Working out british gas prices

Tony_Soprano

Can anybody show me exactly how I can work out my gas bill exactly. I know how to work out the conversion from units to kilowatt hours, but the second bit with the days and two tariff prices just dont make sense. I have searched online and cant find any information. I spoke to someone at british gas and was told she cant send any information as all i need to know is on the back of my bill?

Surely I should be able to work out EXACTLY what I owe by how many gas units Ive used?

Please, can someone show me.

Is there an excel spreadsheet anywhere that simplifies this.

God this is so frustrating!

SwanJon

If you are happy getting from readings to kWh I'll leave those steps out.
BG calculate the first 7.34..kWh (2680/365)* each day at their Tier 1 price, and the rest at their Tier 2 price.
So, if your last bill was 50 days ago your Tier 1 would be 50*7.34=367.12kWh, and the rest at Tier 2.

* If you are on a capped tariff this may be 12.56kWh per day

Tony_Soprano

SwanJon wrote: »

If you are happy getting from readings to kWh I'll leave those steps out.
BG calculate the first 7.34..kWh (2680/365)* each day at their Tier 1 price, and the rest at their Tier 2 price.
So, if your last bill was 50 days ago your Tier 1 would be 50*7.34=367.12kWh, and the rest at Tier 2.

* If you are on a capped tariff this may be 12.56kWh per day

Thanks for that....

Now, where do they get the 2680 number from?

And also, I was ok with the unit to kwh conversion but, my calc does not equate exactly?

eg,
18 units (over 41 days) - british gas says is 563.84kwh using *2.83, *1.0226400, *39.5025 and divide by 3.6. I get 571.6152 ????

Sorry if im being thick.

SwanJon

They made the 2680 up - it's just a value to collect the equivelant of standing charge - other suppliers have different numbers but they do the same thing.

As to why you work out slightly more, they truncate some values and the CV changes.
I do have a spreadsheet, but would have to work out how to upload it.

Tony_Soprano

How can they just make up a number - it must be based on something?

Are the numbers which convert unit to kwh fixed?
ie 2.83, 1.02264, 39.5052 and 3.6 or can they change too and if so why?

I would love to see the spreadsheet youve got - is there a way to send it via private message?

All I want to do is read my meter and know exactly what my bill will be?

Thanks for your help so far.

SwanJon

They need to pay their fixed costs, and this is how they have chosen to do it.
They changed the number at the start of the year - they used to use 12.56 per day.
It probably is based on something, but if it wsa higher the cost of Tier 1 would be lower (but you'd need to use more to get to chepaer Tier 2), if it was lower the price of Tier 1 would be higher (but you'd need to use less to get to cheaper Tier 2)
2.83 is fixed - it converts 100 cubic feet to 1 cubic meter.
1.02264 is fixed (technically could change, but set by Ofgem and hasn't yet (12 years or so)
39.5052 changes daily - your bill will show an average. This is the energy content of the gas which is tested at various points in the network daily. It means that if your gas has less energy in it, even though you burn more to get the same heat you don't get penalised.
3.6 is fixed. It converts from Joules (I think - watts per second) to kiloWatthours (3600 seconds in an hour, 1000 Watts in a kiloWatt).
I'll see what I can do with the spreadsheet. Don't hold your breath though...

Cardew

2680 is the number of units charged at the higher(tier 1) rate to collect what is in effect the old daily charge of xxp a day.

They used to have a figure of 4572 for all their gas tariffs, and as SwanJon indicates that is still the case for their older capped tariffs.

The actual amount of kWh in a unit varies as the calorific value of gas varies.

You have used the figure of 39.5025(MJ/m3) but it can vary between between 37.5 MJ/m3 and 43.0 MJ/m3.

As you have an Imperial meter if you use a figure of 32kWh in a gas unit you won't be far out.

Tony_Soprano

Thanks for all this. This feedback is excellent, since Ive not been able to find any of this on t'internet!

At least now I can figure out and manage my usage cost better.

SwanJon

I have no idea if this will work...

http://www.!!!!!!/file/55685012/6dc0ab35/Bill_Calculator.html

Tony_Soprano

Yep! the link worked a treat - many thanks for your help.

bixieupnorth

i'm currently with sainsburys energy, monthly direct debit, dual fuel.

every time i do a search the prices seem to be hugely bigger than what we currently pay
ie elec nsc option secondary 8.252p per kWh
primary 13.662p

gas domestic standard 2.746p
primary 3.751p

everything i can find is nowhere near this, or am i missing something?? we seem to be fairly low users as our combined monthly dd is only £53 and we're £118 in credit too

any advice about whether to twist or stick??

cheers