Can i ask your energy costs in an old house?

[Itsallabouttea]

Just trying to gauge how common our situation is!
We moved to a 3 bed Victorian end terrace last summer, typical house of the period, solid walls and EPC rating D. Prior to this I was a lodger with bills included so had little awareness of the cost. At the moment we're spending £8-9 a day just to be remotely comfortable - heating on for a couple of hours in the morning and maybe 3 in the evening. We both work from home and the house constantly feels absolutely Baltic - even when the heating's been on for hours it never gets above 16°. Is this just normal for houses of this age and are we destined to be bankrupt by the energy bill? We're paying 27p kWh for electricity, 7 for gas with Octopus

A common perception, but not true.

Running an energy company isn't a one-way bet to vast guaranteed profits as we saw with all the energy companies that went bust in recent years. People seem to forget about that.

We live in a listed Georgian cottage. It has central heating but is freezing in winter even with the heating on all day (never gets above 18) as it is single glazed. We pay about £300 a month all year round to cover the winter bills. It is expensive but we do t have any other choice (can't change the sash windows as they are specified on the listed stays) l. However, one comfort is that when it is really hot in summer, the house is always cool. I'd much rather be cold in winter and cool in summer than the other way around.

I think with a victorian property you're better off being mid terrace than end, not that this helps you at all! I'm in a victorian house but mid terrace which I think makes a big difference.

I only have single glazing here (the old sash windows) so the house does get cold. But I'd say this week I've used the heating the most as it's been minus temps. So around 8am - 7pm, heating it to 20, and its been £6 a day and decently warm.

I did used to have one room that sticks out the back of the house that was always freezing and it turned out there was basically no insulation at all in that part of the roof. Now it's well insulated it gets lovely and warm in there so I'd definitely check that out first.

That is true, the back of our house is North facing and it was lovely and cool in that super hot week at the end of August!

Ours is a typical terrace with long galley kitchen and bathroom sticking out the back on their own - those rooms are basically the same temperature as outside!

We have a 1930s semi. We have learned the hard way that it’s better to keep the heating on for longer at a lower temperature than to blast for an hour in the morning and a few hours in the evening. That gave us black mould last winter, and mould inside a wardrobe (on an external wall). The optimum for the house would probably be 19-20. We run it at 18 and try not to let it dip much below this during the day if we’re at home (unless it’s just DH).

We’re currently spending £10-12 per day on total energy. But are hundreds of pounds in credit.

Built 1802

£22 a day if the heating is on full time from 8 am to 10pm. Set to about 19/20 degrees

About £11 a day if it's limited to 2 hours in the morning and 3 in the evening. Generally that's OK but in this cold snap I've had to have it on more as it's dropping to below 10deg by mid afternoon

it's still cold enough to see our breasts when we first come downstairs in the morning.

Is that because your nipples go so pointy in the cold?

5 bed detached 1960s house with loft conversion with 4 adults and we’re £300/month.

What I did do a couple of weeks ago was to add extra rolled loft insulation, it cost about £100, and the difference to the temperature upstairs was instant, I then ran a dehumidifier up there for a couple of days, and a noticeable difference again. Could be worth it if it’s doable for you

I'm with octopus and I pay £90 a month, but I only heat one room.

I of course meant breath but yes they do unfortunately as well

With Octopus
1950 Detached 3 bed
both over 65yrs old, so heating on all day
0800-10.30pm 7 days week

bills now £300 mth

We live in an old 5 bedroom farmhouse and I don’t think we run the heating nearly that much. Maybe 1.5-2 hours in the morning and maybe 2 hours in the evening. Our water is heated by solar, so even in winter, if sunny, we don’t really use electricity for that (obviously it switches to electric if needed). We have 2 wood burners though and nearly always light one of them in the evening. The wood is free (we have enough trees coming down each year or on a neighbour’s property). Honestly, couldn’t tell you what we pay on heating really as it’s oil fired, but electricity is £280 a month - that’s for the house and several barns. I’m hardcore about turning lights off and keeping doors shut though.

I couldn’t tell you what the temperature is though. In the rooms with wood burners, it’s very toasty. But rest of house less so. We just wear jumpers and scarves.

4 bed. Heating on and off during the day. £250 pcm

I of course meant breath but yes they do unfortunately as well

I know, I thought it was a funny typo/autocorrect 😄

My 3 bed terrace built in 1890 was 13 degrees when I woke up this morning (kitchen extension has no heating and was 11 degrees this morning) boiler is old and don't have a thermostat to control temperature.

We have heating on for about 3.5 hours in the evening and once in the night for an hour, however little one has been coughing so had to stop having heating on at night.

Forgot to say, gas and electric bill is just under £300 per month currently

£200-£250 a month, it's realistically what you'd need to budget for I think. Even if you did all the insulation so much goes on cooking, electricity etc

I wouldn’t recommend Kingspan. Ours was done about 10 years ago, I’ve become much more aware of the need for stone walls to breathe. Planning to remove the thick waterproof paint from the living room and go for something breathable. Meanwhile a dehumidifier keeps the room dry and therefore warmer.

There’s a difference between energy producers and energy suppliers. Energy producers I think are doing OK

Seems counterintuitive but this year I've been keeping it a bit warmer overnight. Mainly to try and stop my 2yo waking at 4am cold. So it has been clicking on to 17° at 2am and that wee burst of heating seems to make all the difference. It used to drop to 14 overnight but now it is 17 at 2am then on again when we get up at 7am and it usually hasn't dropped below 17 by that point. I would never have dreamed of heating the house overnight before but it seems to make it much easier to warm up properly. I haven't noticed any great difference in our bills.

Also dehumidifier makes a difference. Mostly use it for drying clothes but sometimes if it's been particularly cold I leave it on overnight in the living room and it sucks that cold damp feeling away.

Im in a 2 bed 1930's end terrace and we pay £86 a month for both gas and electricity. I went into winter £600 in credit so scottish power reduced my payments from £110. I suspect my last £350 credit will get eaten up when I put my next meter readings in but it always seems to even out again over summer. Heating is on most of the day at the minute as we have a new baby, never have it on at night and usually just heat the rooms we are using at the time

It's currently stupidly cold where I am but to be back to warmer temperatures day and night from Sunday onwards. I dread to think how much I've spent on heating this week and it still feels cold to me.

Thanks all, really useful to hear others experiences. We do have a dehumidifier which is really good as the rooms are pretty high humidity, but again the cost of running that all day adds up. Meant to be warmer here next week thankfully!

My house is a thatch built in ~1750. We are frugal with the heating, but if we have it on it heats up fine. Paid a fortune for double glazing that meets listing conditions though! Love our house