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.

I suppose it depends on the impact of saving £5 a month versus turning everything off every night - and the impact that has on the device itself

If you have two TVs, which a lot of people do, that’s £10 a month, a lot of money for some people.

@LizzieSiddal

I suppose it depends on the impact of saving £5 a month versus turning everything off every night - and the impact that has on the device itself

If you have two TVs, which a lot of people do, that’s £10 a month, a lot of money for some people.

It's £3 a month for 2 TVs.

The £5 a month was for turning off most devices in the evening.

@cakeorwine - you said average gas is 30 a day. Mine says 73 🙀

[quote Blondeshavemorefun]@cakeorwine - you said average gas is 30 a day. Mine says 73 🙀[/quote]
But don't forget - that's average over a year.

So you will use a lot in colder months and little in warmer months.

The joy of averages.

In an all electric old 2 bed house, I use 3 kw if I’m not there. 1 in my E7 time from 11-7. And the other 2 kw are from 7am to 11pm.
That, plus the standing charge is £1.30 for the day. I don’t have a smart meter yet but I take very regular meter readings and I don’t use central heating unless I have guests. The heating hasn’t been on since Christmas.

@itrytomakemyway

Just because we had cold houses in the past does not make it ok to have cold houses now.

I don't want to go back to the miserable 1970s and 1980s thank you very much. Are people really happy to just accept a drop in their standard of living?

Some things in the past need to stay there. I doubt any Tory MPS are putting on extra jumpers and jollying each other along about the good old days.

It's an absolute disgrace that people lining in the UK in 2022 are sitting in cold houses.

100%

Mine has gone up but I have had the heating on all day today from around 8am to 8pm as everyone's unwell ,3 baths and I stupidly wash up with the hot tap running , but we was told any money we put on before the 1st would Sty at the last tariff ,I'm with EDF and it's gone uo about 400 a year which I was surprised at as heard so many people saying theirs has gone up thousands ,I'm gonna try keep it topped up ,due to have my smart meter fitted , was ment to have last week but lartner and kids have covid luckily it's only the hit water and heating that is gas and we have a great electric shower, which saves alot ,as alm the older ones prefer showers . .I pay weekly for my electric and thatbhasnt changed I'm still paying the same amount gas is on a card just hope it doesn't get too bad as with a corner house on a hill in epsom downs it gets so cold during the night as it is x

Stupid auto correct, I can spell honestly 🤦🏻‍♀️

I don’t know. Pre price rise when I got up at 7.30am the electric meterwould be on about 50p so I guess that’s just to have fridge and freezer (separate ones) on, media box on standby (we don’t turn off at plug as it takes ages to restart), router, 2 x phone chargers, one lamp on overnight for young dc. So with the price rise that would be about 75p when I get up now. So another 9hours of those same things would about double the cost to about £1.50 on the new tariff, plus using the kettle a few pence. It’s the heating on for 1 hour costing £2.50 which is scaring me more though. I will make sure no laptops/ consoles are being left on standby though, but nothing obviously using electricity as far as I know.

As an experiment - just turned off as many devices as possible. Power consumption went down from 70 watts to 45 watts. So a 25 watt saving - about 1 KWH a month for us - which is £4 a year.

Our 'background' power consumption overnight is very low.

@cakeorwine

As an experiment - just turned off as many devices as possible. Power consumption went down from 70 watts to 45 watts. So a 25 watt saving - about 1 KWH a month for us - which is £4 a year.

Our 'background' power consumption overnight is very low.

25 watts x 24 hours x 30 days is nearer 18 kwh.

itrytomakemyway:
Just because we had cold houses in the past does not make it ok to have cold houses now.

I don't want to go back to the miserable 1970s and 1980s thank you very much. Are people really happy to just accept a drop in their standard of living?

Some things in the past need to stay there. I doubt any Tory MPS are putting on extra jumpers and jollying each other along about the good old days.

It's an absolute disgrace that people lining in the UK in 2022 are sitting in cold houses.
.........
Quite right! I could not bear to be cold and I grew up in the pre-central heating area where everyone sat around the fire in the sitting room and put off going up to the toilet. No way would I go back to that. Wearing extra clothes only helps minimally, the cold still gets through - not that I've done that recently but had to when something went wrong with my heating.

It's scandalous that people are struggling and are so afraid of the rising heating costs.

25 watts x 24 hours x 30 days is nearer 18 kwh

Some of those things need to be on during the day.

But yes, it must have been late when I did the calculation

Assuming they're off for 8 hours., it's about 6 KWH per month - £2 a month.

I only have my heating on for 1 1/2 hrs in the morning for kids getting up unless it is really cold I might put it on for an hr daughter sometimes says it's cold she will get a blanket.

@cakeorwine

25 watts x 24 hours x 30 days is nearer 18 kwh

Some of those things need to be on during the day.

But yes, it must have been late when I did the calculation

Assuming they're off for 8 hours., it's about 6 KWH per month - £2 a month.

Still wrong. Off for 8 hours is a 1/3. Not 2/3. It's nearer £3.50 a month now. The point is it doesn't take much low wattage devices to add up to a huge amount every month.

There was a good article today about things in 'stand by'. For instance a sky box uses up to £45 a year just in standby. When you add in things like TV's, WiFi routers, phone charging, microwaves and other passive things - that's already a certain amount per day before you even start.

Off for 8 hours is a 1/3. Not 2/3. It's nearer £3.50 a month now. The point is it doesn't take much low wattage devices to add up to a huge amount every month

Yes - a 1/3. So by turning off those devices at night - I save a 1/3 of the power - so a 1/3 of 18KWH which is 6KWH.

Which is what I said.

Sorry but "in my day we didn't have central heating" is a ridiculous argument - should we also go back to weeing outside and writing on slate?

I wear thermal leggings, tops, layers, woolly socks jumpers but my hands turn into painful icicles if it's below 19/20. I lived in a house that was 17 degrees and it was miserable, I wore so many layers and a hat and my hands were still freezing. Some of us feel the cold a lot more than others.

Everyone having a go at people for being environmentally unfriendly - heating is only one aspect of your life. How often do you wash your clothes? Drive? Do you have pets/children? The amount of times people on MN get called "disgusting" for not washing their clothes/towels after every wear, when it's usually completely unnecessary and wasteful!

@Uncurtailed

There was a good article today about things in 'stand by'. For instance a sky box uses up to £45 a year just in standby. When you add in things like TV's, WiFi routers, phone charging, microwaves and other passive things - that's already a certain amount per day before you even start.

Sky boxes are notorious for it though, they download stuff. Your TV and other devices won't be using anywhere near as much on standby.

@kc431

Sorry but "in my day we didn't have central heating" is a ridiculous argument - should we also go back to weeing outside and writing on slate?

I wear thermal leggings, tops, layers, woolly socks jumpers but my hands turn into painful icicles if it's below 19/20. I lived in a house that was 17 degrees and it was miserable, I wore so many layers and a hat and my hands were still freezing. Some of us feel the cold a lot more than others.

Everyone having a go at people for being environmentally unfriendly - heating is only one aspect of your life. How often do you wash your clothes? Drive? Do you have pets/children? The amount of times people on MN get called "disgusting" for not washing their clothes/towels after every wear, when it's usually completely unnecessary and wasteful!

I love an Al fresco wee