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(paying for heating bill) who's turned their heating on yet?

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On a side note, when my flatmate goes home for the weekend, Im going to have a look to see how much central heating is actually costing us ie:

Wait until it's sufficiently cold
Go outside, and have a look at the gas meter. Make a record of that
Put the heating on
Set an alarm for an hour
Turn the heating off
Have a look at the gas meter, and note the difference. Then I can calculate exactly how much CH is costing/hour :smile:

Or at least how many KwH's we're using

I might also do it with showers ie: before I go in, in the morning, do the above process and see the difference

I'm not in uni or anything but if you send your supplier readings online, they work out your bill for you.

Reply 21

Verana

Original post by Dragonfly07

I'm poor as hell but I turn the heating on every time the house is cold. To be honest though we have an amazingly insulated house, so it doesn't take long for it to heat up and we want to turn it off quite quickly because it gets TOO hot.

Cry me a river peasant

Reply 22

Guru Jason

I have a student house but the bills are all inclusive. I can have the heating on all day, every day with little fear of going a limit. :biggrin:

Reply 23

The_Internet

Original post by meenu89

I'm not in uni or anything but if you send your supplier readings online, they work out your bill for you.

I know I know, but I want to know how many kwH's were using to heat the house for one hour ie: they might give a bill saying you've used x amount of kW's, but it doesn't say how many are required to heat your house, because each house is different

Also, we're with better energy, who don't have an online portal yet, nor do they give you monthly bills (THey ask for readings quarterly and send quarterly bills, but you're billed by monthly direct debits)

Reply 24

MagicNMedicine

I'm pretty hard when it comes to dealing with the cold, I use my thermal base layers that I got for camping/skiing as t shirts in the winter (they were pretty expensive tbh so it seems a waste only to get them out for the great outdoors) and warm fleeces from outdoor shops as well make good and not too bulky winter housewear that keep the excess of the cold away.

Also in the winter I tend to migrate from the sofa to my bed for stuff like reading, watching TV or playing football manager on my kindle fire, so my legs and most of my body is covered up and if its especially cold I just fill a couple of hot water bottles and stick them in with me. So I can survive most of the worst temperatures that a UK winter can throw at you whilst being in a house, without needing to use much heating.

When I was a student though I always found that heating became a thorny and controversial issue. On the one hand you have people that are concerned about spending money and willing to wrap up and adjust their lifestyles to deal with the cold, on the other hand there are those that say they don't care what it costs, they don't want to be cold and uncomfortable. I can make compromises to deal with the second type of person but I did find, in the two house shares where I had organised all the household bills and everything was in my name so I had to chase others for bills, that it was the people who were most insistent about "we shouldn't make ourselves suffer in the cold, its ridiculous" or who bought electric heaters for their own rooms, who were exactly the ones that made the most fuss when the bill came in..."what?? it can't be that much, phone the company and tell them they've made a mistake" or "well I was away for 2 weekends out of that so I shouldn't pay as much as everyone else" or "just don't pay it, don't give a forwarding address and they will never find you anyway".

So I did learn a tough lesson about people that were so insistent about us having the heating on more often...I remember one time having an argument with a girl about it and I said well ok, how about we transfer the bills in to your name then...she steadfastly refused to do that "why should I do that? you've already put them in yours, why should I have them in my name???".

I don't have my name on the bills in my current place, but in future if I ever do, its going to be, whilst my name is on the bill, I determine the house usage, and if anyone has a problem with my heating levels then they have to get the bills transferred to them. I would still pay my share, but Im not going to leave myself exposed by other people dropping short again - which happened to me twice and ran in to the hundreds of pounds that I ended up out of pocket.

Reply 25

nic-nac

Original post by MagicNMedicine

The bills are in my name and like I've said, I'm the only one who knows how to set the heating :biggrin:

Luckily, 3 of us are happy to have the heating on twice a day.

Reply 26

TimmonaPortella

Don't pay for my heating.

Have it on full blast all day. So snug in my room. :smug:

Reply 27

jelly1000

We've finally switched it on recently although it only seems to make the bit near the radiator warm, not the rest of the house and it hasn't been on for long. Been wearing 3 jumpers to stay warm but I'd rather do that to avoid any arguments.

Reply 28

The_Internet

Original post by Scoobster

I don't understand how people can be content with having the heating off and being cold and miserable to save on a few quid. I always had my heating on, cracked a few windows open and took my tshirt off when it got hot etc...

Plus I always sleep with the window open.

What's the point of having the heating on AND the windows open? Also, if it gets too warm, why not turn the heating down?

Im glad this year that the heating isn't constantly on ie: it was three against one, on what uses more power. Leaving the heating on constantly at a set temperature, or only when using it

They left the heating on...

Reply 29

littlesmurfette

It is on constantly and has been since the 3rd. Cheaper than turning it on and off from freezing cold. I keep it at about ten degrees overnight and during the day (midnight-5pm) and at about 20 from 5pm-midnight.

Reply 30

russellsteapot

I don't live in a student house, but I still don't like spending more than is necessary. And I prefer being slightly too cold to being slightly too hot. My heating has been on briefly once since the summer when it got a bit chilly.

I can't really see the point in spending money (a lot of money, if you're paying for it yourself) when a jumper (or two) will do. Obviously I'm not going to risk my health and sit there when it's freezing, but when it's 'average' outside for this time of year (it certainly hasn't been especially cold in most parts of the UK), I think a reasonably well-insulated house with sensible occupants can be kept at a decent temperature without needing to stick the heating on all the time.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 31

The_Internet

Original post by littlesmurfette

Itf be cheaper to turn it off when not used. Think about it. You dont leave the lights on all the time and you dont leave your car running for an hour and you dont leave the kettle boiling all day or leave the oven on all day

What do all those have in common with your boiler? They all require more energy to turn them on than to keep them running. Yet we dont leave them running because were burning money

Which is basically what you're doing imo

Our heating was on for a single hour today :smile:

I like weekdays for fuel bills lol. They're a lot cheaper!

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Reply 32

heidigirl

We're just putting it on when necessary (which is when you have made all other necessary adjustments-good thick jumper, extra pair of socks etc, and are still cold), which is usually a couple of hours in the late afternoon/evening at the moment, and that usually keeps it warm enough until we go to bed.

I won't suffer if it's really chilly for the sake of saving a few quid (the last proper student house I lived in was so cold, I used to have to sit in my bedroom with my dressing gown over my clothes, my duvet over my lap and a woolly hat on-not through lack of heating but more that it just didn't heat it up very well at all and it was miserable; going home over Christmas was the only time I felt warm that entire winter), but on the other hand, no point wasting money if you could just put a jumper on.

Reply 33

deedee123

we have ours on 3 hours a day now, 7am-8am, 5pm-6pm and 8pm-9pm

being warm in my flat is really important to me, you should be comfortable at home. I'd rather spend less on food & going out and be cosy at home...

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 34

WGR

Some things I will never be stingy with and heating is one of them. I have that **** on all day everyday. £18 a week is a small price to pay for comfort.

Reply 35

Stephanie_12

Put some heavy curtains up throughout the house and cover the bottom of the front and back doors, that usually helps quite a bit in my house.

Reply 36

The_Internet

Original post by WGR

Some things I will never be stingy with and heating is one of them. I have that **** on all day everyday. £18 a week is a small price to pay for comfort.

£72/month is quite a bit of money! Unless perhaps its shared by say four people

Original post by Stephanie_12

Put some heavy curtains up throughout the house and cover the bottom of the front and back doors, that usually helps quite a bit in my house.

You can't always make too many changes with rented property and also im not so good at diy

What I have done however is get some regular foil, cut it to size and sellotape it to the wall behind

I'd get the proper stuff but were only here for a year

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Reply 37

WGR

Original post by de_monies

£72/month is quite a bit of money! Unless perhaps its shared by say four people

You can't always make too many changes with rented property and also im not so good at diy

What I have done however is get some regular foil, cut it to size and sellotape it to the wall behind

I'd get the proper stuff but were only here for a year

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Nope just me. No double glazing you see. I just pay it with my £84 a month disability living allowance so it's no problem. My mum has it even better; her heating is communal so it's a flat rate. People disparage council housing but it does have it's benefits. My water is a flat rate and as I said before my mum's heating is a flat rate also.

Reply 38

Swanbow

Original post by nic-nac

We were seeing how long we could last without heating, but it has been freezing. But then none of us knew how to change the settings, plus we couldn't find any instructions, so I phoned home as my dad's a plumber.