Gas usage

stevehead

If you need to heat just 1 room, then install a catalytic flueless gas fire - too late for this year I know but they are 100% efficient and you get all the heat where you need it.
Next winter will be worse than this, cheap gas is gone for good so make plans NOW!
Normal Gas Fires are ~50% effiicient; and gsh.... well the truth about using that is painfully apparent.

gloomy_2

Magentasue wrote: »

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.

Thanks for your two replies. They are helpful. We suffer as you suggest in that we have a lot of pipework doing nothing but wasting hot water I suppose and I am not suggesting that we keep the heating on all year. I appreciate, and said so, that I cannot multiply the December month by 12 but as I have said elsewhere, Ofgem call 28000kwh per annum for gas as a high user and even allowing for the warmer months I am going to be well over that with around 3660kwh for a single month out of at least four such months plus all the rest. We find we need more warmth than we used to do and with all the restrictions we have to put upon ourselves to achieve even that figure then I am going to have to look elsewhere for savings. Incidentally, to heat water for two and keep one small room liveable (plus a tiny shower room - when needed) we were using 122 kwh per day in December compared with your 112. The rest of the house has not had a radiator on at all apart from a few hours in the month when we had to use the lounge. Your info was very useful for comparisons. Thank you

[Deleted User]

you mentioned pipework. Is it all insulated as far as possible

gloomy_2

kittie wrote: »

you mentioned pipework. Is it all insulated as far as possible

Good point Kittie. Probably not. The bungalow has solid floors with pipe runs through it and I'm not sure.

gloomy_2

KimYeovil wrote: »

£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.)

I thought that this forum was to help people who asked a question. I did not anticipate that it was an outlet for unsecure people with problems. Normally I would take exception to being called a "pathological case" but having done a search and seen your other comments eleswhere I'm going to make an exception in your case. Hope you get well soon - or, as a preferred alternative - that you are precluded from posting on any of these sites again. THAT would help everyone.
Best wishes
Gloomy

mazza111

I think u might be able to heat your entire home for this amount, possible you could try it for a week and see what your usage is like? I know I'm paying around £90/month for my heating a 3 bedroom midterrace house, heating always on, hotwater always on.Which seems a bit cheaper than you are paying atm. But is it a back boiler u have or a combi boiler, this could also make a difference?

windswept

I pay £70 a month for Gas (£40) and Electric (£30), for a 3 bedroom semi with dble glazing/cavity wall, gas c.h. The c.h is on approx. 8 hours a day - on and off in this weather, + average/high electricity consumption.
I'm behind by around £60 on my gas account and slightly in credit with the electricity, with Southern electric for both.
I would have a heart attack if I was asked to pay £180 A MONTH for gas alone!
My sister pays around £15 a week onto her gas pre-payment card and thinks this is v. high, it has almost doubled since last winter. She has a 1 bedroom ground floor , corner flat, she has her gas fire on full 15+ hours a day, doesn't use her radiators at all.

libra10

My gas (weekly) cu.ft unit readings for December are as follows -

81
79
80 and
83

We are also pensioners and mainly heat one room during most of the day, using a 'Brilliant' Living Flame gas fire. Central heating is on for 4 hours each evening. During the year we have used just under 14000 kwh gas. We have double glazing and cavity wall insulation and pay bills quarterly, rather than monthly direct debits. We are with EBICO and expect a quarterly bill for coldest 3 months to be around £160 or over.

I agree with gloomy that references to 'pathological cases' was insulting and totally irrelevant to thread.

windswept

Gloomy , you have got your sums wrong and have vastly exaggerated your kwh usage;) .
My highest quarter last year saw usages of 6300 kwh / £133.
Your yearly usage should be under £800 per year for dual fuel.

stevehead

gloomy wrote: »

I thought that this forum was to help people who asked a question. I did not anticipate that it was an outlet for unsecure people with problems. Normally I would take exception to being called a "pathological case" but having done a search and seen your other comments eleswhere I'm going to make an exception in your case. Hope you get well soon - or, as a preferred alternative - that you are precluded from posting on any of these sites again. THAT would help everyone.
Best wishes
Gloomy

If you'd searched Kim's posts you'll see that she (he?) only uses 5.4KWh of gas and 2.5KWh of electric on a cold day and so has a totally different perspective on what is considered 'normal'.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=15532959#post15532959