Help calculating my gas bill please

kevandkeira

We are with British gas for both gas & electric & we are on quarterly billing.
After we recieved our last bill (26th feb) for £325.53 my partner switched of the radiators, as we couldn't afford to be using that much gas.
I have just taken a meter reading (7615 previous was 7537) & know that I have to use the following method.

kwh used (78) x 2.83 x 1.0226400 x 39.2533 divided by 3.6 = 2461.3733090908

But what do I do next?

My previous bills have been confusing my 1st bill said:
1st 330kwh @ 7.258p
rest @ 3.688

2nd bill said:
9/12-18/2
1st 529kwh @ 7.259
rest @ 3.688

19/2-26/2
1st 59 @ 6.914
rest @ 3.343

I would appreciate any help. Thankyou

KimYeovil

With gas, the tier 1 price applies to the first 670 kWh per quarter (or 670/91 or approx 7.36 kWh per day).

With electricty the tier 1 price applies to the first 125 kWh per quarter (or approx 1.37 kWh per day).

So if that 2461 kWh were used since 26 Feb - 26 Feb to 26 Mar is 28 days, 27 Mar to 31 Mar is another 4 days, and 1 Apr to the date of the reading (say) 14 Apr is another 14 days. So that 46 days.

2461 gas kWh over 46 days. Number of Tier 1 kWh is 46 x 7.36 = 338.56

So 339 will be charged at 7.258p and the remaining 2461-339 will cost 3.688p

£24.60 + £78.26 = £102.86

Magentasue

Looking at BG's site, it seems that Tier 1 price applies to first 670kwh a quarter, so roughly 8kwh per day.

You've used 2451kwh since 26 Feb - 48 days.

48x8= 384kwh @ 6.914p
2067 @ 3.343p

I think that's right. More or less!

Edit: Cross posted with Kim. I'm sure she's right!

kevandkeira

That seems so high. £102.86 over 7weeks, thats £14.70 per week.:eek:
Our heating is switched off completely, we have been sat indoors freezing but refusing to put the heating on to avoid another high bill.
The only gas we use is hot water, everything else is electric.
We do have an old system which consists of a back boiler & water tank.
Soon we will have to stop having baths, this is ridiculous.:rotfl:

KimYeovil

Actually, it's easier to work out what your monthly Tier 1 effective standing charge is and then just multiply your usage by the Tier 2 price.

ie (Tier 1 price - Tier 2 price) * 670 / 3 is your monthly standing charge.
in your case (7.258 - 3.688) * 670 / 3 is £7.97

So you know that most months you will pay £8 plus however many kWhs you've used times 3.688p

Note that you only need to do your first sum once (using 1, not 78) and use that approximation (about 31.2 or 32 - I haven't worked it out).

You can then work out how much 1 unit on your meter or 1 tenth of a unit on your meter costs. 1 unit is approx 31.2 kWh so about £1.15 - so that's a bit more than £1 per meter unit.

Magentasue

Check that you have an imperial meter - look for cubic feet or ft3 on it - as you're being charged for one.

KimYeovil

kevandkeira wrote: »

.
Soon we will have to stop having baths, this is ridiculous.:rotfl:

It's spring. Out with the bath, in with the face flannel and a basin of water.

Magentasue

£15 a week with no heating is high. In the summer, when we were heating water for six, cooking by gas and very occasionally putting the heating on for an hour in the evening, we reckoned on it costing us just over £1 a day.

kevandkeira

Magentasue wrote: »

Check that you have an imperial meter - look for cubic feet or ft3 on it - as you're being charged for one.

It does have ft3 written on it, so does that mean british gas are charging us the correct prices.

Magentasue

Yes, you are being charged for an imperial meter. I think you have identified your problem in post #4 - older boilers are not as efficient as newer ones. There was no heating when we moved in last year so our is a new energy-efficient combi - I think back boilers are particularly inefficient. You might want to consider paying monthly - you'll pay more than you owe over the summer months but it will cushion you for next winter. Alternatively, now you know how much the heating costs, you can budget for it.

kevandkeira

Is it possible that maybe we have a leak? although I suppose we would smell it.
Is there a way to test gas usage, similar to the electic testing plug in things (sorry im not very technical).

Thankyou.