In article ,
"Michael Chare" wrote:

You could read your meter weekly and see how much you are spending.

Personally, I find reading the meters weekly is easy. Converting the
readings to actual cash, using the formulae detailed on the fuel
company's bills, I find impossible: I always have to give up.

BrassMonkey: you don't say where you live. This has a bearing: it _is_
colder in the North than in the South, and if you live in a windy area,
it's colder again. Therefore you're going to spend more in the North
than in the South, maintaining your (I would say) high temperatures.

We have our heating set to 17 if it's not too cold, and notch it up a
whole one degree if it feels colder (as it can, if it's windy outside,
or very cold). (It's controlled by a room thermostat, and of course
timers on the boiler.) Overnight (2030 - 0630) it's off.

However: we have cavity wall insulation, and a foot of insulation in the
lofts.

And also: there's only me and the wife, now, both of us paranoid about
spending money.


There is a *LOT* of sense in the old saying "put a cardi on": putting on
a light sweater can make an immense difference to how warm you feel.
This applies with knobs on if you put a hat on, but you might feel a bit
daft.

That seems crazy: dressing up, to live inside your house. However it's
not as crazy as (shall we say) ... giving away the nation's energy
assets to robber barons called "utility companies", who have not the
slightest interest in the nation's infrastructure, but only in milking
the British[1] public for all they're worth.

John
(Yes: ****ed off, having just had yet another set-to with those nice
people from [name your utility company].



[1] I would *love* to know how much 500KW of energy costs in the UK, and
how much in e.g. France, or Germany. Anyone know? Don't bother replying
if you do know: if it's less I'll be even more ****ed off, and if it's
the same, I'll just say that it goes to prove that the robber barons are
international corporate crooks (as they are, in fact) (international, I
mean -- "Crooks" is merely an emotional overstatement on my part).