price rises energy sav9ng tips and advice.

[Michael Rolls]

I normally have the main lounge around 22C. All last week it was below 20 except when solar gain - large windows - pushed it higher without the heating contributing, For the last couple of days it has been 18C in there - which is about what most of the rest of the house is most of the time. I am also wearing a vest for the first time in years, and my lined trousers, normally only worn out of doors. I can actually afford the extra cost, but I am really annoyed at the way the cost has been pushed up. This year, for the first time ever, my electricity will cost me more than my food and drink. This year it will cost three times what it did four years ago
Mike (not a happy camper)

[crabbyob]

just think back Alex, to how we used to live.... i drank seven nights a week and was a heavy smoker,,, and i knew lots of guys who did the same.... can you even imagine the cost today?... i drank between 8 and 10 pints a night and smoked 40 cigs a day, how much might that cost today.... but luckily i stopped both and became a monk....lol.... that how or rather why i manage today.... never mind owt else how much was i paying the chancellor a week?

[Alex]

just think back Alex, to how we used to live.... i drank seven nights a week and was a heavy smoker,,, and i knew lots of guys who did the same.... can you even imagine the cost today?... i drank between 8 and 10 pints a night and smoked 40 cigs a day, how much might that cost today.... but luckily i stopped both and became a monk....lol.... that how or rather why i manage today.... never mind owt else how much was i paying the chancellor a week?

Same here with the fags , although not as many as 40 a day 

[Diasi]

All good tips, most of them we already do BUT, what bothers me is.......If everyone does the saving thing, then the fuel companies will not be happy and will find other ways to make us pay. 

As I've said in quite a few posts, the energy supply companies have already factored the reduction in usage into their calculations by doubling the standing charges.

If consumption drops dramatically then the standing charges could rise equally dramatically.

We've just, for the first time, switched off a couple of Bose Waveform clock-radios that are never used, a YouView box that isn't used & a Zgemma satellite receiver that isn't used.

We did switch off all the smart plugs but the difference it made was minimal compared to the resulting lack of convenience, so they're all back on.

Plus it'll only take the smart plugs that control the electric heaters, to switch them off automatically after a set time if we forget, to save far more energy than they probably use in a year.

We have also started to boil just the amount of water that we need, rather than a kettle-full & microwave meals that can be either microwaved or oven baked, even if the cooked result isn't as good.

If our energy bills double or even triple it wouldn't be a crippling problem but we want to stuff it to our energy supplier when our bills don't increase nearly as much as they estimated they would.