GAS: and the cost to heat your home

[Grombleton]

I have the heating on 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening (7-9am and 6-8pm) - as my house gets little direct sunlight it does get pretty cold but i'm finding with some blankets and thicker tops we're coping ok. Problem being is that we need new windows and doors really...they aren't UPVC and to get the entire house done will cost a fortune...so we have a few draughts.

Does anyone know how to check if the walls have cavity wall insulation? We are end of terrace in a development built mid-late 90's but i've no idea if that was put in at the time or not, or how to check.

 

[Official Old Man]

We've got a 2 bed house with central heating. We're on a pay as you go card meter.
I put £40 last Friday . We've had the heating on every evening and twice during the day as well last week.
Checked it yesterday and £36 has been used.
They're taking the bloody piss if they think I'm gonna pay £40 a week to keep warm !!!

On your bills what is the cost per unit of gas and electricity?
Check out Cheap Prepaid Gas & Elec: How to get a credit meter or switch & save £100s... for some advice.
Regarding insulation. Most energy suppliers will do your home for free (the government pay them) and some will even pay you!

 

[Buckley's Mad Eye]

No mains gas where I live so we use LPG.......69.5p per litre. I reckon I spend about £40 a week on the stuff during the winter (and I am very frugal!)........no wonder we're always skint.

 

[BLOCK F]

We may think gas and electricity prices are high in this country,but apparently they are amongst the cheapest in Europe.
It doesn't help that there is an element of 'green energy' costs in the bills for those la-la windmills etc.!
Some of the younger generation(my youngest!) seem to have got used to going round the house in T-shirts and then complain it is cold..........put a bloody jumper on then!

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Currently £75 a month on gas, £55 a month on elec. I pay by DD and the monthly charge is worked out on my historical usage and levelled out across 12 months. Rip off.

 

[drew]

Big problem that despite any measures to reduce energy consumption, the utilities are private companies that have shareholders to satisfy.

 

[Leas]

when we moved into our 3 bedroom house 3 years ago it had pay as you go meter and it was costing a fortune , i got on to the council and asked if it was ok to knock out the chimney breast and open up the old open fire place , the council saw this as very green ( even though im not ) and said yes , so we now have an open fire in the living room in the evenings so turn off the heating for that room , we just burn wood its lovely and warm and didnt cost much at all to re open and build well worth it and saves us money ...... maybe an idea ?

 

[00snook]

Fracking. We're apparently sitting on enough shale gas to get us through the next century which should bring energy prices down. It certainly has in America, but we do have more of a rip-off culture here.

Fracking? Really.

Give this a little viewing and then see if we want to replicate the same thing over here.

 

[BLOCK F]

Big problem that despite any measures to reduce energy consumption, the utilities are private companies that have shareholders to satisfy.

Do you really think that a non private organisation would be any more efficient and provide cheaper power for the populus than the system we have now?Even someone with the apparent leftie views as yourself may doubt that!
As I have said previously,we have amongst the cheapest power bills in Europe.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

As I have said previously,we have amongst the cheapest power bills in Europe.

Do you have some evidence to back this up? My personal experience suggests the opposite.

 

[beorhthelm]

Fracking? Really.

Give this a little viewing and then see if we want to replicate the same thing over here.

you're right, i could do without the rightous ludite green warriors telling us how we are all about to die. if they put that video together on equipment environmentally pure, using only green energy, then they can start preaching about the risks. btw the main ingredient in fracking is highly dangerous Dihydrogen Monoxide, look it up if you want nightmares.

 

[BLOCK F]

Do you have some evidence to back this up? My personal experience suggests the opposite.

Let us hear your evidence H.T.I am willing to be informed.
To be fair,my evidence is based on what I have heard during discussions on telly.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

My wife likes it like Barbados, and would rather have the heating up high than put on another jumper.

We pay £95.00 per month by DD (that's for gas and electric for a 4 bed house)

New, really good quality double glazing fitted a cople of years ago has made a big difference.

 

[drew]

Do you really think that a non private organisation would be any more efficient and provide cheaper power for the populus than the system we have now?Even someone with the apparent leftie views as yourself may doubt that!
As I have said previously,we have amongst the cheapest power bills in Europe.

The point I was making that the utilities have a responsibility to their shareholders that is greater than any they have to their customers. Previous nationalised industries were less efficient but that's not to say they would have to be in the future. However, I'm not advocating nationalisation however the energy companies should have more regulation from Ofgem with regard to how they set prices.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter which supplier you are with, you get the same gas through your pipe so how is they all charge different rates and tarriffs. Basically a case of middlemen fixing prices. Bit like those that make profits in the futures markets when they buy products that they are never going to take delivery of, store or even sell on to a consumer but they add to the price of products we end up paying for.

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

It's really got nothing to do with Public vs. Private Utilities.

We've been living the high life ever since North Sea gas was discovered in the late '60's and started being supplied to this Country in the early '70's. That's why historically our fuel costs have been lower than the rest of mainland Europe ( Iceland, Norway and Denmark excepted ).

40 years on, North Sea gas reserves are substantially depleted and becoming much harder, and therefore much more expensive, to find and exploit. Most of this Country's natural gas will be coming from much farther afield in the future, particularly the now independant former Soviet Union States, and from the Middle East, as a by-product of Oil production.

That means the gas has to be shipped, not 100's, but 1,000's of miles, either through pipelines or tankers, both of which are expensive to construct and power, the gas having to be maintained at high pressures to either overcome pumping losses, or increase tanker capacity.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

We may think gas and electricity prices are high in this country,but apparently they are amongst the cheapest in Europe.
It doesn't help that there is an element of 'green energy' costs in the bills for those la-la windmills etc.!
Some of the younger generation(my youngest!) seem to have got used to going round the house in T-shirts and then complain it is cold..........put a bloody jumper on then!

The green energy costs mean that the average £1200 a year bill for energy will be over £2k a year by 2020. Nuclear would have been a much cheaper option but the utility companies are only after increasing profit margins and arse licking the politicians who change the regulations.

 

[macky]

I think i will be changing to the coop a ethical company no greedt shareholders And they are coming up the cheapest for me

 

[00snook]

you're right, i could do without the rightous ludite green warriors telling us how we are all about to die. if they put that video together on equipment environmentally pure, using only green energy, then they can start preaching about the risks. btw the main ingredient in fracking is highly dangerous Dihydrogen Monoxide, look it up if you want nightmares.

The main ingredient in most poisonous substances is water.

And if you have actually watched Gasland it can hardly be described as being made by a righteous lefty green eco warrior.

But clearly you haven't watched it, or simply don't care. I would guess it's the latter, which puts you in the same camp as most of the UK. Anything for cheap energy bills right?

Also ask yourself why the French and Germans have banned hydraulic fracturing but we have ploughed ahead regardless.

 

[Nottseagull]

I think i will be changing to the coop a ethical company no greedy shareholders And they are coming up the cheapest for me

Ebico are also not-for-profit but they don't pay to be included in your comparison sites (who won't tell you about companis who refuse to pay them). http://www.ukpower.co.uk/gas_electricity_suppliers/ebico/2030