Gas bill seems too high

naked

I've just moved from a new build 2 bedroom flat to a 100 year old 2 up 2 down mid terrace. The house had an energy efficiency rating of C on the EPC, it's double glazed, has loft insulation and (allegedly) cavity wall insulation so it's not too cold and draughty.

The previous owners had prepayment meters, so I have a good feel for what I'm spending on energy at the moment and the gas seems rather a lot.

I've been here a month, and I've spent about £15 on electricity, but I've spent £40-£50 on gas. The only thing in the house that uses gas is the central heating via a condensing boiler which is about 3 years old. It is on the timer so it only comes on for about 8 hours a day and the room thermostat is set to 21ºC.
My cooker is electric as is my shower, I have a load of electric gizmos (no TV though) an old (3-4 years) larder fridge and larder freezer and a new washing machine. I've also been doing a fair bit of DIY and plenty of vacuuming.

Is heating really that expensive to run, or does it sound like there's a problem somewhere with my gas? There is no smell of gas to suggest a leak, and my meter is inside the house.

This weekend I'm planning to turn off the boiler for a few hours and see if the gas reading goes up.

KimYeovil

Have you been heating only one room every other evening? Or have you been heating the whole flat every evening? If the latter, £50 per month for eight hours heating per day during the coldest winter for 30 years is cheap.

markharding557

Your gas isn't unusually high for a 100 year old building.
it probably does not have cavities so no insulation there.
can you reduce the hours your heating is on and try reducing the room thermostat i read somewhere that each degree it is reduced could save 10%

Mrs_Thrify

Hi, £15 on electric for one months use? is that right? it is very low.
£50 for 8 hours per day on CH is ok. I think that price shows it is well isulated. A lot of folk have higher bills.

CharlieBilly

I was going to say normally its houses built after 1920's that have cavity walls although I have heard that some houses were built with them before then

20c is fine, 21c is a bit of a waste of energy

withabix

I would suggest that the OP keeps warm by putting some clothes on...


Your bills seem fine, by the way.

naked

It just surprised me that the gas was so much more expensive than the electricity - in my previous flat the gas and the electric were similar amounts (Only major difference was brand new appliances, gas hob rather than electric and probably better insulation).

Thanks for the reassurance though.

I also thought cavity walls only started after 1920 or so but I now understand they were used before that, but it was not very common. Cutting edge technology took a while to catch on I guess There's no headers visible on the walls which are all exposed which suggests cavity, but there's always surprises.

Antispam

Gas tends to be cheaper than electric for heating, although electric can be cheaper if you are using E& tariffs.