Annual gas usage help please

Flotsam

Hi Folks,

Newbie poster here so please be kind:o
I have only had Gas supplied to my house since Feb this year so currently don't have a full years billing to base my annual estimated consumption on.
Was hoping that 1 of you knowledgeable folks could give me a rough idea of what to base my calculations on.
Any help or advice will be very much appreciated.

penrhyn

You don't say what sort of property you have etc, average consumption for a Gas CH house is around 15,000Kwh / year.

Flotsam

Hi penrhyn,

thanks for the quick reply.
I'm very much a low user, Summer I didn't use the central heating at all and only had it on for a couple of hours a week for heating water.
I live in a 2 bed bungalow, double glazed, cavity wall insulation and full loft insulation (courtesy of Scottish Hydro).
I know how many units I have used from 02 Feb till now but my problems start when I try to calculate what I think I will use between now and Feb 2012.
Hope this explains things a wee bit better.

rogerblack

What would have been fairly useful is if you had feb->march readings.
Do you?
Or at least a reading when you stopped heating.

Or.
Find a day with a constantish temperature - look at the weather forecast.
Cloudy day and night is good.
Now, set the thermostat at a constant temperature, and leave it.
Read the meter.
At the end of the 24 hours, read it again.

If the difference between the inside and the outside is 15C, and you used 10 units (made up), then if the temperture drops so that the difference is 30C, you will need 20 units/day.

This is not quite accurate - windy conditions suck more heat out of the house, especially if it's poorly sealed, and draughtproofed.

Find a graph of average temperature over the heating season - http://www.yr.no/place/United_Kingdom/Scotland/Glenrothes/statistics.html - for example - and work out the bill for eeach month.

HappyMJ

It could be anything. Try taking meter readings weekly and figure it out from that. Friend of mine has a detached 3 bed home well insulated, kept warm, very efficient boiler and only uses 12,500kWh per year. I was quite suprised when I saw his bill. I live by myself inefficient heating system but don't turn the temperature up much but use a lot less. The national average is 16,500kWh. You would use more in scotland and less in cornwall. More in a 4 bed and less in a 2 bed bungalow. More if you leave the heating on all day in the week and less if you turn it off when you go to work.

Flotsam

Hi again,

Thank you both for your excellent replies.
I've had a look at my online bills and for the period 02 Feb to 25 March I used 1687.29 kWh (was exceptionally cold here and also had family staying for a month so heating was on a lot as there was someone in the house all the time whereas normally I am on my own, out most days and only turn it on if I feel cold)
For the period 26 March to 15 June I used 258 kWh.
For period 16 June to 13 Sep I used 269 kWh.
Really appreciate your help I don't mind admitting that my head hurts trying to figure this out myself!!

rogerblack

Feb-Mar is similar in temp to Nov/Dec, so you can assume reasonably that from now to the end of december, you'll use a similar amount - 1800 or so say for a margin.
Assume for Jan you use a bit more - call it 1000.
So, that's 2800 or so till april, and another 500 or so for the rest of the year.
So, for the upcoming year, 3500 would be a safe bet.
_HOWEVER_.
This assumes that the 02 feb to 25 Mar was an actual, not an estimated reading.

This is quite a low bill indeed - it'd lead to a bill of about 200 pounds a year.
Are you sure however that you've not got kWh and 'units' mixed up?
For gas, they are not the same.

HappyMJ

I make it 33kWh per day for Feb and Mar. (1687 divide by 51 days). I used double in the coldest month of last winter which was December. So I'd guess at 1000 for Oct, 1500 for Nov, 2000 for Dec, 1500 for Jan, 1250 for Feb and 750 for Mar. I make it 8,000kWh. Fairly reasonable...but again it could be anything.

Flotsam

Hi rogerblack,

thank you so much for taking the time to help me I really appreciate it.
Yup, all of the bills were based on actual readings and all of the figures are based on kwh and not units used.
ie.
02 Feb - 25 Mar = 150 units used
26 Mar - 15 Jun = 23 units used
16 Jun - 13 Sep = 31 units used

I agree that my consumption is well below average but the house never seems to get very cold despite it's close proximity to the sea and my geographic location.
Thanks again for all your help, you are an absolute star:T

Flotsam

Hi HappyMJ,

thank you also for your help it's very much appreciated, luckily I still have not had to put my heating on for the Winter yet as it has been pretty mild here so far. So to be on the safe side I will split the difference between yours and rogerblacks' estimates and base my calculations in the middle:D
You've both been a great help, thanks again.