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Original poster

Suggested DD of £595 per month gas & electricity!

76 replies

SugarMitts · 29/02/2024 10:40

I’ve just had my new ‘forecast’ and it’s saying I need to be paying £595 per month to ‘stay on track’

Obviously I can’t afford this, I’m already in huge debit in my account as I can only just afford half of this!

So I neeeeeed some tips on how to cut my useage, we must be using way over the average but I just can’t see how we’re that much over
I’ll be honest I don’t understand a lot about heating etc, if we’re cold I flick it on, when we’re not I flick it off, it’s on a timer so I don’t mean every single time, but I don’t know what our thermostat is set to (don’t even know what that means) I just go off what the temp on the dial says and if it’s low I’ll press boost, so I need people to talk in very simple terms here 🙈

Family of 6, 3 storey, 5 bed house, 1 bathroom

OP posts:
BoohooWoohoo · 29/02/2024 10:42

“The dial” is your thermostat.

BoohooWoohoo · 29/02/2024 10:44

How is your hot water powered? Do you have in on a timer or on all day?

How long is your heating boost?

Do you use a tumble dryer?

Original poster
SugarMitts · 29/02/2024 10:44

@BoohooWoohoo So when people refer to ‘what is your thermostat set to?’ Do they just mean what temperature is your house?? That’s the bit I don’t understand, I don’t have the temperature ‘set’ to anything?

OP posts:
Hercisback · 29/02/2024 10:47

Where's the dial? On the wall or on the boiler?

You are definitely using way over average if your bills are that high. For a reference mine is £95 for 3 bed detached, so you could expect double for yours but not much more.

Original poster
SugarMitts · 29/02/2024 10:47

Oh sorry I’d only seen your first message, the hot water is powered by the … boiler? And yes I think it’s on all day, at least if I run the hot tap then hot water comes out? (I didn’t actually know you could turn it off 🤦🏻‍♀️)

The heating boost button is half an hour, and yes I do have a tumble dryer but only use it for bedding, towels, blankets, that kind of thing

OP posts:
Original poster
SugarMitts · 29/02/2024 10:48

@Hercisback The dial is on the wall in the hallway
Wow £95! The lowest mine have ever been, many years and a couple of children ago was £150

OP posts:
Moltenpink · 29/02/2024 10:50

How much was your DD before the increase? This might be a catch up figure from underpayments. Is your account in a debit balance?

For comparison, my February energy bill was £350 and my usage sounds very similar to yours.

Hercisback · 29/02/2024 10:50

The dial is the thermostat of the whole system and tells you the temperature of that area of your house at the time (or allows you to set the temperature depending on the type).
Each radiator may have a valve you can turn the hot water up/down for each room to reflect how warm you want them.
The boiler will also have a temperature control you can turn down to save energy.

Do you have a tank or combi boiler?

How many times a week do you run the tumble?

Do you WFH? Have you got kids/adults with multiple devices plugged in? Your usage is so high!

Auntieobem · 29/02/2024 10:52

SugarMitts · 29/02/2024 10:44

@BoohooWoohoo So when people refer to ‘what is your thermostat set to?’ Do they just mean what temperature is your house?? That’s the bit I don’t understand, I don’t have the temperature ‘set’ to anything?

The thermostat sets the temperature at which your heating will turn off. So if you set it to 20 your radiators will come on, heat up until house reaches 20 and then switch off.

If our house doesn't feel cold I set the thermostat really low - so that the heating doesn't come on. If it feels cold I set it to about 20/21, heating comes on and once temp reached 20/21 it goes off.

Auntieobem · 29/02/2024 10:54

This is our dial just now (v old fashioned one!)

Suggested DD of £595 per month gas & electricity!
Thingsthatgo · 29/02/2024 10:55

My thermostat is set to 19 but it is only on for an hour in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening. Beyond that I boost it like you when I need to.
Do you have a control panel near your boiler?
We installed hive, which cost around £150 (we have 2 zones in our house) but it has made it all so much easier. We can switch heating off when we are out, if we forgot to do it before we left the house.

Original poster
SugarMitts · 29/02/2024 10:56

Moltenpink · 29/02/2024 10:50

How much was your DD before the increase? This might be a catch up figure from underpayments. Is your account in a debit balance?

For comparison, my February energy bill was £350 and my usage sounds very similar to yours.

I haven’t actually increased it to this figure, I email them every single month telling them not to increase my DD as I can’t afford it, I’m paying £300 atm and I’m in nearly £2k of debt
This figure is on the forecast page so I don’t think it takes into account the debt, this is based on how much I would need to pay every month to avoid going into debt at all, at least that’s how I’ve understood it

OP posts:
3WildOnes · 29/02/2024 10:56

Does the dial move around by itself or do you move it? We have a dial which is our thermostat. I set it to 20.
What temperature are you heating your house to? Do you have your heating on at night.
For reference I pretty much habr my heating on all day 7am-10pm this time of year. 4 bed detached amd we pay £275pm.

Hercisback · 29/02/2024 10:58

How much interest are you paying on the debt? Check that and pay using a 0% card if you can.

Then you need to sit as a family and work out how you're going to use less energy. Because your current situation isn't working.

How long are showers?
How much washing are you doing?

Original poster
SugarMitts · 29/02/2024 10:58

@Auntieobem Ours is a very new fangled digital one that is a pain to change, ever time the seasons change it takes ages to change what times it comes on, I would much prefer one like yours!
So I think ours is set to 21, but it does need a boost or two in the mornings to get there usually, it’s quite a cold house, when I get up in the mornings it’s usually 17/18 which I’m sure some would say is tropical but is freezing to us!

OP posts:
Desecratedcoconut · 29/02/2024 10:59

Is some of this figure inflated to pay off any outstanding debt? Do you have a bill to hand to show your annual gas and electricity consumption? Do you have anything that would run up large bills, an immersion heater left on all day, a hot tub, electric car?

Some of this larger bill is just having a larger house and more people, it's never going to be as low as some mnetters will have.

Maiyakat · 29/02/2024 11:01

Your thermostat is set quite high which will account for a large amount of your gas usage. If you want to reduce your bills you need to find other ways to keep warm (lots of layers, heated throws, hooded blankets etc).

Hercisback · 29/02/2024 11:01

There's your problem.... 21 is quite warm. You need to readjust to 18 being OK. Wear jumpers, move around more, blankets are your friend!

Seriously, having a large house that warm is what's costing you so much.

Original poster
SugarMitts · 29/02/2024 11:02

@Hercisback Yes everybody has devices on and DH works from home, but doesn’t every household have lots of devices these days? I could get better at making sure plugs are switched off in kids rooms though
Washing is the bane of my life, with 4 DC I wash every day, sometimes twice, and showers are a constant argument with teen DD who would spend an hour in there if I wasn’t banging in the door telling her to get out - this one is definitely a big part of the problem!

OP posts:
Original poster
SugarMitts · 29/02/2024 11:04

21 is warm?! 20 is just comfortable for us!

I think our floor is a problem, DS is asthmatic so we don’t have any carpets and the wooden floors are v cold!

But really, 17?! 😳

OP posts:
Akire · 29/02/2024 11:10

Get one of those plug in devices so you can tell how much item costs per hour to use. £138 a week for both gas and electric is high but 3 storeys and 5 bedrooms could easily be the size of 3 one bed flats. So that would be £46 a week per “flat” not quite so bad if heating is on and tumble is too.

ssd · 29/02/2024 11:10

17 is ok if you permanently wear fleeces round the house.

Op, i think you just have a big house and a big family and it'll be hard to get everyone on board to reduce it!!

ssd · 29/02/2024 11:11

Are the floors new flooring? Maybe consider that?

titchy · 29/02/2024 11:14

SugarMitts · 29/02/2024 11:02

@Hercisback Yes everybody has devices on and DH works from home, but doesn’t every household have lots of devices these days? I could get better at making sure plugs are switched off in kids rooms though
Washing is the bane of my life, with 4 DC I wash every day, sometimes twice, and showers are a constant argument with teen DD who would spend an hour in there if I wasn’t banging in the door telling her to get out - this one is definitely a big part of the problem!

Yes and everyone has large bills!

Your usage of £300 a month sounds ok - we have a similar size house and use a bit less than that but not much. Obviously your problem is the debt which is what they want you to start chipping into hence the increase.

Can you phone them and say you're finding the suggested amount difficult, and find a compromise - maybe £450 a month?

And FFS sitting there saying 'ooh I don't know how my heating works' is no excuse and probably why you're so much in debt. It's heating, not rocket science - find out!

user120405 · 29/02/2024 11:15

Your thermostat shows the temperature that the heating will switch off at.

So - assuming you have your heating set to constant- when the house in your case reaches 21 degrees the heating will go off for a bit. As soon as the temperature in the house drops and it goes below 21 degrees then the heating will kick in again.

If you have your heating on constant at 21 degrees then you're wealthier than I am! Im not surprised your DD is so high.

If your heating is set to manual rather than constant then this means that it will only work in the manner above during the times when you have clicked it on (or in most peoples cases, pressed the boost button). With prices so high, most people probably use their heating like this. If they get cold they will click the heating on for an hour or two. The thermostat will work in the same way though so once the house reaches 21 degrees it will click off even if this is still within the boost period.

If your heating is set to programmable times then the above applies but you don't have to press the button, it will just only operate during the programmed times.

Try turning down the thermostats to 19 and if the thermostat is portable then move it into the area when you are all sitting so that once the heating in that area reaches temperature, the heating clicks off.

We managed to take off about 8kwH of electric a day by going round and turning off plugs every night, reducing the amount of washing we do (just get one extra wear out of everything), washing at a lower temperature, using the washing line rather than the tumble dryer and doing all the usual little things like putting lids on saucepans, batch cooking to use the oven less frequently and to use the heat when its on, turning the drying setting off the dishwasher (big one), using electric heated blankets during the day rather than using the heating and switching off outdoor lighting.