Gas and electric bill ridiculous!

KathysBoy

I live in a 2 bedroom house and we are in more or less all day. The heating comes on at 6am and off at 10.30 pm. Generally we have the room temperature set at 20C. If we go out for a couple of hours my wife turns it down to 18C, but we never turn it off in winter. All the radiators are turned on full power. The boiler is quite efficient even though its about 7 years old.we had it tested at the last service). It s a combi bolier so the hot water is heated on demand. I've set the temperature at about 55c, otherwise the hot water is too hot when it comes out of the tap. LOL During the cold spells we use about an average of 70/80kwh per day. During January we used an average of about 60kwh per day (about 2 of your units). I've just switched to Scottish Power (from British Gas) because its cheaper, but our gas bill from the middle of October upto the end of December (when we switched) was £155. My average use per day during this period was 45kwh per day. My electric is pretty steady at around 11kwh per day and the bill for the same period was about £102.

So your bills seem high to me. I'm not sure the 6 units per day sounds right, particularly as you're now checking it, and its similar to what I would expect. I read my meter every week, so I know whats going on, and there's no surprises in store. Hope this info helps.

MFWannabe

I would always make sure i submitted regular meter readings; so at least you know they are accurate.
Have you asked your landlady if it's okay to switch provider?

Joyful

I would check the comparison sites to compare your prices. You cannot be kept to one supplier although you may need to return it to UW at the end of your tenancy.

Lilith1980

Hi thanks for your replies

I went on uswitch and could save £236 a year if I switched to British Gas, so I will talk to the landlady about this.

lauren1983

Hi Lilith1980

Did you get anything arranged with your landlady to change to BG?
Just thought id tell you that they have just put me onto websaver 6 which is making a saving for me for my next bill so maybe that could be a option for you.

Im in a similar situation to you, i have an imperial metre and have been trying to get to grips with what im using, my bill was £294 and i had used 293 units. So about £1 per unit. I can keep a better check on what im using.

Good luck with it

SwanJon

Andy_WSM wrote: »

Actually, the heating at 60 is fine. Up to 80C is fine for the heating. A lower temperature means that it will take longer for the house to reach the optimum temperature before the boiler shuts down, so you will use the same amount of gas, just over a longer time!

The hot water needs to be between 45C & 60C (Higher if you often have baths, but not as high needed if you only use water for washing up & showering).

For the heating, I so hope you mean 80F, not 80C - water boils at 100C remember.
Most thermostats won't go above 30C, and the suggested temp is around 20C (Think about a warm summers day - if it gets to the high 20s we're all sunbathing!)
A thermostat will turn off when it detects the set temp - in a combi boiler this is in the returning water.


For hot water in a tank there is a recommended minimum to prevent growth - some combi boilers maintain a small water tank too.

Andy_WSM

SwanJon wrote: »

For the heating, I so hope you mean 80F, not 80C - water boils at 100C remember.
Most thermostats won't go above 30C, and the suggested temp is around 20C (Think about a warm summers day - if it gets to the high 20s we're all sunbathing!)
.

You are confusing the room temperature with the temperature of the water in the system, which is what the dials on the boiler do (and what my post was making reference to). 80C system temperature is quiet normal - where as a room temperature of 20/21C is the preferred setting. It's no good at all the radiators only being the same temperature you want to heat the room to, they wouldn't heat the room - why do you think a radiator always feels hot? - because it is!

LittleMissAspie

Lilith1980 wrote: »

Over the winter we had the heating on pretty much all the time (apart from when we were at work), this included over-night on some occasions, but not all the radiators were on. However the temperature gauge was probably up high as that is what I discovered the other day. Plus the radiators that were on were on the highest setting because we have floorboards pretty much throughout the whole place and it takes time to warm it up.

Would this still not have caused the 6 units per day useage?

Oh maybe it could have, I didn't realise people kept their heating on all day. Ours is on for 1.5 hours in the morning and then the gas fire was on for up to 4 hours in the evening. Plus the cooker but that probably doesn't use much.

John_3:16

Should you heat the water quickly or slowly?

I am not sure on this. If I drive a car then I use more fuel if I get to 60 quick rather than slowly. Would it not be the same for gas?

markharding557

John_3:16 wrote: »

Should you heat the water quickly or slowly?

I am not sure on this. If I drive a car then I use more fuel if I get to 60 quick rather than slowly. Would it not be the same for gas?

Don't think it makes any difference with heating water