British Gas - gas meter 181 "Units" - how much is this in real money>?

monkey_alan_2

thanks for the responses, folks.

using the calculator thing that i found on another thread on here, it is allegedly about £196, which is very high indeed for 7 weeks use - although the extreme winter weather has had a part to play in that for sure. going to try and drop this by a fair bit by using an electric heater during the day when im working in 1 room and keeping the heating off for 4-6 hours in the day...heating the whole house during the day isn't really necessary, hopefully that will cut it back a bit.

I'm currently paying £45 a month via DD for gas, so 540 a year - in spring, summer and autumn I expect that this will overpay, so I might be in with a chance of catching up by the time next winter comes. pretty much all this usage is heating so it will fall right away as the weather gets warmer. do BG account for the fact that the bills will drop from mar/apr onwards? or will want to up my DD to something like 80 quid a month?

any other advice/tips? this house is insulated, but it's detached and the rooms are pretty big...we also i suppose are a bit wussy and like it to be 20/21c most of the time.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

ariba10 wrote: »

181 cubic feet is less than 181 cubic meters!

do you mean,

cubic

and

cubic

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:.

monkey_alan_2

not totally sure that's a tip, but cheers

molerat

monkey_alan wrote: »

going to try and drop this by a fair bit by using an electric heater during the day when im working in 1 room and keeping the heating off for 4-6 hours in the day...heating the whole house during the day isn't really necessary, hopefully that will cut it back a bit.

.............. this house is insulated, but it's detached and the rooms are pretty big...we also i suppose are a bit wussy and like it to be 20/21c most of the time.

Using a 1 bar electric fire will cost around 10p per hour. I am heating my whole house to 20c, keeping the chill off the conservatory and loads of hot water for 15p per hour, you seem to be around 17p. The electric fire route may not save as much as you think.

monkey_alan_2

It's a convection heater, I only need it on for 30 mins or so then I can turn it off for a good 45 mins - 1 hour as it generates a lot of heat fairly fast.

I need to do something! I can't carry on using £100 per month of gas, even if the spring/summer/winter months balance it out a bit, which I'm sure they will....

monkey_alan_2

btw - confirmed that across 7 weeks, £270 of consumption, or 22.9p per hour.

Have upped my direct debit and hope that warmer weather comes soon

Cardew

monkey_alan wrote: »

btw - confirmed that across 7 weeks, £270 of consumption, or 22.9p per hour.

Have upped my direct debit and hope that warmer weather comes soon

You have used 5,740kWh

That shouldn't cost £270.

What price are you paying per kWh?

Don't forget that only xxkWh will be at the higher tier1 price, the majority will be at the cheaper tier 2 price.

monkey_alan_2

Not sure what price per KWh, I have been on the standard tariff with BG, I have just swapped it to the web saver 5 one...to see if that is any cheaper, i appreciate that some of their tariffs are a bit of a joke though

I rang british gas and gave them the meter reading and they came up with the cost, I've upped my DD payment to £55 a month, which I hope over the summer will pay off the difference and balance it out. Over the summer quarter I don't expect to use much more than £20 worth, we'll only cook once per day and have gas hob/electric oven.

Have been a bit stupid really, leaving the heating on all the time with a temp of 20 - 21.5c is silly and costs a lot of money

Pont

http://smartmeter.ukpower.co.uk
I've found this calculator quite useful. Unfortunately your figures come in at around the £200 mark as posted above.

monkey_alan_2

Hey pont,

thanks for that link - bookmarked for future reference

thanks to cardew too for your help/advice.