Reducing Energy Bills

[the snooper]

I live on a very exposed slope, away from the coast and winters are looooooooong here

Plus wifey feels the cold big style.

£95 covers both gas and electric and is the same payment every month, so even when the heating is on...I pay no more. might be less depending on how effective the cavity wall insulation is, how cold the winter is (Another 2010esque bout of minus 20C will send the meter spinning) and how many days of sunshine we get (house is southfacing so sunny day = warmer house and less need for heat)

Even at 95 a month it sounds like your walls are made from 1mm mild steel are you sure your meters are working correctly ?

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Even at 95 a month it sounds like your walls are made from 1mm mild steel are you sure your meters are working correctly ?

Its cold up here, we (two of us) are also ~£95 a month in a 20 year old pretty well insulated house.

 

[the snooper]

Its cold up here, we (two of us) are also ~£95 a month in a 20 year old pretty well insulated house.

That's terrible, I'd be insulating the walls internally and everywhere possible

 

[sardine]

Wood burning stove.

Back boiler.

Pallets.

Tariff - FA.

 

[daleyd]

Once again you cannot understand that the companies may class it as a business tariff

They don't class it as a business tariff, that's something completely different!!!

I am splitting hairs (I'm really not normally an argumentative person!!) because the info you gave was at best wrong, at worst misleading. If you post information on a forum that makes out that you have some special wisdom then you need to be able to back it up with hard facts or at least sources of information.

it did surprise me but I don't know what others were paying so cannot make any valid comment

Surely you came together as a group and discussed what you hoped to achieve out of this and maybe some minor details, like perhaps what each other was currently paying??

I need a lie down!!

 

[rtbcomp]

...
So, how do we increase our consumption and pay less? first we need to switch from a domestic tariff to a commercial tariff;...

It would appear you are going round in circles now, the original article is about saving money and you would appear to be trying to split hairs with it. We have done it for several years now and a number of others are following what we have done, so yes it is all about saving money. Once again you cannot understand that the companies may class it as a business tariff but we don't class it at all, we are after the best deal so irrespective of what each company chooses to call it is unimportant, it is semantics as we don't care what it is called.

...

You state unequivocally that we need to switch to a commercial tariff, then you say it doesn't matter what it's called. Who's going round in circles?

Domestic and commercial tariffs are called such because they are different entities, it is neither splitting hairs nor semantics. You should care what it's called or how else do you communicate with your suppliers?

If the original post said "If you want to save on your energy bills, join a group purchasing scheme" we would have saved quite a lot of server space

 

[daleyd]

we would have saved quite a lot of server space

Can I have one of those please!

 

[eSCHEn]

Can I have one of those please!

Here you go mate

 

[daleyd]

Here you go mate

All better now, ta !!

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

A bit of flock wall paper will probably cut your bill by 50% then.

 

[eSCHEn]

All better now, ta !!

Mmmm. You smell different when you're awake x

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

I could change my Ideal Mexico (bombproof 30 year+ old design?) boiler (say 60% efficient) for a new more efficient (delicate and unreliable) but I think it would take more than 10 years to pay for itself, by which time I will have moved.

 

[Cobbler]

I could change my Ideal Mexico (bombproof 30 year+ old design?) boiler (say 60% efficient) for a new more efficient (delicate and unreliable) but I think it would take more than 10 years to pay for itself, by which time I will have moved.

Same as us, we've got an Ideal Classic, 18 years old. Not the most efficient but nothing goes wrong with it, clean it out once in a while & that's it. If I spent a couple of grand getting it changed I think it would be knackered before it saved enough to pay for its self. Plumber said keep it going as long as you can, they are bullet proof.

 

[MattH]

We are in an ex local authority poured concrete house and unlike all the council and housing associate tennents around us we do not qualify for free insulation upgrades etc.
We chased the "green deal" for external insulation and got nowhere.

Looked into paying to have it done. £18K to possibly save "upto" £600 per year.

So that's a 30 year break even period.

I'll leave it thanks.

 

[Cobbler]

Looked into paying to have it done. £18K to possibly save "upto" £600 per year.

So that's a 30 year break even period.

I'll leave it thanks.

My stepfather in law, if there is such a thing, at the age of 88, spent somewhere around £18,000 on solar panels with a payback period of about 15 to 20 years. He just made his 90th birthday. That was a good investment wasn't it!

 

[GW8IZR]

That's terrible, I'd be insulating the walls internally and everywhere possible

Its not always possible to improve the insulation that much, the construction of some properties doesnt make that easy. Sometimes the payback is too long or even never.

In our case we have electric heating in a stone built property, old farm - it takes 150 quid a month to keep it warm and lit.

Thats on a reasonable tariff with night store. I burn logs / wood and coal and depending on how much of that I get for free it can make quite a difference in the yearly fuel bill. But whatever it aint cheap.

Moving from a wet heating system was a dramatic saving over tank LPG which wqas costing me 2500 / 3000 quid a year and that was ten years ago. Significantly reduced house insurance increased the saving as before I retired the house was unattended, I worked abroad and 'er indoors worked away. Changing the primary heating source to oil or a renewable might be a consideration now.

Now I could heat one room, wear a coat indoors and shiver - and save money.. or I can pay and be comfortable. I could move to a modern urban estate and live in a shoe box, nowt wrong with that but its like lots of things in life, it differs depending on circumstance and not one suggestion is right everywhere.

 

[jordan1]

Funnily enough we have just been put on a cheaper rate, we checked on the website of our duel fuel supplier and saw the available tariffs. Gave them a ring and we should save around £300-£400 per year. Although we could have checked sooner we just hoped that we would have been on the best rate for us. Dreamer or what.

 

[the snooper]

Our house (wife, dog and I )
rendered brick external leaf
cavity insulation
thermalite inner leaf
loft insulation topped up
Recent double glazing
modern condensing boiler
LED lighting through most of the house

short winter days, long winter nights.
2 bedroom house, end terrace built in the mid to late 70s

Well you have it all, when you getting doors

 

[Mee]

And now two posters, is this the beginning of mob mentality.

Which bit don't you get, if you have issues with supplier terms or names then take it up with them, according to our coordinator they have used the term "commercial tariff" both verbally and in documentary form; and despite me repeating myself several times about not getting hung up on terminology you still are.

Suppliers name tariffs, suppliers set tariffs, suppliers also negotiate tariffs so they can term tariffs in any way they like, they can name them what they like, and set them as they like, so there is no issue about what a supplier calls them, if they choose to define them as a commercial, business, or domestic tariff is their choice.

What does concern me is why you are seemingly against people putting the information out there and allowing individuals to do their own research and formulate their own opinions based upon their own research.

 

[daleyd]

You will not be on a commercial/business tariff as a domestic energy consumer, whether you "collective purchase" or "collective switch" from your supplier, and no supplier would call it such. As said there is a world of difference between the way the tariffs are offered and indeed on the tax aspects/green levies etc on them.

I think you have the wrong end of the stick if you think I'm somehow against people doing their own research, in fact I've actually put links up so people can do just that!!

What I am against is wrong or misleading information that is somehow put up as fact. Really my bone of contention is that in your opening statement you say that people should switch to a commercial/business tariff to enjoy lower rates - this just doesn't happen!! If people are going to follow your advice then the terminology needs to spot on, in legal contracts etc it becomes very important to have it right.