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My electricity bill has just tripled: how about yours? Alternative suppliers?

That's actually less than I thought it would work out to and seems quite reasonable if the money is actually ringfenced for deploying and maintaining the gas and electric network.
 
NoXion said:
That's another one of the reasons I refuse to have a smart meter fitted, or do any measuring of my electricity consumption beyond taking note of what I'm paying each month. I thoroughly despise the way that the responsibility for this energy affordability crisis is being passed on to individuals and families. I'll be damned if I let the greedy cunts get me into the habit of worrying about that shit on their behalf.
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Without this price hike focusing my mind, and the smart meter too, I would never have thought I could more than half my electric use by replacing a 20 year fridge freezer, which was wasting over 2kHw per day, with a modern one, that will pay for itself in about 8-9 months, and carry on giving savings for many years more, plus a air fryer replacing use of the electric oven most of the time. Ditto with reducing gas use without suffering from cold.

I always thought I was being fairly environmentally friendly, I discovered I wasn't, the fact that reducing energy use is also saving me a bloody fortune is an added bonus TBH.

* I don't need to regularly check my smart meters display now, I've done all I can.
 
NoXion said:
That's another one of the reasons I refuse to have a smart meter fitted, or do any measuring of my electricity consumption beyond taking note of what I'm paying each month. I thoroughly despise the way that the responsibility for this energy affordability crisis is being passed on to individuals and families. I'll be damned if I let the greedy cunts get me into the habit of worrying about that shit on their behalf.
Click to expand...
They are useful though for measuring how much each activity costs. I'd rather have one than not have one.
 
cupid_stunt said:
I would never have thought I could more than half my electric use by replacing a 20 year fridge freezer, which was wasting over 2kHw per day, with a modern one, that will pay for itself in about 8-9 months,
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I'm getting a new fridge tomorrow as my 26 year old one is on the blink (the thermostat is failing and it's cooling things to much).

Will be interesting to see what difference it makes.
 
extra dry said:
I heard there have been powercuts in some parts of the country?
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Dunno, what have you heard?

There are usually some power cuts somewhere on any particular day, the key is quite how large an area they cover. I havent heard anything about anything larger and newsworthy but sometimes it takes a while for such news to emerge I suppose.

In terms of power cuts as a result of larger supply-demand imbalances, I am covering stuff about those on the other thread, eg a period forecast for tomorrow evening where things will be tighter than normal ( UK gas/electricity supply shortages this winter ). Demand is lower at weekends so unless we have very prolonged issues with stuff like overall gas supplies this winter, weekends arent strong candidates for this sort of problem.
 
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There was a couple fairly large power cuts a week ago, covering an area of over 30 miles square, East Norfolk had a HV overhead wire fault & parts of East Suffolk suffered an underground cable fault, on the same day, they took out both Radio Caroline's 648 AM transmitter at Orford Ness in Suffolk, and DAB radio multiplex in Norwich that carries their output too.

These things happen.
 
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Words on the direct debit front, with more acknowledgement of how hard people are trying to reduce use of electricity than we've tended to see in past rhetoric:

The government has warned energy firms not to hike customers' direct debit payments when households are making "huge efforts" to cut usage.

The business secretary has written to suppliers asking them to ensure bills show what homes are actually using, as opposed to overcharging on estimates.

Grant Shapps said he was concerned by reports direct debits are rising as people take steps to cut energy bills.

Regulator Ofgem has been asked to look at making billing "more responsive".
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www.bbc.co.uk

Energy firms warned over hiking direct debits

The government says companies must match bills with customers who are cutting energy use.
www.bbc.co.uk
 
That's 5KW for 24 hours or 10kw for 12.
I confess I did used to rely on a 6kw rated gas fire in a dreadful draughty downstairs room and sometimes fired it up on max and nodded off ...
 
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Ranbay said:
yeah boiler is ages old, but it's a rental and semi detached...
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I am lucky my landlord replaced the boiler this year, despite the 30+ year old one was still working, but looking back to Jan, when it was bloody cold compared to now, and heating was on all day, I still averaged under 55kWh per day on gas & about 5kWh on electric, you must have a very leaky house. :(

Is the loft even insulated?
 
cupid_stunt said:
I am lucky my landlord replaced the boiler this year, despite the 30+ year old one was still working, but looking back to Jan, when it was bloody cold compared to now, and heating was on all day, I still averaged under 55kWh per day on gas & about 5kWh on electric, you must have a very leaky house. :(

Is the loft even insulated?
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yes, I will add I Handt been home for a few days before so was heating it from stone cold.
 
The answer surely has to be to screen off small areas and heat those - at that level of usage it would be cheaper to use an electric fire.
When I was a baby in the winter of 62/63, my parents had an uninsulated house and one open coal fire (and ice on the inside of the windows)
We're past the era of heating uninsulated buildings for so many reasons.
 
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British Gas have sent me 2 emails (one per fuel) to tell me that I have been moved to their new system and I have new account numbers They assure me that all will be fine. I will give it a week or so then double check that they haven't take this opportunity to sneakily put my DD's up.
 
sojourner said:
I am so fucking sick and tired already of looking at my smart meter and being caught up in anxiety, just for doing everyday fucking stuff like putting a bastard wash on, or having the heating on FOR HALF AN HOUR.
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Have had a firm word with myself over this, and refuse to tie myself up in knots any further.

I am already doing my best with everything; just checked my Ovo account and my November bill is today at £62.70 in credit, having started the month with £89.13 in credit, so that's okay.

I’ve been reading instruction booklets while the fella's been away on tour, and have now turned down the fridge by 2.5, freezer by 1, boiler flow temp from 73º to 70º, the temp on the 45 min wash to 20º instead of the 40º that it was, and cleaned the filter on the dehumidifier so it works more efficiently. It’s only 7p an hour to run, and totally worth it. Decided to put it in the kitchen when I cook, rather than the top of the stairs, so it sucks in the condensation at source instead of waiting for it to drift upstairs. Dunno why I didn’t do that before tbh. Duh. It’s now in use for every laundry load too.

I’ve never known so much about my electrical appliances as I do right now haha, and am pleased that I now have a much deeper knowledge of it all. It's comforting and satisfying. Rock n fucking rolllll baby 😀
 
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