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Battling higher bills? Tell us your story….
As the weather gets colder, and the nights get longer, we’re hearing more and more from families living with muscle disease about the higher costs of heating their homes.
For people with neuromuscular conditions, heating their home is often essential for their muscles and mobility. Indeed, many people are advised by their specialist consultant that even during the night they must keep their heating at a minimum level.
Despite this, people under the age of 60 with severe disabilities are not eligible for the Winter Fuel Allowance – the annual payment made to help people pay for their heating in the winter. This can leave many people with muscle disease struggling to pay their high heating bills.
As well as higher heating costs, people with muscle disease may also require a wide range of electric equipment, such as powered wheelchairs, ceiling hoists, through-floor lifts, and ventilators, all of which can cause a dramatic increase in household electricity bills.
Have you been affected by higher heating or electricity bills because of your neuromuscular condition? Tell us your story by filling in our very short survey online at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/financial-impact
Re: Battling higher bills? Tell us your story….Interesting survey but I wondered what sort of statistics you were hoping to get from the replies and what target the survey has.
Maybe there is need of a few energy related questions. I am a single person, living in a one bedroom flat heated by night storage heaters and a couple other heaters. So my energy consumption will fluctuate madly according to the season [like £50 for the warmest quarter to £237 through the coldest quarter]. Essentially only two rooms in my house are heated, the living room and the bedroom, I have a plugged in radiator for the kitchen on a time clock to ‘take the chill off’ across the lunchtime and evening meal preparation times. I would LOVE to have a night storage heater fitted in my kitchen, but dread the fitting costs and running costs, facing east with little between my kitchen door and window and the howling North Sea, it is f*&&^%rigging cold in there on a windy wet day and that quickly sucks out any heat accumilated.
IMO night storage heaters are not the best functioning heaters, often I am roasting in the morning and chilled of an evening, forever trying to balance the level of input [and therefore level of cost for electricity used] and a constant warm enough output.
What do I do when it gets mightly cold ….. sit under my craft lamp and stitch, that thing is like a mini sauna with its day light simulation blue bulb.
Anyway, my initial point was supposed to be that, my heating requirements to suit my needs, will be different to a families needs and requirements, will be different to those in a terrace house served by gas, will be different to a rural local services by oil or calor gas, will be different to those in middle of town, will be different to those out of town, will be different to in detatched properties, will be different to ….. you get my drift, far more variables.
I'm always the animal, my body's the cage
I blog about nothingness www.amgroves.com
Re: Battling higher bills? Tell us your story….I’ve had my heating on several times since end of September, sometimes for an hour or so, sometimes for longer but, not all night yet. Anybody visiting has moaned that they’re too hot & that I should wear more clothes but, if I load up on layers I can’t move then to get up. I’m always wearing jumpers etc but, my bungalow has all four walls exposed & I really feel it. The last thing I want to worry about is a big heating bill so I’m always topping meslf up with plenty of tea & soup
Re: Battling higher bills? Tell us your story….We don’t qualify for Winter Fuel Allowance but at leat the ConDems are not touching the £25 Cold Weather Payments this year anyway! It depends where you live i suppose but i think i ended up with 4 or 5 payments last winter which was very welcome indeed.
p.s AMG, i no longer use my electric storage heaters as they are crap and cost a fortune to run. I have 2 Delongi oil filled heaters which i have in my bedroom and front room. i leave the doors open and this heats my tiny flat more or less as well.
Sometimes i put the electric heater on in the bathroom for 5 minutes before my bath but that is all.Ranald
Re: Battling higher bills? Tell us your story….@ranald wrote:
It depends where you live i suppose but i think i ended up with 4 or 5 payments last winter which was very welcome indeed.
Indeed, exposed as I am in my little semi rural idil I didn’t get any CWP last year. The temps they use is gained from one of the local RAF stations, it is usually frigid there in summer, so I was surprised we did not get any. I bet them Tornados were engine testing warming the air
@ranald wrote:
p.s AMG, i no longer use my electric storage heaters as they are crap and cost a fortune to run. I have 2 Delongi oil filled heaters which i have in my bedroom and front room. i leave the doors open and this heats my tiny flat more or less as well.
Sometimes i put the electric heater on in the bathroom for 5 minutes before my bath but that is all.It is an area I should look into further. I am pretty confident that having an additional heater in my kitchen will help keep the whole flat at a reasonably even temp. I have one of those oil-filledjobbies in the kitchen now, I found it costs more than my heaters ::shrug:: guess it is all dependant on useage and how your property holds it warmth.
That reminds me, time to dig out the plastic mat. I have a wet room, so my bathroom has a sizeable grill-covered hole where all the water runs away, and it is quite chilly in there sometimes, I cover the grill with a plastic mat and it lifts it a noticeable degree or three – I just tell em its my feng shui thang
I'm always the animal, my body's the cage
I blog about nothingness www.amgroves.com
Re: Battling higher bills? Tell us your story….Well done for raising the vital topic of fuel bills.
My experience of this is similar to others and it has been a constant worry over the years. last winter though I made a breakthrough that I am pleased to share.
Comparing the costs of heating it turns out there are amazing differences. AMG is right night storage heaters end up being so unsatisfactory, My central heating radiators cost 55 pence an hour just to heat the front room. this I just cannot afford all the time. I have now stumbled on Halogen Heaters, that cost only 4 pence an hour. This is just an amazing difference. I can have it on for ten hours non-stop for just 40 pence. It is not the fiercest heat granted but it does warm the room quite quickly and you can be warm all day for little cost. 4 pence is just for one bar, if you want a quick blast of heat use 2 or three bars for a short time (3 bars is too hpt I find). The Halogen heaters are cheap too. 10-15 pounds for the three bar one. also they are free-standing so you csan easily move them from room to room and they have a safety cut out, switching off immediately they are knocked over.
The other tip is live in a property w3ith sounth facing windows in your main living room. That also makes an amazing difference,"Even if you are not paranoid, it does not mean they are not out to get you!".
Re: Battling higher bills? Tell us your story….My heating is on from 8am-midnight, i then control it by thermostat. A common mistake people make is to not read their metres they rely on their energy company, I’m lucky if they read metres once a year! I pay my bill on a monthly budget scheme and it works really well theres no big bill suprises once a quarter and I can afford my heating when I need it most.
Re: Battling higher bills? Tell us your story….Many thanks for all the comments – it’s great to get your views.
AMGmod: We’re building on a survey carried out earlier this year, just to get a few more details about the number of people with neuromuscular conditions, who are under 60, receive DLA but are not eligible for the Winter Fuel Allowance, and what kind of bills they face. Your point about the different circumstances regarding family size, oil/gas, type of house is really valid – and, as well, what is affordable for some people might not be for others. That’s why we think there should be greater support for anyone with a severely disabling neuromuscular condition, in the same way that anyone over 60 receives the Winter Fuel Allowance.
Woogy: We’ve certainly heard from quite a few people the same story: that extra layers are too heavy to wear, and can further restrict mobility. This again highlights the need for greater support with heating bills.
Ranald: What’s really interesting about the Cold Weather Payments is that the government already recognises that people with a disability and low income (on income-related ESA, and income support) need extra support to stay warm, along with pensioners, in times of severely cold weather. Why, then, should only pensioners receive the Winter Fuel Allowance, which has the same aim?
Taungfox: Really interesting to hear using Halogen Heaters!
Vicki: Good advice on the reading of meters!
Re: Battling higher bills? Tell us your story….I think I got three cold weather payments last winter. My gas consumption is the only variable on my energy bill, the electric is pretty much a constant all year round the same usage. I searched around to get what I found to be the best & most cost effective energy supplier last autumn & have done that again twelve months on & I’m pleased to find it’s still the same company. And I am responsible for giving my meter readings myself every quarter but, as soon as the cold weather starts I give them once a month so my bill adjusts accordingly & not in one go three months down the line, one benefit of having an online only tariff.
However, after reading Ranald’s tip on halogen heaters I have decided to invest in one & see how that works for me. It was only £20 off ebay, carriage free & it oscillates, has a remote & a safety cut out if it tips. Even so, I need to find a place for it away from Gwenny’s wafting tail. Will keep you posted once I’ve used it for a few days, cheers Ranald
Re: Battling higher bills? Tell us your story….Forgot to say the thing Oscillates, that is why it heats the room so quickly. It really does only cost 4 pence per hour and I have proved that time and time again with my second money saving tip, the Energy Meters that suppliers are giving away. I got one free from British Gas last year and when I switched to N power last month they gave me one too. They will show with stunning clarity on an hourly basis where the money is going; Since using them my bills are down 14 %.
The other free gadjets I have received this month are both free on the Money Saving Expert website. A water widget that saves water / money and a Lime remote control socket for those of us that have problems bending, it switches the whole socket off and all your standby devices off at once :-
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/grant-grabbing
The Lime offer is way down the page actually (amid other offers).
"Even if you are not paranoid, it does not mean they are not out to get you!".
Re: Battling higher bills? Tell us your story….Here are the costs per hour of various forms of heating at this time of the year from Energy Saving Trust,
Central heating radiators £ 0.44 per hour
Calor Gas heater 0.47 per hour
Fan Heater 0.22 per hour
Convector Heater 0.22 per hour
Immersion Water Heater 0.33 per hour
Warm Air Gas central heating 0.16 per hour
Bar fire 0.11 per hour
Gas fire 0.11-0.22 per hour
Oil Filled Radiator 0.11 per hour
Wall-mounted gas flued Heater 0.06 per hour
Halogen Heater 0.04 per hour"Even if you are not paranoid, it does not mean they are not out to get you!".
Re: Battling higher bills? Tell us your story….@taungfox wrote:
Here are the costs per hour of various forms of heating at this time of the year from Energy Saving Trust,
Central heating radiators £ 0.44 per hour
Calor Gas heater 0.47 per hour
Fan Heater 0.22 per hour
Convector Heater 0.22 per hour
Immersion Water Heater 0.33 per hour
Warm Air Gas central heating 0.16 per hour
Bar fire 0.11 per hour
Gas fire 0.11-0.22 per hour
Oil Filled Radiator 0.11 per hour
Wall-mounted gas flued Heater 0.06 per hour
Halogen Heater 0.04 per hourInteresting … … …
I'm always the animal, my body's the cage
I blog about nothingness www.amgroves.com
Re: Battling higher bills? Tell us your story….Thanks everyone for all your comments, and your info about higher bills.
Today we’ve put this information together in a new hard-hitting report The Cost of Living with Muscle Disease which particularly highlights the need for people with neuromuscular conditions to receive extra support to help with higher energy bills – in particular we’ve made two key recommendations which we hope the government will implement:
Recommendation 11: Eligibility for the Winter Fuel Allowance should be extended for people on DLA higher rate for care or mobility.
Recommendation 12: Energy companies should increase their provision of social tariffs for people on low incomes and who incur higher electricity and heating bills because of their disability. These tariffs should be promoted and publicised to ensure that people with severe disabilities are taking up the available support.
You can read more about our findings and recommendations here, download the full report here, or have a look at the BBC’s view here
Re: Battling higher bills? Tell us your story….….. promoted and publicised …..
There is the crux of the problem regards any social/charitable/financial/physical/financial assistance. Getting the right information, to the right people, at the right time.
I'm always the animal, my body's the cage
I blog about nothingness www.amgroves.com
Re: Battling higher bills? Tell us your story….This isn’t happening just in the UK, I live in the United States. I get $674 dollars a month in American money. My rent is $375 a month, then I have a water bill, electric, and trash to pay for out of the rest of the money. My electric bill runs about $300 a month with the heat on. If it was not for family that helps me I could not even afford to live. Plus, I have 2 children to take care of, Christmas is coming and I can’t afford to buy them gifts. One of my kids turn 8 on December 8, I can’t buy her gifts. Then Christmas, then my other child turn 7 on January 26th, I won’t be able to buy her gifts either. I live alone with my girls. If it wasn’t for them I would not be living. I can not afford to live. I have MD. It’s hard to take care of myself and my girls.
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