NPower Gas - consumption's gone through the roof

jabba4

Hi all,

My latest Npower bill fell through the letterbox this week, and they want to put my monthly payment up. We have gas and electric with them, and they want to increase the payment from £108 to £159 per month. Which in itself isn't a problem. I appreciate that prices have gone up.

Anyway....I thought I'd go back and have a look at my bills over the last 2 years and check things out.

My electricity consumption has been pretty static. Over the last 3 6-month periods we've averaged 3000kWh (around 500kWh per month). Okay, so I'm happy (?) with that price going up.

But....my gas consumption has gone through the roof !! My last 2 gas bills were twice as much as the corresponding bill the year before.

For the period 26/1/09 to 10/7/09 we were charged for 305 units (9661kWh) which averages out at about 1.85 units/58.55kWh per day.

For the corresponding period the year before 9/2/08 to 7/6/08 we were charged for 135 units (4233kWh) which averages out at about 1.13 units/35.28kWh per day.



For the period 8/11/08 to 26/1/09 we were charged for 421 units (13283kWh) which averages out at 5.26 units/166.04kWh per day.

For the corresponding period the year before 10/11/07 to 9/2/08 we were charged for 208 units (6504kWh) which averages out at 2.26 units/70.70kWh per day.


Before these two billing periods all the bills and their corresponding bill a year previous match up, ie- they're pretty much the same, but the last two bills show a doubling in my consumption since last November compared to the year previous. Which is frankly ridiculous. If anything we've used less gas.

I checked my meter for leaks this morning (we've called them out before but they couldn't find a leak) and low and behold there was a leak in a pipe, but it was in the pipe entering the meter, not in the pipe leaving the meter and coming into the house. I creported the leak and it was fixed within an hour (I was pretty impressed with that response I can tell you).


Anyway, sorry for blathering on. I tried ringing NPower this morning but couldn't get through. I even tried that ringback thing they do but still no joy.


So...to my question. Before I call NPower on Monday does anyone have any ideas as to what could be the problem ? Could the meter be faulty ? Should NPower have spotted that my consumption was so completely and amazingly above the norm for us since we've been here ? What can I do ? I just can't figure out why our consumption would have doubled like this.

Just as an aside, this was the first winter where I turned the heating off for periods during the day (I stay at home and look after the kids now and can keep a rough idea on things like this), whereas before we just had the heating and water on 24/7 from about November through to April (we've been here 10 years). So, as I said, if anything our consumption should have gone down, not up.


Any help would be magical. Thanks.

staffie1

Don't forget that last winter was colder than average for longer. Npower told me it was the coldest winter for 10 yrs (i.e. colder for longer), so that could account for your high gas usage since Nov 08.
I know I still had my heating on daily right up to May this year!

jabba4

Last winter was the first winter since we've lived in this house that the heating wasn't on 24/7 (I'm at home now, and I've been trying to cut back on the expenses now it's only my wife working). So I switched the heating off for a few hours each day, where before we just left it on. Even if we left the house all day !


And I'm not sure that being colder would account for my consumption pretty much doubling.

staffie1

jabba4 wrote: »

Last winter was the first winter since we've lived in this house that the heating wasn't on 24/7 (I'm at home now, and I've been trying to cut back on the expenses now it's only my wife working). So I switched the heating off for a few hours each day, where before we just left it on. Even if we left the house all day !


And I'm not sure that being colder would account for my consumption pretty much doubling.

I see your point. Have you been using any other appliances that are heavy on consumption ? It does seem a big hike I admit. You could get them to check the meter out so at least you can eliminate that as a potential cause. You might have to pay them a fee for checking it if it's not found to be faulty.

Premier_2

jabba4 wrote: »

...So...to my question. Before I call NPower on Monday does anyone have any ideas as to what could be the problem ? Could the meter be faulty ? ... What can I do ? ....

Could the meter be faulty? Possibly (otherwise you have actually used what it says)

What can you do? If you really think you have consumed less gas yet the meter signifies differently (these are all actual readings I presume, not estimated), then you can request the meter is checked for accuracy. This will involve replacing your meter and getting it checked.
You will be charged for this service (probably about £50-£100 - the supplier should be able to confirm exact price), but this will be refunded if the meter is proven by testing to be faulty.

aelitaman

When I checked my bills I was in the same situation. My gas usage this cold winter was significantly higher (a lot higher) than last winter. it surprised me. As the previous posted said it was beause it was not just very cold for a week it was histroically cold for a long period and do not forget it is not just the heating the water coming into your house from the mains will be lot colder so needing more gas to heat for showers baths.

There is a lot of discussion on wherther it is more economical to heat a house 24/7 or just heat when required especially in your case as you said you just turned it off for a couple of hours a day implying it is still on 22 hours instead of 24 hours. If a house is very well insulated then leabing it on 24/7 so the boiler just tops up the temp of the radiator water every now and then may be better than haveing the boiler going full blast for a couple of hours in the morning and then full blast for a couple of hours in the evening.

Think of a hundred mile journey in a car. One car does it in 2 hours constant driving at 50mph and the other driver in the same car does it in two bursts of 30 mins to arrive at the same time with a rest stop in between at 100mph. Which one do you think uses the most fuel?

jabba4

Thanks Staffie and Premier. I'll ask them about the meter on Monday.

aelitaman - I can see what you are saying, and to an extent it may well account for some of the rise, but double the corresponding amount ?

The bill before the 13000kWh one was for 3000kWh. So in 3 months we used 421 units of gas ! Compared with 208 units the previous year for the same period.

For 10 years our consumption has been pretty much the same each period, and then bam!

Thanks for your suggestions.

Joyful

This bears out what I just posted on another thread. Many people used 3 times the amount of gas last winter. If you reduced your consumption it could quite easily still be double. Check your gas meter is behaving now as hopefully it should show you using little gas. If true it is highly unlikely to be faulty and you would be throwing good money after bad.

PNPSUKNET

np charge £60 for a meter test on gas, the leak if before the meter would not register as gas usage. It has been a cold winter though so the could be a reason for higher usage

jabba4

Joyful wrote: »

This bears out what I just posted on another thread. Many people used 3 times the amount of gas last winter. If you reduced your consumption it could quite easily still be double. Check your gas meter is behaving now as hopefully it should show you using little gas. If true it is highly unlikely to be faulty and you would be throwing good money after bad.

Thanks. You all seem to be making the same point, so I think I'll leave it until the November bill. If the consumption for July-November has doubled then there's definitely a problem somewhere !

Thanks for all your replies.