the stove industry blog

Gas prices are on the increase again

posted on Wed Jun 15 2011 by Vicky Naylor

This isn’t the first time I have blogged about gas prices rising and I am pretty certain it won’t be the last time either.  I blogged back in 2009 about a prediction that gas prices would rise by 60% by the year 2013 and it looks as though this will definately happen now and probably alot sooner than the original prediction has advised.  Last Tuesday evening, all the news headlines focused on the announcement from Scottish Power that they would be increasing their gas prices by 19% on 1st August and we are now waiting for the rest of the gas suppliers to make similar announcements in the next few days and weeks.  At a time where most households are struggling to make ends meets anyway due to the extra demands on the wallet from increases in petrol prices and the weekly shopping bill, alot of families are wondering how they will cope with the additional cost of gas this winter.  Remember back to last December when most of the UK was shivering under a blanket of thick snow and we were experiencing some of the coldest temperatures ever recorded.  I would imagine that most homes had their gas or oil central heating running constantly.  If we were to get the same harsh winter this year as we did last year, would many of us be able to afford to keep the heating on for as long?  We were one of the lucky ones last year as we had our woodburning stove to keep us warm.  Our heating was on for around one hour in the morning whilst we got up and relaid the stove for lighting.  Once the stove had been lit for about half an hour, the temperature in the room was sufficient to over-ride the thermostat and the heating would switch off.  Admittedly, there is a little more involved with a woodstove than just pressing a button and getting instant heat but it only takes about 10 minutes to clean out the stove, relay it, light it and bring in the day’s supply of logs from outside and this this little amount of effort, it is less expensive to heat your home and the heat you get from the stove is so much nicer than the heat from a radiator!  If you are one of the fortunate people to have a large supply of free wood, then you are heating your home for nothing at all.  If you are a household who’s heating is provided by a sole provider e.g a gas supplier, then maybe now is the time to consider the move to a woodstove to use in conjunction with your exisiting heating and give you the freedom to use whichever system is best for your needs on that day.  You could then find a pleasant surpise when your next gas bill arrives.

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