61p for 20 minutes of gas central heating - too much?

dn852k4

We've just moved in to a 1 bed-roomed flat (with a pre-payment meter) together and I thought the gas had been going down quickly.

Today I took the meter reading before 05578,830 (93p) after having the heating on max for 20 minutes 05579,470 (32p) therefore 640 (m3??) was used. The meter measures in m3 and we're with ebico who are supposed to be charging 3.77p per kWh. For the last couple of minutes I observed the credit going down by 6p when the last 2 digits reached '16' - which I thought was strange as last night it had been going down by 4p a time.

The flat has 2 large radiators, and four smaller ones powered by a gas combination boiler, an oldish looking one.

Are we being over-charged here? I'm not clued up when it comes to gas prices, but 61p for 20 minutes of heating seems expensive in my mind.

espresso

You seem to be reading the meter incorrectly. It's not 640 M3 that has been used. it less than 1 M3 or 0.640 M3. Ebico don't have a standing charge so that it presumably still set from your previous supplier.

Magentasue

Ignoring red digits, that's one metric unit = 11kwh

espresso

Or not ignoring the red digits, approx 7kWh.

Magentasue

True, less than a kwh.

espresso

So approx 26p for 20 minutes use, as no standing charge should be deducted from the prepayment meter.

dn852k4

I think this meter has a mind of it's own.
It went down from 32p to 28p (4p), 28p to 25p (3p), then 25 to 21 (4p). Earlier it was going down at 6p increments.
Everytime the red number goes up by 100 it takes off a random amount between 3p and 6p

espresso

Who was your previous supplier and when did you change to Ebico?

lauzjp

I guess it depends what temperature (on the boiler as well on the individual raditators) you have your radiators and the water set to - we have a combi boiler and have found that we use far less gas than we used to

dn852k4

espresso wrote: »

Who was your previous supplier and when did you change to Ebico?

Previous supplier was scottish power- we never used any gas until it changed over (21st October) as we have had previous problems with Scottish power and didn't want them to get another penny from us.

I'm not sure if this will have any bearing on what's happening, but there was a debt (around £18) on the meter from the previous tenant. ebico, are supposed to be sending a credit to my payment card to clear this debt. I have been told to top up 3 times and it should appear within the 3 top-ups.
When I top up, 70% of the payment is going to clearing the debt, and I have been left with 30% for gas.

espresso

dn852k4 wrote: »

Previous supplier was scottish power- we never used any gas until it changed over (21st October) as we have had previous problems with Scottish power and didn't want them to get another penny from us.

I'm not sure if this will have any bearing on what's happening, but there was a debt (around £18) on the meter from the previous tenant. ebico, are supposed to be sending a credit to my payment card to clear this debt. I have been told to top up 3 times and it should appear within the 3 top-ups.
When I top up, 70% of the payment is going to clearing the debt, and I have been left with 30% for gas.

So your first post was irrelevant then! You know how much Ebico charge per kWh. Simple, get rid of the muppet meter.