electricity bills

[BernieandIan]

we are in the process of buying an 18c farmhouse in Basse Normandy with a tin roof.  We have just had an energy survey through which says the 'consommation en energie' is 576 kWh ep/m2.an (whatever that is!) which doesn't look good.  Can anyone advise on what we should be looking for, or questions to as the vendor.  We are going to ask them if we can see some of their bills.

[Bob T]

My first question to you would be that if the bills were high, would you still buy the house? Your answer is probably yes. When you have the house you canreduce the bill quite easily with insulation and low energy lights etc. People who have lived in a place for years may not want change and could be happy withhtings as they are. It is not the house that uses electricity, but the occupants.

Go ahead and buy it if it is what you want, you will change things anyway, so with energy efficiency in mind.

[Will]

The energy rating is only just coming in, and nobody really understands it yet. The figures are meaningless in isolation - it would have been better, as was discussed at one stage I thought, to give an A' to 'E', say, rating, similar to washing machines andthe like.