Worried about heating bill

[Wobblymama01]

It's minus 2 outside.

Our house was today 12.6 degrees. I've put the heating on now and it's coming up to 16 now but I'm so worried about the bill. This month was £250 with hardly having the heating on ☹️ so next month will be even worse.

We have heated throws etc but it's the actual air that's cold. We also have a dehumidifier running most of the day.

What happens when our credit runs out? What if we are still using over our direct debit payment? How far do they let you go into debt before they put up the direct debit we already pay £285!

It's all very well for people to say heat the person, not the room but it's the hands and face.that are the worst, IMO.

Can you look at ways to save elsewhere as £250 without heating on is a lot. For example do less laundry, quicker showers, no baths, don't use the oven.

You obviously are limiting the power you use so wondering why your monthly cost is so high something is using a lot of electricity

how is your home heated?

How much of that is gas, how much electricity? Is the usage based on estimated or actual readings? Is your home insulated as much as possible?

It was £250 with hardly any heating on, not no Heating m I'd say approx 2 hours a day?

It was exactly half each gas and electricity. Electric use fairly high as have dehumidifier, tumble dryer, at least 1 wash load a day as there's 6 of us.

Home is not very well insulated as it's very old and big. We own it. Gas central heating. Boiler working well regularly servicer etc.

Feel the same op. My heating was 7.50 on Sunday. Just a three bed semi that was to heat to 17.

Not like it was tropical. S'3 bed house house at 17.

That is steep!
With a big house, the dehumidifier and the tumble drier it makes sense.
I am curious though, dehumidifers warm up the place nicely too. Which outside temperature do you have where you are? Here, we have been just above 10C and only on the 1-5C for the last week, so the house that not get that cold yet.

Silly idea but can you close any part of the house during winter so you can close the heating to that room?

Surely if you are letting it get that cold it will take a lot to heat back up to a reasonable level?

My kitchen heating clicked on at the weekend as it got too cold in there and it cost a fortune to heat it back up. If I don't let it get so cold it seems to work out cheaper.

We took the plug off our tumble dryer as it was cosy ting so much to use. There are 6 of us too but we manage with hanging in the kitchen on two airers or on the line.

But yes. Heating is so bloody expensive.

In answer to your question, they will increase your direct debit so you don't get into too much debt.

Would you consider a bottle gas heater? There are some nice neat ones around now. They are not the smelly things they used to be, and once the initial outlay is made they are very economical. They heat up a room very nicely and you know that using it is not going to affect your bills, as you have already paid for the gas bottle or refill.

I have one and I find it is really great. One thing I would advise is to get a spare bottle, so that when the current one runs out you have a new one on hand, and can replace the used one at leisure.

I have a big space to heat, and while the CH works very well, I don't want it on all day, so this fills the gaps when it gets cold.

Just a suggestion as I know they are not for everyone.

Have you had a look to see if thee are any local grants to help with insulation? This might help in the longer term. It does seem a lot of money

I am going to sit in bed as my nose feels freezing.

Who is your supplier? Different suppliers have very different approaches to this.

From what you said about your house, it might be worth searching the ECO4 scheme/GBIS to see if this would help x

https://www.gov.uk/apply-great-british-insulation-scheme

Would it be cheaper to turn up the gas central heating and turn off the dehumidifier and use the tumble dryer less?

How big is your house? Have you blocked up all the draughts? Do you close doors (do teens?)?

That is very steep. Are you in a fixed DD? I pay £230 every month but we are never cold, run tumble dryer a few times a week, washing machine daily and cook on electric. It’s spikes up in winter but comes down in summer massively so it all balances out.

What sort of meals are you cooking for 6 people?
Is your oven electric ? Are you cooking using electric for an hour or more every day perhaps ?
Confer batch cooking , slow cooker or an air dryer to reduce costs.

It's a 3 bed semi, on the larger side. we have draught excluder at the front door.

I've been leaving the doors open in the day with the dehumidifier running on the landing so it can dry out all the rooms.

In the late afternoon early evening we mainly stay in the back of the house eg kitchen and dining room so we shut the door to the hall if that makes sense

Yes it's fixed dd. But still a variable rate not like a 2 year fix. So we pay the same each month. Obviously in summer we use less so it goes down and we build up credit. Currently £400 in credit.

Gas oven but it's used less than once a week. Mainly use air fryer, gas hob for things like pasta, air fryer, rice cooker etc. just the usual family meals nothing that fancy, slow cooker chilli, fajitas on the hob, pasta pesto etc just rh usual sort of stuff

We experimented last winter and discovered that it was cheaper for us to not let the house get too cold and then try to heat it up. When we did that it took several hours to reach temperature. We now have the heating set to 15 overnight and 18 during the day and it reaches temperature very quickly, so the gas cuts off. If that’s beginning to feel too cool we boost it to 19/20 for an hour or so.

We have a heat pump tumble dryer, which is cheaper to run, and use that to dry towels and bedding. We use an airer for other clothes, although we do sometimes finish them off in the dryer. When we tried using the heating less clothes were taking days to dry and by the time they were dry they smelt horrible.

2 hours heating is quite a bit in someways so

I think you need to look at where the heat is going. Have you got draught excluders, are the windows sealed (you can get sticky strips to help) can you get insulation grants. Are you heating bits of the big house you dont use, so could you close a bit off. Extra curtains, rugs down.

Its miserable being cold so i hope you find something

Christ Alive that's steep!

We have our gas CH on all day 7am to 10pm at 19° and the most it's ever cost for a month was £195.

We're only a 2 bed terrace though so that must be the crucial difference.