Big Al wrote:
Gug,
Just done a check on the website of ebico and on my last eon bill I would have saved £211 on my electric and about £7 on my gas......
Thank you. Also thank you from my son and at least 7 other "poor students" p in Newcastle as they have got a flat together for their second year and all are on N power PAYG meters.....
Thats good to hear,
As far as your existing insulation goes, i'm afraid I'm no expert on how your cavity wall insulation would hold up - but frankly i'd be surprised if it would just "stop working" or break down. I wonder if it would or not. Although probably biased, maybe you could ask a cavity wall insulation company - i'm wondering if blowing a new lot of insulation into the cavity (or at least trying to) wouldnt be more cost effective than dry lining your house has losing the space (given that there are pretty good grants available).
Alas my 110 year old terrace house has no cavity, except a small bathroom on the back built in the 70's (which used to get very cold). It cost me (i think) 175 quid (after grant) to get cavity wall insulation in there - but i had to pay the full house price to get the grant - so basically, I could have had my whole house done for the same price if i'd had full cavity walls.
I only bang on about insulation because so many people seem to sit around in cold draughty houses and moan about their heating bills, but for fitting a few draft excluders on the bottom of front doors, around old windows. Financial difficulty asside, it seems they'd rather spend 400 quid over a year heating up a draughty house, than stump up 400 quid in one go to get some insulation in - that will pay back in spades.
I have stripped floors in my house, but pulled it all up to insulate under the floors before putting it back again, I crawled around my house on my hands and knees searching for tiny draughts to plug with caulk/mastic. Its incredible how all these tiny draughts add up and bring the whole temperature down by a few degrees - To not do that, and then repeatedly pay for heating is madness.
Its amazes how profligate some people are with energy. I have a neighbour who, when she goes on holiday, we feed her cats, and likewise, she comes in a feeds ours when we're out of town. Last time they went away, in the front room alone, she had tv, wii, stereo, dvd player, sky box... ALL ON STANDBY. Upstairs, the sons computer was left on. They had gone away for 3 weeks. They're the best neighbours in the world, but by christ they must be mad (yes, i did turn stuff off :) )
Of course, the best way to save money is just use less energy. I work from home, my missus is at home all day (on her laptop mainly), and my electricity bill is usually around 45 - 50 quid a quarter, my gas is around the same. My house isnt cold and I dont live in the stone age, but I have friends who are out all day at work, and their bills are more than that a *month*
Anyway, back to ebico... The reason you dont hear about them is because they refuse to pay middlemen commissions - and thus, you wont find them on any of the utility switching sites.
I cant recommend them enough.
Npower rang me up recently and guaranteed me that by coming back to them i'd save money as they assured me that they were the cheapest in the industry. Made me chuckle.
Edited to add: my small bills are through the usual measures ( insulation, CF Lights, turning lights off, only boiling the right amount of water for a cuppa, nothing ever on standby etc - however, I dont have kids... if you do - Good Luck !
Ofgem figures show that in January 2008 the average household dual fuel bill was £885. This is a staggering 65% lower than the January 2012 average cost of £1,345 per year = an increase of 52% so far. I wonder what the figures will be next spring when the five years are up. Wish OH's pension had gone up 52%!