I think you’re far more fortunate than you perhaps realise!
it’s not necessarily that people believe it’s more expensive, more that it can be harder to budget for properly and afford in the more expensive months. By the very fact we’re on niche little forums like this, we’re probably not the norm when it comes to budgeting and showing restraint. I know my mom would certainly be the sort who gets her July bill and celebrates because she has £150 extra to spend on things that month, completely oblivious until it comes to bite her when December rolls around.
The main reason this has become controversial is because of the changing cost of energy. It’s become very difficult to estimate average energy spend because the underlying rates have shot up, and people have changed their usage habits in response. Further, when estimates rise ahead of actual spend, people are often reluctant to agree to the estimates.
If/when prices level off, it ought to become a bit easier to plan ahead.
I visited a friend yesterday. When he opened the front door, I was hit with a wall of heat I found truly uncomfortable, it was about 23 degrees throughout the entire house. The conversation naturally led to energy costs. He told me his daily combined gas and electric cost comes to around £13 a day. I was truly gobsmacked at that, just as he was when I told him my gas useage currently amounts to around £15 a week and my entire electric costs are covered by the £66 a month rebate. He was genuinely puzzled as to why I’m not using more than £66 a month of electricity, until I explained how we do it. He robustly informed me that he couldn’t and wasn’t prepared to sacrifice every creature comfort he was used to. He thought I was bonkers when I told him that the average temperature in our house is around 16.5 degrees C
Needless to say, here I am 3 months into the energy rebate period and no worse off than we’ve been in previous years.
Meanwhile, British Gas have just increased my next door neighbour’s monthly direct debit to over £100 and he’s genuinely struggling to understand why when he says his useage doesn’t in any way reflect BG’s predictions. I’ve told him about the option to pay by monthly variable direct debit, but that seemed to worry him. I was left with the feeling he just doesn’t know which is the best option.
Well our limit is 15 degrees, if it gets to that, the heating goes on for a couple of hours to raise it back up to around 17 or 18 degrees. I will say, we’ve grown used to it, you just put on an extra layer and get on with it. Most of the people we know wouldn’t or couldn’t tolerate it, but then they’re paying for it so it’s up to them.
To be fair, we can afford to have the house warm and toasty if we wished to, we just choose not to. The money we save on energy goes toward paying for our forthcoming trip to sunnier and warmer climes
Sadly, in around 3 months time, it will undoubtedly become apparent just how much financial misery many 100’s of thousands if not millions, of energy customers will find themselves in. Entirely commendable of the Government to give households the current rebate, but unfortunately it won’t be nearly enough help for a lot of folks. A horrible gloomy prediction and I hope I’m wrong.
I had a shock this week. We use smokeless coal to heat our house and avoid central heating. Though the financial benefits are probably quite thin now.
December 2021 - £58 for 150kg
December 2022 - £63 for 100kg
I know it’s not as extreme as gas increases but in recent snap we were using 10kg a day to maintain temp of around 17c. If we wanted to push to 20c I think the gas would need to come on.
It’s surprising how the family have adapted to a slightly cooler house. Gone are the days of a stuffy central heated home at 21c for us.
I fully realise some people have little choice due to health reasons that they have to have a very warm home. My Wife and I are thankfully in good health so we are able to tolerate an admittedly cool 16 or 17 degrees on a regular basis. We’ve just got used to it. I’m definitely old school, if I feel cold, I stick another jumper on.
Actually Graham, she’s the main reason it’s kept cool in the house, something to do with the menopause and hot flushes It is I who hath learned to understandeth the woman
Oh well, had another conversation with someone today who told me that their combined gas and electric bill was just over £400 a month. He stood there and basically intimated that he didn’t believe me when I told him I was about to hit my fourth consecutive month on ‘free’ electricity due to the rebate. As for gas, well the heating has been off for the last 3 days and the temperature hasn’t yet dropped below 16 degrees in the house. I think we’ve now got so used to living with much cooler temperatures in the house, it’s just normal for us. We were round at a friend’s for drinks the other night and my Wife and I we’re sat there literally sweating buckets. It was a relief getting back into our own house
It is I who hath learned to understandeth the woman 
