Energy usage.

[Workingman]

My monthly gas bill (not on DD) was paid today (£70.04) so I went to have look at the spreadsheet to see what I am using.

Being a pensioner who is taking strong blood thinners I feel the cold, so I do need heating and warm meals and drinks. I am also in for most of the day, every day. I have turned the radiators down in the rooms I do not use very often and I religiously shut doors when I leave a room.

The CH goes on for an hour when I get up and again at about 5:00 pm. The rest of the time I have a two bar convection heater for the living room / office and hallway. It keeps things at about 20 °C or thereabouts. All curtains get drawn when it is dark. All in all the flat is comfortably warm.

The cost of all this? Well from the 20th of November to the 19th of December my gas and electricity is running at £6.45 on average per day. It was £3.98 per day in Oct to Nov and from the price rise on the 1st of Oct to the 18th it was £3.19 per day. The Energy Credit and Winter Fuel Allowance are paying for most of this.

[jenniren]

We haven't really sat down and worked out how much we're using WM. I've had an email from Eon today with an estimate of how much our usage will be from 1st Jan when the tariff goes up again. Looking at their figures there's very little difference, but of course currently we're getting £67 from the government. That stops from April so it looks as though that's roughly the extra amount our DD will go up from then. We have cut down a bit, but probably not significantly.

Rather we've tried to cut down in other areas, less meals out, that sort of thing. Not being able to stop for coffee and toasties every week in M&S through lockdown was a revelation, it was costing approx £60 each month We certainly haven't started that again. Tbh we're lucky that we both have work pensions, neither are large, but it does help. Goodness knows how people on the standard state pension will cope

[saundra]

I often wonder how they work out an average family detail
If been more careful but I can't stand being so,cold because of this last cold spell
Just hope if cut down enough
We shall see
I have no work pensions altho I worked most of my life but for what good it did me in a saver but I can spend as well

[TheOstrich]

I read the meter and checked our gas bill yesterday - the bottom line was that the 9 days of the cold snap has cost us £65.

Thankfully it's now warmer and we're hopefully going to see a reduction in usage below 6 units a day. We have the thermostat set on 19, and I'm a bit loathe to reduce it further as Mrs O does need the heat to counter an underlying lung condition.

Jenny, like you, we have been cutting down on things; switching more and more of our shopping to Aldi has helped, but even there, I'm conscious that prices have gone up. We have cut back on take-aways, although we still do have the occasional breakfast out. And I've also now cancelled three annual magazine subscriptions with effect from 1st January - that will save around £130 a year.

My private pension is "fixed", there are no annual increases, so inflation will bite. I'm grateful therefore for the 10% state pension rise and hopefully Mrs O's teaching pension will increase as well next April.

And goodness knows what our council tax bill will be next year .....

[Workingman]

Hmm, I just checked my prices from 1st of January - Sottish Power.

No change to the standing charge. My gas unit goes up by 0.123 of a penny and the electricity unit goes DOWN by 0.077 of a penny.

I think I'll be OK.

[cruiser2]

I haven't checked my latest bill for either gas or electricity.
While it has ben cold i have hadthe gas CH on all the time I have been up even leaving it on when I have gone out shopping. My friends who live locally
said do not be cold. Worry about paying the bills next year.
I have had the £600 paid into my bank account. This in addition to the £67 which is credited to my energy bill each month.
I have just received a letter from my former employers to say that my priate pension is being increrased by 5% starting on 1st Janaury 2023.
Do you think I shuld go on strike and ask for more?
An interesting letter in the DM about the cost of petrol and diesel. It compares the price of a barrell of crude oil, petrol and diesel now and several
years ago when oil wasthe same price.
Water companies have now started saying there may be a water shortage in the summer of 2023.