bills

[junior02]

how much dose your electric bill go up?, wen you you bring your wife and 2 kids to uk from rp. to any members that have been ther and done that. and do they cope well with the cold wen you bring them back in the cold winter here in uk from hot rp, and do they get sick. i brought my son to uk a few years ago from malaysia and he got a fever in august on the way back home in car from lhr..

[Arthur Little]

how much dose your electric bill go up?, wen you you bring your wife and 2 kids to uk from rp. to any members that have been ther and done that. and do they cope well with the cold wen you bring them back in the cold winter here in uk from hot rp,

Heating bills ... whether electricity, gas or whatever ... will, inevitaby, increase when we bring our wives and/or children to the UK. But consider this:- families living in the *Phils must face proportionately high costs ... arising from frequent use of their air-conditioning systems in order to combat the intense humidity there.

[fred]

I agree with you Arthur but must say that most Filipino homes are not designed to keep the heat and humidity outside where it belongs and a big contributing factor towards huge bills.
When we live in the UK I always crank up the heating system as I cant stand the cold.. Its the Mrs and kids that turns it down when Im not watching so having them there probably saves me money.

Just for a quick comparison though regarding costs between two countries.
..
Just looking at a UK energy site which says "Most people in a 3 or 4 bedroom regular house would probably pay around £30-£40 per month (electricity) and if you are in a 1 or 2 bedroom flat you should be paying less." http://www.electricityprices.org.uk/...ctricity-bill/

From Manila electric

Basic Charge

A. Customers Consuming 300 kWhs and below
First 10 kWh P 17.40
Next 1.74 per kWh
Excess kWh 3.40 per kWh

B. Customers Consuming More Than 300 kWhs
Total kWh P 3.40 per kWh
..
http://www.aseanenergy.org/publicati...hilippines.htm


Not sure what we use for our 5 bed house here without checking a bill but as we have never paid over 2500 Pesos,lets call it 35.00 Quid a month.

[stevewool]

well this is what is happening to me this year, just be careful and tell them to dress proper for the time, no more shorts teeshirts and flimsy pjs,make sure you get winter cloths and thick pjs, sounds silly but if i walk round in shorts with the heating on well then thats stupid, yes the bill will go up but just be carefull just turn the heating down a little and turn it off a few hours before bed, i think they should bring back balaclarvers

[KeithD]

My bills around £40 a week.... but then I have a nuclear reactor set aside to run my computers

[alanp]

wow £40 per week for my gas and elec i am only paying £30 per month . altough i do have a log burner that keeps the house warm through the winter. that reminds me i need to get the chimney swept

[Terpe]

I've just check my last electric bill (21 July 2010)
This is what is stated:-

Day Units first 900kWh each year = 30.89 pence each
Next = 12.33 pence each
Night kWh = 4.58 pence each

Standing Charge = 9.16 pence per day

This is the info from my bill. Hope that will help you from pure cost.
There are lots of ways to reduce amount of energy used such as choice of light bulbs,
timing devices and 'stand-by' control devices (for appliances).
There are a number of different tariffs available depending on what you use electricity for and when you use it.

For me the biggest enegy cost is Gas.
Don't know how

[stevewool]

dont know how???? and you dont have gas

[Terpe]

My wife needed to buy a whole new load of clothes for winter. She really felt the cold damp winter here. (we arrived in the November)
Lots of thermal vests etc.
I don't think that she suffered healthwise. But then again she kept very warm with hats, coats, gloves and boots. She was always very careful about keeping her head covered.
She did keep turning the heating UP. Even my old dad got too hot

[Terpe]

dont know how???? and you dont have gas

Don't know how that got there either. Another senior moment.
I do have gas. It is my biggest energy cost. Thanks to Dad and Wife.
Sorry for confusion.

Yesterday and this morning I'm feeling very rough. Even spent yesterday afternoon in bed.

[stevewool]

hahahah i have not shown emma how to turn the heating on yet, but wise words like cloths for winter, i dont mind walking around the house in a hat and scarf , i lived alone in my house before emma was here the kids came and went when it suited them so the heating did not come on often, sit in the house with a hooded they do keep you warm and my bills are great , well i think so i pay a standing order, gas £26 electric £19 each month and i am in lots of credit so this year should be fine,

[joebloggs]

For me the biggest enegy cost is Gas.
Don't know how

I've just paid £250 for gas/electric bill for 3 months.

but the cost of the gas and electric we use is about the same

even thou we dont use that much gas (cooking and hot water)

[RickyR]

I think I mentioned before but my electricity bills in the RP are around 15,000 PHP a month and a friend of mine is paying 18,000 PHP a month (and no we aren't having our lines tapped, its genuinely what we are using...)
Anyway, In my opinion (not verified Medically) part of the problem coming back to the UK is the exposure to different peoples bugs, bacteria and viruses which you haven't built up an immunity to. Whenever I visit the UK, I seem to spend a few weeks with sniffles and coughs, even in summer. Again of course the cold weather in the UK is a bit of a nightmare.
When we spent 5 weeks in the UK, we adjusted quickly. We had the heating set to switch off at 10pm and back on at 6am, and all wrapped up with big thick duvets. Only problem was waking up in the night for a wee and feeling like you were in the Antartic!

[stevewool]

how did we managed with just a coal fire in the front room

[stevewool]

then again sharing a bed with 3 brothers and never taking off your socks and vest for a week helps, eating porrige in the morning and at night 7 off us siting on the settee we was never cold just smelly

[joebloggs]

When we spent 5 weeks in the UK, we adjusted quickly. We had the heating set to switch off at 10pm and back on at 6am, and all wrapped up with big thick duvets. Only problem was waking up in the night for a wee and feeling like you were in the Antartic!

heating on 24/7 in the uk
or
aircon on 24/7 in the phils



my misses makes me laugh, she said the other day it was 'cold' i said it's not, maybe its my baltic blood or my misses was wearing a t-shirt

[stevewool]

yep so true emma sits there saying its cold wearing the shortest skirt and the smallest top, makes me feel so hot though,

[KeithD]

yep so true emma sits there saying its cold wearing the shortest skirt and the smallest top, makes me feel so hot though,

It's probably worth turning the heat up to keep it that way

[Terpe]

It's probably worth turning the heat up to keep it that way

[alanp]

how did we managed with just a coal fire in the front room

I still got mine its great I burn more logs than coal as i can get them for free

[joebloggs]

I still got mine its great I burn more logs than coal as i can get them for free

the only thing is you can't just turn it on for 10 mins in the morning

i remember when we had a coal fire we all had to sit on the other side of the room it was that hot

[stevewool]

indeed cuddle up in front first then slowely move further back

[gWaPito]

A coal fire They where the days! That too brought back memories of 5 of us kids on the sofa watching kojak Dad wld be hoging fire with his feet on the mantal piece Sometimes he would be shaving the hard skin off his feet with bits flying all over That was normal in our house. we wld all complain to no avail. oh happy days ! Getting back to the bills My electric is £12 in summer and £26 in winter My Gas is £26 In summer and £45 in winter. That is paid monthly. Im with british gas Im on the energy smart where I give my reading online when they want them then im billed 15 days later. I pay only for what I use. Im in a 2 bed terrace with all insulation sorted.

[johncar54]

When my wife arrived here on Costa del Sol, in June 2006, she thought it was a bit on the cold side and she very soon learnt a new word, 'Chilly'

We went though the 'buying warm coats, hats, gloves' stage but now she is more or less OK with it, but still wears more clothes that the average resident, but then I wear more clothes than the average tourist.

PS It was a bright sunny 27º yesterday. At 11 pm last night it was 22º. It's another bright sunny start today, at a 'chilly' 18º (9 am ) but will climb to mid twenties.

[Arthur Little]

When my wife arrived here on Costa del Sol, in June 2006, she thought it was a bit on the cold side and she very soon learnt a new word, 'Chilly'

PS It was a bright sunny 27º yesterday. At 11 pm last night it was 22º. It's another bright sunny start today, at a 'chilly' 18º (9 am ) but will climb to mid twenties.

... with temperatures like those, who needs worry about the 'costa da heating' to keep warm!?

[Terpe]

... with temperatures like those, who needs worry about the 'costa da heating' to keep warm!?

Another very good one Arthur

[grahamw48]

Really I can't complain about my fuel bills, as energy efficiency has been my business for over 30 years.

Fully insulated house is the priority. Cheaper than it has ever been, as grants available to all now.

Electricity in the Phils is definitely the most expensive in Asia, and probably not much different to here. We only ever used fans though, and that alone will probably cut electric bills by 70%.

No hot showers either. Who the hell needs a hot shower when it's 33C ?...oh, people who have aircon.

IF I had aircon in my house in the Phils it would be the best insulated house in the country.

All that sun beating down on those tin roofs without insulation is just madness.

You would need to use insulating board or polystyrene sheet though, as fibreglass would soon be full of ants or vermin.

That's why the traditional Nipa is much better suited to keeping a house cool, but a bit impractical for a modern one.

Below:
Supervising the building of my house that I'd designed using a 3D computer programme. 4 beds, 2 storeys with concrete roof and roof garden on top.
Lined out with insulation and lovely and cool.

(The low wall at the front is a temporary one)

[Arthur Little]

Who the hell needs a hot shower when it's 33C ?...

... ME ... for one! Regardless of how hot it might be outside - being an - I feel it's still a considerable shock to the system to experience the sudden onslaught of cold water when first turning on the shower ... brr!

[Rosie1958]

I live with my son in a three bed detached house and we are both out at work all day so the heating is switched on by a timer, once early in the morning and again just before we return in the evening. I pay the following and hope to invest in a new and more economic boiler before long:

Electricity - £40 per month
Water - £44 per month
Gas - £62 per month

When I have family visiting from Malaysia/ Philippines, I usually make an additional instalment/ lump sum payment for each utility to keep my monthly instalments down since they are calculated according to consumption over the whole year.

My filipina sister-in-law was very surprised that she didn't have to wear long johns to bed when visiting in February this year but the central heating system does throw out a lot of heat and continental quilts/ duvets are a real bonus We also noticed that my little nephew did actually sleep much better, he loves the cold and would try and stand outside for ages puffing out his breath like a dragon!

The key to generally keeping warm is definitely several layers of clothing as well as eating the right food.

[grahamw48]

... ME ... for one! Regardless of how hot it might be outside - being an - I feel it's still a considerable shock to the system to experience the sudden onslaught of cold water when first turning on the shower ... brr!

It's called invigorating !