gas meter , pre pay costs

londonirish_3

hi I have just moved in to my new home, 2 bed semi, It has a gas meter fitted, a prepayment card one, I notified eon when i moved in and changed to n power who sent me a card, the previous owners said they put 15 on a week, but im putting 30 on and it still run out. yesterday evening it said £13 this morning it said £6.57 . n power said there is no debt. i dont have it on all day, i had it on for 4 hours in eve. im too scared to put it on tonight and we are freezing!
i have a gas hob, but not oven, 20 minutes cooking a night on average.
i do have a fire in the lounge but its got a sticker on it saying do nt use, its gas.
n power wont move me to direct debit, but said i could pay 600 to switch... errr no!
iv checked the boiler in airing cupbard, everything is off, how on earth can we be using £30 + a week in gas!!!

m elec is prpayment and i put 11 on and it lasts all week.

any advice would be appreciated.

lynzpower

Ive no idea how you are spending this, we are spending about 10er a week at MOST on our prepay gas with BG

Heres what Im thinking
1) do you have gas heated hot water? Are you leaving this on when not needed? Eg my boiler has a dial on for the heating and one for the Hot water. the hot water dial is always turned right down unless we need it.
2) we probably are only having the heating on for a couple of hours a day. In this cold snap we have spent 2.50 since thursday the heating has been on a lot more
3) Heating is always turned off when we are out- no exceptions

Are you doing all these things?

How are you washing, are you heating water for regular baths, or do you have a shower, if so is it gas or electric.

The only other issue is whether it is leaking somewhere, but I take it you got a new gas safety certificate when you moved in? if you are renting I mean

londonirish_3

hi , gas cert all ok, shower is electric ( it worked when the gas was off) the airing cupboard has the switches and they are all off, i have to go in and push the button for heating. i turned the heating on at 5 and turned it off at 9 last night how on earth is it using that much. we will run out of gas i cant afford to keep feeding it on my wages. iv already put in over £100 the last 4 weeks

Blackpool_Saver

Condemned gas fire? yikes, are you renting?

londonirish_3

yes we rent from the housing association

Blackpool_Saver

and they allow people to move in with unusable gas fires? and you have a gas certificate?

londonirish_3

yes, the certificate was issued , its standard when housing associations do swaps. we did a straight swap for this place and had to have all the checks done, im worried now

Blackpool_Saver

Well I didn't know they could do that, please don't worry, I would get on the phone to them on Monday and ask for advice

londonirish_3

thanks iv already rang them, i was told that i must have the heating on by mistake, crikey i think i would know lol. the fire "lights up every 10 mins or so, the boiler bit that is, its behind the fire, if that makes sense.

lynzpower

Im trying to picture what the gas fire looks like, is there a picture on google images ( i know your a new user) so we could take a look

Is there a gas pipe that comes out of the wall that then attaches to the fire. Is this still connected? Is it "capped off"

http://www.plumbinggasfittingleicestershire.co.uk/Roy-Lees-Nightmare-Album-of-Gas-Fitting-and-Plumbing-Horror-Stories.aspx

heres an interesting page for you to take a look

Do you have a carbon monoxide alarm

Im evisioning you gas hob being on your work surface and a seperate fitted electric oven, is this right?

When you use your gas hob, what colour is the flame?

lynzpower

http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/