One in the Eye for British Gas

The quarterly gas bill arrived this morning, covering the months May, June and July, and it is pretty much only a tenth of the cost of the previous quarter.  £34.44 as opposed to £302.31.  Obviously, this is the easiest quarter of the year to achieve a low gas bill.  Although the central heating certainly did go on for a few evenings in May, and possibly a couple in June too.  Apart from that there has really been very little gas usage at all.  Because the hot water can't be heated up without having the central heating on as well - dont' ask, rental property, cr*p back boiler! - it means that there is no hot water in the taps.  That is by no means as spartan as it sounds as we have an electric power shower for showering and the new long-length hose on it means that it is easy to fill the wash basin with hot water for hand and face washing.  The washing up only requires two boiled kettles of water and the water is scalding hot.  I do have a gas hob but that has not been used overly much lately as a lot of the meals have been salads.

What worries me more is how to keep the gas usage down during the autumn and winter, especially since British Gas raised its prices by 35 per cent!!  I've got a few ideas for conserving as much heat as possible, including cutting down on drafts by fitting some stick-on insulation tape around the back door and the french windows (both old, drafty and single glazed.  Luckily the rest of the house is snugly double glazed).  I might also have a go at trying to 'double-glaze' these items with cling film.  I'm not quite sure how this works, but remember seeing it done some years ago.  I'm sure a Google search will give me some ideas. I also plan to fit tin foil behind the radiators to reflect the heat back into the rooms, especially as most of the radiators are on outside walls, and I certainly don't intend to start heating the brickwork if I can help it! 

Anybody have any other ideas for cheap and easy ways to cut down on heating costs?  Sadly, I fear it will be a loooooong time before we have a gas bill as cheap as this one again, no matter how hard we try to cut corners.

Comments

[sharie]

I'm worried about the gas bill this winter too. I'm going to put some extra thick curtains up on the front door and thinner curtains are going to be lined with thiner ones. I've heard that some people use old blankets and make them into curtain liners.
I have an electric blanket for the bed (to warm it up) and plenty of furry throws and hot water bottles.
British Gas are going to find everyone is more careful this coming winter.

[Maureen]

Over here we can get a slightly better price for power ( we don't have mains gas, just LPG)by paying the same amount throughout the year. Not sure if it would work that way in UK?
Draught excluders in the shops were very expensive so I made a few by just making tubes of fabric and stuffing it with chopped up bits of old fabric. Works a treat.
I have also been knitting a lot of of wrist warmers/fingerless gloves that can be made from my stash of yarn. They will make nice Christmas presents that can be sent home cheaply to the UK in a few months.

[Wendy]

I am so interested in this post as we are trying hard to think of ways to save money on heating too. Your comments reminded me that we have to do some insulation on our lovely old Victorian front door. It's so easy to forget to do when the weather is warm. I hope that you get a few money-saving comments to read.

[Frugal Trenches]

I am so worried about this especially as I rent an older flat and the heat loss is terrible!
I try to wear socks and layers, use 2 thick blankets @ night and a hot water bottle :)

[Sharon J]

Wearing a beanie actually helps being as a lot of body heat escapes through our heads. I might look a bit daft sitting in the living room with a woolie or cotton hat on but what the heck - it's better than wasting money on gas!

Socks too. Can you knit yourself some?

[Gill]

I've already warned my Husband he'll have to put a sweater on and I'll kit him out with some thick socks! He's a great one for walking around in a T-shirt in the middle of winter, no more in this house! It's a worry and certainly has made us think more about what we use (which isn't a bad thing)
Hope you're well, sorry haven't been around much recently.
Gill x

[Gem]

I was shopping in TJ Hughes (sort of bargain department store) the other day and saw they had fleecy underblankets for about £10. We're going to get one for the cooler weather because we live in an old stone cottage and it does get pretty cold! The idea about the foil behind the radiators is a great one, have to start doing that!