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 have had solar panels els for at least 12 years.

We rarely have the heating above 15°.
In the evenings we put the fire on in the family room.
Hive heating means additional heating controls and that for an hour in the mornings in beds and baths we have it at 18°.
We have put on a jumper for the last 30 years when it's chilly and have told the dc to.
When nights have been v cold we have always used hot water bottles.

I wonder if, with the increase in utilities, there will be a move away from vast open plan kitchen plus living spaces usually with a wall of glass?

[quote Porcupineintherough]@itrytomakemyway the way we were living is unsustainable. We sat in our warm homes, burning fossil fuels whilst the majority of the world did without. Now the party is over. We arent entitled to more than our fair share of everything and the bill for environmental damage is coming due. Nothing unfair about that.

Weve had years to sort out clean energy and fuel efficient homes but nah, couldn't be arsed. Well this is where weve brought ourselves.[/quote]
Let’s be clear here, the Tory government and their supporters have brought it on themselves.

For example, solar prices have plummeted. So why has the government failed to mandate solar panels on new housing, and reduced the incentives available for households to install them? Why have they not help people insulate their homes? The government has to be held accountable.

Every time there’s a drop in living standards there’s a campaign to make the masses think it’s due to benefit claimants/ those being wasteful/ public sector pay. You name it really but it’s never down to those making enormous profits…

@MrMrsJones

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

People have got too comfortable with hot houses

You’re post is so insensitive. A lot of people have been too scared to put the heating on and still won’t be able to afford their bills…

When I was a kid, we only had heating in the lounge.
People have got too comfortable with hot houses

When I was a kid, we still had an outside toilet. People have got too comfortable with indoor plumbing.

@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.

Wow, another insensitive post. People are going literally freeze to death this year because of this.

In the days of ice forming on the inside of bedroom windows yada yada, houses had a stove or fire in one room, and one room of the house could be kept warm. You dressed in there, sat in there, there was one room heated. Right back to the bloody iron age round houses, there was one heated room.

In modern houses there's no ability to do this. They have been made absolutely reliant on gas and electricity. There is no magic answer, but 'the good old days' didn't involve people living entirely without being able to get warm.

Are people really happy to just accept a drop in their standard of living?

@itrytomakemyway

I don't think that there is any choice on this matter. People seem to be under the illusion that living standards can only go up. This simply isn't true. Nobody wants living standards to drop but it can happen, and it almost certainly will at some point. We've got used to exploiting other countries to keep prices very low in this country (think of all the cheap imported goods and clothing from Asia for example). This won't last forever.

@AchillesLastStand absolutely but the tories have had a lot of support over the last 12 years and the public squeal every time they are expected to shell out for environmental protection. "Green tax" is very unpopular.

@beattieedny the vulnerable have been dying for years, just in dusty countries a long way away. And they are dying now of famine and innundation as the climate changes. Many dont get to reach old age before doing so. Meanwhile we huff if we cant flush wetwipes down the drain or heat our hot tubs. The uk is plenty rich enough to clean up its act and stop its own people dying - if it wanted to.

This thread has reminded me to upload my meter readings (thank you!). I’ve stuck to variable rate (after coming of a fixed rate with Octopus in Feb), as it’s cheaper. But I’ll def be keeping an eye on things and fixing if needed. I freaked out about utility costs last year but luckily have always been quite frugal (I’m a single parent, working FT, so I have to count the pennies!).

This winter, heating was on for an hour tops twice a day and thermostat was set to 14. The thermostat things on the radiators have been put at the lowest level and I reduced the temp on my hot water tank thing to 60 rather than whatever it was before. I have a heated throw for the front room, extra blankets for the bedrooms, and I bought the kids/me a Kuddly/Oodie each. Also (luckily?), I’m peri menopausal so I’ve gone from always feeling the cold to now feeling hot all the time!!!

What makes me sick is hearing that MPs got a big pay rise, yet there are so many people struggling. I’m so lucky that my job (nursing sister) pays enough for me to be able to run my home (as long as I’m careful). I feel so much for those who are already struggling

For example, solar prices have plummeted. So why has the government failed to mandate solar panels on new housing

The payback period for a domestic solar installation is currently between 12 and 18 years. The cost of installation on an average sized home is around 10k. This would add about 12-15k to the cost of a new property. We’re building about 190k homes a year. Given there are approximately 23 million dwellings in the U.K., mandating solar panels on new homes is the equivalent of pissing on a house fire. It is not the answer, or even part of it.

@MrMrsJones

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

People have got too comfortable with hot houses

It's in my tenancy agreement to keep my heating on very low constantly between October to march to prevent damp. I realise it's April now but to suggest people only have heating on in their lounge (presumably you mean in winter also) is just bad advice and potentially damaging

@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.

THIS

@Madre123

Your landline phone charger, electric toothbrush charger, fridge freezer.....etc etc...you will be surprised...try to ensure all is off at the plug and nothing left on stand by.....x

I did an experiment where I tuned off EVERYTHING at the plug (except the boiler and the fridge and freezer) overnight. It made NO difference. None. Used two units leaving stuff plugged in, two with everything turned off. It’s minuscule and isn’t going to save anyone more than pennies a week. (Which isn’t to say you shouldn’t do it, just that it isn’t ‘the answer’ to the problem)

Why shouldn’t people be used to warm houses? Why is living in houses with ice in the inside always paraded as some kind of virtue that made us better people? People should be able to live in warm homes, FFS. Ice inside houses is BAD AND UNPLEASANT AND A POOR STANDARD OF LIVING. It’s reasonable for people to aspire to more in modern times, even if we did endure it in the past.

@MrMrsJones

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

People have got too comfortable with hot houses

So you think we should take a step back 60+ years then?

I’m at home now, it’s about -3 outside and it’s warm in here the heating is on almost always. It’s connected to a not-for-profit, privately run district heating provider, who are given a license to do so from the council. It cost less than the cost of a new boiler to connect our house around 10 years ago. The price hasn’t risen for 6 years. It’s powered by burning a combination of household waste and biomass, totally sustainable. The next price review will be in 2024 and if they put prices up too much the council will remove their license. Thousands of houses in this area are connected and the more than connect, the more efficient it becomes meaning the price may actually drop at the review. Local British councils actually pay this company to dispose of their waste. Needless to say, my house in not in Britain.

I appreciate the environmental argument for not burning fossil fuels to make heat, but the options available to households in Britain are fossil fuels or a cold home. I don’t know why people say in the 70s it was the case so it’s fine now. I assume it was considered unpleasant/dangerous in the 70s also to be cold. And technology has improved a lot since and surely we can expect warmth as a basic norm.

I’m not going back to freezing my arse off like I did when I was a kid!.that feeling has never left me.

@MrMrsJones

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

People have got too comfortable with hot houses

This

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

I have a fully lined chimney so I don’t think it would take much to get to get an open fire pit in. I am considering this, would it be a good idea?
I am happy to sit in the cold and will get a blanket or HW bottle but my son seems to think it’s ok to sit in shorts and T Shirt and have CH on full blast.
He has three or four showers a day he’s going to have to reduce it down
It’s just me and him

@MrMrsJones

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

People have got too comfortable with hot houses

This is still the case for us. No central heating and we only heat the living room when absolutely necessary with an electric heater. You get used to it. I find it stifling when I visit places with central heating.

@newstart1234 and why are the options to households either fossil fuels or a cold home? It's not like there havent been alternatives available for years. Anyway, we can burn all the fossil fuels we want worse luck if we are willing to pay for them. Difference is that a lot more people in the world are in a position to buy them also. We arent entitled to cheap fuel just cause were British.

@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.

This. Exactly this.

I remember vividly what it was like in the late 70s, early 80s. One bar heater on in the living room. Folded up newspaper used as draught excluders around the windows. Cling film across the windows. Putting our coats on top of our blankets on our bed and wearing jumpers to bed. Breathing under the covers to keep warm. One bath on a Sunday night.

My mum used to take us to the library straight after school. We would stay there until it was time to go home for tea. Beans or spaghetti on toast. Quick wash, pyjamas on then reading in bed. All because my parents couldn’t afford to put the heating on.

My mum worked as a dinner lady at our school. Our dad worked full time on the buses. And still it was very tight. Mum would bring left overs home from the school for my dad’s dinner. It was allowed back then.

And this is what we are returning to. Yes, it is no bad thing to cut out unnecessary consumption of gas and electricity. But this is not about the unnecessary. This is people having to go without the very basics of what is needed in order to live, let alone thrive.

I predict that foodbanks will be asking for donations of blankets and duvets in the coming months in preparation for the winter. Hats, gloves, scarves and hot water bottles too.

@AchillesLastStand
If you actually read both my posts you would see that I specifically stated we need to find a way to protect and help the most vulnerable during this time.

This does not make my other points null and void. A huge proportion of people are wasteful and lazy.

A huge proportion of people also voted for this government, repeatedly. The phrase ‘you reap what you sow’ comes to mind. The idea that these Tory shit bags care about ordinary people is laughable. Will the voting public put two and two together?? I wonder…

I don’t understand porcupine - what are the alternatives? My house in Britain has no possibility of any other heat source other than gas (or a coal fire in suppose). I have water heaters on my roof already, but that wouldn’t be an option if you lived in a flat.