Huge monthly gas direct debit

katyp

I am desperate to get our gas direct debit down but I just can't seem to do it.
We pay £106 per month (for gas only) from EDF. There is no debt on the account, we are just paying for our current usage.
We have a newish (1989) four-bedroom detatched house, with cavity wall insulation and loft insulation up to the required standard. We have a two-year old condensing boiler which is serviced regulaly.
Our gas appliances are central heating and water (13 radiators) and a gas hob (not oven).
Our hot water usage is three showers per day (two long, one short) and two baths (one full, one for children).
The washing machine and dishwasher heat their own water by electicity.
Our thermostat is set at 20 and the heating comes on for a maximum of 8 hours throughout the day in deepest winter.
I am quite careful with the gas, yet I seem to be paying double the amount anyone I ask with similar circumstances to mine. Has anyone any ideas where I am going wrong?

bridgend_girl

only way is to use less - sorry.

my heating is now completely off, we snuggle under a fleece in the evenings and baths are definitely not a daily thing and even then we reuse the water ( i get in after kids have been in) and showers kept short.

i take monthly meter reads and work out each months bill. in summer my 3 bed house with me plus 4 kids uses about £40 per month and in winter it goes up to about £100.

hope this helps

katyp

Thanks for the reply.
I know we have to use less, but surely even using what we do, our DD is horrendously high?
Our heating is off too now - I just stated our maximum usage in my original post.
As an aside, we had our latest quarterly bill on Saturday, and even paying £106 a month, we are still £205 in debit to be carried over, so our direct debit is probably going to go even higher!
I hear what you say about using less, but I honestly don;t think our usage is excessive, it seems about normal to people I discuss it with.

thefishdude

8 hours of heating a day in winter that will be why you paying so much especially as youo have a 13 rad system. only way you could do it in my opinion is save a bit by looking at switchng supplier maybe or using it less. is someone at home all the time its on fo 8 hours ?

katyp

It's programmed to come on at 19 from 6-8am, 18 at 2-4 and then 20 from 5pm-9. This only come on if the temperature drops to the stated levels. Obviosuly at the moment, it doesn;t come on at all. There is someone in the house all day.
I am aware that we can save gas by not using the heating or hot water - but I don't believe the temperatures/time zones stated here are at all excessive for what we are paying.

Cardew

I assume you have checked if your gas meter is Metric and you are being charged as such - not for an Imperial meter.

A metric meter measures in cubic metres and each gas unit is approx 11.2kWh. An Imperial meter measures in cubic feet. A gas unit is 100 cubic feet and approx 31kWh.

It is quite common for people with a metric meter to be charged for an Imperial meter.

katyp

I wonder if this could be the problem? Hoiw can we find out?

Cardew

katyp wrote: »

I wonder if this could be the problem? Hoiw can we find out?

Look at your meter.

On the face of the meter at the bottom(normally) it will have Cu ft or Ft3(the small '3' indicates cubed) - that is an Imperial meter.

A metric meter will have cu mtr or M3. That is a metric meter.

Now look at your bill. If you have a metric meter each gas unit should be approx 11.2 kWh. e.g if you have used 500 gas units that equates to approx 5,600kWh.

macman

Are you already on the cheapest EDF tariff? If you're on standard tariff, you're throwing money away. Have you checked on a comp site to see if you can get a cheaper tariff?
13 rads is quite a big system, can you turn off/down the rads in rooms not used?
Do you have a modern digital programmer to control the timing and temp precisely?

katyp

Cardew, thanks for the info. I've checked this morning, and our bills are in cubic feet. BUT I can't find the flamin' key to the meter to check if it is in cubic metres. I do know however, that the house was built in 1989, so surely we would have a metric meter? Now I'm off to see if i can get a new key from anywhere ...

katyp

Macman, 13 rads doesn't incude the ones we have switched off! Although our house isn't espacially big, we do have a lot of rooms, hence radiators. We have a remote digital thermostat in the kitchen to control the heating.