Away for the Winter: Save on Gas and Lekky (1 Viewer)

Emmit

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Hi All,

I know this won't be for everyone but here goes;
Our Gas/Electricity deal comes to the end at the end of October.
We are going away for the winter. Son No.1 who works in the industry suggested this and it would seem to be a good idea.

When our deal ends (or when they send us a release from a charge from moving early, 50 days before the end) we will go onto a tariff from a supplier who;
1. Does not charge a daily fee for having their tariff.
2. Does not charge for any early exit from their tariff.

I've had a look on line and, although the Company I have found are 10% more expensive on any usage that we use, we don't intend to use any, if at all, while we are away. The savings by not paying a daily charge on gas and electric will more than make up for that 10%.

When we come back we'll look for the best deal and switch again, if necessary
 
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Emmit

Emmit

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Good theory about not spending anything, but suggest you look at this thread http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/heating-house-while-away-in-winter.137333/unread - I'd say that the cost of heating on low for a few months is a price worth paying!

I'm not advocating not having the heating on but it wouldn't be on, (if at all) if you set the thermostat at 8-10 degrees. Very few well insulated houses would drop down to that temp even without any heating (at least south of Brum)

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Minxy

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I'm not advocating not having the heating on but it wouldn't be on, (if at all) if you set the thermostat at 8-10 degrees.
What does your home insurance say? Ours says we either have to have the heating on at 15 degrees celsius continually OR turn off the water at the main stopcock. If you intend to leave the heating on a low setting, eg 8-10 degrees, this may not be acceptable to your insurer in which case your only option would be to turn off your water completely and have NO heating on at all.

It would be worth checking with them first before you make any decision on your energy supplier, this is an extract from our insurance policy:

upload_2016-8-29_15-11-34.png


Very few well insulated houses would drop down to that temp even without any heating (at least south of Brum)
IMV any house that doesn't have heating over a long period of time WILL eventually get very, very cold regardless of how well insulated it is.
 
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Emmit

Emmit

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What does your home insurance say? Ours says we either have to have the heating on at 15 degrees celsius continually OR turn off the water at the main stopcock. If you intend to leave the heating on a low setting, eg 8-10 degrees, this may not be acceptable to your insurer in which case your only option would be to turn off your water completely and have NO heating on at all.

It would be worth checking with them first before you make any decision on your energy supplier, this is an extract from our insurance policy:

View attachment 121970


IMV any house that doesn't have heating over a long period of time WILL eventually get very, very cold regardless of how well insulated it is.

Hi Minxy,

I could turn off the water at the stop cock and still have the heating on.
Its a sealed system and doesn't have a tank in the loft.
As I've said before, I'm not advocating not having any heat on but the standing daily charge for just having our tariff is more than £30 just for when we're away. What I'm advocating, for the people that can do it, would reduce their expenditure for the period away.
I said at the outset it's not for everyone. We don't all live in the balmy, (in more ways than one), South West where it is rare to get a ground frost, let alone snow, but it would work.
I would suggest that there would be an advantage, monetarily wise for many.
 

Minxy

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Hi Minxy,

I could turn off the water at the stop cock and still have the heating on.
Its a sealed system and doesn't have a tank in the loft.
As I've said before, I'm not advocating not having any heat on but the standing daily charge for just having our tariff is more than £30 just for when we're away. What I'm advocating, for the people that can do it, would reduce their expenditure for the period away.
I said at the outset it's not for everyone. We don't all live in the balmy, (in more ways than one), South West where it is rare to get a ground frost, let alone snow, but it would work.
I would suggest that there would be an advantage, monetarily wise for many.
As I've got a standard type central heating system I didn't realise such 'sealed' systems existed as I've never had to look at replacing ours! If the heating DID kick in though, eg if there was a very, very long cold spell, would the heating coming on for a period of time wipe out any savings? I can understand your theory and it does make sense but the ONE unknown is what the weather will be like so ... "do ya feel lucky punk?"! :LOL:

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Emmit

Emmit

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As I've got a standard type central heating system I didn't realise such 'sealed' systems existed as I've never had to look at replacing ours! If the heating DID kick in though, eg if there was a very, very long cold spell, would the heating coming on for a period of time wipe out any savings? I can understand your theory and it does make sense but the ONE unknown is what the weather will be like so ... "do ya feel lucky punk?"! :LOL:

Just looked at the figures.
Assuming that the 'New' tariff was 10% more expensive we would have to use;
14Kws of Electricity per day and
60Kws of Gas per day just to get to the "I've spent the same"

Oh! I forgot to mention. That's every day.
 
Last edited:
Feb 22, 2014
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Well we are hoping to not have any more electricity bills ever. We are investing in Solar panels ( with battery storage) that also feeds into the grid meaning we earn money too. Re investments it seems the returns are better than anything offered by the banks. We get them fitted next week. Quite excited. If your interested feel free to PM me for further details. (y)
 

vwalan

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i run a lead from my trailer into the house in summer and run things off my inverter .
saves a few shilling . mind soon be not alot of sun . days getting shorter etc . .

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Bobby22

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Hi Minxy,

I could turn off the water at the stop cock and still have the heating on.
Its a sealed system and doesn't have a tank in the loft.
As I've said before, I'm not advocating not having any heat on but the standing daily charge for just having our tariff is more than £30 just for when we're away. What I'm advocating, for the people that can do it, would reduce their expenditure for the period away.
I said at the outset it's not for everyone. We don't all live in the balmy, (in more ways than one), South West where it is rare to get a ground frost, let alone snow, but it would work.
I would suggest that there would be an advantage, monetarily wise for many.
Is it worth the hassle to save £30 or £10 a month.
The increase in fuel price would eat up any saving assuming the heating was set to come on twice a day to take the chill out of the air.

Beware, modern well insulated houses don't like big fluctuations in tempreture. It can create damp or condensation in the roofspace.
 
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Emmit

Emmit

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"Is it worth the hassle to save £30 or £10 a month."

If you can tell me how I can make £30 so easily, fine.

Look at it another way.

How much money do you have to have in the bank to make £30 in four months"

I'll go further. Every time a consumer of Gas/Electricity does NOT accept their current, (no pun intended) providers 'New' offer, it helps the next consumer out there because the Companies that set their prices have to think of more attractive offers. Point in question. That Company I have found at 10% more but without daily charges is part of a Bigger Company that charges even more for its Gas and Electricity PLUS the daily rate.
 
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Our heating is on all year, controlled by the thermostat. When we go off in the van I set it to 15C regardless of what month it is. Years ago we went away at Easter and I did turn the heating off, on our return it took ages for the house to 'feel' right as it warmed up and the bedding had a distinctly damp feel.

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Xabia

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Well we are hoping to not have any more electricity bills ever. We are investing in Solar panels ( with battery storage) that also feeds into the grid meaning we earn money too. Re investments it seems the returns are better than anything offered by the banks. We get them fitted next week. Quite excited. If your interested feel free to PM me for further details. (y)

We had solar panels installed just over two and a half years ago - best decision we ever made and the returns have been excellent. Also had a device installed that diverts the current to heat the water tank which proved to be a good move.

Haven't yet moved to battery storage yet but looks interesting.

Mike
 
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Emmit

Emmit

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What does your insurance policy say??

Nothing other than they won't pay for a frozen pipe, (Giggle. Iv'e just edited that word from PIE!) burst. No "CH must be on." No," minimum 15 deg" Nothing.

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Feb 22, 2014
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We had solar panels installed just over two and a half years ago - best decision we ever made and the returns have been excellent. Also had a device installed that diverts the current to heat the water tank which proved to be a good move.

Haven't yet moved to battery storage yet but looks interesting.

Mike
We get all that, plus a device that ensures the load is carried over the entire grid preventing hot spots. The battery storage means we can operate 24/7 off grid as it were.
 

Bobby22

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"Is it worth the hassle to save £30 or £10 a month."

If you can tell me how I can make £30 so easily, fine.

Look at it another way.

How much money do you have to have in the bank to make £30 in four months"

I'll go further. Every time a consumer of Gas/Electricity does NOT accept their current, (no pun intended) providers 'New' offer, it helps the next consumer out there because the Companies that set their prices have to think of more attractive offers. Point in question. That Company I have found at 10% more but without daily charges is part of a Bigger Company that charges even more for its Gas and Electricity PLUS the daily rate.
Its your shout, but your right it's not for everyone.
 
Feb 9, 2008
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We have the Hive heating system, so we can control our heating remotely. With our insurance provider (Aviva) their only stipulation is to turn water off at stop cock and have central heating switched on to prevent freezing. Aviva accept my action of having the central heating automatically turning on if heating falls to 7 deg.
I turn the heating on once a month for an hour just to keep it in good working order. Other than that, no gas consumption for 4 months a year.
Also required to have regular check visit's to the house and my neighbour does this when clearing all the junk mail out of my letter box each day.

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vwalan

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"Is it worth the hassle to save £30 or £10 a month."

If you can tell me how I can make £30 so easily, fine.

Look at it another way.

How much money do you have to have in the bank to make £30 in four months"

I'll go further. Every time a consumer of Gas/Electricity does NOT accept their current, (no pun intended) providers 'New' offer, it helps the next consumer out there because the Companies that set their prices have to think of more attractive offers. Point in question. That Company I have found at 10% more but without daily charges is part of a Bigger Company that charges even more for its Gas and Electricity PLUS the daily rate.
i did hear a rumour it got a bit chilly the other year.
some stopped going swimming in the sea in cornwall. ha ha .
 

Minxy

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Our heating is on all year, controlled by the thermostat. When we go off in the van I set it to 15C regardless of what month it is. Years ago we went away at Easter and I did turn the heating off, on our return it took ages for the house to 'feel' right as it warmed up and the bedding had a distinctly damp feel.
We find the same - our bungalow was a paupers' cottage originally dating from the early 1800s, so was built from whatever materials they could recycle at the time - the bricks they used were already 200 years or so old when they 'recycled' them! Although it's been modernised its never ever going to be as energy efficient as newer house and if we don't have the heating coming on occasionally it really does suffer even though we have no problem with damp as such the air doesn't circulate that well so we get areas that are cool and condensation 'damp' forms.
 

Allanm

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Solar panels are the way to go, we had them on one of our houses, no battery storage though I didn't think was allowed at the time.
Anyway, we sold our house a few years ago and told the new owners how good they were. We even had the electric meter running backwards most days when the sun was out
4 months after we sold the house, we had a phone call from the new owners. Apparently, their latest meter reading was less than the reading we took when we left!
I told the to buy more electrical items and use them more.

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