Cold snap and heating cost

[oowee]

10 hours ago, Mice! said:

Try being in a caravan! I got there last week and it was frozen outside and 2°C inside,  I've got a small oil filled radiator running 24/7 and it'll stay on throughout the winter.

Gas heater goes on when I get in to take the chill off for maybe 20 mins or so, I don't like to tun it too long, then I've just been keeping a fleece and hat on, with the heating going on if needed.

It's not ideal, but it's not usually this cold for long, but it won't have been over 10°C in the caravan Wednesday,  Thursday or Friday, dropping over night to 2 or 3 again,  which means you get dressed very quickly.

When I get home it's like summer,  the extension always feels warm compared with the rest of the house so the insulation works.

I haven't a clue what we're paying per day, heating goes on on the timer in the mornings , again in the afternoon then on and off throughout the evening as we notice its cooled down.

It does make you wonder how people went on years ago with no heating?

My boat is £18 a day with the oil filled rad and then the fan heater when we are sat down. Insulation is pretty hopeless only the sea at about 10deg to keep it warm 🙂 

 

[JohnfromUK]

It's good to see how much wind and solar are contributing when needed.

[Westley]

15 minutes ago, Jaymo said:

And moaned less too!!!

Hhmmmm   don't know about that  !    😄

[discobob]

12 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

It's good to see how much wind and solar are contributing when needed.

Its there when you don't need it, and not when you do!!!

[Bruno24]

11 hours ago, alastair0903 said:

Am I being naive then, I thought everyone was now paying the same price, as in the price cap? 

As did I but recently had a look at my account with Scottish power and found I am being charged over 48p per unit day rate and over 18p night rate, and 52p standing charge.

Having looked on other web sites seems the 34p cap only seems to apply if you are on duel fuel, seems as only having electric and on economy 7 they can charge( it seems) what they like.

I don't see why I should pay nearly 12p per unit more for the same electric, as someone on duel fuel.

 

[JohnfromUK]

7 minutes ago, discobob said:

Its there when you don't need it, and not when you do!!!

I see they are binging two coal fired stations to readiness  https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/dec/12/national-grid-coal-fired-plants-uk-icy-weather-electricity-blackouts-snow

 

[bigroomboy]

55 minutes ago, Bruno24 said:

As did I but recently had a look at my account with Scottish power and found I am being charged over 48p per unit day rate and over 18p night rate, and 52p standing charge.

Having looked on other web sites seems the 34p cap only seems to apply if you are on duel fuel, seems as only having electric and on economy 7 they can charge( it seems) what they like.

I don't see why I should pay nearly 12p per unit more for the same electric, as someone on duel fuel.

 

Because you are getting a heavily discounted night rate! They will work out some sort of average being the same as the price cap. On your tariff you should be looking to mainly use electricity at night!

[Ttfjlc]

With Economy 7 you need to use around 40% minimum in the low rate to make it pay, otherwise it’s generally best to be on single rate 

[Mice!]

2 hours ago, Westley said:

Just wore more and warmer clothing  !  😄

But that's far to sensible 😄😄 I went outside earlier so put my hat on, and I've left it on, downstairs is 15°C upstairs about 11/12 so no need to put the heating on when there's only me in the house.

A girl in work said last week she sits with an electric blanket on which only costs 2 pence per hour!

2 hours ago, oowee said:

My boat is £18 a day with the oil filled rad and then the fan heater when we are sat down. Insulation is pretty hopeless only the sea at about 10deg to keep it warm 🙂 

 

The electricity bill was about £18 for November at the caravan,  gas is bottled.

[oowee]

2 hours ago, Bruno24 said:

As did I but recently had a look at my account with Scottish power and found I am being charged over 48p per unit day rate and over 18p night rate, and 52p standing charge.

Having looked on other web sites seems the 34p cap only seems to apply if you are on duel fuel, seems as only having electric and on economy 7 they can charge( it seems) what they like.

I don't see why I should pay nearly 12p per unit more for the same electric, as someone on duel fuel.

 

I am paying commercial rate at the boat at 50p and 34p at home electric only. 

[Old farrier]

48 minutes ago, oowee said:

I am paying commercial rate at the boat at 50p and 34p at home electric only. 

Plus the daily standing charge?

seems there’s no cap on this 

 

[NoBodyImportant]

My house is all electric, it runs about $80-150 USD a month.  10.5 cent per kWh.  I love all electric, last house had NG heat and water, nice when the power is out but I like getting one bill. 

[JohnfromUK]

3 minutes ago, NoBodyImportant said:

10.5 cent per kWh

It is around 40 cents per KWhr here.

[Jaymo]

1 hour ago, NoBodyImportant said:

My house is all electric, it runs about $80-150 USD a month.  10.5 cent per kWh.  I love all electric, last house had NG heat and water, nice when the power is out but I like getting one bill. 

We don’t like you anymore 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[discobob]

18 minutes ago, Jaymo said:

We don’t like you anymore 🤣🤣🤣🤣

he has to have some benefit to living in the USA 😉

[Minky]

I find it difficult to understand how/why you are running your houses so cold.  Someone wrote 7c.  That crazy.  It's warmer than that in my unheated conservatory. !!  The floor temp out there is 8.5c and the air temp is 11c.  When I checked it out to see if the underfloor heating needed to be turned on I was struck how bone cold it was out there.  In the house it is about 23c.  I would have thought that anyone who is living with temps as low as some are saying they are, then surely there is a possibility of getting very unwell.

[JohnfromUK]

1 minute ago, Minky said:

I find it difficult to understand how/why you are running your houses so cold.  Someone wrote 7c.  That crazy.  It's warmer than that in my unheated conservatory. !!  The floor temp out there is 8.5c and the air temp is 11c.  When I checked it out to see if the underfloor heating needed to be turned on I was struck how bone cold it was out there.  In the house it is about 23c.  I would have thought that anyone who is living with temps as low as some are saying they are, then surely there is a possibility of getting very unwell.

In all honesty, I would be very uncomfortable at 23C.  That is about 73 Fahrenheit.  My sitting room and kitchen (the two rooms in which I spend 95% of my indoor waking hours) are at about 60 to 62 Fahrenheit (about 18C) when the heating is on inn the evening.  Lower during the day when the heating is off. 

23C is (for me anyway) unpleasantly hot, stuffy and would cost a fortune in a large old house.

[Mice!]

20 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

In all honesty, I would be very uncomfortable at 23C.  That is about 73 Fahrenheit.  My sitting room and kitchen (the two rooms in which I spend 95% of my indoor waking hours) are at about 60 to 62 Fahrenheit (about 18C) when the heating is on inn the evening.  Lower during the day when the heating is off. 

23C is (for me anyway) unpleasantly hot, stuffy and would cost a fortune in a large old house.

About the same here, 18/19 in the evening, we find that plenty.

[JohnfromUK]

In my very young days (pre about 10 years old), we lived in an old fairly large farm house. 

The kitchen was reasonably warm in winter with a coal fuelled AgA (can't give an actual temperature, but I'm guessing mid 60's Fahrenheit).  The sitting room where we sat in the evening had a large open log fire only lit in the evenings and was warm then.  The other ground floor rooms were usually unheated apart from an 'Agavector' and two small radiators from the coal boiler that heated the water one each in the hall, dining room and my fathers study/office.

Upstairs, bedrooms, bathrooms etc. were unheated.  It was not unknown for water to freeze in a bedside glass in very cold weather.

Later (my teens) we had oil fired central heating installed, but it was only used in cold weather (as it used a lot of oil) and finally before we left a 'straw fired boiler' which gave good heat throughout, but was labour intensive.

Edited December 12, 2022 by JohnfromUK

[Luckyshot]

2 hours ago, Minky said:

I find it difficult to understand how/why you are running your houses so cold.  Someone wrote 7c.  That crazy.  It's warmer than that in my unheated conservatory. !!  The floor temp out there is 8.5c and the air temp is 11c.  When I checked it out to see if the underfloor heating needed to be turned on I was struck how bone cold it was out there.  In the house it is about 23c.  I would have thought that anyone who is living with temps as low as some are saying they are, then surely there is a possibility of getting very unwell.

That’s because not all of us can afford £10+ per day fuel bill, I personally have to survive on £11 per day and that’s got to pay mortgage and all my other bills. I’m not complaining there are people out there far worse off than me, we are not all as wealthy as each other.

[Sweet11-87]

On 11/12/2022 at 15:29, Boybrit said:

People earn £100 per day minimum these days so a mid winter cost of £15 of that seems fair to me, free lunches went out of fashion a long time ago. Amazing winter tyres never are an issue then the expensive SUV ends up in a ditch and its all moan moan then.

well its not as cut and dry as that, becasue the taxman wants 20% so youre down to £80  before you factor in the cost of fuel to travel to and from work and then somthing to eat at dinner time. and its £15 everyday not just monday to friday.  £400 a week after tax and 105 on energy... so yeah i think roughly a quarter of your after tax wage  each month just to be warm is outragous.

 

 

 

[NoBodyImportant]

6 hours ago, discobob said:

he has to have some benefit to living in the USA 😉

Lol yeah.  Few years ago it was a lot cheaper. I’m on a nuclear plant.  The areas on natural gas electricity plants are about 50% more.  

[NoBodyImportant]

7 hours ago, JohnfromUK said:

It is around 40 cents per KWhr here.

Ours kinda changes monthly.  The more power people use the cheaper it gets per kWh .  We are in winter now so the cost is actually down to 9cent. In the colder parts of winter it will get to around 7 cent  but in the spring people use less power and they will spike the price to 10-11 cent.  My bill runs about 10$ over average as I have a well and no gas appliances at all.  Plus my wife keeps the house freezing in the summer and burning up in the winter.  

[dogone]

   Just for general interest:  in western Canada I pay 6.41 cents a kilo watt hr. Ours is a combo of hydro and coal. The coal plant is to be shut down in several years. I think to be replaced with natural gas. But I am not sure if that is pure enough for the green people.

    There are windmills about but only supply less than one percent of our electricity on their best days. 

[NoBodyImportant]

2 hours ago, dogone said:

   Just for general interest:  in western Canada I pay 6.41 cents a kilo watt hr. Ours is a combo of hydro and coal. The coal plant is to be shut down in several years. I think to be replaced with natural gas. But I am not sure if that is pure enough for the green people.

    There are windmills about but only supply less than one percent of our electricity on their best days. 

The green people mess everything up.  Down here coal is kept artificially high by the Good ol American government.