F*ck it. I am not having heating on ever again....

[Flamesparrow]

"So for a home with average usage, Click Energy 5 gas prices have risen on average by 42% and electricity on average by 21%."

42%!?!?!?! They are already taking £69 a month from me for gas, which leaves us with sod all for I dunno, food etc!

mine are £10 p.w at the mo each, but that's only as I have arrears on this house of £80 each on both. nothing major.

for drafty doors I have heavy curtains hanging up, curtains closed asap when it's dark to keep the heat in.

furry, in my old house we had a really really old heating system, (fair enough it was a 2 bed house and mine's only a 2 bed bungalow here) but the heating here is brand new, as it the boiler.

my last gas bill for hot water only for the 1/4 was £26 I kid you not as I gave them actual readings.

i live in a 2-bed terrace but pay £25 a month for gas (and they owe me money atm-though that will prob get swallowed up by the price rises)

£69 a month seems an awful lot-just how hot do you have your house flame?

Our heating hasn't been on since last Christmas, but we have a coal fire and a log burner, heated towel rails, leccy blankets on all beds.

In the morning I put the oven on with the door open while we have breakfast.

This is after being charged £170 per month for oil CH.

Heads haven't dropped off yet

I say this on just about every thread on this topic, but shop around It's surprising how much difference there can be between energy companies.

We were paying £28 a month, but 6 months of that caused some sort of mammoth backlog - our last 1/4 was actually only £46 I've realised!! The two before that though were £133 and £266 though... I am putting the 266 down to a winter of drying nappies Or summat.

I dunno. Staying cold this year though!

One of the best decisions (with hindsight) I made was to agree a set amount with npower a couple of years ago - £67 per month dd for gas and leccy upto 2010. I remember thinking it seemed like a lot at the time but Im forever thankful for doing that, which is most unlike me!

Thanks for that Expat and TheProvincialLady.

Will definitly try the lentil recipes.

Expat i can't bear porridge with water. Doc thins i may have gallstones so have to avoid milk atm. Boy am i missing porridge. So bad for my diet when i don't eat well in the morning!!

Try unsweetened rice milk Agalch.

Pearl barley slso good for chucking in stews etc.

Furry we had 12 year old boiler and hot water tank. We had the tank on for the morning showers and that was it, it stayed warm enough for the bath at night. I nearly died when I had my first winter gas bill in.

Changed to combi condensor boiler which is what we were used to in previous houses) had thermostats put on all the radiators, cost us £2k but has cut our gas bill by 2/3. We are in 3 bed detached, double glazed, some carpet but mainly laminate flooring.

Fantastic. I am putting warmer duvets on all our beds this year. We normally have the heating on all winter on thermostat. Not now!