Is this high usage?

tiredredhead · 13 December 2016 at 3:13PM

Wow my supplier sent me a bill today trying to up my monthly bill to £221 a month from £140 a month. No changes in the last year in the house and customer services say that the unit prices are the same so I cannot understand the increase.

Apparently my usage might be high. Not sure why its gone up so much.

I've just accessed my bills for the last 2 years and this is my usage.
Gas
2015 18896 KWh
2016 23452 KWh

Elec
2015 6991
2016 8327

My son started Uni in sept 2015 so usage of hot water went down at that time. No other changes in this time period.

4 people, 1 in Uni most of the time. I worked from home in 2015 but not in 2016 (except for a bit in the summer).

5 bed house, gas heating, regular service on the boiler. We have an electric shower but we do not ever use it. Prefer the straight from the boiler type. Loft insulation, double glazing. Cavity wall insulation. Blackout blinds where possible, curtains closed at dusk. Lights off when not in a room.

Anyone with similar level of usage here to reassure me that this is normal?
Cheers

spadoosh · 13 December 2016 at 3:23PM

Things dont look like they add up.

Average usage in kwh for gas sits around 16500 kwh and electric around 3300 kwh.

Your figures suggest you use 4556 kwh of gas and 1331 kwh of electric. Which is tiny usage. Bear i nmind i pay around £70 per month for 16000kwh of gas and 3000kwh of electric. The DD is probably a bit below where it should be.

Did/do you have a substantial amount of debt on the account?

The only thing i can think of is either your account is in debt and is getting rpaid slowly and they want it repaid quicker. Or your gas readings are actually the meter readings (sometimes in m3) in which case your gas usage sits around 50,000kwh and would be a lot more in line with the £220 direct debit.

Although obviously 50,000 kwh of gas is very high!

System · 13 December 2016 at 3:29PM

Check that any monthly DD change is based on an ACTUAL rather than estimated reading. If it is estimated, then provide your supplier with a meter reading and ask them to re-assess your monthly payment. Your gas usage is very high: note the difference between 2015 and 2016. I live in a 5 bed property and our annual usage is c.8600kWhs/year. Before you ask, we don't sit in the cold with our coats on.

If your DD change is based on actual readings, then the supplier is just trying to get your account down to a zero balance at the end of your contract term.

With gas usage as high as yours, I would be looking hard at my energy usage/controls etc.

dogshome · 13 December 2016 at 3:32PM

Something wrong with the numbers - Years use Gas 4565 Kwh, Elec 1336 Kwh.

These figures seem remarkably low for the household described and seem more likely for a 1Bed flat.

Who is the supplier and how many Estimated bills are in the pack for the year?

Jumps in D/Debit payments are usually caused those previously collected being too low for the useage

System · 13 December 2016 at 3:33PM

spadoosh wrote: »

Your figures suggest you use 4556 kwh of gas and 1331 kwh of electric. Which is tiny usage. Bear i nmind i pay around £70 per month for 16000kwh of gas and 3000kwh of electric. The DD is probably a bit below where it should be
!

I assume that the OP is quoting kWhs/per year. This would account for the high monthly DD. Increased usage in 2016 on both gas and electricity could account for the underpayments and the DD increase.

spadoosh · 13 December 2016 at 3:49PM

Hengus wrote: »

I assume that the OP is quoting kWhs/per year. This would account for the high monthly DD. Increased usage in 2016 on both gas and electricity could account for the underpayments and the DD increase.

Ahhhhhhh, yeh sorry i took it as meter readings. Doh!

I completely retract my first post.

Your usage for both is high nad the increase probably wouldnt be too far away from the increase in DD.

Listen to hengus!

tiredredhead · 13 December 2016 at 3:50PM

The quoted figures are usage per year not readings between years.

I have used 23452 KWh this year of gas and 8327kWh electric this year.

The supplier refunded me around £140 last year as I had overpaid, so no debt at start of year.

Its definitely an actual reading not an estimated bill. I just spoke with BG energy saving who have given me some interesting information abut thermostats (radiators and room) they were opposing each other. This doesn't account for the change from last year though, unless someone has fiddled with them without me knowing.

I've got hive and try to keep the controls tight, will have to start becoming the energy police to the rest of the family.

System · 13 December 2016 at 4:17PM

tiredredhead wrote: »

I just spoke with BG energy saving who have given me some interesting information abut thermostats (radiators and room) they were opposing each other. This doesn't account for the change from last year though, unless someone has fiddled with them without me knowing.

I've got hive and try to keep the controls tight, will have to start becoming the energy police to the rest of the family.

Hive is nothing more than a smart thermostat that uses time proportional integration that is supposed to match boiler firing time with the load (i.e. heat requirements) at any given time. If BG is suggesting that Hive is working in opposition to the TRVs then imho they are wrong. Turn down a TRV and it will reduce the load and energy usage.

I have the Honeywell Evohome system that also uses TPI algorithms for control plus it controls all the electronic TRVs on my system. My property is divided into 12 zones each with their own time/temperature schedule. Evohome replaced a hall stat and standard TRVs. Our annual gas usage has fallen by nearly 20%. I am not suggesting that you should go out and buy Evohome: my point is that turning down TRVs does reduce cost.

Currently, I am researching new boilers. With your usage, I would be looking at the new Flow Energy cfp boiler than produces electricity as well as heat. FITS are paid for all the electricity produced but you do have to use a lot of gas to make the sums work (you do!!). Flow will give you a free boiler for the cost of installation. I think that they keep the FITs for the first 5 years. You get the benefit of free electricity.

https://www.renewableenergyhub.co.uk/micro-combined-heat-and-power-micro-chp-information/the-flow-microchp-boiler.html

tiredredhead · 13 December 2016 at 4:24PM

That's interesting, what I was told did make sense though, or so I thought.

They told me that if my radiator thermostats are set to 2 or 3 (as they were) the boiler will have to work harder to get the temp up to 18 degrees.
Evohome sounds brilliant.
I will definitely look at Flow Energy boiler, although I doubt it is viable as I would prefer to move to a smaller house in a year or two.

System · 13 December 2016 at 5:07PM

Scan this link and look at each of the test conditions (Test 3 is particularly significant to you)

The results are on Page 9

http://www.salford.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/562990/pdf3-BEAMA-technical_report_tpi_thermostat_for_website.pdf

footyguy · 13 December 2016 at 5:47PM

tiredredhead wrote: »

Wow my supplier sent me a bill today trying to up my monthly bill to £221 a month from £140 a month. No changes in the last year in the house and customer services say that the unit prices are the same so I cannot understand the increase.

Apparently my usage might be high. Not sure why its gone up so much.

I've just accessed my bills for the last 2 years and this is my usage.
Gas
2015 18896 KWh
2016 23452 KWh

Elec
2015 6991
2016 8327

My son started Uni in sept 2015 so usage of hot water went down at that time. No other changes in this time period.

4 people, 1 in Uni most of the time. I worked from home in 2015 but not in 2016 (except for a bit in the summer).

5 bed house, gas heating, regular service on the boiler. We have an electric shower but we do not ever use it. Prefer the straight from the boiler type. Loft insulation, double glazing. Cavity wall insulation. Blackout blinds where possible, curtains closed at dusk. Lights off when not in a room.

Anyone with similar level of usage here to reassure me that this is normal?
Cheers

Well there is no doubt your usage is certainly above average
The average household consumption is 12500kWh of gas and 3100kWh of electricity

Having said that, a 5 bedroomed house is also larger than average.

I'm not sure if you have accrued debt on your energy account, but from a comparison site (based only on your usage for 2016 and the South Wales supply region), it would be possible to have that energy supplied for about £155 p.m as a dual fuel supply, or about a combined total of £150 p.m if you took single fuels.

(By comparison, the cheapest BG tariff currently available would cost you about £180 p.m.)

Consult a comparison site to ensure you are on the best deal for you.

If you are, then this MSE article will explain how to possibly challenge the increase in monthly payment
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits

Is this high usage?

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free