MNHQ here: Worried about your rising energy bills? Charity National Energy Action will be here on Thursday 9th February 12pm to 1pm

[NicolaDMumsnet]

Hello

We know many of you have been discussing your concerns about rising energy bills and are worried about keeping warm without breaking the bank. And you were asking for help on this thread on how to use your central heating most efficiently, and what is best when it comes to things like keeping your thermostat on low all day or using it for short bursts.

On Thursday 9th February from 12pm to 1pm reps from national fuel poverty charity National Energy Action will be here, live on this thread, to answer your questions about why energy bills have risen and what you can do to maximise your home’s energy efficiency to make your money go as far as possible without compromising your health or wellbeing.

You can post your questions below in advance, from now, or join the Q&A on the day.

Here's what National Energy Action say:

“Last year, we gave advice and support to Mumsnet users on this thread. Since then the Energy Crisis has worsened. Last year the average annual energy bill was £1,271 and now it is £2,500. But don’t forget, that’s an average – if you use more because of medical equipment or if you have a larger than average family you will pay more.

In the 40 years since our charity first started we have never seen energy bills this high or so many people at risk of fuel poverty. Last year our figures showed 4.5 million UK households were fuel-poor, now it’s 6.7 million –and that’s with the government’s energy price guarantee. We think from April it could be 8.4 million UK households. We hear from people who have to sleep in coats, who are rationing showers, and who cannot stay warm at home. Our summary of the crisis is here.

From April, the government’s support will stop and the average annual bill is predicted to rise even further to £3,000. Every day our advisors help the most vulnerable with advice and support.

One of them, Molly, will be on this thread on Thursday 9th February to answer your questions. Everyone’s circumstances are different so please give as much detail as you can – whether you use gas, electricity, oil, or a combination and if you are on a special tariff like Economy 7. We also have Matt, head of policy who can answer questions about how the crisis came about and what may happen over the next year. If you need advice in the meantime find it here.

Hello! Is it more efficient to leave my heating on lower for longer periods or to have it on higher in short bursts - e.g. an hour in the morning, hour at night?

Heating is gas, water tank system not combi (so boiler always goes on twice a day for hot water), Worcester boiler 8 years old and I am on a standard tariff with my supplier.

I don't have a smart meter so it's hard to judge as cooking is also on gas.

Place marking, I know I’ll be MIA on the 9th.

Hello I have an old boiler (Potterton Netheat) it’s more than 20 years old. Very reliable heats my 4 bedroom home. We’ve put in a modern Hive system which works well so far. Wondering how much more energy efficient a new boiler would be (traditional kind, not a combi) - and how much on average this might cost (obv money tight right now). We only have the heating on for half an hour in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening while it’s cold. If I am in in the day use a heated throw.

Why are UK bills so high compared to other European countries?

Should fossil fuel energy companies be subject to the maximum possible windfall tax to subsidise domestic and small business consumers?

I'm on a Scottish Power "complex tariff" with two meters.

My "night rate" meter powers my storage heaters and hot water tank
My "day rate" meter powers the rest of my consumption

Because I have a complex meter situation I can't easily switch, and additionally Scottish Power no longer offer the system I use (their old WeatherCall system which automatically powered your storage heaters depending on the weather forecast) and doesn't have a competitive tariff for it.

It's ridiculously difficult to get information on what's the best thing to do in my situation. In order to move to a bog-standard Economy 7 tariff I would need to get my wiring redone, but with prices going up so much it might be worthwhile doing this now.

Do you have any advice for someone in my situation? There are still a few thousand people like me stuck on this old Scottish Power system but no clear route to make sure we don't end up spending hundreds to save pennies.

Other than the stupid system, I'm happy with my storage heaters - I'm in a well insulated flat and 2 heaters (1 x central hall area, 1 x livingroom) heat the whole space adequately through the winter. We don't have the option of any other fuel source.

We are with Shell, standard tariff, newish combi boiler, 3 bed old draughty house. We insulate extra where we can with eg thermal curtains, draft excluders etc. Our bills are much higher than I think they should be but I am still typing this with my coat on.
Shell was keen to replace our smart British gas meters with shell smart meters and I let them as I wanted their in home display unit so I could monitor our use better. Now they tell me the meters aren't working and we need to send meter readings because of our poor reception (which wasn't there when we were with BG.) The home display unit has never worked and they have emailed me to say it's never going to. I complained about all this and they have informed me they have investigated and resolved the complaint - to their full satisfaction at least. The resolution is that we have poor reception. Case closed.
What can we do? They raised doubts that the regulators would 'allow' our complaint. I feel we are being taken for a ride by companies like Shell who are just taking it in.
So seriously, what can ordinary consumers do in this situation? It feels like David and Goliath.

Just getting on the thread while I think of a question.

We've built a supposedly well insulated house, triple glazing, insulated plasterboard and cavity wall beads. But with underfloor heating and mvhr there are rooms that never seem to hold heat and I was told that it's more efficient to leave it on all the time rather than turn it on and off as uf heating is essentially a storage heater.

It's oil fired as couldn't afford air source heat pump and we're beside the coast and ASHP corrodes. During the worst of winter we had to abandon heating bedrooms as it just was drinking it. Is it that there's an issue with the cavity insulation? Or just really cold weather outside so always going to have been lost?

We are in a rural area with no mains gas so we built our house with underfloor heating powered by an air source heat pump. Then last your we had solar panels and a battery installed which is great in the lighter months. However before this energy emergency quite a few companies had a night rate they offered to use up the power generated by windfarms which isn't used. sometimes they even paid you to take the power. As we have a battery we had thought it would be a great way of saving in the winter as we could charge it up at night and use it in the day time.
So my question is why can't energy firms offer this again to everyone? If people were able to have batteries fitted they could do as we want to and use the cheap energy in the day time, saving loads.

I have an all electric house. I was told by a Nebe engineer I need to keep my hot air system on all the time otherwise it won't work but it's costing me £500 a month and I'm not a big user at all. I tried turning it off for a month and only putting it on when I really needed it and my bill was £200 cheaper. Do I really need to keep it on all the time? I'm not sure I can afford to.

Hello Molly.
We're with Scottish Power.
Our monthly DDR is £161.36 (set by them).
It's been a year since we started to pay this amount.
Now they're telling us we only need to pay £140.00.
How can this be right? Surely our bills are going to be higher in 2023?

DH reckons electric blankets use a lot of electricity. Is he right?
We've been trying to get a smart meter for five years.

Are air source heat pumps any good?
We refused to have one installed because of the disruption.
Just wondered if they would have saved us any money?

I have a question...

We have a very old boiler but it works fine although is inefficient. We currently pay around £300 a month In energy bills, in summer we build a credit so in winter we can use more then the £300 we pay.

Our annual usage is around 4000kwh electric 20000kwh gas so our gas especially is very high

We are debating getting a new boiler (a combi type so we wouldn't need to heat a tank of hot water a few times a day) but we are wondering whether the cost of the new boiler will be reflected in lower energy bills.

A new boiler will be at least 3k so we would have to take a loan and pay it back a bit each month. Which would be fine if our energy supplier would lower our bills to account for a new boiler installation. Do you know how we would go about this?

Is it worth paying more for a new boiler or are we best just to stick with our old one and try to cut out usage even more.

Also we are thinking about adding extra insulation to our hot water tank as if we have it on for say an hour in the morning then by the evening it's cold so we need it on again for kids baths. If we insulated it more for approx £30 would that make a difference and make it hold the heat longer?

There's been a lot of discussion about how to keep your house mould-free and protect the fabric from damp issues (eg rotting floor joists).

Of course there are the usual answers of covering pots when cooking, venting the kitchen & bathroom when steamy, and curing any roof & window faults which are allowing penetrating damp.

I addition to that, I've been recommending people use a powered dehumidifier. In fact, I prioritise running my dehumidifier over running my central heating (I wear lots of layers to stay warm).

This seems to have worked well for me for the last few years. But am I right to recommend it? Is there some snag I haven't thought of?

I live alone in a 1 bed in Scotland. Not technically minded at all and need to have hot water available as needed (ocd) and not to be freezing (physical disability also)

I've basically been using the thermostat to control how much I use - I suspect very poorly! Would appreciate advice on this matter. My understanding is if it is set low the heating doesn't come on until
it hits that temp?

I don't have a set routine with health issues so even if I could figure out the timer (which is ridiculously complex and must be set individually for each day - can't set it to just come on same time every day) it wouldn't be much use to me.

I've been on my own thread trying to calculate usage and costs (again ludicrously complex!) with help from some lovely knowledgeable mners and it's looking like I'm using around £300 energy a month just me!

How else can I save given my circumstances?

Do you think any more help will be forthcoming after the current help ceases? If so what?

The govt really needs to sort this, they can't keep throwing paltry short term solutions out without addressing the actual issues!

Personally I think we should renationalise with households only paying cost + necessary maintenance rather than keep filling the coffers of billionaires overseas.

Hello, we’re here from fuel poverty National Energy Action, in Newcastle. We’re just setting up. I’m Molly. I work in the ops teams, giving energy advice and support. My colleague Matt is here too. He works in the policy team so can answer questions on why the energy crisis is happening, and what the Government is doing about it. Thanks for all your questions so far. We will answer as many as we can.

Hi @ PlaitBilledDuckyPuss

The cheapest energy is always the energy you don’t use. Most gas boilers take roughly 30 mins to heat the home and using your timer for the periods you really want it on will be the most efficient for your bills. Often, people like a little in the morning and a little more in the evening when you’re more likely settled and not moving around as much.

Here is a guide www.nea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/USING-YOUR-CENTRAL-HEATING-SYSTEMS.pdf on using your central heating system effectively. For most people, between 18 and 21 degrees is a healthy room temperature. Hope that helps.

Hi @ChungusBoi

UK bills are higher than other countries for two main reasons.

Firstly, our housing stock is particularly leaky, meaning that we have to use more energy to stay as warm as our European neighbours. This leaves us very exposed to the high prices.

Secondly, the level of subsidy that the UK Government has given is lower than some other European countries, so their bills end up being lower than ours.

As for the profits, there is certainly a case for a windfall tax, but this is just one of many options that the UK Government has to raise the funds to support energy consumers, particularly those in the most vulnerable situations, through the crisis.

Hi @trader21c

This link www.gov.uk/apply-boiler-upgrade-scheme gives you information on the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and this runs through energy efficiency improvements to your home www.gov.uk/improve-energy-efficiency, with information on whether you’d be eligible for any grants.

If you’re going through a different route, it’s important to shop around for quotes and always check you’re using a GasSafe engineer. Best of luck.

@Corcory

This is a good question. When prices rose so quickly in 2022, lots of these offers dropped off the market, simply because it was difficult for energy suppliers to ensure a profit from them while wholesale energy prices were so volatile.

It is, however, a good way to save money if you have the flexibility in usage, or equipment (like a battery) to do so. Some suppliers do still offer this. While I can’t point you towards individual companies, there is a short guide from Money Supermarket

Hi there @ditalini

So sorry to hear about this situation, it sounds very frustrating.

It’d be worth running a check to see if you are eligible for any grants/support to make the shift through this Government energy efficiency link to help you with this issue.

There aren’t competitive tariffs on the market currently. The energy crisis means that unless you are already on a low fixed rate, most ‘deals’ are above the price cap, and all suppliers are offering around the same price for their variable tariffs (with some regional variations), but I can understand that switching to a less complex system would help.

If you’re in doubt, it may also be worth contacting your local MP and asking if they’re aware of any local services through your council or other bodies that can help with this too.

Hi there @ Lindyloomillion1

So sorry to hear about your cold home. Please do check to see if you’re eligible for any additional insulation support here.

Unfortunately, not all areas are suitable for the current Smart Meter roll out due to connection issues. Constant improvements are being made, however, it can take some time before there is full coverage across the UK.

If you’ve had the complaint open for more than eight weeks you are still able to raise a case with the Ombudsman to have them investigate this.

Hi @HayV12 Wow, sorry to hear this. It's wrong that people can't use rooms in their home due to coldness.

Without being able to see your particular home, it’s hard to say, but as a general rule if you have a good degree of insulation you shouldn’t be experiencing areas feeling unliveable. Is there any way of reaching out the installer to see if they can check if there’s been an issue? Without being able to reliably heat certain rooms you may also experience damp and condensation.

Perhaps it's worth checking to see if there’s a local home energy visiting service, like LEAP, in your area that can come and take a look.

First off, I just want to say I’m really sorry to hear how you’re struggling and I know this winter has been incredibly tough. I’ll try and give you as much info as possible here, but I would also recommend contacting Energy Action Scotland to see if they can give you any additional help and support.

It’s very likely you can use your heating controls to set a timer so you don’t need to manually set your heating every day – please see this guide If you need more specific instructions, try googling your boiler type, you may find that there are existing manuals online. You could then override these settings when your routine changes but at least it gives you a baseline.

There are lots of energy saving tips online and it’s well worth a google, but this guide from Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis has a lot of great links.

Also, check to see if you can save money by making a small adjustment to your boiler settings.