Just need to moan! The smart meter was at £23 yesterday!!

[FTMFML]

I mean that's nearly £700 a month if our usage was that each day- its not thankfully its £15... bad enough!
It's -6 here... heating was on for 6 hours to get to 18c as it was SO cold, we washed and tumble dried two loads of washing too as the little ones clothes all get done at the end of the week and the indoor washing line was already full of undried items. Not to mention the kettle on numerous times to defrost our outside tap....

I'm just having a moan sorry but I know so many others are worse off but it all really just gets to me sometimes. I cannot see a light at the end of this tunnel.

Bloody hell! I’ve got two small kids and I joust thought fuck it I will have the heating on a as much as I want. It’s a positively toastie 18c in my living room. Last year I would have thought it cold at 18c.

Why are you constantly defrosting your outdoor tap?! It’s like £3.00 for a tap protector!

It's terrible isn't it? This government has a lot to answer for. To try to cope, maybe adjust your washing days so you aren't using the tumble drier? Why do you need to defrost outdoor taps?

That's scary.

I've managed without heating during the day so far. Wfh wearing ski base layer under tidy wool sweaters, and a blanket around my bottom half. Thank god for the limited extent of video calls. 😀

But ds broke up from school yesterday. I'm going to have to turn the heating on during the day. It's about to get much more expensive. 🙁

What are you using your outside tap for and why hasn't it got a protector on? Plus adding boiling water runs the risk of causing some damage.

are your radiators all bled properly etc? draught excluders, another layer of clothes on and keeping doors shut as much as possible.

Sounds like heat is escaping more than it should be perhaps because you keep going outside to defrost a tap and if you are drying wet clothes as well there's a lot of wet air to heat.

have you got a dehumidifier?

I know the government have been shite but how is this their fault!?

Try energy companies making huge profits still, putin etc!

Turn of the water to the tap isolator and buy a cap thing that looks like a fez hat to go over it.

Why would you need to defrost outside tap and more than once in a day? Just get a cheap protector instead! I’ve never once in my life defrosted mine.

You're going to have to stop with the tumble dryer. Only wash the absolute essentials each time.

Yes. I know its a right pain but if you wash a bit smarter- one load of what will be needed in about 2-3 days time each day then it shod dry quicker and get a dehumidifier

It is shit, but as others have said you are wasting a fair bit. Why wash clothes with nowhere to dry them? Why keep defrosting an outside tap?

Well defrosting the tap, however many times you are doing it, isn't the reason why the energy bill is so high.

Six hours to get to 18c is depressing. How cold had your house become overnight and would it be more cost efficient to have a higher overnight minimum temperature so it doesn't have to work so hard through the day? My system was on for 35minutes overnight to keep it at 17c and took 33m to get to 18c this morning with an outdoor temperature of -2c.

I think we will average about £600 pm in December Jan and Feb, going off last year's usage. Our house is old and badly insulated and still feels cold despite having the heating on from 6am to 10pm constantly.

Thanks all for your replies- the dog had very helpfully removed the tap cover and has placed it goodness knows where! New one is now in situ! We had to defrost the tap(once) to wash the cars (madness I know) but OH runs a driving school so his cars are part of his "product" I suppose, so we like to keep them looking good (even though it's a impossible task with grit/mud on the roads).

Dehumidifier sounds like a great idea will have a look into that today!

We live in quite a large older bungalow and as grateful as I am for where I stay it is not as well insulated or leak proof as we would like but we are doing what we can bit by bit to make it make energy efficient.

Yesterday was the "heavy" washing day hence the tumble drier etc, it's something I would like to cut down on but the washing takes days to dry!! But maybe a dehumidifier would help that?

Yes dehumidifier would help as would also planning the washing so you don't have a heavy day if you can help it. It's very hard though.

Is his business contributing towards the cost of the electricity and the water or is he running his business on the cheap at the expense of the family pot?

the business should be contributing if it isn't rather than you feeling like you have to not be consistently warm so there is utility for him to wash his cars.

If you're in a bungalow, do you have an outdoor space/ washing line to part-dry washing? Even at -2 to 2C today I hung out a load in the morning (double spun in the washing machine) and took it in just after dark and it will be dry by the morning. We could literally see the water evaporating as soon as we hung it out and it's much drier coming in despite the cold. That will save you a lot of money on the tumble dryer side.

Car washing should be a deductible expense if it's for the business. Set up an account at a local valet/car wash