Bathing, Heating and Eating!

It was suggested to me that I did a little post about the difference the Rayburn has made to our finances. This is a bit lengthy, just to warn you!

When we first moved to Bronllan in September 2015 we had the Rayburn which was run by oil. We would pay approx. £168 for 500 litres so we spent the following in these months:

October 2015     £168   
December          £160.13
February 2016   £157.50

We've never had a gas bill as we use bottles for the oven and hob that run alongside the Rayburn; these are approximately £30 and I think we had five of them which comes to £150. I have not added this into the monthly bills as follows but it works out so far at approximately £12.50 per month for 12 months as we bought them once we were actually in the house.

I switched us from Swalec to Eon in March and they told us our monthly direct debit would be £47.50. In September of this year we switched the Rayburn from the oil one to a solid fuel one. We bought the Rayburn for just £26 and the total spend including refurbishing it was approximately £250.

We received an email from Eon in November saying they were going to increase out direct debit to £74, this was only because it was coming up to Winter and they were assuming we would use more energy. I contacted them and explained we now had a Rayburn which would be supplying our energy for heating, cooking and water and then adjusted the direct debit to the lowest their website would let me in the meantime which would mean our next payment in January would be £46.

So....I think I have this right - with the Rayburn switch-over, the energy company switch, the change in the time of year etc, our electricity direct debit payments proceeded as follows:

They cover the usual appliances; I am making a real effort to use the radiators and the airer above the Rayburn and not the drier, low level lighting "turn that light off!", the pump that is attached to the Rayburn for the upstairs radiators, you get the idea.

September 2015       -
October                     -   
November                  64.00
December                  64.00
January 2016             64.00
February                    64.00
March                        64.00
Refund from Swalec  18.81
April                           47.50
May                           47.50
June                          47.50
July                           47.50
August                      47.50
September                47.50
October                     47.50
November                 74.00

I am quite vigilant when it comes to checking and submitting the electricity meter reading on the first of the month. When I did this on December 1st I received notice from Eon really very quickly that from December our direct debit payment would be....

                                                               £26!

Our last bill showed our electricity charges to be £36.59 which is for the quarter of course. If I could get the direct debit down to £20 I would be really pleased.

So what does all of this mean?

On energy during October and November we spent £232. (In September and most of October we lived in a caravan during the house renovations so we were lucky not to have to pay for the electricity and they also left oil in the tank for the Rayburn.) 

This was our lowest monthly average payment at this point of £116 due to the above reasons.

In December 2015 and January 2016 we spent £288.13 on energy so the average monthly payment was £144.06.

In February and March we spent £294.80 on oil and electricity so the average monthly payment was £142.75.

Taking into account the energy switch refund listed and the electricity payments from April to October we spent £378.79  on energy, plus the cost of the Rayburn switch which was £250 making a total of £628.79. There was a considerable amount of oil left in the tank when we switched the Rayburns over but that was taken out used as fuel in the car and as a trade for some wood so it did not go to waste! Therefore for that period the average monthly payout was £83.21.

- We are lucky that we have never had to pay for wood as we get off cuts from the sawmill and trees from our own field.-

At the beginning of November we bought coal for £90 which will last for the rest of the Winter so can be averaged out to approximately four months supply at £22.50 per month. This added to the November electricity payment of £74 made a total of £96.50 .

Because in December our electricity direct debit will be £26 plus an averaged-out month of coal at £22.50 we can compare our energy "bill"  last December of £144.06 to a total of £48.50 this December. This is a saving for that month, year on year, of..... 

                                                             £95.56!
 That took a bit of doing and I'm quite chuffed. (Maths is not my strong point.)

Think I need a lie down after that but have to roast potatoes for our community Christmas lunch today!

Bye for now.

Lou.xx