My heating was on for two hours yesterday…

[AchillesLastStand]

My heating was on for two hours yesterday, on in the morning for an hour and in the evening. We had one bath yesterday which the boiler heats the water for. We shared the same water. I logged onto Bulb to see the energy costs for yesterday, £4.50 for gas, £3.50 for electricity. It’s unsustainable if it goes up again in October. My 8 year old DS is under his bedcovers with his tablet because the heating has had to go off.

We feel the cold more now we're old(er). It's all very well saying turn it down to 18° but we'd need to live in bed covered in multiplr duvets if that was the case. We can get by with it at 19 during the day by keeping busy but to strip off and shower it needs to be 20 at least. I don't remember feeling like this until I hit mid 60s.

Do you not have showers in your bathrooms? They are cheaper than having baths and an instant electric shower only heats up the water you use, as you use it.

@AchillesLastStand. Ah ok 5 bed detached. Yes I don’t blame you for dreading this coming winter already. I have my own small online business and have just started working at my local supermarket for more money. But now im too tired to work on business so not sure what to do!

Achilleslaststand: I honestly think that people voting Tory at the next election should be given a cyanide pill when they cast their for vote for when the reality of what they’ve voted for hits home.
...............
Yes indeed but I think there will be many who vote differently next time. At least, I hope so.

@ToothGrinder

When I wor a lass, we burnt MPs on t'fire to keep warm.

@Flipflopssndsocks

It’s mad. I don’t have a smart meter so have a book to record usage so I can work cost out. It’s scary. Dh can’t work due to ill health and go back to standard variable mortgage rate soon as well. Struggling to remortgage due to missing dogs income and price rises so I don’t want to think about October!

Who are you with? (apologies if this has been covered) my building society offer me the chance to move to a new deal,no remortgage costs /checks etc when my old one runs out.

@BoredZelda

The planet has limited resources and we’ve created a world where we take take take without replenishing. No one cares until it hits their pockets.

This is such a bullshit argument. Someone living in 3 bed semi, trying to keep it warm and dry for their family is expected to think about the resources they are “wasting” when towns and cities are full of buildings burning light and heat whilst barely being used. Industry pumping out co2 and heat into the atmosphere, using millions of gallons of water and tonnes of fossil fuels rather than investing in the green technologies that can be far more energy efficient and reducing emissions. But people think the solution to the energy crisis and saving the planet is for people to use hot water bottles and huddle in the living room round a single heater. Have a word with yourself.

I have to agree with you @BoredZelda. It’s a disgrace

We don’t have a shower (council house), we have been out most of the day so we could keep the heating off. Both teens need a bath tonight, I will have to put the heating in for an hour so they are not cold when they get out. We used almost £5 on electric yesterday, haven’t even checked the gas up guessing around £5+, and that’s a day when we are mostly out.

@BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation

ToothGrinder

18 degrees is the absolute bare minimum temperature under which people experience physiological effects such as changes to blood pressure and mental acuity. It has never been an "acceptable" long term environment.

Huh? Anything above about 18 degrees and I'm too hot. I can't function above 24 degrees.

This. ^ 18 degrees Celsius is a perfectly reasonable temperature to heat your house. It gives a perfectly acceptable amount of warmth. How ludicrous to say it's too cold for some people to function, and could affect peoples health! It's 65 degrees Fahrenheit FFS.

I know the poster who said we have got too used to houses being hot has been royally bashed and berated on here, but they have a point! Some people I know (online AND in real life) regularly have their thermostat at 23-26 degrees C. Almost 80 Fahrenheit FGS! And then they're shocked when the bill is high. Frankly, I wouldn't be able to function in the house with it that bloody hot!

Yes of COURSE we don't want to go back to 'days of old' where we had frost patterns on the windows, and could see your breath indoors, but there needs to be some middle ground FGS. As I said, don't just crank up the heating every time it's 'a bit chilly'. Put a jumper on! And don't keep the heating on half the day at 23 to 26 degrees C!

If you're going to do that, because you CBA to pop a jumper on, or 'because it's 2022 not the dark ages, and we should ALWAYS be able to put the heating up when it's a bit brisk,' then you can hardly be shocked when the bill is sky-high.

And don't anyone say I am being harsh, and inconsiderate of peoples energy bills going up by 54%. Mine has gone up too!

Yes of COURSE we don't want to go back to 'days of old' where we had frost patterns on the windows, and could see your breath indoors, but there needs to be some middle ground FGS. As I said, don't just crank up the heating every time it's 'a bit chilly'. Put a jumper on! And don't keep the heating on half the day at 23 to 26 degrees C!

I do do those things. My thermostat hasn’t been over 17 all winter and that was only when we were all ill. I wear layers, I have a blanket over me when sitting down. I leave the oven door open after cooking to heat the kitchen.
I still can’t afford the increase in energy costs.
My standing charge for electricity has gone from 17p a day to 44p a day. So even without using anything at all, my monthly charge has increased significantly.

@cakeorwine

The thing is - many people won't be affected by this. They won't be affected by the cost of living crisis. Yes, they will see bills go up, but a lot of people will be able to afford this as they are reasonably well off.

If people vote for their own interests, then they will not vote for parties that damage their own interests. Even if it could be in their own interest as we are all inter connected.

Social groups lower down the scale also vote Tory you know. In their millions. The North of England turned Tory at the last election. The non voters are found among the least well educated. Don't fucking distort reality - the last 15 years of Tory's in power is down to the massive move to the right of social classes C and D.

In my experience, the ones who have e their heating on at 23 degrees aren’t the ones complaining about the price increase. They can afford it. It’s the ones who were already doing everything they could to keep their costs down who are now struggling.

@reesewithoutaspoon this is the problem. All the posters here going on about how selfish people have become and wasteful, don’t realise or rather don’t care that those at the very bottom will pay a very high price for this while the super rich can continue with their energy rich lifestyles uninterrupted.

Yep.

It's all very well talking about how maybe now people will be more careful, stop walking round in t shirts in the middle of winter with the heating blasting, fly less etc, and I'm not saying the increased costs of fuel won't price some people out of that. But fundamentally, lots of people can still afford to do these things if they want to. The only thing we know about price hikes is that they primarily affect people on the lowest incomes. They're not a tool to tackle wasteful energy use, for the simple reason that they're only felt by some people.

@MrMrsJones

When I was a kid, we only had heating in the lounge.

People have got too comfortable with hot houses

Yes me too and when it was really cold we had to sleep in the lounge because it was too cold in the rest of the house. It was also damp with loads of condensation in some rooms, literally dripping down the windows and walls. Not really something people should have to live with in my mind. And something likely to kill off the elderly or infirm.

People used to live in slums in many large towns and cities in the U.K. with open sewers in the streets not so long ago. Doesn’t mean that something we should be aspiring to!!!!!

@MrMrsJones

When I was a kid, we only had heating in the lounge.

People have got too comfortable with hot houses

Oh yes, the indulgence of today. The public have become far too accustomed to not having to scrape ice off their windows, use house bricks as hot water bottles, having one bath a week and wearing so many clothes (to keep warm) they can barely move their arms.

People are freezing to death. We are meant to be going forwards, not backwards.

I live in a poorly insulated house in the Highlands. Paid £288 a month before electricity rise for the privilege of having two storage heaters on and hot water. Now pay £340 a month for the privilege of no storage heaters and crap infrared heaters on for a couple of hours while we are in the room, they take temperature up to 14 degrees max with the weather as is is at the moment. Rooms stand at a 'beautiful' 10-12 degrees when they are off. I am despairing and counting down the days till I can get out of here.

@ReadyToMoveIt

Yes of COURSE we don't want to go back to 'days of old' where we had frost patterns on the windows, and could see your breath indoors, but there needs to be some middle ground FGS. As I said, don't just crank up the heating every time it's 'a bit chilly'. Put a jumper on! And don't keep the heating on half the day at 23 to 26 degrees C!

I do do those things. My thermostat hasn’t been over 17 all winter and that was only when we were all ill. I wear layers, I have a blanket over me when sitting down. I leave the oven door open after cooking to heat the kitchen.
I still can’t afford the increase in energy costs.
My standing charge for electricity has gone from 17p a day to 44p a day. So even without using anything at all, my monthly charge has increased significantly.

The thing is that there are two different things here.

One is keeping your house an an environmentally responsible temperature and the other is the cost of energy.

Oh yes, the indulgence of today. The public have become far too accustomed to not having to scrape ice off their windows, use house bricks as hot water bottles, having one bath a week and wearing so many clothes (to keep warm) they can barely move their arms.

There is a middle ground.

The North of England turned Tory at the last election.

It didn't. There was a significant swing towards the Tories, but the region as a whole still went Labour, barely. See page 26 onwards.

researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8749/CBP-8749.pdf

There also wasn't really a pattern wrt income with the changes in the north specifically either. The seats outside the cities that went Tory were often pretty poor, lots of deprived former industrial towns and villages etc, but no more so than the low income urban ones that stayed Labour. You're not going to get much more deprived than some of the Manchester and Liverpool constituencies that continued to rack up five figure Labour majorities, for example.

You're right that lots of lower income people have voted Tory recently, but really the major cleavage in British politics at the moment is age. Obviously that can't be separated from the generational wealth divide either.

I know loads of people who complain about eing cold but walk around in a t-shirt.. I mean put a jumper on.

Yes I do think people are a bit indulgent, heating on really high. You don't need it to be so hot.

Put extra jumpers on, blankets on the bed hot water bottle.

And no I'm not a high earner.

I lived in a council maisonette with an electric fire in the lounge, no dishwasher, no tumble dryer, we managed

I agree with itrytomakeit, why is it ok that we go back to bad 70's living standards?

This is such a bullshit argument. Someone living in 3 bed semi, trying to keep it warm and dry for their family is expected to think about the resources they are “wasting” when towns and cities are full of buildings burning light and heat whilst barely being used

it is possible to care about, and do something about, both.

Lets see if the shops and offices start turning their lights off at night, or bleat about "increased costs".

Lets see if the SUV drivers start turning their engines off while waiting for their kids to come out of school, or bleat about petrol costs rising.

It's entirely possible to see both sides to this. Some people are really going to struggle, but it's also true that others won't change their wasteful habits unless it costs them money.

@etulosba

18 degrees is the absolute bare minimum temperature under which people experience physiological effects such as changes to blood pressure and mental acuity. It has never been an "acceptable" long term environment.

It was quite normal for thousands of years before central heating became widespread in the UK and elsewhere.

They had open fires, unlike modern housing. And if they had rights to collect wood from common land, they didn't have to pay to keep warm.

They wore things like a coarse linen smock, then a kirtle, thick woollen knitted knee socks, an ankle length gown made of wool, a surcoat, a hood, rabbit fur lined mittens, scarves and various other pieces of material in order to try and keep warm. They'd also tend to all sleep together, sometimes with livestock as well, have multiple layers for bedding - and they'd still freeze to death in poor weather.

It could be that this sees a change in fashions in the long run.

My standing charge for electricity has gone from 17p a day to 44p a day. So even without using anything at all, my monthly charge has increased significantly.

this is the really outrageous thing, because it doesn't allow people to save money by being economical with heating.

@MyNameIsAngelicaSchuyler

The planet has limited resources and we’ve created a world where we take take take without replenishing. No one cares until it hits their pockets.

I know that we are in this position down to ideology (hint: don’t vote Tory) but maybe for once people will be forced to live more simply and less selfishly.

If that’s the case how come energy companies are making record profits… again?