Insane costs to run our home. Is there help on the way?

[SoupaDoupa]

We are in the fortunate enough position to own our own 3 bed Victorian property. Over the years we have modernised it by adding on an extension (with lots of glass - so not great for keeping heat in (or out in the summer). We have also added in as much insulation as possible to the walls in the bedrooms and ceilings, the windows are all new wooden sash windows, we have wooden shutters I try and keep closed (no fabric curtains).

I have just checked our smart metre and we have already spend £6.28 this morning alone! I kept turning the heating off over night because our bedrooms luckily weren't absurdly cold, but our front room (north facing and always the coldest) got down to 13C!! I did have the tumble dryer on last night to dry a load of blankets I washed (son was ill) that I'll be using during the day to keep me warm while I WFH. DH and Son are upstairs in bed so it's just been my daughter and I up and about so far today. I've had a shower as well. Not used the stove or oven or anything. The heat was on this morning for maybe an hour.

I checked the smart metre and yesterday it tallied up at £19.88 for the day!!! 😳

The cost to heat and run the electrics for our home will cost us close to £600+ this month!?! This is crazy and unaffordable. As I said, I understand that we are in a fortunate position with our home, and there are many others struggling far worse than us. Will there be more help from the government? Is there an end in sight for these sky rocketing costs? (I know it won't be instant, but will they go down close to where they were within the next couple years?). Will there be help from the government?

What can we do to lower the costs? Husband says that all our bulbs are energy efficient. Right now I've got all the lights and heating off. We do have some things plugged in that's not in use like the main computer, the TV, sky box, play station etc. but there's not loads. The only things I'm actually using right now is my laptop for work that's plugged in and my Amazon Alexa to listen to some music.

So sorry if I just explain.

If your house loses x degrees an hour. It costs just as much to maintain at 15c than 19c if you have it on constantly.

It doesn’t. Because the bigger the difference between the inside and outside temperature, the faster your house loses heat.

Sounds like you might benefit from thermal blinds and curtains for your heat leaking extension? Do you have blinds and curtains on all windows? And doors?

Yes I'm thinking I need to do something. I was thinking about putting cardboard on the back windows. I think someone on here (or another thread) mentioned that as a short term solution. I'm not sure how I would fix the actual curtains because the doors are a triple panel bifold with a metal beam above them.

Saying all that and thinking about it, I don't think the glass doors present as much of a problem as people think they do. Of course they do let the cold in. But the room tends to stay decently warm all things considering. It hovers around 18C with a bit of heating on in the morning, afternoon and evening. Not loads.

It's the front of the house - the Victorian part that is the real issue. The front lounge is the coldest. Was 13C this morning because I kept turning the heat off since obviously no one was in there and the rest of the rooms ran a tad warmer. My daughters room is also at the front of the house and is the second coldest in the house. They are both north facing with relatively large wooden sash windows (new ones). Wooden shutters on both windows. I can't be putting cardboard or anything on the front windows without my house looking like an eyesore and a drug den. I could look to hang a curtain over the window in my daughters room, but the radiator is directly underneath and I would think a curtain (even a short one which I detest) may absorb and trap the heat by covering the top of the vents on the radiator and prevent the heat from fully dispersing into the room if that makes sense. The other main issue is our front door. It's solid wood. But very cold. It will cost a couple grand to get a new one so husband has always held off. The the front hall and the stairs that go up to the bedrooms leading from the door is also freezing. I am looking to see if we can get one of those draft curtains and how we would go about hanging it

@Oakbeam agreed
@LemonSwan - it definitely does not - we've been over this misconception at great length in another thread.

It is in our house. No offence but going to go on our gas meter.

It says 66C. But it's been specifically set to that and the flow and everything specially done because we have underfloor heating downstair

Erm...I don't think your high bills are much of a mystery tbh op.

Is the underfloor heating gas or electric? I switched my electric floor off when I got an owl installed !

Most of your heat dissapears ars through the walls.

Either purpose bought radiator reflectors behind each rad or large pieces of cardboard covered in foil (shiny side out) will help as will blankets over the window shutters tucked behind the radiators.

There is a reason for tiny windows, curtains and carpets. They aren't just decorating options.

It's the bigger picture.

These are really cold days - but if you look at the average over a year, can you afford it?

I think anyone living in these Victorian and Edwardian houses with high ceilings, will struggle to afford the heating from now on. The industrial revolution was in full swing when they were built, plenty of cheap coal about.

You said earlier that we are going back a hundred years. We are actually going back much further than that as the era of cheap and plentiful energy is coming to an end.
There won't be any further help from the government. The help already received was just to try to smooth the transition to lower living standards. Probably to prevent riots. Like boiling a frog slowly. We will all be in spending a much greater proportion of our incomes on the essentials from now on.

There is a reason for tiny windows, curtains and carpets. They aren't just decorating options.

We've all been seduced by a decade of US house programmes showing us glass boxes and so much light its like living outside. Fine for California. Not so great in the UK..

I switched my electric floor off when I got an owl installed !

I am being dumb. Is owl a funny typo or is it a real thing and I just don't know what it is?

<picturing a soft fluffy owl wandering around sitting on peoples laps to warm them up>

That's what I was thinking @Ciri

It's such a cosy, wintery image

I can't see how a dryer is using that much energy. Looking at my electricity usage the day I did two wash and dry loads it went up less than a pound for the day. So I wonder if it's something else?
I have gas boiler snd hob plus a gas fire which I have on four to five evenings a week. The heating is on all day (set at 18 in the warmest room, so upstairs always colder). My combined usage is about £12/day currently (three bed terrace, back ground floor is all glass), £3 electrics, £9 gas.

What a lovely idea ! But my 35kg fluffy lap dog might have an objection to it !

No an Owl measures your electric usage /solar panels ( was before smart meters ) so I suddenly saw how much the floor was costing to heat .....

I think it's the norm to have thick curtains over front and back doors in older properties. If you don't want to have short curtains because you don't like the look, then thermal roller blinds and lined Roman blinds are an option. We may go back to the way our grandparents had winter and summer curtains and cared less about looks than the temperature of their sitting rooms.

This is a good image. I don't expect the tumble was that much. Sounds like you need to try to heat people rather than the spaces if you can. And get curtains and draft excluders. Not much more you can do.

@SoupaDoupa my electric car costs me £4.20 to charge from empty to full, which is 200 miles.

But I have a special electric car tariff that's cheaper overnight.

This is no way to fucking live at all

Just closing the thick curtains on the single glazed sash windows makes my front room a degree warmer.

Bought a few rolls of this today for my rads. Can't wait 😁😂

www.screwfix.com/p/radiator-reflector-foil-470mm-x-4m-1-88m-/88629?tc=SB5&ds_kid=92700072615374555&ds_rl=1249404&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4uCcBhDdARIsAH5jyUl5d2prxso2WikZxEBn6Yl4Wj9bIyQGNRGJUrV28Nq6oY3vxIGySlMaAkbUEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

We keep our big draughty Edwardian house warm with: thermal-lined door curtain – you can get a portiere rod that attaches to the door and lifts the curtain as the door opens, or just use a regular curtain rod if you have space; thermal-lined curtains throughout – ditch the shutters! – and key is closing them at dusk; and keeping internal doors shut to trap heat in each room.

Everyone has slippers, silk thermals under clothes, and layers up before opting for heating. Hot water bottles help for WFH/sitting still; big stack of blankets in sitting room and bedrooms. DD’s Christmas holiday activity this year is also going to be to make draught excluders with old pairs of tights.

A pp asked about the multiple meals thing which is a good point: air fryer for one meal, then again for another, plus something on the hob, all adds up – versus using the oven once to cook lots of things to last a couple of days.

Government support will lessen over the next year or two, not grow - so you’ll need to make some changes to minimise your bills

If you’re not using a heat pump tumble drier I’d upgrade to one - ours uses very little electricity.

Unfortunately there’s not a whole lot you can do other than insulate everywhere you can - while I’m in a similar situation, it’s not the taxpayers fault we chose our older homes and thus the taxpayer shouldn’t be paying to heat them via subsidies etc.