First Gas and Elec bill and its huge!

cinderellie***

HI,

My partner and I recently started renting a property (march 2011) and I recently put my meter readings in online and came out at £283.00 for 3 months 2 weeks worth of Gas and Electricity.

We rent a two bed terraced house!

Basically, we realised 2 months ago the boiler was faulty and everytime we had the hot water on it would turn the heating on and heat the radiators full whack even though heating was switched off!

I informed the landlord of this and 1.5 months later he had a plumber out who drained the radiators and didn't fix the problem. The landlord then (2 months later) asked us to not use the boiler but the immersion switch to get our hotwater instead....

Soooo, now the gas bill (elec is normal) is MASSIVE.. ! and we know its because of this faulty boiler...

I need to know what the average consumption for gas is (in kwh) over 3 summer months for a couple and a 1 year old in a two bed terraced house, in order for me to tell the landlord he owes me!

We have had NO heating since being in the house, the hot water was on for 2 hours a day (when faulty) and now (within the last 3 weeks) we have been using the immersion switch and switched it on for no more than half hour a day.

We are also aware that 4 of our neighbours in similar houses pay no more than £45 for both elec and gas! (they all have families of 3-4 in the two bed houses.
Please help....

Also any advice on landlord situation would be great!xx

madmonkey01

that works out at about £80 per month for both, which is probably within the normal range, for people with electrical appliances, especially ones left on standby.

i have a two bed terrace, and mine works out at about £60 a month. but that is with minimal boiler use, and everything switched off fully when not in use.

cinderellie***

madmonkey01 wrote: »

that works out at about £80 per month for both, which is probably within the normal range, for people with electrical appliances, especially ones left on standby.

i have a two bed terrace, and mine works out at about £60 a month. but that is with minimal boiler use, and everything switched off fully when not in use.

Hi,

I do also switch EVERYTHING off at the plug when not in use... (except the fridge)... We are never in the house at the weekends.. (always at my parents)... And the heating is never switched on..

It just doesn't seem right when my neighbours, who have admitted to not being as careful as me, are only paying £45

thanks,

Superbiatch

In OH's house, his radiators heat up when the hot water is running say for the shower etc even though switched to 'hot water' only. Do you know there is a fault, I thought all combi's did this

madmonkey01

cinderellie*** wrote: »

Hi,

I do also switch EVERYTHING off at the plug when not in use... (except the fridge)... We are never in the house at the weekends.. (always at my parents)... And the heating is never switched on..

It just doesn't seem right when my neighbours, who have admitted to not being as careful as me, are only paying £45

thanks,

did you give them a meter reading as soon as you moved in? and if so does this match the first meter reading on your bill, if not you may of been charged for usage whilst not in the property.
you could of been charged from the last meter reading given by the last occupier or landlord, which may of been different to the first meter reading when you moved in.

Sunnyday

I took our meter readings yesterday and for 30 days we used £12 gas and £30 electricity give or take a couple of pence - thats including vat.

We rarely use the hot water unless we are doing something as a one off eg we washed our huge quilt in the bath and shampooed some carpets this month so the water was on for a few hours for two days, we use a dishwasher and boil the kettle to wash down the kitchen sides each day and this also takes care of the odd thing that won`t go in the dishwasher.
There is someone in most of the day & night as we are shift workers.

We have a back boiler and an economy 7 tarrif for the leccy and are in a 3 bed semi. Can`t complain really as our annual usage for both gas and electricity for the last 12 months was £762 and pence. Also once the heating goes on for winter it stays permanently on and the thermostat switches it on and off as the temp drops, must confess to not turning it on until mid October last year though. I would have held out until November but it got quite nippy.

If you have the heating on for the rads does it heat the hot water too?
EDIT - What kind of boiler do you have?
SD

cinderellie***

Superbiatch wrote: »

In OH's house, his radiators heat up when the hot water is running say for the shower etc even though switched to 'hot water' only. Do you know there is a fault, I thought all combi's did this

I had it confirmed by a friend who is a plumber...

pinkmexican

Superbiatch wrote: »

In OH's house, his radiators heat up when the hot water is running say for the shower etc even though switched to 'hot water' only. Do you know there is a fault, I thought all combi's did this

My brother's did this too and it was a faulty valve that stayed open all the time.

macman

Superbiatch wrote: »

In OH's house, his radiators heat up when the hot water is running say for the shower etc even though switched to 'hot water' only. Do you know there is a fault, I thought all combi's did this

No, the exact opposite. When a combi is fired by a demand for hot water, it diverts all the hot water flow to the DHW side, because no combi can supply enough hot water for both. So for the time the shower is running, no hot water should flow to the CH circuit. Though if the programmer is set to hot water only, then the heating should be off anyway, so nothing to divert.
Clearly a fault which requires attention. Possibly a sticking diverter valve?

Superbiatch

macman wrote: »

Clearly a fault which requires attention. Possibly a sticking diverter valve?

Thanks very much, and sorry for hijacking the OP's thread. I shall call our plumber friend to get it sorted out - seen as he fitted the system.