Extremely HIGH Eon bill-can anyone help?

simonsharp43

Wondering if anyone can help. We’ve just received a bill of £499 for gas for the last quarter which has totally knocked us sideways. We have the heating/hot water on for 8 hours a day (occasionally the heating on a bit longer at the weekend if we’re in and bit over the Christmas hols) and we don’t use the gas for cooking as both our oven and hobs are electric. We live in a three bed house, for which I am told the average yearly consumption is 21000 KWh (to the nearest 1000). Eon say we have used 14000 KWh in the past three months. This seems extremely excessive to me.

I have checked that they are calculating our bill correctly (we have a metric meter and they are calculating it as such) and there doesn’t appear to be a leak (the meter isn’t going round when we’re not using gas). I’ve checked how much gas we are using per hour with everything on and it appears to be 1 unit (actually, just over). I did some quick maths and it appears that, even if we had out heating and hot water on for only THREE hours each day it would STILL cost us £155 for the next quarter.

My first inkling is that the meter is faulty, but it had also crossed my mind that we might have an extremely inefficient boiler, but surely this wouldn’t account for all the excess?

Does 1 unit of gas per hour sound right? Or does it sound a little high? I don’t know anyone else with gas bills as high as ours- AND some have bigger houses and higher consumption rates!

Anything anyone can suggest will be much appreciated! Thanks!

S :-)

baldelectrician

Check your meter. If it is old and reads in cubic feet you could be billied in cubic metres- approximately 3 times the volume

Your unit type will be on your bill

Magentasue

If you look back over this board, you'll find this is a common theme this month. The most obvious reason for a high bill is that the start reading (in other words the reading from your last statement) was estimated (low) and so you're paying for some of last quarter's gas.

But ... it has been cold and you say you have an inefficient boiler. You also say you have the heating on for eight hours a day - you are not a low user. You average 154kwh a day which is high but not unbelievably high.

Having the hot water on for eight hours a day seems excessive. Of course, if your tank is well insulated, it heats and stores rather than heats constantly. But if you're using a large amount of hot water and heating more all day, that'll cost.

It would be better to meter read daily and then weekly. An hour doesn't tell you much. There may be some mistake, but I reckon you're a victim of gas price hikes and not being used to watching what you use. Not unsympathetic - I used to be the same!

SwanJon

baldelectrician wrote: »

Check your meter. If it is old and reads in cubic feet you could be billied in cubic metres- approximately 3 times the volume

Your unit type will be on your bill

An imeperial meter measures in hundreds of cubic feet - the meter will have ft3 on it.
A metric meter measures in cubic meters - m3.
100 cubic ftter is 2.83 times bigger than 1 cubic meter, so if you have an imperial meter and are being billed as a metric your bill will actually be about 3 times smaller than it should be.

OP - what temperature do you have the heating on at? the recommended is about 18-21 C. Can you turn radiators down/off in rooms you don't use as much?

basmic

I know it won't quite make up the difference, but don't forget the boiler will have been working extra hard in the colder weather that we've recently experienced.

Mazio_2

simonsharp43 wrote: »

I’ve checked how much gas we are using per hour with everything on and it appears to be 1 unit (actually, just over). S :-)

Just remember that when central heating is switched on from cold it needs allot more gas to heat the water in the rads after this it should just tick over and use substantially less (or at least thats what mine does).
You will need to take readings over a longer time may be even daily to get a accurate useage, also outside temp will play a facture.

jimexbox

I think you've answered your question yourself. You have the heating on 8+ hours a day. I have a 3 bed detached and run the heating as sparingly as the family will let me, usually about 5hrs a day (condensing boiler). I worked out our bill last week, for 80 days came in at £250. That's with the thermostat no higher than 20c, and careful use of the TRV rads upstairs.

Its doest take much to see if you have your on a minimum of 3hrs more a day, your bill would be well over £400. As prices went up, I altered my usage, knowing many folk would be in for a big shock.

Premier_2

simonsharp43 wrote: »

...Does 1 unit of gas per hour sound right? Or does it sound a little high? I don’t know anyone else with gas bills as high as ours- AND some have bigger houses and higher consumption rates!...

If you know people with higher consumption and lower bills, that clearly indicates that you are probably on an uncompetative tariff.

Use the comparison sites in the resource bar above to see if a more economical solution is available to you.

Note that Martin currently advises against switching at this time as suppliers are currently in the process of revising prices, some have declared their intentions (e.g. your current supplier Eon & edf who will not be lowering gas prices, BG & SSE who will be lowering theirs) whilst some have still yet to declare.

The other possibility how others may have lower gas prices despite higher consumption is that they fixed their rates some time ago and are now benefitting from that decision (but would almost certainly have paid a premium to fix at the time). If others have already disclosed to you their consumption & cost, I'm sure they won't mind if you ask which supplier & tariff they are on.

simonsharp43

Thank you everyone. Our gas meter is in metric and we are being billed in metric so unfortuantely no mistakes there! I had no idea that what we were using would be so costly- compared to friends, we do have our heating on a lot less.

The thing we're obviously paranoid about now is actually USING the heating at all- I don't fancy another bill this big! But I guess I will have to have it on for a few hours and see if we can save gas having it on lower for longer.

Our timer for our hot water and heating can't be set separately (other than switching hot water off altogether) which is an annoyance, but I can set that manually so it isn't heating all the time.

Does anyone else have any money saving suggestions?

simonsharp43

Thank you for this- I hadn't quite thought of it this way round.

We're paying 6.219p for the first 844 KWh and 3.388p for the rest. Will definitely have a look into moving onto a different tariff/supplier.

Premier wrote: »

If you know people with higher consumption and lower bills, that clearly indicates that you are probably on an uncompetative tariff.

Use the comparison sites in the resource bar above to see if a more economical solution is available to you.

Note that Martin currently advises against switching at this time as suppliers are currently in the process of revising prices, some have declared their intentions (e.g. your current supplier Eon who will not be lowering gas prices, BG who will be lowering) whilst some have still yet to declare.

The other possibility how others may have lower gas prices despite higher consumption is that they fixed their rates some time ago and are now benefitting from that decision (but would almost certainly have paid a premium to fix at the time). If others have already disclosed to you their consumption & cost, I'm sure they won't mind if you ask which supplier & tariff they are on.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

I would check previous bills to see if they are based on estimated meter readings. If this is the case the high bill could be a catch up. You may have been underpaying in the past.

Should this be the case contact E.ON and ask for a payment arrangement. This will allow you to spread the cost over a similar period to that for which your bills were estimated.

If your bills have been estimated previously ask for them to be re-billed at the prices current at the time the gas was used. You should not be paying for gas used a year ago at today’s prices.

At the same time check the tariff you are on is the best for you. There are savings for paying with a Fixed Direct Debit and managing your account online.

Although your consumption is a little high I would not say it was excessive given the time you have the heating/hot water on.

Usage has generally been much higher recently due to the cold winter. Also, if your boiler is inefficient this will contribute towards higher bills.

It might be a good idea to check online for a replacement boiler. There are many types available. Although the initial cost might be a problem there could be significant long term savings.

There are a number of other energy saving measures available. Things like cavity wall and loft insulation will help reduce bills. Also, there are many small changes you can make to help save money.

E.ON has an energy efficiency team who advise on ways to cut usage. They can be contacted on 0845 301 4875. If you think you would benefit from this advice give them a call.