Does my gas usage sound about right?

robv_3

3 bed semi
32/month gas (British gas)
24/month electric (southern elec)
hot water / heating / hob = gas

by switching could save 10->15 / month

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5 bed detached
72/month both (eon)
hot water / heating / hob = gas

Jackinbox99

I have a 3 bed semi, ancient place with no insulation in walls or anything. Have gas central heating with a really old boiler, gas oven and gas hob.

My gas is around 30quid a month, and (co-incidentally) my electricity is also 30quid a month. Thats an average over the year. Winter I use more gas, Summer I use less.

I currently have the heating come on every day for 1 hour and that gives gives me enough hot water for the whole day, including having a bath. In the winter I have it set to come on twice a day for 1hr each time (first thing in the morning for 1 hr and in the evenings for 1hr).

pimento

Jackinbox99 wrote: »

I currently have the heating come on every day for 1 hour and that gives gives me enough hot water for the whole day, including having a bath. In the winter I have it set to come on twice a day for 1hr each time (first thing in the morning for 1 hr and in the evenings for 1hr).

That's about what we have. I also cook on electric and I drink a lot of tea.

If it's freezing cold, we might turn the heating on for half an hour ro take the edge off.

gas4you

I pay £101 /month gas and £92 /month electric

slipthru

gas4you wrote: »

I pay £101 /month gas and £92 /month electric

How big is your house?

derek19_2

One hour in the morning and one at night. Jeez!

My heating is on from 8am to midnight. And it costs me £560 per year for gas and £450 per year for electricity. 3 bed semi.

I'm paying E.on £90 per month, they don't do separate direct debits for electricity and gas.

missile

pg2114 wrote: »

I have just checked with them again and they are definitely taking £30.00 per month for gas and £50.00 per month for electricity. .

I would suggest your usage might be a little higher than that over winter but a little less in summer. I not worry too much about the direct debit ammount. Check your first bill against the meter readings.

It is important to make sure you are on your suppliers cheapest tarrif, not their standard rate .

pimento

derek19 wrote: »

One hour in the morning and one at night. Jeez!

My heating is on from 8am to midnight. And it costs me £560 per year for gas and £450 per year for electricity. 3 bed semi.

I'm paying E.on £90 per month, they don't do separate direct debits for electricity and gas.

Small bill, big carbon footprint.

Tippon

If you're paying £30 a month for a gas boiler, oven and fire, I would suggest that it's probably a bit low. I use to work for the billing team at Briti$h Ga$ (can you tell that I don't like them? ), and Npower were notorious for quoting well below realistic bills in order to pull in customers.

The standard average gas usage for the UK was 20,500 KWh a year, and if they didn't use that to calculate your bills, they should have run through a series of questions with you to find out what your usage is likely to be. Basing it on the previous tenants is nonsense, and frankly, just lazy. They could have been reclusive shut-in pensioners who had the gas on full all day, or they could have been hard working party animals who were rarely in the house

Based on what you originally said, you've measured your usage to be 17KWh for every hour that your boiler is on. Assuming that you use it for two hours each day and don't use any other gas (unlikely, I know), it means that you'll be using 34KWh per day, which is 3102.5KWh for each quarter, each quarter being 91.25 days.

Your first tier of gas usage is 882KWH at 6.021p, which is charged on a pro rata basis per quarter, and your second tier of usage is the remainder of gas used in that quarter at 2.732p, so, rounding to the nearest penny, we get:

882 x 6.021 = 5310.522 / 100 = £53.11
2220.5 x 2.732 = 6066.406 / 100 = £60.66
53.11 + 60.66 = £113.77 per quarter
£113.77 / 3 = £37.92 per month

Based on that, and the fact that you've probably also got a direct debit discount and maybe a dual fuel discount, it seems about right. Don't forget though, that it's only based on your boiler being used for two hours a day, and doesn't take your cooker or fire into consideration, and they'll probably use a lot more!

Your best bet is to take a set of meter readings for both gas and electricity, and in a weeks time, take them again at the same time of day. You'll get a rough idea of how much you'll be using in a week over the winter, and will be able to get a better idea of what your bill should be. It will be higher than your actual usage, as you won't need the heating on as much in the summer, but at least you'll have a better idea

P.S. Don't forget that everyone builds up a debt with their supplier over the winter, but then goes into credit over the summer. The idea is that it balances out over the year so that you're as close to a zero balance as possible at the end of your billing year

derek19_2

big carbon footprint.

This carbon footprint lark is a load of rubbish

Do you honestly think that since the earth has been on the go for billions of years that we could screw it up in a hundred years?

If I want to be warm I will be warm and to hang with the carbon footprint.

A bunch of scientist thought up this global warming lark to get money to investigate it.

Biggest con in the world.

Next year we will all be told to make more carbon dioxide because the world is cooling down too quick.