Energy Bills

[Genie]

Typically with new smaller 2/3 bed houses they have a combi boiler. The larger 4 and 5 bed houses have a hot water tank which can either be heated via the boiler or via electricity (a switch next to the tank).

 

[ender4]

1 hour ago, Genie said:

Typically with new smaller 2/3 bed houses they have a combi boiler. The larger 4 and 5 bed houses have a hot water tank which can either be heated via the boiler or via electricity (a switch next to the tank).

 

Yeah, pretty much everyone I know live in older houses and none of them have combo boilers. They all have gas heated water tanks.  I think it is to do with the type and age of house, maybe even the area of the country?

[Demitri_C]

1 hour ago, ender4 said:

Yeah, pretty much everyone I know live in older houses and none of them have combo boilers. They all have gas heated water tanks.  I think it is to do with the type and age of house, maybe even the area of the country?

So i have a four bed and i asked my boiler guy apparently for smaller places like flats combis are significantly better. But for my situation a water tanker boiler is better. Something to do with being better than combi

[blandy]

6 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

So i have a four bed and i asked my boiler guy apparently for smaller places like flats combis are significantly better. But for my situation a water tanker boiler is better. Something to do with being better than combi

Every place I ever lived bar one had a hot water tank, where the water was heated by the boiler. The place now, 2 boilers later and the tank has gone and it’s a Combi boiler. As I understand it a Combi will always be more efficient as it only heats the water you use. By tweaking the boiler settings beyond the basic adjustments I’ve managed to make it even more efficient, too. The boiler is a 30kW boiler, but the house doesn’t need all 30kW to heat and provide hot water, so I adjusted the max power down to 18, which was fine. Tried 15 and it was a tad undercooked so back to 18 and that should do the job, but even if I need to turn it up a bit more in mid winter it’s still saving money.

[Demitri_C]

2 hours ago, blandy said:

Every place I ever lived bar one had a hot water tank, where the water was heated by the boiler. The place now, 2 boilers later and the tank has gone and it’s a Combi boiler. As I understand it a Combi will always be more efficient as it only heats the water you use. By tweaking the boiler settings beyond the basic adjustments I’ve managed to make it even more efficient, too. The boiler is a 30kW boiler, but the house doesn’t need all 30kW to heat and provide hot water, so I adjusted the max power down to 18, which was fine. Tried 15 and it was a tad undercooked so back to 18 and that should do the job, but even if I need to turn it up a bit more in mid winter it’s still saving money.

Yeah seems abit complicated. My boiler guy told me if you have a water tank its important to sometimes put water and heating on together if you have a water tank as the flow goes better. This prevents air getting trapped in your radiators.

I was having this issue as my upstairs radiators were not generating heat but downstairs was. Since i did his tips things seem to be going ok.

I had a combi at my old flat it was a valiant and ut worked very well to be honest. But the place was quite small so dont think that would have worked as well as my water has here

[Mozzavfc]

I've recently moved into a 3bed Victorian terrace, and I'm using about 250 kWh per month. Does that sound about right? That's with 2 people WFH, so 2 laptops, screens running most of the day.

Having come from a 2 bed flat it seems like a big step up in energy usage.

[ender4]

23 minutes ago, Mozzavfc said:

I've recently moved into a 3bed Victorian terrace, and I'm using about 250 kWh per month. Does that sound about right? That's with 2 people WFH, so 2 laptops, screens running most of the day.

Having come from a 2 bed flat it seems like a big step up in energy usage.

Gas & electric or just electric?

For October i used 381 kWh of electricity and 857 kWh of gas.

For November, i've already used 220 kWh of electricity and 1031 kWh of gas.

That's with 2 adults and 2 kids.

[Mozzavfc]

43 minutes ago, ender4 said:

Gas & electric or just electric?

For October i used 381 kWh of electricity and 857 kWh of gas.

For November, i've already used 220 kWh of electricity and 1031 kWh of gas.

That's with 2 adults and 2 kids.

Just electric. Gas has been about 400 kWh but I've only put the heating on this month, so expecting that to jump up to about 700-800 kWh per month 

[ender4]

6 minutes ago, Mozzavfc said:

Just electric. Gas has been about 400 kWh but I've only put the heating on this month, so expecting that to jump up to about 700-800 kWh per month 

250 kWh for the month of October seems reasonable then. We use more because we use regular tumble dryer and dishwasher, plus have a second freezer in the garage.  I wonder why you used a lot less in your previous flat.

[sidcow]

So to recap I inadvertently increased my Direct Debit to what it would have been if we weren't getting the Government £66 pm. 

I'm currently using 100% of that direct debit without eating into my summer surplus or The Government money.  In fact that's only true of the last week or so when it's got colder, I've probably accumulated more surplus over the first couple of weeks of November also. 

On reflection I'm glad I made the error. With our joint income I don't think we'll get a penny of help next winter so hopefully I keep what I've got, build up an even bigger surplus over the summer and manage to see myself through next winter without needing to up my direct debit. 

What I'm not sure about is the expert commentators all did say that the squeeze would go into next winter as well but no real comment about after that. 

Are we now in the new normal or is something expected to change after next Winter? We're never going to buy Russian Gas again so I don't see how anything is going to get better until Electricity is decoupled from gas and everyone has electric heating of some kind. 

[Genie]

3 minutes ago, sidcow said:

So to recap I inadvertently increased my Direct Debit to what it would have been if we weren't getting the Government £66 pm. 

I'm currently using 100% of that direct debit without eating into my summer surplus or The Government money.  In fact that's only true of the last week or so when it's got colder, I've probably accumulated more surplus over the first couple of weeks of November also. 

On reflection I'm glad I made the error. With our joint income I don't think we'll get a penny of help next winter so hopefully I keep what I've got, build up an even bigger surplus over the summer and manage to see myself through next winter without needing to up my direct debit. 

What I'm not sure about is the expert commentators all did say that the squeeze would go into next winter as well but no real comment about after that. 

Are we now in the new normal or is something expected to change after next Winter? We're never going to buy Russian Gas again so I don't see how anything is going to get better until Electricity is decoupled from gas and everyone has electric heating of some kind. 

Why not just send the extra money to a savings account where it’ll accumulate a few percent of interest (and also be easily accessible if needed)?

[sidcow]

7 minutes ago, Genie said:

Why not just send the extra money to a savings account where it’ll accumulate a few percent of interest (and also be easily accessible if needed)?

 

[bickster]

On 17/11/2022 at 17:22, Demitri_C said:

Im gonna sit in coffee shops and use their electric i think 

All you bloody Londoners do is sit around in Cafes and Pubs an ave murda with your trouble and strife

(Sorry, the missus was watching that dreadful soap again)

[sidcow]

The weather is going to get much colder next week. Dipping into minus figures overnight. 

People are going to need that heating on a lot. Going to be expensive.  I've already given up on my plan to not use enough to dip into my current surplus. 

[Demitri_C]

27 minutes ago, sidcow said:

The weather is going to get much colder next week. Dipping into minus figures overnight. 

People are going to need that heating on a lot. Going to be expensive.  I've already given up on my plan to not use enough to dip into my current surplus. 

Yes its very cold  now where im at. Im trying to be abit more sensible in my house so i got better radiators so when i do put it on it wrams house up better and quicker so wont need to have it on as much. I have been putting it on for a like hour here or there and kept doors closed as thats kept the heat in and the rooms warmer for longer. So far its been good. Ive cut my reduction a shit load but the house gets warm for a good few hours now.

My boiler guy said to me when he did the service that people who havent switched their boiler on and delaying so are likely to experience problems with their boiler as the pipes need to be warmed  up even if its for a hr odd.

 

 

[sidcow]

49 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Yes its very cold  now where im at. Im trying to be abit more sensible in my house so i got better radiators so when i do put it on it wrams house up better and quicker so wont need to have it on as much. I have been putting it on for a like hour here or there and kept doors closed as thats kept the heat in and the rooms warmer for longer. So far its been good. Ive cut my reduction a shit load but the house gets warm for a good few hours now.

My boiler guy said to me when he did the service that people who havent switched their boiler on and delaying so are likely to experience problems with their boiler as the pipes need to be warmed  up even if its for a hr odd.

 

 

Iv'e got a guy coming in to service the boiler next week. Not had it done since it was installed 9 years ago.  Hopefully that does something to make it more efficient.

Edited December 2, 2022 by sidcow

[Genie]

2 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Iv'e got a guy coming in to service the boiler next week. Not had it done since it was installed 9 years ago.  Hopefully that does something to make it more efficient.

Bloody hell, you didn’t get it serviced during its warranty period? That was risky!

Mine has just gone out of warranty so fingers crossed.

Ive not needed to put the heater on the timer yet. Just opting for 1/2 hour boosts when it gets cold. Next week I might have to time it to come on before we wake up.

[Demitri_C]

9 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Iv'e got a guy coming in to service the boiler next week. Not had it done since it was installed 9 years ago.  Hopefully that does something to make it more efficient.

Mate my advice service it a few months before autumn hits because at this period they get very busy so if you have  aproblem takes longer to sort out as they have so many jobs on. 

Also shortage of parts in places. If he is a good gas guy he would advise you good tricks to help keep warm for cheaper.

7 minutes ago, Genie said:

Bloody hell, you didn’t get it serviced during its warranty period? That was risky!

Mine has just gone out of warranty so fingers crossed.

Ive not needed to put the heater on the timer yet. Just opting for 1/2 hour boosts when it gets cold. Next week I might have to time it to come on before we wake up.

I have to put my hot water on a timer i simply can't as i need hot water more than the heating. I just stick it on for a couple hrs a day 10am for a hr and 6pm and it seems to work well for us

[Genie]

6 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

I have to put my hot water on a timer i simply can't as i need hot water more than the heating. I just stick it on for a couple hrs a day 10am for a hr and 6pm and it seems to work well for us

Yeah, we have hot water in timer. It comes on early and then again after lunch. It doesn’t need to come on for long to heat the tank up which is good.

[Straggler]

I don't get why energy companies get to hold a surplus. It's my money, I'd rather have it in my account than sitting with a massive energy company. It's 100% to cover their risk. They get an accurate reading from my smart meter, I've never defaulted on any bill, so why do they think holding 500 quid of my cash against future use is ok? I'll pay them when I use the energy thanks very much.