High Cost of Central Heating - please help

Gasuser

Hi - I'm new to all this so was hoping that someone would be able to help me. Recently moved into 3 bed 1st floor flat and having trouble with the central heating:

Took the meter reading, ran the heating for one hour and took the meter reading again. Gas consumption worked out at £6 for the hour the heating was used. Have combi boiler on half setting, 5 radiators on in the flat all on 3. Gas is on the standard duel fuel tariff with British Gas. Dad's pays £87 monthly standing order to British Gas and his house is like a sauna.

Any pointers as to why the cost for our flat are so high would be welcome we are unemployed with a child and the flat is freezing and winter hasn't arrived yet.

Also any help on the best dual fuel tariff would be helpful as the different tariffs don't make any sense. Have to stay with British Gas as the landlord has a separate contract with them for the boiler repair/pipes etc.

many thanks

victor2

Show your meter readings, indicating if metric or imperial, rather than cost.
£6 in an hour is a lot, but you may have made a simple error. Also, don't forget the heating will have more work to do if switched on for an hour in a cold house just getting the temperature up. Measure your usage over a longer period, like 24 hours with the house comfortable. It can't come out to £6 x 24, so don't panic!

Leon_W

There is no way on Gods earth that your combi boiler running continuously for 1 Hour will use anyway near £6 of gas. It's physically impossible.

Are you reading your meter correctly ? Some are in cubic feet, some in cubic meters and even then you have to convert the reading to Kilowatts. What's gas these days ? 3p ish per KWH

Is it prepayment ?

Cardew

If you have a large CH boiler you would be pushed to use £1 an hour for the first hour, and then it would be much less. -

Give details of your calculations and we will show where you have made an error

Gasuser

Thanks for the replies. The consumption was around 6 units for one hour running the heating. Don't have the figures with me at the moment but can get back to you all tomorrow with them (no internet at home due to cost).

The tariff we are on says that the gas price is 8p per kwh which seems a bit much. No prepayment scheme just the standard rate from British Gas. Again all help needed as we need not to freeze!

victor2

Do it again and make sure you have the decimal point in the right place.
Also check if your meter says m3 or HCF on it.

victor2

Gasuser wrote: »

The tariff we are on says that the gas price is 8p per kwh which seems a bit much. No prepayment scheme just the standard rate from British Gas. Again all help needed as we need not to freeze!

That's probably the tier 1 price, which only applies to the first 2680kWh per year according to BG. After that it will drop significantly to something like less than 4p.

Gasuser

British Gas have sent the last 2 bills with all costs at tier 1 prices. will check the meter though to see whether it is m3 or HCF as not sure. Decimal point is definitely in the right place though!

victor2

Gasuser wrote: »

British Gas have sent the last 2 bills with all costs at tier 1 prices. will check the meter though to see whether it is m3 or HCF as not sure. Decimal point is definitely in the right place though!

That could be because without the heating on you don't go over the tier 2 threshold. As well as doing your own exercise, you could quote the figures given on your bill and someone will be able to explain what they all mean.

grahamc2003

Gasuser wrote: »

Hi - Gas consumption worked out at £6 for the hour the heating was used. Have combi boiler on half setting, 5 radiators on in the flat all on 3.

If you pay 3p/kwh for gas, and spend £6 in one hour, that means you have a 200kw boiler, which is unlikely unless your flat is about 17 times bigger than most flats!

Cardew

6 units in one hour is approx 67kWh with a metric meter(there is no way it could be an Imperial meter) That using tier 2 electricity price would be around £2.

However I very much doubr your boiler could use 67kWh(even heating hot water from scratch) in an hour unless faulty. A largish boiler will use 30kWh.