Huge monthly gas direct debit

JSR

katyp wrote: »

I do know however, that the house was built in 1989, so surely we would have a metric meter?

Mine was built in 1995 and has an imperial meter. I wonder when they started using metric!

Cardew

katyp wrote: »

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 ...

My house was built in 1988 and had an Imperial meter, which was changed to Metric in 2001.

So there is every possibility that your house originally had an Imperial meter.

Let us hope you now have a metric meter!!! and you will get a big discount!

P.S.
You can open the meter box with a pair of long nose pliers(snipe nose pliers)

spiro

You should always make sure you have the key to your meter cupboard handy as the emergency control value (ECV) is in there which you should operate in the event of smelling large amounts of gas in the house. It may help stop a very large 'bang' occuring.

ailuro2

3 showers a day AND two baths per day.... that's an awful lot of hot water. Also your washing machine will only heat up its own water if there is not enough available to it from the hot water supply ( that's why it has a red hose and a blue hose - it is supplied with both) Most dishwashers only have a cold water supply, so do heat up their own water.

In our house the adults bathe daily, if it's a bath we leave the water in for the next person - it's not dirty water, it's only been a day!

DD doesn't bathe every day ( despite my words of encouragement) When she was younger she'd have a bath once or twice a week, it's not good for their skin to remove all the healthy bacteria too often.;)

spiro

ailuro2 wrote: »

Also your washing machine will only heat up its own water if there is not enough available to it from the hot water supply ( that's why it has a red hose and a blue hose - it is supplied with both)

Most if not all washing machines now only have a blue feed (no hot water) which is back to how they were originally (donkeys years ago) before they went to having both.

Clydefrog

Change the thermostat temperature to something a bit lower - around 17 or 18 degrees and wear long sleeve while indoors.
Mine is set to 17.5 and I don't really feel a difference between this and 21 degrees. Might be down to personal preference though

Ben84

You could start tracking your usage with imeasure.org.uk, if you give it weekly meter readings and your cost per unit it will calculate roughly what you're using and make basic graphs. You can also if you like spreadsheets make your own to keep track of it. Once you start tracking it you'll get more of a feel for what you're spending and if you make changes you can see any difference more readily than by looking at quarterly bill. Those big time gaps and variations in weather/usage between bills just absorb and obscure what's going on.

On that thought, what is your cost per unit and standing charge? Also, what if any difference do you notice between summer and winter in usage?

mattcanary

I think it's mainly going to be a problem with how you are being billed rather than your usage patterns, katy? Have you checked what type of meter you have yet?