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Gas and Electricity Prices

My gas boiler is about 20 years old now so crunch time is approaching as to what will replace it.
Air or Ground Source Heat Pump seems likely to be the better future option.
What puts me off is having to replace all the unsuitable microbore pipework within the walls.
No mean feat.
A couple down the road vacated their property for a whole year in order to get the work done.
If millions of us are facing this in order to come off gas, the mind (considering the cost and inconvenience) boggles!
 
Minio said:
My gas boiler is about 20 years old now so crunch time is approaching as to what will replace it.
Air or Ground Source Heat Pump seems likely to be the better future option.
What puts me off is having to replace all the unsuitable microbore pipework within the walls.
No mean feat.
A couple down the road vacated their property for a whole year in order to get the work done.
If millions of us are facing this in order to come off gas, the mind (considering the cost and inconvenience) boggles!
Click to expand...

Unless your property meets certain requirements for a GSHP or ASHP installation to work successfully, stick in a new gas combi boiler whilst you can and they are relatively cheap, IMHO.
 
Ponty said:
Unless your property meets certain requirements for a GSHP or ASHP installation to work successfully, stick in a new gas combi boiler whilst you can and they are relatively cheap, IMHO.
Click to expand...

That's we've done recently, to replace our 25 year old gas boiler.
 
Minio said:
My gas boiler is about 20 years old now so crunch time is approaching as to what will replace it.
Air or Ground Source Heat Pump seems likely to be the better future option.
What puts me off is having to replace all the unsuitable microbore pipework within the walls.
No mean feat.
A couple down the road vacated their property for a whole year in order to get the work done.
If millions of us are facing this in order to come off gas, the mind (considering the cost and inconvenience) boggles!
Click to expand...
We won’t.
Gas, in one form or another, will be with us for decades.
 
Ponty said:
Unless your property meets certain requirements for a GSHP or ASHP installation to work successfully, stick in a new gas combi boiler whilst you can and they are relatively cheap, IMHO.
Click to expand...
Yes but there are still good and cheap (bad) models of boiler even from the same manufacturer. We paid extra to have a stainless steel heat exchanger and weather compensation. For icing on the cake we also have individual heating zones on each rad so the temp can be set to what is required locally. I won't really know until August but I think we have used far less gas for heating whilst being nice and warm. My wife has commented along the lines "I'm nice and warm but the radiators are cold to the touch". At Last she has got the message!

Oh and she really likes that she can see and control the temp of her office using a smart phone. Saves screwing up the heating for the whole of this house!

DV
 
Minio said:
My gas boiler is about 20 years old now so crunch time is approaching as to what will replace it.
Click to expand...

Combi or other? Age might determine efficiency to some degree but not necessarily longevity. Our Potterton is well over 30 years old. It did (for the first time) malfunction end of January but was kick-started and has worked since. The 9 y.o. Potterton combi in my flat failed miserably last September. However, am considering replacement this summer simply because of peace of mind but I'll be sorry to lose a very old friend.
 
Darth Vader said:
Yes but there are still good and cheap (bad) models of boiler even from the same manufacturer. We paid extra to have a stainless steel heat exchanger and weather compensation. For icing on the cake we also have individual heating zones on each rad so the temp can be set to what is required locally. I won't really know until August but I think we have used far less gas for heating whilst being nice and warm. My wife has commented along the lines "I'm nice and warm but the radiators are cold to the touch". At Last she has got the message!

Oh and she really likes that she can see and control the temp of her office using a smart phone. Saves screwing up the heating for the whole of this house!

DV
Click to expand...

The new place has a Vaillant combi boiler which runs heatmiser underfloor heating (lovely not to have any rads). There’s a control in each room but it’s barely kicking in as it’s so well insulated. The place just doesn’t seem to lose heat. No bill yet, I’m hoping I won’t need to be sat down before opening it!
 
Synchronicity? We installed a Vailant boiler using our existing hot water tank. Its coming up to 2 years old hence I'll know how much we are saving by August. Oh and we are warmer too! We can set both the water temp and individual room temps. Its interesting to see how the boiler changes the circulation temp depending on outside conditions such as temp and humidity.

If my calcs are correct the new Vailant system saves us around 50% in fuel so with an expected 100% increase in gas prices around the corner we'll just about balance out!

DV
 
Our dual fuel fixed tariff ends on 31st May, we're with EDF. Our new monthly DD is estimated to be £242 on the SVR, or we can fix at ~ £309/month until 31/5/24. Our current DD is £153, hmmm...not sure what to do, tempted to just let it roll onto the SVR and take our chances...
 
Just updated my Octopus account with readings, and I'm just £34 in debit. Pretty good for the time of year I thought. I therefore decided to reduce the monthly debit amount down from £160, only to be informed that 'amount cannot be lower than £160'. Just two months ago I was able to adjust this, so perhaps this is being enforced to ensure 'liquidity'. A year ago the average montlhy payment was £80...
 
LostAtSea said:
Just updated my Octopus account with readings, and I'm just £34 in debit. Pretty good for the time of year I thought. I therefore decided to reduce the monthly debit amount down from £160, only to be informed that 'amount cannot be lower than £160'. Just two months ago I was able to adjust this, so perhaps this is being enforced to ensure 'liquidity'. A year ago the average montlhy payment was £80...
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Ditch the Direct Debit and top up your account as is needed. Even better, use a payment card that gives you points etc.
https://www.johnlewisfinance.com/partnership-card.html
 
It's not quite a year since we bought our cottage and already we're £574 in credit with SSE for electricity. Initially the direct debit was £58 per month but has been increased a couple of times and is now £115 - despite our average usage since we've been here actually being about £40 a month. Part of the problem is that the smart meter has never worked since we moved in (it doesn't transmit anything back to SSE) so I probably should chase them to get that resolved given I logged the issue in September!

I've checked on their site and I can adjust the direct debit and have done so, although the lowest amount they'll accept is £74 per month.
 
LostAtSea said:
Just updated my Octopus account with readings, and I'm just £34 in debit. Pretty good for the time of year I thought. I therefore decided to reduce the monthly debit amount down from £160, only to be informed that 'amount cannot be lower than £160'.
Click to expand...

My April gas usage was £28 cheaper than March, allowing my well-projected (with hindsight) £98 p. mth to reduce my accrued debit from £31 to £7. As you say, 'not bad for this time of year'. My Octopus fix still has 17 months to run.

Snufkin said:
Ditch the Direct Debit
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Why? I pay everything by d.d. Easiest system as you don't manage it but must be informed in advance of changes and can control it (i.e. delete if appropriate). Can't think of any downsides to any d.d. account I've had in 2 decades plus. With Energy (Octopus), it's fixed anyway and it seems they got the monthly payment about right, having just gone through winter.
 
I upped my Direct debit to £180 a month last month - had been £113.45 or so - and we got a statement for use up until the April rise that had us only £23 or so in debit. British Gas have decided to up it to £208.88. Also got an email offering a fix that would work out at £254 a month
Now in the position where the monthly Mortgage, C Tax , power, insurance & broadband payments are just shy of what I take home each month - thats's not including food.
 
Minio said:
My gas boiler is about 20 years old now so crunch time is approaching as to what will replace it.
Air or Ground Source Heat Pump seems likely to be the better future option.
What puts me off is having to replace all the unsuitable microbore pipework within the walls.
No mean feat.
A couple down the road vacated their property for a whole year in order to get the work done.
If millions of us are facing this in order to come off gas, the mind (considering the cost and inconvenience) boggles!
Click to expand...

last year we replaced an old gas boiler with a new gas combi. the house had microbore in the walls . it was a pretty big job just to reroute some of the rads and would have been a BIG job replacing all the microbore . i stuck with it and it is absolutely fine .
 
LostAtSea said:
Just updated my Octopus account with readings, and I'm just £34 in debit. Pretty good for the time of year I thought. I therefore decided to reduce the monthly debit amount down from £160, only to be informed that 'amount cannot be lower than £160'. Just two months ago I was able to adjust this, so perhaps this is being enforced to ensure 'liquidity'. A year ago the average montlhy payment was £80...
Click to expand...

yes i tried to reduce my DD of 248 a month with scot power only to be told i cant
 
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