Very high gas bill, 2529 kwh used in 33 days

Magic_Bites

Hello, this is my first time posting on this site and I would like some help please. I have just received a gas bill for £90.92p from EDF. I collected the keys for the property on February 19 2011 but I didn't properly move in until the next week. The actual dates for the bill are 19 Feb - 24 March. It states that I've used 226 units and 2529 kwh. It's a 2 bed flat in a converted house and I have gsh but my cooker etc is electric. I'm on the standard dual fuel tarriff and the meter reading is an actual reading. I'm horrified at the amount of the bill, I called EDf and the lady on the phone agreed that it's quite unusual for the bill to be that high but only suggested changing my tarriff.

Any help would be appreciated!

KimYeovil

£90 is not outrageous for a 35 day winter month. And that is on their standard tariff - so a good bit higher than future bills (if you switch to direct debit tariff).

6 electricity kWh per day is fair enough (quite high, though). 72 kWh of gas per day is impossible to not notice (but not crazy).

But, chances are you have a solid whack of usage from before you moved in. Are you sure the start reading is your actual start reading? It is most likely you are just paying for the previous owner - even if they just had the heating on frost protection.

If those are actual readings, though, you will have to work out what is eating your energy - at those rates of consumption that should be easy enough to isolate.

Magic_Bites

Thanks, I took the reading on the day I picked up the keys, I didn't actually move in until 23rd February. I have had the heating on but not all day and night and there are only 2 of us that live in the property. I will monitor it over the week but it's so high, I know people that live in a 3 bed house and their gas bill isn't nearly as high as mine.

I'm looking at price comparison sites but I only have this bill and I'm not sure whether to put in my usage for the last month or put that I live in a 2 bedroom flat and as I won't be spending £90 each month for the rest of the year.

HappyMJ

Your people that you know are probably telling you the monthly direct debit that they are paying. You are paying monthly in arrears on receipt of bill. It's hard to compare the two figures but £90 in March might be £10 in July and could be £150 in December.

victor2

Do you have a hot water tank heated by the gas boiler? If so, look at the boiler settings for that as it may be running at times when the heating is off.
Since you have no history, all you can do is take meter readings regularly (like at the same time every day) to get a feel of what your usage is. Your bill should show the formula to convert units used to kWh.
Anything involving heating is so seasonal and you could look to dramatically reduce the cost as summer approaches, which I'm reliably informed it will!:)

liam8282

Do you have separate boilers for gas and water, rather than a combi boiler?

I do think it is a high bill, but not impossible if you are on a standard tariff and have used a lot of gas for heating and hot water.

spiro

Check that both the meter and bill either say M3 (metric) or ft3 (imperial). If they do match then its not a billing error and you have used that much.

elektra

I've just paid a gas bill for a similar period

16 feb to 24 mar ( but reading was 20th march) actual readings

1769.15 kwh £70.95

but I have a 4 bed detached so I would say yours does seem a little on high side

id101

my wife and i have just received a bill for nearly 800 for four months use, around 21000 kwh, we have a 2 1/2 bedroom flat and only have gas central heating.
this is with npower they say for the same period last year we used half that amount, we hvent done anything different from last year either. when challenged they felt it fell into expected usage!
i am currently checking the meter everyday with the heating system switched off. i have checked to see if we are being charged by the metric system when our meter is imperial but it doesnt appear to be the case.

as the central heating was used in exactly the same way as last year i cant accept that we have used double the amount of gas!
can anyone help?

spiro

id101 wrote: »

my wife and i have just received a bill for nearly 800 for four months use, around 21000 kwh, we have a 2 1/2 bedroom flat and only have gas central heating.
this is with npower they say for the same period last year we used half that amount, we hvent done anything different from last year either. when challenged they felt it fell into expected usage!
i am currently checking the meter everyday with the heating system switched off. i have checked to see if we are being charged by the metric system when our meter is imperial but it doesnt appear to be the case.

as the central heating was used in exactly the same way as last year i cant accept that we have used double the amount of gas!
can anyone help?

You may have had the heating/hot water on for the same number of hours per day and even had the room stat at the same temp but we have just had the coldest winter in over 100 years so its going to take more energy to heat the house and water especially if flat doesn't have a high level of insulation. I suspect given how cold it was you may have had the heating on for an extra 1/2hr here and there and possibly the room stat a little higher all of which will have helped double your bill.

id101

spiro wrote: »

You may have had the heating/hot water on for the same number of hours per day and even had the room stat at the same temp but we have just had the coldest winter in over 100 years so its going to take more energy to heat the house and water especially if flat doesn't have a high level of insulation. I suspect given how cold it was you may have had the heating on for an extra 1/2hr here and there and possibly the room stat a little higher all of which will have helped double your bill.

despite it not being that much colder for the months covered than the year before, the heating also didnt work for two weeks so again less usage, and looking at other peoples kwh figures doesn't the 21,000 odd in four months seems rather high?