Electricity
Mar 24th 2018, 9:49 am
#1
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Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 125
Electricity
Having now spent our first winter in Portugal and receiving our bill for Jan/Feb am I right in thinking high prices are the norm. We have an oldish house and have had s small oil radiator on in the bathroom constantly one in the living room in the evening and one in the bedroom for around an hour to take off the chill. We have an electric water heater and electric cooker/hob (which is used evening only) apart from usual lightning .. By the way I'm not in all day in the week .. And our bill was 320 eu is this on par with most houses.. Thanks
Mar 24th 2018, 10:33 am
#2
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Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 26,724
Re: Electricity
Having now spent our first winter in Portugal and receiving our bill for Jan/Feb am I right in thinking high prices are the norm. We have an oldish house and have had s small oil radiator on in the bathroom constantly one in the living room in the evening and one in the bedroom for around an hour to take off the chill. We have an electric water heater and electric cooker/hob (which is used evening only) apart from usual lightning .. By the way I'm not in all day in the week .. And our bill was 320 eu is this on par with most houses.. Thanks
Electric heating is the most expensive form you can have.
Check that the meter has been read and that it is not an estimate .
I would stop your electric water heater for a solar panel.
You would then not need to have your electric heater on from April to October assuming normal weather with the sun contributing to hearing your water on any winter day the sun shines,
Our bill for Jan Feb, is a 100euros less which includes running a pool pump .
Our main firm of heating is a wood burning fire.
We certainly do not leave radiators on all day.
Mar 24th 2018, 11:42 am
#3
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Joined: Jun 2008
Location: Portugal
Posts: 704
Re: Electricity
Hi
My EDP bill to be paid 29th March is 55.74€. I have a log burner for heating and some cooking and a Gas/ Electric cooker. All lighting is LED throughout my house. My water is via an electric water heater with added insulation. This winter i have not had to use the aircon for heating yet but it is there in case i do. My project for the coming months is to have Solar heating for my hot water and only use Electric for the winter months. Solar electric is coming to power my workshop and all lighting is via LED and Fish tank.
Peter
My EDP bill to be paid 29th March is 55.74€. I have a log burner for heating and some cooking and a Gas/ Electric cooker. All lighting is LED throughout my house. My water is via an electric water heater with added insulation. This winter i have not had to use the aircon for heating yet but it is there in case i do. My project for the coming months is to have Solar heating for my hot water and only use Electric for the winter months. Solar electric is coming to power my workshop and all lighting is via LED and Fish tank.
Peter
Mar 24th 2018, 12:47 pm
#4
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Joined: Mar 2013
Location: central Portugal
Posts: 4,111
Re: Electricity
Having now spent our first winter in Portugal and receiving our bill for Jan/Feb am I right in thinking high prices are the norm. We have an oldish house and have had s small oil radiator on in the bathroom constantly one in the living room in the evening and one in the bedroom for around an hour to take off the chill. We have an electric water heater and electric cooker/hob (which is used evening only) apart from usual lightning .. By the way I'm not in all day in the week .. And our bill was 320 eu is this on par with most houses.. Thanks
Mar 24th 2018, 1:23 pm
#5
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Posts: 125
Re: Electricity
Hi I agree with some of that since we have only been here a year we are trying to do the work .. Have now boarded the ceilings put draught excluders on all doors and curtains up as dividers to rooms where necessary, we have metal front doors which are not good so are looking at a solution for that, and of course the walls are thick stone, always looking for new ideas and open to suggestions. Peter seems to have it off to a t 😎😎 which is great. Thanks for all your feedback
Mar 24th 2018, 1:59 pm
#6
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Joined: Jun 2008
Location: Portugal
Posts: 704
Re: Electricity
Hi I agree with some of that since we have only been here a year we are trying to do the work .. Have now boarded the ceilings put draught excluders on all doors and curtains up as dividers to rooms where necessary, we have metal front doors which are not good so are looking at a solution for that, and of course the walls are thick stone, always looking for new ideas and open to suggestions. Peter seems to have it off to a t 😎😎 which is great. Thanks for all your feedback
I forgot to mention that i have put insulated plasterboard to all external walls and all ceilings have been dropped enough to insulate. I now only have six windows to change to Double glazed and that's all the windows done.
Either pay big bills or do something about it Simple.
Peter
Mar 24th 2018, 3:57 pm
#7
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Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 26,724
Re: Electricity
Hi I agree with some of that since we have only been here a year we are trying to do the work .. Have now boarded the ceilings put draught excluders on all doors and curtains up as dividers to rooms where necessary, we have metal front doors which are not good so are looking at a solution for that, and of course the walls are thick stone, always looking for new ideas and open to suggestions. Peter seems to have it off to a t 😎😎 which is great. Thanks for all your feedback
It may be higher than you need , you could reduce your bill by having it reduced.
Many of us live with the lowest we can manage playing appliance bingo to stop it tripping to keep bills down.
You can get a good idea of how well your property is insulated the quality of your doors and windows by looking at your energy rating.
When we had our inspection the width of the double glazing the dimensions of the frames, area of glass were all factored in .
We have installed a number of solar pir lights for the outside rather than use electric lighting.
Every little helps.
Mar 24th 2018, 5:39 pm
#8
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Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 125
Re: Electricity
Just a thought, what is the potentia of your property.
It may be higher than you need , you could reduce your bill by having it reduced.
Many of us live with the lowest we can manage playing appliance bingo to stop it tripping to keep bills down.
You can get a good idea of how well your property is insulated the quality of your doors and windows by looking at your energy rating.
When we had our inspection the width of the double glazing the dimensions of the frames, area of glass were all factored in .
We have installed a number of solar pir lights for the outside rather than use electric lighting.
Every little helps.
It may be higher than you need , you could reduce your bill by having it reduced.
Many of us live with the lowest we can manage playing appliance bingo to stop it tripping to keep bills down.
You can get a good idea of how well your property is insulated the quality of your doors and windows by looking at your energy rating.
When we had our inspection the width of the double glazing the dimensions of the frames, area of glass were all factored in .
We have installed a number of solar pir lights for the outside rather than use electric lighting.
Every little helps.
Mar 24th 2018, 7:51 pm
#9
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Joined: Jun 2008
Location: Portugal
Posts: 704
Re: Electricity
Hi
I had a door like you not needed but i just plaster boarded across in front of it and installed my log burner in front. From the outside the house still looks the same but inside better use of the corner where the door was.
It took three tries to get the picture to stay upright but it shows how you can use the space where a door was.
In case you need ideas on background lighting via LED i have enclosed a picture of my TV room. The lights are behind the coving.
Peter
I had a door like you not needed but i just plaster boarded across in front of it and installed my log burner in front. From the outside the house still looks the same but inside better use of the corner where the door was.
It took three tries to get the picture to stay upright but it shows how you can use the space where a door was.
In case you need ideas on background lighting via LED i have enclosed a picture of my TV room. The lights are behind the coving.
Peter
Last edited by peterfc; Mar 24th 2018 at 7:59 pm.
Mar 25th 2018, 10:53 am
#10
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 3,032
Re: Electricity
I've found that doors in Portugal are missing something; the lower sill.
It seems that the culture is to prefer a flat smooth entranceway without obstruction.
So a carpenter builds a door within 0.5mm of the floor.
When the wood swells slightly, it scrapes.
Then people say wooden doors all scrape, and put in those paper thin metal doors with a gap under them that wind whistles though.
My house had them, and I found the old wooden doors in the attic.
I make my own doors, and sometimes windows too. I know good work from bad. Those old doors were well made from heavy hardwood, but I saw the scrape marks from them on the old floor [before we jack-hammered it all out].
I had doorsills made from stone by a stone workshop; that's what all the foreigners do. I raised it 1cm, which leaves clearance under the door for a doormat.
New wooden door fits tight, is secure and not too bad with heat loss [compared to the metal ones].
Any carpentry shop can make what you want, if you know what you want. All you need to do is tell them to add is a lower doorsill.
windows; here's something to think about.
Windows [like doors] have to be weather tight, secure, and durable. That's difficult because they also need to open. So you pay quite a bit for good ones.
But in reality, most windows almost never get opened.
Fixed windows are easy and cheap, and can be a single [double sheet] pane, nice for looking through.
Only put opening windows in where they're likely to actually be opened.
It seems that the culture is to prefer a flat smooth entranceway without obstruction.
So a carpenter builds a door within 0.5mm of the floor.
When the wood swells slightly, it scrapes.
Then people say wooden doors all scrape, and put in those paper thin metal doors with a gap under them that wind whistles though.
My house had them, and I found the old wooden doors in the attic.
I make my own doors, and sometimes windows too. I know good work from bad. Those old doors were well made from heavy hardwood, but I saw the scrape marks from them on the old floor [before we jack-hammered it all out].
I had doorsills made from stone by a stone workshop; that's what all the foreigners do. I raised it 1cm, which leaves clearance under the door for a doormat.
New wooden door fits tight, is secure and not too bad with heat loss [compared to the metal ones].
Any carpentry shop can make what you want, if you know what you want. All you need to do is tell them to add is a lower doorsill.
windows; here's something to think about.
Windows [like doors] have to be weather tight, secure, and durable. That's difficult because they also need to open. So you pay quite a bit for good ones.
But in reality, most windows almost never get opened.
Fixed windows are easy and cheap, and can be a single [double sheet] pane, nice for looking through.
Only put opening windows in where they're likely to actually be opened.
Mar 25th 2018, 1:56 pm
#11
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 125
Re: Electricity
I've found that doors in Portugal are missing something; the lower sill.
It seems that the culture is to prefer a flat smooth entranceway without obstruction.
So a carpenter builds a door within 0.5mm of the floor.
When the wood swells slightly, it scrapes.
Then people say wooden doors all scrape, and put in those paper thin metal doors with a gap under them that wind whistles though.
My house had them, and I found the old wooden doors in the attic.
I make my own doors, and sometimes windows too. I know good work from bad. Those old doors were well made from heavy hardwood, but I saw the scrape marks from them on the old floor [before we jack-hammered it all out].
I had doorsills made from stone by a stone workshop; that's what all the foreigners do. I raised it 1cm, which leaves clearance under the door for a doormat.
New wooden door fits tight, is secure and not too bad with heat loss [compared to the metal ones].
Any carpentry shop can make what you want, if you know what you want. All you need to do is tell them to add is a lower doorsill.
windows; here's something to think about.
Windows [like doors] have to be weather tight, secure, and durable. That's difficult because they also need to open. So you pay quite a bit for good ones.
But in reality, most windows almost never get opened.
Fixed windows are easy and cheap, and can be a single [double sheet] pane, nice for looking through.
Only put opening windows in where they're likely to actually be opened.
It seems that the culture is to prefer a flat smooth entranceway without obstruction.
So a carpenter builds a door within 0.5mm of the floor.
When the wood swells slightly, it scrapes.
Then people say wooden doors all scrape, and put in those paper thin metal doors with a gap under them that wind whistles though.
My house had them, and I found the old wooden doors in the attic.
I make my own doors, and sometimes windows too. I know good work from bad. Those old doors were well made from heavy hardwood, but I saw the scrape marks from them on the old floor [before we jack-hammered it all out].
I had doorsills made from stone by a stone workshop; that's what all the foreigners do. I raised it 1cm, which leaves clearance under the door for a doormat.
New wooden door fits tight, is secure and not too bad with heat loss [compared to the metal ones].
Any carpentry shop can make what you want, if you know what you want. All you need to do is tell them to add is a lower doorsill.
windows; here's something to think about.
Windows [like doors] have to be weather tight, secure, and durable. That's difficult because they also need to open. So you pay quite a bit for good ones.
But in reality, most windows almost never get opened.
Fixed windows are easy and cheap, and can be a single [double sheet] pane, nice for looking through.
Only put opening windows in where they're likely to actually be opened.
Mar 25th 2018, 2:11 pm
#12
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Joined: Mar 2013
Location: central Portugal
Posts: 4,111
Re: Electricity
Peter raises a good point with LED bulbs & as an addition, I found the best ones to but & best place to buy them was Sylvania on ebay.
Almost half the price & twice the light than the ones available locally.
Almost half the price & twice the light than the ones available locally.
Mar 25th 2018, 5:52 pm
#13
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Joined: Apr 2009
Location: Tavira
Posts: 496
Re: Electricity
Also try Ikea. They do a range of of LED lamps. I got some, 50w equivalents, for 1€ each.
