A refreshing change!

[debih]

Since Mick put the log burner in we have only had the central heating on once - this morning when it clicked on.

[Kaz]

[JoM]

Debbie, I dread to think what our bills would've been like now had we still been in our old house. High ceilings, old house and an unfelted roof in such poor condition that daylight could be seen between the tiles. It wasn't even a particularly big house either - hall, kitchen, downstairs toilet (with no radiator) and a large living room downstairs and three bedrooms and a tiny bathroom (which was always freezing cold) upstairs.
Here we've got a large hall, lounge, kitchen, utility room and toilet downstairs, then on the 1st floor a large lounge, large landing, study and Tom's bedroom and then it's up to another landing, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. I've never looked in the loft but John has and he said that the insulation is very thick.

[Kaz]

We are never cold here, yet in the old house despite the enormous fuel bills we always were

I love new houses now

[JoM]

Doesn't sound bad to me Jo - you'd have a lot more washing than us too

And therefore more ironing!
The main problem we have though really is the boys leaving lights and TVs on when they're not using them. Tom's the worst culprit with the lights. I just know that shortly he'll go downstairs to feed the Guinea pig and will leave on the utility room light, the two main kitchen lights (a bulb and a fitting of four spotlights), the under-cupboard lights and the hall light. It's the same every night.

Joe's the one for leaving a room and not switching the TV off.

[JoM]

We are never cold here, yet in the old house despite the enormous fuel bills we always were

I love new houses now

In our old house the only time you would feel warm would be if you sat right in front of the fire, and by that I mean on the floor right in front of it. It wasn't unknown for me to be there with the heating on, two or three warm tops, a hat and scarf - and with a hot water bottle clutched to me

Having now lived in a new build I've totally lost that romantic notion about old houses being lovely

[meriad]

I currently pay £77 a month for both the gas and electricity and I have a fairly well insulated 1 bed flat. Hot water is on demand only and the heater comes on depending on temperature. I haven't tried the keeping it on 24/7 yet (if you remember my previous post about my tarriff being fixed) as the temperatures are still too variable so I cannot really have an accurate comparison, but I will once winter really sets in.

Debih, is your house a single stone wall or double? If it is double then have a look into cavity wall insulation; that won't affect the look of the property and should make quite a difference. And with houses like yours (again referring to my previous post) it apparently is better for you to have the heating on all the time vs just at certain times of the day when you're in.

[debih]

I currently pay £77 a month for both the gas and electricity and I have a fairly well insulated 1 bed flat. Hot water is on demand only and the heater comes on depending on temperature. I haven't tried the keeping it on 24/7 yet (if you remember my previous post about my tarriff being fixed) as the temperatures are still too variable so I cannot really have an accurate comparison, but I will once winter really sets in.

Debih, is your house a single stone wall or double? If it is double then have a look into cavity wall insulation; that won't affect the look of the property and should make quite a difference. And with houses like yours (again referring to my previous post) it apparently is better for you to have the heating on all the time vs just at certain times of the day when you're in.

Its a single stone wall. I tend to have the heating on low from Thursday to Sunday, when there is someone home - I can't bear the thought of having it on when there is no one in all day! We don't have it on overnight - it gets too warm in our attic room and we then end up opening the windows! Now we have the stove in I am intending on lighting that each afternoon and not really using the heating through the house as much. That will come on for a short while first thing in the morning and around bed time. I just cant justify heating the whole house when no one is around!

[lissie]

We had a letter from Southern Electric to say we were in credit with them
Part of me said to leave it there but the other part said b***** it so I got online
and requested a refund of £200 and that is now sitting in our bank account
waiting for me to treat myself and worry about the next bill when it comes in
We had a new Baxi Combi boiler put in 3 years ago . It cost over £4000 with all the add ons etc but it
is certainly efficient and is saving us money.
We pay direct debit £81 a month gas and £47 electric and so far have been in credit.

lissie

[Osc]

Ours is an old house too and faces east so it can be very cold. We haven't been putting the heating on much yet, but are trying to decide the same old conundrum - i.e. is it better to have the heat on all the time we are home, rather than coming on for 1½ house twice a day. We have a gas fire in our living room which used to be great, but last year and already this year, it's not providing much heat. We've had it serviced and checked out and they can find nothing wrong When we move hopefully we will have lots of insulation and more efficient heating and although it is an old building, it should have all mod cons. Can you believe that the conservation officer in the council raised an objection to our downstairs (old shop) windows being double glazed Architects soon put her right on that one!!

Our gas meter is now only read once or twice a year which means estimated bills all through with a reckoning done at the end of the year - very annoying