Energy bills - in deficit already (no Summer credit)

[OneFrenchEgg]

Four bed house, five adults / teens. Gas central heating. Already £150 in debt (payments set at £200 a month). I switch lights and plugs off all the time. On a variable tariff.
Anyone else not building up the usual Summer credit this year?

I’m in credit, paying the same as you and a four bed house. BUT my D.C. have left and DH works away all week, I’m also menopausal so run hot all the time and go to bed early so not using evening energy and rarely watch TV.

i don’t think you’re paying enough.

You shouldn’t ever turn your router off. It can cause issues with the speed / settings etc as it will send signals to the company saying it’s not working etc and / or to slow things down. The amount they use is so tiny it’s not worth turning them off at all.

Routers should be left on all the time .

You are right of course but this is where families with disabilities are really going to struggle because we can’t all eat the same meal - there are 4 of us and for various reasons we don’t all eat the same thing, so I regularly cook 2/3 different things. And there’s no way round it. (Ds has autism and has a very restrictive diet, I have lupus and sjorgens and can often only eat soft things etc). Our washing machine is on at least once a day due to incontinence issues. I’ve managed to stop using the dryer for now but in winter I’m not sure how I’m going to manage to get everything dry with no heating whatsoever and no dryer!

It’s great if you have a flexible and understanding family where you can meal plan and all eat the same thing and cut down washing etc but it really doesn’t work for every family.

Our boiler broke in July,we didn’t have one for a month,we used £2 in gas for the hole month obviously plus standing charge,since we had a new boiler it used £8 in a week!..

Yep, we owe £70ish currently.

Can someone explain to me about being in credit to check I've got it right?

We are £250 in credit and currently pay £299 a month but our bill the last few months has been around £170 so that over £100 a month we are saving up for winter.

Our electricity stays fairly stable over the course of a year (I keep a log) but our gas can be 4 times higher in winter than in summer. So say if in winter we are using more than we are paying, then we will use up the credit yes as they will take some of that each month is that right? How much can we get into debit before they increase our direct debit or do I need to ring them and increase it?

Lots of energy use here approx 4000kwh electric and 22000kwh a year gas. Gas to heat hot water we have the tank style system..gas hob and oven but recently bought an air fryer and we use the oven less now. Like a pp various disabilities / allergies / restrictions mean I cook 2-3 meals a night and a tumble dryer is essential although we also have a dedicated laundry room with a dehumidifier for clothes and I use the tumble dryer for sheets and nappies.

Can anyone advise thanks

Hi - yes they use the credit so it will gradually go down. My fuel company email and say you need to pay more if they think the balance isn't right.
I think it's the dishwasher and laundry that's the main thing in our house. And the oven/hob used just for one-two people at a time.
Bloody shower has just broken - the boost light is now permanently on (but not running) so am panicking about that. Going away for a week so not much we can do.

@pumpkinpie01

Dishwashers are more economical than hand washing dishes properly. Less energy to heat the water & less water. Even more so when people are eating at different times.

Yeah, especially if people don't let any fresh air into the house!

it'll be the next health crisis.

Yes I think this too.

And more gas explosions as people won’t afford to have their boilers serviced (we will but you know lots won’t).

Double spin the washing as pp said and then, so long as the pavement is dry/ drying I'd get it on the line. You might not get it dry but you can get it dryer than it was before you bring it back into the house. If you aren't putting the heating on at all, it might be worth looking for a dehumidifier now, second hand ones are cheaply available at the moment but may be in hot demand later in the year.

I was going to ask, are dehumidifiers cheaper to run than tumble dryers per unit cost? We have one in our laundry room and it can dry things overnight but it’s a closed room. No idea if having it on for 10 hours is more than the dryer at 2, but not everything can be tumbled of course.

I hate washing hanging up everywhere ,I'm trying to work out of its better to two massive loads per week and tumble dry or wash every day and hang up to dry. A rated machine and washing at 30.

I'm not trying to work it out at all, I'm lying,I'm hoping someone can tell me 🙄🤣

It depends on the p

I was wondering this too and worked it out..can't find my calculations now but I think on our prices ojr dehumidifier costs 17p am hour and our tumble dryer costs 71p. Obviously depending on your wattage of machine and electrical tarrif. So in one way yes it's more expensive to run the dehumidifier for 10 hours as that would be £1.70 than the tumble dryer for 2 hours would be £1.42 but we can dry more with a dehumidifier than a tumble dryer. In our laundry room we have 3 airers plus a ceiling airer so generally have at least 2 loads hanging up so that 2 loads drying at same time whereas tumble dryer only does one load at a time.

Sorry,

power consumption of both your appliances, I suppose. Apparently a full cycle of a dryer can be as high as 4.5kwh according to the National Energy Trust. And the consumption of dehumidifiers can vary hugely. My old one was only 250w so I could run that for 10 hours and I'd be winning.

The benefit of the dehumidifier might be that you can also move it from room to room to protect the fabric of the house if it is at risk of becoming damp through lack of the more costly central heating.

I think a dehumidifier to dry washing is fab, if you have a suitable area to put it all in and close the door on it. We just moved house, left our tumble drier there and will not be buying a new one.

I also like the dehumidifier as firstly it can dry all clothes as you say @Decafflatteplease and also it doesn’t accidentally shrink things!

OP do you have a smart meter? If not, definitely get one installed - most energy companies will do this for free and it will only take a few hours to get set up.

The huge advantage is that you can constanly keep an eye on your meter to see how much you are using in real time - and how it compares to your overall budget (i.e. your DD/ monthly payments).

I am only using just over £1 daily at the moment. Given my DD is set at £125 pcm it means that I am using only a third of what I am paying right now, building up decent credit. I also don't have to faff with readings as they are sent to the company automatically, so I can also view my monthly bill in real time online.

The smart meter can also bet set up to warn you about high usage (when you go over a budget that you can specify), and it will tell you when during the day you are using particularly high amounts of energy.

As for washing - my washing is out on the line every month of the year, even in winter. It might take a day or two to dry rather than two hours like it does in mid-summer, but it is well worth it to avoid damp in the house. And if it doesn't get completely dry outside, there will still be a massive difference in how fast it dries once back inside the house. Fresh air has that effect. Additionally, sunlight can remove some small, but annoying stains.

Yes, we haven't had a good experience with the smart meters. Currently sending readings once a month and I refuse to have another IHD.

I looked at my annual usage for 2020-21 and worked out what that would be on current prices (this was back in April when prices first went up).... started paying 1/12th of that immediately . I've got £800 credit now which will be a help for winter. Big supplier to v unlikely to go bust.

It’s possible to dry clothes outside in winter. If it’s not raining stuff goes on the line. My view is that ANY drying time outside is useful.
Also we have a weather gauge thingy. If relative humidity is low (40%) we’ll try and get washing done to get it outside.

Quite apart from the expense, surely we should all be cutting down on our energy use massively to save the planet?

Why not have a strip wash instead of a shower? Can be done with a pint of hot water.

Clothes don't all have to be washed after one wearing. Get kids to change out of

Grr

Change out of uniform and into something that only needs washing once a week.

Line dry all washing, if it's raining dry indoors but with ventilation to stop mould.