Gas usage

gloomy_2

As pensioners we now exist in our smallest habitable room which has one single radiator, This is on maybe 11 hours a day and we have a bathroom radiator and hot water on 3 hours a day. The rest are off except for frost proofing. We cook with gas but have an electric oven. YET our meter reading for gas for December was 117 cu ft which for 12 months like this (I know that this is one of the highest months) would be 1404. I was told to multiply this by 31.3 to get kwh and if this is correct it frightens us to death. At E.On standard tariff that would be about £136 per month on gas alone. Are my calculations correct please

KimYeovil

That's reasonable enough. Remember this is the coldest and the worst so it will only get better. £136 for a cold month is reasonable since many people are paying nearly that on average over the year and would be using more than three times that in a winter month.

Magentasue

Do you need to heat water for three hours a day? As Kim said, December was cold - hopefully the rest of the winter will be milder and you'll be able to turn the heating off for some of the day.

Alan_Vickers

My wife and I are pensioners living in 4 bedroom mid terrace house with gas central heating system and we usie selected radiators for heating plus a Baxi living flame gas fire in the living room which is always on Gas is used for cooking. The house is all double-glazed and had cavity wall insulation fitted in March.

From 17th November to 15th December our gas consunmption was 74.4 cubic feet X 100, equal to about 2398 kWh. The electricity consumption for the same period was 396.41 kWh.

The gas consumption for the year from 10th January to today was 741 cubic feet X100.

Alan Vickers.

gloomy_2

Magentasue wrote: »

Do you need to heat water for three hours a day? As Kim said, December was cold - hopefully the rest of the winter will be milder and you'll be able to turn the heating off for some of the day.

Yes - experience tells us we do. The water is needed for two showers and the washing up and cleaning and we certainly find that there are times it is less than hot by the end of the day

Mazio_2

The problem with CH is it was never designed to heat say 1 or 2 rooms efficiently the reason is the boiler will heat the water in the pipes that run throughout your house even if the rads are turned off so the first time you switch it on it will use a large amount of gas this will be slightly smaller amount if its not going through too many rads but still a large % if you only heat 1 room with a gas fire all the heat output will be in that room so should use less but you will only have 1 room hot (and no hot water) if you then mutiply each room with a gas fire it would cost more..
You will probably find only a small increase in consumption to heat your whole house.
For single rooms I still think a high efficient gas fire or if really well insulated room you might get away with electric ( Ive been looking at ASHP but they are not cheap) if its able to reach temp and it switches off .

But you need to test this your self as each property is different and I can not be positive about your situation and it could cost you more so be careful and check it your self.

gloomy_2

KimYeovil wrote: »

That's reasonable enough. Remember this is the coldest and the worst so it will only get better. £136 for a cold month is reasonable since many people are paying nearly that on average over the year and would be using more than three times that in a winter month.

I'm afraid that you and I have far different opinions on what is reasonable. We have the extra loft insulation, cavity wall insulation and double glazing. We live in a bungalow where every room but one is icy and that is about 11 ft square. Add £50 a month nearly for electricity and we think £186 per month all year round is far from reasonable. I presume you are not a pensioner.

Magentasue

gloomy wrote: »

I'm afraid that you and I have far different opinions on what is reasonable. We have the extra loft insulation, cavity wall insulation and double glazing. We live in a bungalow where every room but one is icy and that is about 11 ft square. Add £50 a month nearly for electricity and we think £186 per month all year round is far from reasonable. I presume you are not a pensioner.

Are you saying that you heat the house all year round? We only use our heating from Oct - March every day. A few weeks wither side of that we may have it on a for an hour here and there. We are using about 112kwh gas a day to heat water for six of us and run the central heating. I cook by gas too. In the summer, we average 26kwh a day.

I mentioned the hot water because we used to have a conventional boiler and heated water for 40mins morning (showers for six) and about an hour in the evening (baths, showers and washing up) but, I know all boilers are different.

[Deleted User]

gloomy,the £250 heating allowance will pay for two cold months of gas usage. That is what it is for. I am expecting our gas bill to be high this winter but the other 3/4 of the year should balance it out

KimYeovil

£186 for three winter months. Knock off £83 for your winter payment. That brings it down to £100 per winter month. Other nine months of the year are less. As you are pensioners and in the plural this suggests you have a pension guarantee of £750 per month.

If you are paying £136 every month ALL YEAR ROUND to heat a single room then there is a problem with the fabric of your home. Gas tariffs/pensions can not be adapted to provide a blank cheque to pathological cases. You may want to look at the StayWarm tariff. Trouble is, I think you are overestimating how much gas you will be using over spring/summer which would make StayWarm too expensive (as your winter usage is, contrary to your impression, low.)

Alan_Vickers

Gloomy - have you looked at your previous bills and gas usage to see how they compare with your December usage.

Do you think that you may have a meter problem by any chance?

Alan Vickers.