]

My current quarterly bill is variable DD but I want a monthly DD. I would prefer that to be variable so I just pay for what I use. I don't like the idea of overpaying, and I definitely do not want to get behind in my payments.

I checked my electricity usage over the past 24 hours - only 2 kWh - I can live with that! 3 kWh would probably be more typical because I didn't use the microwave or fan ovens yesterday.

Once I have the smart meter set up properly and the heating eventually goes back on, I will have to work out if it is cheaper to use a small electric convector heater next to me, or the central heating on its lowest setting with most of the radiators in the rest of the house turned right down.

No fridge or freezer in your house then or tv, internet etc etc

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Am I right in assuming that solar panels are not suitable for many as apart from the capital cost you need a South facing roof for it to be viable?

We have a weird shaped rook - triangular on 4 sides - so we could only get a few panels on
5 on the back - south facing - and 3 on the West facing side
I did ask about having them on the North facing side which gets a lot of sun in the evening - but the company installing them said it was not worth it as it would only generate a reasonable about of power for a few weeks a year

so - yes - it depends on the orientation and shape of you roof - and whether or not it is shaded by anything

 

[ColinJ]

No fridge or freezer in your house then or tv, internet etc etc

No freezer. That was fridge, lights, kettle, TV/Freesat box/stereo amp, router, laptop and phone chargers.