Gas and Electricity Prices

[hifinutt]

ah yes i needed a 35kw vaillant as got 12 rads . i specified myson which are way more than normal rads and he did loads of other stuff as well . i had a normal vaillant put in recently and it was 2.3k including an expensive vertical flue

incidentally there is quite a shortage of some makes such as WB here

 

[hifinutt]

well this is interesting .. i noticed the chap i look after had not had a bill since october for gas and leccie . seems they went bust and no one has picked up on it !!!! so no bills for 5 months !! should i see how long we can get away with it

 

[Bob McC]

He can be billed for 12 months arrears and no more if it is the utility company’s fault.

 

[mansr]

He can be billed for 12 months arrears and no more if it is the utility company’s fault.

At what rate, though?

 

[Darth Vader]

He can be billed for 12 months arrears and no more if it is the utility company’s fault.

Indeed! EDF screwed up on my electricity reading when I gave both gas and electricity meter readings on their web portal. Instead of using my actual meter reading they put in their own lower estimated value. Come the reckoning a year later when they did accept the latest meter reading and asked me to recheck as it was higher than EDF expected they gave me £248 credit to cancel charges from November 20 to March 21.

Cheers,

DV

 

[Bob McC]

At what rate, though?

The SVR of the company he will eventually be assigned to.

 

[hifinutt]

He can be billed for 12 months arrears and no more if it is the utility company’s fault.

thanks bob . i havn`t a clue what the reading was when they went bust so should be interesting to see what to do about that .

 

[Ellenor]

ah yes i needed a 35kw vaillant as got 12 rads . i specified myson which are way more than normal rads and he did loads of other stuff as well . i had a normal vaillant put in recently and it was 2.3k including an expensive vertical flue

incidentally there is quite a shortage of some makes such as WB here

35kw for 12 rads?

 

[hifinutt]

Yes maybe overkill but it provides capacity for an extension in the future

 

[Mike Reed]

ah yes i needed a 35kw vaillant as got 12 rads

35kw for 12 rads?

Think I must have about 12, but different sizes. Current boiler 16+ kW; recommended 20 kW. Like amplification, I'm all for overkill but I read somewhere recently that this isn't recommended for boilers; possibly on an economy v efficiency basis; can't remember.

 

[hifinutt]

Even for a small house I get fitted vaillant ecotec 28 . The smallest they do is ecotec 24 I think . Had 2 ecotec 28 fitted last year

 

[MikeMA]

I'm confused as to why all the advice, including from Martin Lewis, was to stay on your providers current variable tariff rather than fixing when this all kicked off last year?

Yes I'm confused too. When my old fixed rate deal with Shell energy expired at the end of September last year I took a gamble and went for a new two year fix, which I knew would cost me about £200 a year more than the then capped standard variable rate, on the basis that the cap was bound to increase significantly over the next two years and I would save money in the long run. And sure enough, following this latest hike, I reckon I'll be saving a minimum of £900 a year for the next eighteen months, and that's before the inevitable future increases in the cap. I'm glad I fixed.

 

[MikeMA]

Think I must have about 12, but different sizes. Current boiler 16+ kW; recommended 20 kW. Like amplification, I'm all for overkill but I read somewhere recently that this isn't recommended for boilers; possibly on an economy v efficiency basis; can't remember.

I remember reading somewhere that it is more efficient to have a correctly sized condensing boiler working reasonably hard rather than an oversized one just ticking over....something to do with the "condensing" function I think. The heating engineers among us will know?

 

[Mike Reed]

Yes I'm confused too. When my old fixed rate deal with Shell energy expired at the end of September last year I took a gamble and went for a new two year fix, which I knew would cost me about £200 a year more than the then capped standard variable rate, on the basis that the cap was bound to increase significantly over the next two years and I would save money in the long run.

You were obv. ahead of my thinking at the time (Sept '21). I took up Octopus's 2 year fix for peace of mind and constant dd payments and having come off a v. good 1 year fix etc. Because I misinterpreted an interactive reminder in August I dallied and 'lost' about £100 p.a. Did anyone realise just how serious and expensive things were going to get? I wondered at the time whether I'd inadvertently opted to overpay, but Octopus allows fee-free departures, so a no-brainer. Didn't take long before I realised that I'd done the right thing.

I gather, in answer to Matt J, that Martin Lewis was advocating the SVR simply because the current cap made any deal cheaper than any fixed one, as companies fix a higher rate to hedge against future movements. Many people with previous fixes had been shunted over to other companies when theirs went bust, but on a SVR tariff. I guess this 'SVR better' situation will remain until (and if) energy costs start to fall consistently.

I remember reading somewhere that it is more efficient to have a correctly sized condensing boiler working reasonably hard rather than an oversized one just ticking over....something to do with the "condensing" function I think. The heating engineers among us will know?

Maybe that was the reason; sounds plausible, Mike. I'm mentally trying to visualise a comparison with bigger engines in smaller cars but my automotive knowledge runs out at that point !

 

[Tony L]

To recap: UK energy prices rise by 54%. French energy prices rise by 4% (Reuters).

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

To recap: UK energy prices rise by 54%. French energy prices rise by 4% (Reuters).

And this is why we need more nuclear to provide baseload generating capacity.

 

[Caledon1297]

And this is why we need more nuclear to provide baseload generating capacity.

Or, a Westminster Government that actually gives a fcuk about the people?

Oops, silly me, forgot about Sunak's £200 loan, which makes all the difference...

 

[SteveG]

Think I must have about 12, but different sizes. Current boiler 16+ kW; recommended 20 kW. Like amplification, I'm all for overkill but I read somewhere recently that this isn't recommended for boilers; possibly on an economy v efficiency basis; can't remember.

35KW is what comes up on the online quotes for our house, which has 18 radiators and the quotes tend to be in the £3-3.5K range including fitting. It's definitely something I'm going to get done this year as our boiler is 25 years old and becoming difficult to get parts for now so will need replaced the next time it packs in anyway. The current Potterton Suprima 60 is only rated at something like 17.6Kw and is marginal in our house since it was extended. It's only rated at something like 78.1% efficiency as well so I'd have thought there will be some savings in running cost as well, with a newer combi fitted.

 

[Mike Reed]

something like 78.1% efficiency as well so I'd have thought there will be some savings in running cost as well, with a newer combi fitted.

Yes, that poor. I gather anything less than 89 or 90 % is old hat now. Mine's an old venting system (airing cupboard/cylinder etc.) and I'm keeping it that way. The bathroom htg is via a gravity-fed rad. so htg. doesn't need to be on. I like it but there's some doubt that it can be retained (reg's). Shall have to think of sth else apart from a pumped system rad. as that wouldn't work well in our circumstances.

 

[simon g]

And this is why we need more nuclear to provide baseload generating capacity.

We probably do need more nuclear.

What we definitely need is nationalised providers of the basic necessities; water and power. The capitalist market will never provide what's required, merely what provides the best return on investment.