Excessively high bill, or just me??

stuffedrice

Hi
Its an imperial meter, it states "1 pulse = 1 ft3", its a R5 by schlumberger and was put in november 1993 by British Gas.

I hadnt realise that converted kWh gas can be directly compared to Kwh in electric.
The company letter did say we could pay £90 to get the boiler checked. We turned off our heating (except one radiator with the dial missing) after we got the bill have barely used any gas.

flagpole_corner

Sorry to hijack the thread but also thought I'd ask about the numbers we've received. We are 5 male students in a 5 double bed house + lounge and kitchen + 1 power shower. We have gas central heating and all have computers plus one television and game console which are of course used regularly. We are with npower. For 3 months between Dec and Mar our bills came out as £420 for electric and £350 for gas. Even for us this seems excessivley high and I do feel we've been wasteful this year in terms of heating and electricity. Is it high or is my mind playing tricks?

I only have readings for approx 1 month after the bill is dated and they are both higher than the estimate (e.g. 89200 vs 81123 for the elec and 8414 vs 8292 for the gas )

Thanks

Magentasue

flagpole corner: You don't need us to tell you the bills are high, especially the electricity. The gas doesn't seem bad for such a large house. The electricity is stupidly high, though, if the starting reading was actual rather than estimated. In what ways have you been wasteful?

flagpole_corner

Magentasue wrote: »

flagpole corner: You don't need us to tell you the bills are high, especially the electricity. The gas doesn't seem bad for such a large house. The electricity is stupidly high, though, if the starting reading was actual rather than estimated. In what ways have you been wasteful?

Computers and lights left on mainly, especially in the kitchen and lounge which also has spotlights. The kitchen has two small fridges and one big freezer which are all used 24/7 and an oldish washing machine used roughly 3 times a week.

The [estimated] reading in december 4th was 78113 and was lower than the actual, estimated reading in March 5th was 81123 and the actual reading on 4th april (bill is 4th Dec - 5th mar but dated 28th March and £420) was ~89200

BruceyBonus

flagpole_corner wrote: »

Computers and lights left on mainly, especially in the kitchen and lounge which also has spotlights. The kitchen has two small fridges and one big freezer which are all used 24/7 and an oldish washing machine used roughly 3 times a week.

The [estimated] reading in december 4th was 78113 and was lower than the actual, estimated reading in March 5th was 81123 and the actual reading on 4th april (bill is 4th Dec - 5th mar but dated 28th March and £420) was ~89200

Assuming the 4th Dec estimate is accurate, that is almost 92kwh per day:eek:
As an example, that is leaving a 60W light bulb on for 1527 hours - EVERY DAY!
Or a 450W computer on for 203 hours every day.

As a comparison, I live on my own (one bedroom flat) and use 6kwh per day in the summer, 10-15kwh per day in the winter.

flagpole_corner

BruceyBonus wrote: »

Assuming the 4th Dec estimate is accurate, that is almost 92kwh per day:eek:
As an example, that is leaving a 60W light bulb on for 1527 hours - EVERY DAY!
Or a 450W computer on for 203 hours every day.

As a comparison, I live on my own (one bedroom flat) and use 6kwh per day in the summer, 10-15kwh per day in the winter.

Sorry, I'm confused how have you worked that out? The 3 months for which we're being billed is saying we've used 3010kWh, isn't that about 33kWh a day?

I've not been in the house for about a week but am getting someone to give me another reading today to compare over the past couple of weeks or so.

BruceyBonus

flagpole_corner wrote: »

Sorry, I'm confused how have you worked that out? The 3 months for which we're being billed is saying we've used 3010kWh, isn't that about 33kWh a day?

I used 78113 on 4th Dec and 89200 on 4th April. I've ignored the estimate as that is clearly a load of rubbish (it is 800 units lower than the reading a month later). I'd strongly suggest giving the supplier an up-to-date reading - otherwise you'll get a shock when they take an actual reading and have to stump up the payment.

flagpole_corner

BruceyBonus wrote: »

I used 78113 on 4th Dec and 89200 on 4th April. I've ignored the estimate as that is clearly a load of rubbish (it is 800 units lower than the reading a month later). I'd strongly suggest giving the supplier an up-to-date reading - otherwise you'll get a shock when they take an actual reading and have to stump up the payment.

Yup that was the intention, just waiting for a reading from today or tommorow and then I'll give them both readings. Thanks

BruceyBonus

flagpole_corner wrote: »

Yup that was the intention, just waiting for a reading from today or tommorow and then I'll give them both readings. Thanks

Not sure where you are in the country or what tariff you are on - but expect a large bill when it does come. npower standard tariff in my area would be £1560 using those reading for the period 4/12 to 4/4.

The other alternative explanation for the high bill could be that the 4/12 estimate was seriously out - but you'll never know that.

flagpole_corner

BruceyBonus wrote: »

Not sure where you are in the country or what tariff you are on - but expect a large bill when it does come. npower standard tariff in my area would be £1560 using those reading for the period 4/12 to 4/4.

The other alternative explanation for the high bill could be that the 4/12 estimate was seriously out - but you'll never know that.

If we pay this bill for £420 and then send them a meter reading say next week, can they increase the amount owed for this bill or will they just use it as a reference for the next bill? We move out in June anyway.