£8 A Day for GAs?!

dagsky

hey all, i just got a query regarding my gas usage! I have a prepayment meter with B.Gas and i have been checking my consumption of gas with my boiler turned on. First all i have a valliant combi boiler, i have old type of heaters in this house and i have single glazing. The landlord won't make any changes to the heating or windows as he says its not his concern what it costs me to run it!!

Anyway i've checked my balance on the meter before turning the heating on for 1hr and i turned it to about 21degress on the thermostate upstairs, after 1hr i checked the balance on the meter and i have used 40p for that hour, i then left it on again for another 1hr and i used 46p, i left it on for another 1hr and used 44p.

Now is this much spent on gas ok or is something wrong? I calculate that if i leave my heating on for 24hrs a day i would spend approx £11 a day just on gas!! Is this right to be paying this much?bare in mind that since this house doesn't retain heat efficiently i have to have the gas on 24hrs a day!!

I currently owe B.Gas some money so therefore i can't change to a credit meter just yet and nor change suppliers. I believe that my current tariff with B.Gas is
9.084p per kWh3.814p per kWh above 2680 kWh p.aIf thsi is a fair amount to be paying then fair enuf, if its excessively high then what can i do that won't cost me an arm and a leg to keep the house retaining heat? Its a 3 bed mid terrace.

Thanks

whatatwit

Personally, I feel that by heating the house 24/7 you don't feel the benefit of it. Maybe have it coming on for an hour before getting up and going off a couple of hours before bed. Is the house occupied all day?
There is a thread on the Old Style board about preparing for winter, I'll have a hunt and post a link.
I think you would be better insulating yourself against the weather.
Draught excluders at the doors.
Tinfoil behind the rads to reflect the heat back.
Thicker curtains at the windows.
You can get film that you put at the windows to give a double glazing effect.
Use hot water bottles and extra throws on the beds.

You don't mention hw many of you there are in the house and if there are any young children.
I think that as you are in a mid terace, your neighbours are clapping their hands at all of your heat that is coming through their walls.

READ THIS and THIS

There are lots of pages in both those threads, but also lots of good ideas.

Pssst

You need to stop using Gas. That might sound a little obtuse but if your not using gas,the meter doesnt turn over and you dont need to put money in it. So how to do it? well put some clothes on,insulate as much as poss,consider heating only rooms in use as and when they are used . Go out more,acclimitise to colder weather then you wont feel the cold so much..

Magentasue

Well, there are two ways of looking at it - what it costs to do what you would prefer and what you can afford or are willing to pay.

We're in a 3bed mid terrace with six of us. Someone home most of the day and most of us home for school holidays. No shower so heating water for baths - we have a new Valiant combi.

So far, pre heating, we've been using 23kwh a day which is about £1 for us. We've started using the heating more this week, and prompted by another thread, I checked the meter and found we'd used 200kwh over three days - 66kwh a day = about £3 a day.

Our heating comes on before we get up and for about four hours in the evening but we've all been overriding that some days.

Premier_2

dagsky wrote:

... I believe that my current tariff with B.Gas is
9.084p per kWh3.814p per kWh above 2680 kWh p.aIf thsi is a fair amount to be paying then fair enuf, if its excessively high then what can i do that won't cost me an arm and a leg to keep the house retaining heat? ...

Ebico would supply you for just 3.77p (inc VAT) for every kWh you consume.

http://www.ebico.co.uk/html/g_rates.php

Ok, not much cheaper you may think compared to the BG tier 2 rate, but you are paying possibly over £142 p.a. extra for the tier 1 rate!!!:eek:

How much do you owe? You are right to say BG will not let you switch whilst you have an outstanding debt, but bearing in mind you could be saving over £142 p.a by switching, might you be able to borrow the necessary funds to pay off BG?

Note: you may not save all the £142 if you don't exceed the tier1 consumption levels during the summer periods

dagsky

maybe my gas will only get cheaper once i've gone over the 2680kw as then it would just cost 3.8p kwh as opposed to the 9p kwh i'm paying now!! I've got a young baby in the house 24hrs a day so i really do need to keep the house warm at all times! At the current rate of gas costs it would cost me an extar £240/month just on gas!! Include the council tax and rent and i'm paying nearly a grand a month!! Struggling to afford that but when you got to make ends meet you got to do what it takes!

For a different view, since my electric is included in the price of my rent, what if i tried using oil radiators? You know the portable ones like the delonghi 3KW ones? Would they be able to heat up a room and keep it warm? As electric costs are no object for me would this solve my issue? Also while on the subject of the oil filled rads, if i was to got a non name brand would it make a difference? Besides the delonghis having a 10yr warranty the wickes 3kw have a 2yr warrantyand i could get 2 for the price of a delonghi!

milliemonster

I live in an end terrace and I am only having my heating on currently for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening and as this is an old house with no cavity walls (so no insulation) yes it does get cold but I could never imagine having to put the heating on for 24 hours a day!!!, surely you don't need it on overnight anyway while you're wrapped up in bed??????

You have a couple of options really
Pay off your arrears quickly so you can change to a normal meter
Reduce your consumption by following the advice already given
Move house to rent one which is more energy efficient if your landlord refuses to make improvements

Pre payment meters are extornionate but until you pay off the arrears you are in a no win situation really

Fair enough you have a young baby, I have two young children too but you don't need to keep the house tropical just because you have a baby, babies are incredibly resilient you know and don't need to be wrapped up in cotton wool, as long as you put plenty of layers of cothing on him/her, they will be fine

Regarding the oil filled radiators, I really don't know the answer to this but surely if you have the money to buy these, why don't you just use that money to pay off the gas arrears and then get the meter changed instead?

KimYeovil

Explain to us again the reason why you are not using the free (or at least bundled flat rate) electric heating???

Mercenary

Try turning your heating down to around 18 or 19. That's as warm as we ever want to be (and I get cold easily). 21 degrees is too warm and will make you feel the cold more when you go out, plus any germs (like colds and flu etc) will thrive in warmth like that making you all unhealthier.:eek:

If you really don't want to turn the heating off at night (and have it set to come on about 1 hour before everyone gets up), then at least turn it well down so that it would only kick in if the temperature drops very low. Then, the first person up just turns the thermostat 'til it clicks on..... not whacking it up to tropical.

All the other insulating suggestions here are well worth the effort. We did all that in our first house which was single-glazed in metal frames, no cavity wall insulation etc. But you do eventually get used to living with a certain amount of cold temperature after a while. We used to nearly faint with the heat when we visited our relatives houses with their heating going full blast!

brysiewysie

As premier mentioned earlier. How much is the debt or more importantly the debt repayment rate? Is it set correctly on your meter?

A_fiend_for_life

Sounds like a terrible landlord. Is he keeping up to date with servicing the boiler?

British Gas has a social tariff called the essentials tariff are you on it already or do you qualify for it? I would also ask BG about any insulation grants you can take advantage of too.

I am not sure how grants work with a landlord perhaps other folk can offer insight.