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Gas bill seems high for our usage

Hi everyone,

According to our meter, we've used 2748 kwh in 109 days. We don't have a personal reading from when we moved in(December), but the gas bill has a reading they say was taken on the 8th of Jan. Anyway, that sounds like an awful lot to us, because we use sooooo little energy. We NEVER have the heating on, even in mid-winter, we each(my husband and I) take a shower about once a week, which we supplement with a basin full of water and a flannel every day. We do a load of laundry maybe once a week, and we use the coldest water possible. We cook on the gas hob almost every night, but usually just a soup or similar. So we can't figure out how we've used about £30 a month solely in gas! One thing I read online had an estimate based on 4 showers a day, plus washing up, etc., as about 10 kwh a day, which is less than ours, and we use nowhere near that amount! Is there possibly something wrong with our boiler? We're really puzzled.

Comments

  • Magentasue
    Magentasue Posts: 4,229 Forumite
    Do you mean that you've used 2748kwh from 8th Jan to now? That's about 25kwh a day. We use that and we're a family of six running two or three baths a day and cooking (including reguarly baking) by gas.

    How are you calculating this? Are there actual readings on bills or have you worked it out yourself? Imperial or metric meter. Old or new boiler?
  • According to our bill, a reading was taken on the 8th of January, which was 4781. The reading we took today was 4868. They estimated a reading of 4894, and from that they got 3569 kwh, and based on the calculations they used, using our actual reading, we got 2748. I think the boiler is fairly newish, it's a rented flat so we're not entirely sure, but it doesn't look very old. I can't understand how we could possibly be using the amount of a 6 person household!
  • Vestra
    Vestra Posts: 856 Forumite
    So how did you stay warm with out using the heating?
  • Rian1988 wrote: »
    So how did you stay warm with out using the heating?

    Layers and blankets.
  • Magentasue
    Magentasue Posts: 4,229 Forumite
    You're being charged for an imperial meter. Is that what you have?
  • Yea, it's imperial.
  • Magentasue
    Magentasue Posts: 4,229 Forumite
    Is it a combi boiler? If not, how long do you heat water for?
  • How do we know if it's a combi? The water turns hot usually within a few seconds of turning the tap on.
  • Magentasue
    Magentasue Posts: 4,229 Forumite
    It's a combi - really, if you use as little hot water as you say, never use heating and rarely cook much, you should be using very little gas.
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