That it’s bonkers this is my FIX? Sorry another ENERGY one

[Ineedtoletgo83]

I wish I’d fixed in Oct 2021 but on MSE advice I didn’t then. Wow now this is our situation, what can we do? cut down usage is our option.

I did the MSE calculator is suggesting I strongly fix at £483 per month. Paying £165 atm due to go to £220.

I mean we could reduce our usage but really how much will that affect our bills?

large 4 bed semi, dreaded open plan area. Gas central heating.

we use 17800 kWh of gas?!

and 3744 kWh of Electricity.

I wfh 5 days a week. DH two days a week. Kids home from 4ish most days.

Bifolds in kitchen are so curtains won’t look right but thinking on it we might just have to!

I’m wondering do we have a gas leak? But then a PP said we use a lot of gas.

how do we check for a gas leak?

This is why expressing the price cap and fixed deals in £ per month/year is a bad idea - it is not clear.
And I think energy companies make their bills purposely confusing.

Oh god, this really isn't how fixes work! So many people really have no clue how their energy bill works.

It isn't like a mobile contract with unlimited minutes.

You still pay for the exact amount of power you use, you just have a choice of paying for the units at the variable "market rate" or locking in your price per unit now. Either way you are gambling on how future prices will go, will they increase as much as expected in January, what will happen in April, and beyond if you have a longer fix.

You need to get to grips with your usage.

Usage is the way forward. Not fixing. Although MSE strongly suggested fixing

Agree, and the government/Ofgem make it even worse with the way the price cap is done.

Thank you on the fix clarification. Usage is our only way out of this I guess.

So many people thinking the monthly payment is fixed and won't change whereas it can go both up.and down depending how much gas and electricity you use as it the price per unit and the standing charge that is fixed.

I hate the annual figures they give for the price cap as it only applies to an average user and I know that I am not one of them (is anyone?)

And the price rise in January is also given as a figure rather than a % and that makes it harder to compare prices too

DH and I totally confused on this, I thought I had some idea on how it operates.

The new tariff is 121% more than our current tariff which is why MSE is suggesting we fix the new tariff.

If you genuinely think you have a gas leak you need to call 0800111999 and get Cadent out

Do you have high ceilings? We have heating set at similar and hot water on 2 hour a day (usually every other day) and use more gas than you. Our thermostat is set to 22 which usually gets our kitchen heated to about 17 degrees. We have radiators off in most rooms though. Some houses just take ages to heat! We have a wood fire and use that in winter so there's always a room that's warm after 4. Tbh our bills have always been high so the 80% increase is a bit daunting but we can't realistically cut down more. There's someone in the house all day.

We turned our hot water down to one hour in the morning just before we get up as a trial (admittedly only 2 WFH adults), we’ve taken it down to 45 mins now. It’s a large insulated tank. Lasts till following day. Hubby boosts it the night before his early golf start for half an hour once a week . DH is quite amazed at how much previously we’ve been wasting.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/ninety_days_only/4620110-idea-for-making-energy-price-raises-irrelevant?page=2

If the house is getting hot very quickly when it's hot outside, and losing heat very quickly when it's cold outside, that suggests it's poorly insulated - it can't retain either cool air or hot air inside.

Part of the issue might be the bi-fold doors, plus the open plan design downstairs which means one wall is essentially glass and there's no way of blocking heat leakage from inside to out. However, it would be worth looking into insulation measures, like how much roof insulation you have in place and whether there's a way of blocking heat escape from the doors. This would also help mitigate the impact of future heatwaves.

Similarly I think we've been totally clueless about how long we need to heat the hot water. I've been experimenting and got it down from 2 hours a day to 20 minutes every other day. I'm guessing will need longer in winter as water will be colder to start.

I would move your thermostat to the open plan area so that you can get that heated to 18/19 without having to overheat the rest of your house, 22 is so hot! But also 5-10pm is also a long stint of heating which will be costing, I would try and use blankets to get cosy on the sofa etc from 9pm onwards

I would not want to fix my electricity above 60p a unit.

Obviously at some point the cap will go over that and we're all screwed but I wouldn't lock into it now.

You are using a lot of gas but you also have your heating on a lot. That’s fine if you can afford it but for comparison we are on a tight budget and most years we only have ours on an hour and a half in the mornings and about 1-2 hours in the evening. This year we simply won’t be able to use the heating at all.

The tumble dryer will also be adding ££ each week. Dry things on an airer and if you really must only use the tumble for 5 mins to soften / cupboard dry at the end - others would say don’t even do this.

As others have said you’re not fixing the amount you pay each month, you’re fixing the unit price.

That's not how fixing works!!!
OMG how do people think this? You'll still pay what you use!

You pay for usage whether you fix or not. The fix is the unit price. You pay for the number of units whether you fix at 60p per unit for a year or go with variable which is currently 50p and could either drop or go up!

In all honesty I wouldn’t heat the house in the morning and look at both of you wearing hot water bottles and layers while you work. My resolution is to only use heat for the kids when they’re at home.

The point here is what you are fixing is not what you pay, but rather what you pay PER UNIT of energy.

So you can still fix if you want - and then if you use less you will still pay less!

I wouldn't fix until I knew roughly what it'll be in January.
At the moment they are guesses. It most likely will go up, but the government could shock us all to death and actually stop it increasing (there's a lot of pressure on them and we all know the government usually back down at the very last second) and then you'd be stuck.
Shame none of us have a crystal ball.

Your electric is slightly above the average at 2900
So you could probably make savings there
Dishwasher will use a fair amount of electric as it heats up and stays heating
Its not an all you can HEAT buffet 😂