Solitary chicken - need advice

[hilda-and-evadne]

This was news to me when I came across it this evening, hadn't heard it announced in any radio bulletin; it is the most depressing thing I have read all week.

 

Independent

29 August 2008

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/consumers-hit-by-gas-and-electricity-price-rises-912875.html

 

Npower said prices for gas customers would increase by an average 26%, with prices for electricity customers up by 14%, both with immediate effect.

 

Scottish Power followed a few hours later by announcing it would increase gas prices by an average 34% and electricity prices by 9% from Monday.

 

I am with Scottish Power and, as they put their prices up last February, I thought that they would not do so again so quickly. I imagine that the way people use gas and electricity will have to change drastically.

 

Does anyone know which is cheaper nowadays: to boil two pints of water in an electric kettle or in a hob kettle? Is electricity still more expensive than gas?

[Reikiranf]

It's frightening isn't it? We already pay £162 per month for dual fuel, I think I'll be wearing a fleece indoors and using a lot of candles this winter

 

We bought an owl electricity monitor so we can see how much we're using so we now rush aound the house turning things off, to say we've become a tad obssessive is an understatement, it's got to the point that we can tell when certain appliances have been switched on, but I think it's worth the investment as it's quite an eye opener and I shudder to think how much money we've wasted over the years by leaving things on standby etc

[Paola]

It's frightening isn't it? We already pay £162 per month for dual fuel, I think I'll be wearing a fleece indoors and using a lot of candles this winter

 

That is alot. We pay £88 a month dual fuel and sometimes that goes down to £66, depending on the time of year. Our home is a three year old four bed.

[Guest]

We pay £200 a month for electricity. You have to think of us as 2 seperate houses though - I have a 4 bed detached and then Mum has a huge 1 bed bungalow (actually I guess I@m a semi as the annexe is attached). Mum has electric storage heaters. and an electric shower. She also has the television on in her bedroom ALL NIGHT!!! I've fitted switches to power down stuff we can't reach - she does the washing machine and tumble dryer but won't do her dining room telly or that flippin bedroom one!!!

 

We don't have gas. This means we don't get a dual fuel discount - I think that's discrimination TBH

 

For 6 months of the year we also pay another £300 every 6 weeks to buy oil - to heat my house and our water supply. I'm seriously thinking of putting on solar pv panels for the water - I need to change the mortgage this year and could borrow the extra, but I know there is a long payback time although I figure as the price of oil soars that gets shorter!

 

We also each have a wood burner and I@ve just secured a source of free wood. This year we wil be using those a LOT more. Mum also has some calor gas heaters which were cheaper but the price of that has soared too.

 

I have a huge fleecy dressing gown, lots of quilts and blankets etc. Last year we had an extra layer of loft insulation put in and now we are sorting out the cavity wall insulation.

 

We also have a hot tub - it came with the house - it costs about £5 a week to run and if you sit in it for 1/2 hour at 38.5 degrees you raise your body temperature enough to not feel cold for the rest of the evening.

 

I WILL NOT be spending 300 every 6 weeks on oil this winter.

[hilda-and-evadne]

It's frightening isn't it? ... We bought an owl electricity monitor

 

It is frightening. I think I will order one of those owl monitors tomorrow from John Lewis. It is cheaper at ecostore but I have an account at JL.

 

At what point candles do become cheaper than electricity, at least for lighting? I'll have to sacrifice an entire candle and time how long it takes to burn away.

 

For about the last six months I have been a YouGov panelist; and one of the most recent surveys - of which there will be a series, as they want to chart the effect of the "credit crunch" - had questions like: if Council Tax went up by £50/month, would you find it easy to pay/struggle/fail to pay? if the cost of gas/electricity went up by £150/month next month, would you find it ... etc. It was quite a shock to read these because, I guess, I was thinking that that couldn't happen. But of course it could, and two or three essential things could go up a lot all at the same time.

 

I am going to have to think seriously about getting a lodger. Has anyone here used that http://www.mondaytofriday.com site?

[Shirl]

We're with Eon and recently capped our rates but we already pay £180 a month duel fuel and still owe them money . We have recently bought an electricity monitor and it means we've managed to cut our electrcity useage by about 1/3rd. It has probably almost paid for itself. We live in a 4 bed but have energy saving lightbulbs everywhere except the bathrooms and the security lighting outside.

 

On top of paying for gas and elcetricity we also buy coal for our coal/woodburner. I haven't a clue how much we spend on it though. We rarely burn wood because it needs regular attention whereas the coal can be put on in the morning and left until the OH gets home in the evening. It means I don't have the heating on during the day except for when the youngest goes down for her sleep in the day.

 

We've got solar panels to heat the water but they packed up last year and TBH they just aren't worth it. You have to get them serviced every couple of years at a cost of £200 and the summer we've had this year I bet there wouldn't be many days where the hot water would have come from solar alone.

[Yorkshire Pudding]

We just left Scottish Power and got a fixed price with British Gas. We are dual fuel and I think it's a bit unfair that Pengy can't get a discount!

 

I'm relieved, given this latest price hike - but we don't plan to use too much gas this winter, we are about to install an ENORMOUS woodburner in the living/dining room. Even if we end up paying for wood, it will keep us warm for less than the central heating would cost! We've seen one that can be left to slow burn all night and should keep the whole house warm.

 

We've also reduced our electricity consumption by obsessing about turning off appliances, so that when we changed supplier, Scottish Power owed us about £75 . Funny how their meter reading estimates are always WAY out, and in their favour...

 

The woodburner and installation won't be cheap, but seeing as we don't expect the price of gas to fall in the next century or so, we think it'll be a good investment.

[KimmyCustard]

We pay £75 per month for dual fuel but we have a 2 bed cottage. We had a multifuel burner fitted when we moved in 4 yrs ago, its great for coal and wood, keeps toasty all night and its not a huge one either. We didnt have the chimney lined but we have it swept every autumn, costs about £40 for a sweep to come and he's very tidy!

[Guest]

We just left Scottish Power and got a fixed price with British Gas. We are dual fuel and I think it's a bit unfair that Pengy can't get a discount!.

 

Thanks! I forgot to mention when Money Saving Martin Lewis said "LOCK IN TO THE FIXED PRICE" (he always shouts!) I went and looked and found the fixed price was only for dual fuel customers.

 

Those of us who don't have dual fuel are being penalised for not putting all of our business with them - it's not our fault there isn't gas in our village - its cheaper than oil so we would welcome it!

 

The good point is my house doesn't have radiators - its warm air heating.

[Olly]

I am going to have to think seriously about getting a lodger. Has anyone here used that http://www.mondaytofriday.com site?

 

 

I haven't used that site, but I used to have a lodger years ago when I lived in a university town. If you're in London there should be a huge pool of potential student lodgers - why not contact your nearest uni or college, and see if they have a scheme of some sort? I had a couple of foreign students (one after the other, not two at once) and it worked out really well. I can see the attraction of having someone who's not around at weekends, though.

[abwsco]

We haven't bothered to price fix or swap around as I don't think our costs are too bad. Currently pay £40 for gas and £51 for electric each month. I do keep a close eye on our bills though and our gas DD was reduced at our last annual review.