How do I know what I spend on gas on a freezing day?

dorothyb_2

As it was very cold yesterday and I had a guest staying, I knew I would have to keep the gas central heating on all day so I took meter readings at the beginning and end of the day to see see how much I was spending. At the end of the day I called my energy supplier, EDF, to find out how much the 4 cubic feet I had used would cost. I was told there was no way of working this out as the tarif changes. Even a rough estimate was out of the question.
I cannot even see from my gas bill how the cubic feet on my meter reading translate into the units on my bill, which vary in price from 2.891p to 7p per unit.
With another freezing winter underway and many people concerned about their finances how is it possible that we cannot find out how much we have spent until we have spent it?
There is no other area in my life where I spend money every day with no idea what it is costing until I get a bill. No wonder people are worried about putting their heating on.
Given that EDF have a huge advertising campaign at the moment to tell us that they have frozen their prices wouldn't it be sensible if they could tell us what those prices actually are? I'd really appreciate your advice.

HappyMJ

You had the central heating on all day and only used 4 cubic feet of gas. That isn't much. I'd say it was 4 hcf (hundred cubic feet) of gas and that'll be about 120kwh multiplied by your rate so around £3.60 to £8.40. Take an average and it cost you £6.

KimYeovil

Your supplier is talking utter rot. Staff at EDF, how shameful (and 'bleagh' to Mr K). Use the lower price per kWh for your calculations (2.891p). As Happy suggests 4 imperial units are about 128 kWh so cost about £3.70. So each unit on your meter costs about 92p. Don't forget you have the tier 1 standing charge to add - about £9 per month (though that depends on tariff - I'm assuming 670 units per quarter.

Cardew

As indicated above a gas unit on a cubic feet meter is 100 cubic feet and approx 31.5kWh.

So as a rough guide each gas unit is approx £1.

You only need to use the lower figure of 2.891p/kWh as the higher figure is only for the first units each quarter - in effect a standing charge.

Foggy

The two tier tariff confuses many. Almost all of us will use our full quota of the higher tier so it is as Cardew says, effectively a standing charge. From your tariff you can just take the difference between the tiers, and multiply the figure by the amount of higher tier units charged, to get your standing charge total.

In my case I pay a standing charge of around £90 in total for both fuels but I also have a two discounts - online and direct debit - which brings my yearly 'standing charge' to £62. I pay this regardless so I simply read my meters and work out the cost based on the lower tariff.

macman

OP what you need to remember is that (unlike your electricity meter), your gas meter does not read energy consumption (kWh)-it only reads volume consumption (cu ft or cu m). That has to be converted to kWh, which is what you are billed in. And the relationship between the two is not a constant due to the variables (calorific value and correction factor) involved. The conversion is fiddly, but for most purposes you can just use the methods described above to get to kWh from cu ft, (i.e. multiply by 30 for an imperial meter and 11.5 for a metric meter), then multiply by the unit rate given on your tariff.

janninew

OP,

Put your readings in the web-site below, it will give you a very accurate figure, you will need to know what tariff you are on though.

http://smartmeter.ukpower.co.uk/