Please help gas bill confusion

shapcott81

I moved into a new home in December 2010 and have just received my first gas bill. It was higher than expected and when i compared to my previous bill it was worked out totally different. It transpires that i have an imperial meter being charged in cubic feet. I am totally confused as looking online it says they times the units used by 2.83 to get it to work out cubic meters for the Kwh. My bill actually shows calculations of:-

91 units x factor 100 x correction factor
1.02264 = 9306.02

9306.02 x conversion factor 0.0283 = 263.36

263.36 cu mtrs x calorific value 39.4
/ conversion factor 3.6 = 2882.32

Units converted to kilowatt hours 2882.32 kWh

This seems a lot for less than 2 months usage when i do not have heating on a lot and only low when i do. My appliances are electric and we dont use a huge amount of hot water.

I have no idea if this calculation is correct as it seems different to how other people say to work it out and southern electric are being no help to me at all to the point where i have decided to change supplier.

I cannot afford to keep paying bills like this especially when the weather gets colder again.

Appreciate any information from anyone who can let me know if this calculation is correct.

KimYeovil

91 imperial units are approx 2900 kWh so yes 2882 is the correct exact number.

Is your meter an imperial one not metric? Your actual meter has 'feet' rather than 'metres' written on it? This is unlikely - £15 per month is a little low for winter but if you are very frugal that could be the problem.

If it is an imperial meter then that is what you have used - you need to inspect whether it is a catch up bill or if you are indeed using 50kWh per day. A gas boiler uses 12 or more kWh so it is a reasonable amount. And since it would only cost £40 or £50 per month - well, that is hardly unreasonable over a winter month.

notbritishgas

Just to reinforce what Kim has said, yes the calculations have been done correctly.
But also to put your usage into perspective, for the same 2 months I used 176 imperial units, which incidentally are measured in 100's of cubic feet not cubic feet.
So your usage looks to be reasonable.

dogshome

Hi shapcott21 - As others have posted, on an Imerial meter, 91 meter units will indeed equate to 2882kw of chargeable gas - a quick check without haveing to follow the complicated equation on the bill is to multiply the units used x 31.5, this gives a very close figure

However, from your post I get the impression that your information that you had an IMPERIAL meter came from your supplier, but you really must check this for yourself - The front of your meter will be marked ft3 if it is an Imperial model, or m3 if it is a Metric model.
If your meter is marked m3 get back on to your supplier immediately as you are being seriouisly overcharged for your gas

frugalmacdugal

Hi,

shapcott81 wrote: »

Appreciate any information from anyone who can let me know if this calculation is correct.

have a look here.

shapcott81

Thanks for all your help i was just completely confused because we use the heating less than we did in our old property yet the Kwh amount has more than doubled and southern electric just werent interested when i asked them to explain the bill to me.

Our meter does say cubic feet on it i checked so i guess the bill is right but i think i might see if there is a cheaper supplier if thats the usage amounts as southern electric have been a problem from say one.

Thanks everyone for the replies :T

Pont

Just to echo previous posters. My bill (dated 11th January) for 87 days was 140 units = 4424kwh, which averages 50kwh per day.
Your bill, alas, sounds about average for the cold winter period.

shapcott81

no problem thats fine. Was just puzzled as my old house the heating was on 20 hours a day due to circumstances and the Kwh was less than half it is in this house using the heating less than half the time. But now i know its correct i'll shop around for better deal.

Thanks all.