[jaydig]

We had ours on for half an hour this morning as it was quite chilly and hubby hasn't been well of late, so he feels the cold.  As soon as the sun came out it warmed the house up quickly, and this afternoon I even had to check that I hadn't either left the heating on, or left something on in the kitchen because it was so warm in the house.
I invested in a couple of heated throws some months ago, so I've sorted them out, plugged them in ready and told hubby to snuggle under one of those if he gets chilly.  Hopefully we can manage like this until the weather really turns cold, but that's a bridge we'll cross when we get to it.

[New shoot]

Ours is programmed to come on if it dips below 18 degrees C for an hour or so in the morning and then again for a few hours in the evening. So far it has clicked on one morning for about 15 minutes and then clicked off again.  I appreciate that might not be warm enough for some, but we are OK with it so far.

I did get the first instalment of the extra £400 this month from my energy supplier.  They have an odd system of taking my direct debit, then refunding this to me.   It was £66 so I changed my direct debit for future months to include that.  I’m with OVO, so worth checking what your supplier is doing so your money ends up where you want it.

I invested in a couple of heated throws some months ago, so I've sorted them out, plugged them in ready and told hubby to snuggle under one of those if he gets chilly.  Hopefully we can manage like this until the weather really turns cold, but that's a bridge we'll cross when we get to it.

That is a really good idea for targeting the heat to where you need it and keeping your body warm, rather than worry about heating the whole house to a higher temperature and then any subsequent bills.  Sitting and being chilled is not good for anyone.

[jaydig]

Snowy raised a good point about checking what your heating company is doing with the government heating allowance.  We're with Octopus, if I'm allowed to mention a name, and they had deducted the payment from our normal direct debit, so we increased the direct debit  so that the extra cash stays where it's needed.

[mumofstig]

Shell is also reducing the DD for customers on those months, whilst at the same time asking me to increase my DD! Crazy!!
 It doesn't seem as if much thought has gone into the plan,  but there you go   

[snowdrops]

I’m assuming that the energy companies get the full £400 in one lump sum & are profiting ( again) by getting the interest on it being in their bank accounts unless you know differently.
I’m with Shell & getting £66 per month into my account, I’d prefer the full £400 into my bank thank you, but I can understand that for some people this approach wouldn’t work as it would be spent on other things.
(I worked with families who thought it a great idea to have more children when child benefits went up by £1 a week !!)

[DanielCoffey]

We are in South Ayrshire and the heating is still off. Being a new and very well insulated house, the MVHR (heat recovery ventilation) system means that any heat that manages to get in via the big windows and low sun tends to stay in. Night time temps are single digit up here now with days around 12-13C but indoors it is still about 18-19C.

I have set the heat pump timer to have a dead spot between 4pm and 7pm in advance of being ordered to do so. That was when I do allow the heating on, it will not be using any 'leccy that they have had to generate with gas. The concrete slab of the building may take a few days to fully warm up at the beginning of the cold season but it stays warm for days so that small amount switched off each day won't matter.

Best purchase when we moved into this place? Long socks. Yup. Lots of pairs of knee high wooly socks! Wonderful!

[Lardman]

This feels a little stupid.

Why are Scottish Power crediting my bank account with the 66 quid rather than the energy account with them and then asking me to increase my monthly direct debit amount to give it them back?  (Reminder again Im already 2x quarters in credit and my monthly DD is 3x my usage).

All that's going to happen paying the grants like this is they will be absorbed by an individuals general debt and people will be left without funds to pay for their energy use. Are all suppliers being as myopic?

[mumofstig]

This feels a little stupid.

Why are Scottish Power crediting my bank account with the 66 quid rather than the energy account with them and then asking me to increase my monthly direct debit amount to give it them back?  (Reminder again Im already 2x quarters in credit and my monthly DD is 3x my usage).

All that's going to happen paying the grants like this is they will be absorbed by an individuals general debt and people will be left without funds to pay for their energy use. Are all suppliers being as myopic?

That's what I moaned about...

Shell is also reducing the DD for customers on those months, whilst at the same time asking me to increase my DD! Crazy!!
 It doesn't seem as if much thought has gone into the plan,  but there you go   

[Growster...]

I'll let you know when our EDF DD is taken on the 19th October - we've already had two months' refund on the first year of a two-year fixed rate, and we're still in credit for one month!

Like most big suppliers, they're out to cheat you wherever possible!

How the majority of British citizens are supposed to understand and unravel the shenanigans between the various failing 'green' options, coal-fired energy, nuclear power etc., is beyond me, and once that thought is embedded in this ol' grey head, I just assume that I'm being conned, and cannot actually get out of it at all!

It's no use listening to the BBC or the other disorganised lefty/righty MSM, because they all confuse the issue even more, but guess what...

...We all lose out in the end, don't we!

[Yorkie]

 It's part of the scheme that your DD payment is reduced every month:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/400-energy-bills-discount-to-support-households-this-winter

I suppose that the suggestion to increase payments back up to what they were, is in order to get ahead of yourself when the prices have gone up further and the discount has stopped 

[bayleaf]

But the discount ends in April when you start using less gas to heat the house (hopefully) and the prices are capped for two years so it's all a bit cockeyed to me. Basically the companies seem to want more money all the time based on predicted usage which is based on last year when we were all using more as it cost less. We are already heavily in credit for the next few months.