Energy Provider ?

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Re: Energy Provider ?

Yes, we were with SWALEC for years and years and never bothered to look around elsewhere as there was always that "fear factor" associated with changing utility suppliers, which today seems ridiculous. Once we did compare prices there was no going back!

We will now be paying £70 p.m. for electricity, fixed for 12 months which will hopefully see us through the expected price rises this winter. Our heating and hot water is provided by oil fired boiler. The cost of heating oil is hugely variable usually depending on who is fighting who in the middle east at the time.

We use 1300 litres p.a. so even at 60p./litre (the current price) that's quite a lump. There is a bit of a cartel in operation too with heating oil suppliers. The minimum order is always 500 litres with payment within 7 days - so that's £300 to find (no staged payments or D/D possible!). Over the last 4 years it has varied from 30p to £1.12 per litre! Those of you on mains gas count your blessings!

So how much is your heating oil bill per month ?

ie .....70 quid electricity plus ?

[Gofer Blue]

Re: Energy Provider ?

It's difficult to put a monthly figure on it because I have to buy a minimum of 500 litres at a time. I try not to let the tank drop below about 300 litres in case of a sudden supply problem so I usually buy 1000 litres at a time. When I topped up in June oil was 75p per litre so that was £750-worth. So 1300 litres would cost £975 which would work out at an average of £81 per month.

We have PV solar panels and solar thermal panels on the roof so we are saving both electricity and oil thanks to these. Otherwise our energy bills would be much higher.

[2b2bdoo]

Re: Energy Provider ?

wait till you email them with a problem and see if they come back asap

Very quickly, I emailed as I had issues with my Gas smart meter not working and they came out and tried to fix it. I emailed again as it still didn’t work and they came out and replaced it.

Also had sent them an email when they didn’t register my energy saving (they give you points at certain times to save energy) and they came back and over compensated me.

Not big things but very helpful.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Re: Energy Provider ?

It's difficult to put a monthly figure on it because I have to buy a minimum of 500 litres at a time. I try not to let the tank drop below about 300 litres in case of a sudden supply problem so I usually buy 1000 litres at a time. When I topped up in June oil was 75p per litre so that was £750-worth. So 1300 litres would cost £975 which would work out at an average of £81 per month.

We have PV solar panels and solar thermal panels on the roof so we are saving both electricity and oil thanks to these. Otherwise our energy bills would be much higher.

150 quid or so a month 🤔

That's quite high if you also have solar panels

[Gofer Blue]

Re: Energy Provider ?

150 quid or so a month 🤔

That's quite high if you also have solar panels

Maybe at face value but we have a 4 bedroom house with 180 sq.m. of floor space. The average 4 bedroom house in the U.K. apparently uses 4100 kWh of electricity p.a. and we use 2500 kWh. The average 4 bedroom house in the U.K. uses 133 kWh/sq.m. for space heating and we use 72 kWh/sq.m. (in reality less than that because I can't differentiate between oil used to provide DHW and that used for space heating).

The low electricity demand is because we have the solar PV panels and low wattage lighting everywhere. We have also invested in an air frier which has reduced the need to use the oven and the induction hob as much.

The space heating demand is low because we have massively increased the amount of insulation including internal wall insulation, cavity wall insulation and 300mm in the loft space. The room thermostat is set rather high at 22C in the winter months (my better half feels the cold!) which obviously increases oil usage. Insulation is very cost effective! The solar thermal panels provide all our DHW from about May to August. We occasionally have to top up using the boiler on cloudy days.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Re: Energy Provider ?

Maybe at face value but we have a 4 bedroom house with 180 sq.m. of floor space. The average 4 bedroom house in the U.K. apparently uses 4100 kWh of electricity p.a. and we use 2500 kWh. The average 4 bedroom house in the U.K. uses 133 kWh/sq.m. for space heating and we use 72 kWh/sq.m. (in reality less than that because I can't differentiate between oil used to provide DHW and that used for space heating).

The low electricity demand is because we have the solar PV panels and low wattage lighting everywhere. We have also invested in an air frier which has reduced the need to use the oven and the induction hob as much.

The space heating demand is low because we have massively increased the amount of insulation including internal wall insulation, cavity wall insulation and 300mm in the loft space. The room thermostat is set rather high at 22C in the winter months (my better half feels the cold!) which obviously increases oil usage. Insulation is very cost effective! The solar thermal panels provide all our DHW from about May to August. We occasionally have to top up using the boiler on cloudy days.

Does the air fryer save you much ? 🤔

[19bluebirds27]

Re: Energy Provider ?

Does the air fryer save you much ? 🤔

I haven’t drilled down to the actual cost saving of an air fryer but I find that something that takes 35 mins in the oven takes 20 mins in my ninja.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Re: Energy Provider ?

I haven’t drilled down to the actual cost saving of an air fryer but I find that something that takes 35 mins in the oven takes 20 mins in my ninja.

Nice one

[Gofer Blue]

Re: Energy Provider ?

Does the air fryer save you much ? ��

It's a case of every little helps I think. Our oven requires about 3 kW and the airfrier 2 kW. The former has to be on for about 10 minutes to heat up before putting food in it to cook. The air frier is far quicker e.g. oven ready chips can be cooked from frozen in about 10 minutes - roughly the same time as it would take for the oven to heat up.

We also have a Brevill water heater which will boil a small amount of water e.g. just enough for a single cup or mug. This is far less wasteful of electricity than a kettle in which we always boiled too much water. The Breville boils enough water for a mug in about 1 minute. Again not a huge saving per single use but over the course of a year say, a quite significant difference I would think as we drink huge quantities of tea and coffee!

We have a portable I-R heating panel which we use in the living room when the evenings start to get a bit chilly rather than fire up the central heating. It uses 0.4 kW but has the heat equivalent output of about 2 kW as it directly heats objects in the room (including people!) rather than the air in the room which requires convection to heat up the room. So it's quite economical to use.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Re: Energy Provider ?

It's a case of every little helps I think. Our oven requires about 3 kW and the airfrier 2 kW. The former has to be on for about 10 minutes to heat up before putting food in it to cook. The air frier is far quicker e.g. oven ready chips can be cooked from frozen in about 10 minutes - roughly the same time as it would take for the oven to heat up.

We also have a Brevill water heater which will boil a small amount of water e.g. just enough for a single cup or mug. This is far less wasteful of electricity than a kettle in which we always boiled too much water. The Breville boils enough water for a mug in about 1 minute. Again not a huge saving per single use but over the course of a year say, a quite significant difference I would think as we drink huge quantities of tea and coffee!

We have a portable I-R heating panel which we use in the living room when the evenings start to get a bit chilly rather than fire up the central heating. It uses 0.4 kW but has the heat equivalent output of about 2 kW as it directly heats objects in the room (including people!) rather than the air in the room which requires convection to heat up the room. So it's quite economical to use.

IR heating panel ?

You mean the ones that you can see glowing rings ?

[Gofer Blue]

Re: Energy Provider ?

IR heating panel ?

You mean the ones that you can see glowing rings ?

No. This is the one we have:

https://www.warm4less.com/product/infrared-heaters/infrared-picture-panels/nature/450-watts-modern-leaves-panel/

If you check out the rest of their website you can see there is a huge variety of panels!

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Re: Energy Provider ?

No. This is the one we have:

https://www.warm4less.com/product/infrared-heaters/infrared-picture-panels/nature/450-watts-modern-leaves-panel/

If you check out the rest of their website you can see there is a huge variety of panels!

This is what I have

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/286021104059

[North Cardiff Blue]

Re: Energy Provider ?

Have Octopus tracker customers stuck with it?

It's seemed ok this year but it's hard to tell if I had been better off with a fixed or not?

[Michael Morris]

Re: Energy Provider ?

Coming back to energy prices / providers.

I'm about to go on a variable rate unless I fix for the next 12 months. I'm currently with Octopus but a look at alternatives threw up 'Fuse Energy' offering an estimated saving of £15 a month.

Anyone have any experinece or thoughts on switching from Octopus? Or are they still the best.

[B. Oddie]

Re: Energy Provider ?

Ecotricity for me.