British Gas bill seems ridiculous, is it?

pine77

Is this Bristish Gas bill correct?

I live in a small studio flat, moved there in the summer.
A small kitchen gas boiler feeds 3 radiators and the stove/cooker.
We do not sleep with the heating on but have the heating for 1-4 hours a day in this current weather.

Do cook once/twice a day also. I used 129 metric units in 90 days. Does this bill covering 3 months look correct to you?

Apparently I am not allowed to post links yet, so please simply put the 'http' directly in front of the link to see my bill.

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jd87

It says 129 imperial units actually. Your usage is fairly high for your household, but not ridiculously so.

1-4 hours a day of heating sounds like quite a lot, especially as it's not even cold yet. I think you need to get some insulation.

jd87

For clarity, savemoney's meter is metric; his/her 94 metric units is equivalent to around 33 imperial.

So 33 units for a 3 bed house over 30 days, versus the OP's 129 for 90 days in a flat. I restate that the OP's usage is high but not so much that it implies anything is wrong with the bill.

rogerblack

Studio flat may equal large amounts of window.
Windows, even double-glazed are very poor insulators thermally.

Yolina

Well I do find the OP's usage quite high particularly for a studio flat but I know that I am a rather low user. From 30th September to 30th November I've used 25 imperial units so I make that roughly 800kwh; annual use is around 7600kwh and I am in pretty much all day too.

I am in a 2-bed 20-something year old purpose built flat, still with the original boiler. Gas used for heating (8 rads), HW tank and hob.
Both the main bedroom and living room have 3 external walls, the other rooms all have 1 external wall
I have big windows in the main rooms (two 80cm x 120cm and one 2400cm x 1900cm in the living room; one 1600cm x 1900cm in the bedroom) The windows are double-glazed but the frames are powder-coated metal (i.e rather useless!)
About a third of the flat is under a pitched roof, about a third is under another flat and about a third is under a flat roof (the terrace from the flat above - practically no insulation in that, luckily it's above my bedroom and en-suite rather than the living room!).

I have the HW on for 30 minutes a day, heating on only when I need it and always off at night and when I'm out. Most of the rooms are at around 18, the bedroom only gets heated to 16. I do have blackout lining on all the curtains which does keep the heat in. Works for me

jalexa

pine77 wrote: »

We do not sleep with the heating on but have the heating for 1-4 hours a day in this current weather.

The issue is not so much 1-4 hours (who decides and how is that controlled?) but where is the room thermostat and what is it set to?

Your OP stated you had used metric units but as has been pointed out the bill is clearly imperial (and there has been a recent meter reader read). Have you checked how the meter is marked?

I would say the usage is quite high for what has been no more than the first 3 months of the heating season. *If* it is accurate beware the next 3 months which could easily be double unless you change your usage.

So that you understand, a meter reading is proof positive of usage unless the meter is proved to be faulty. If you are not satisfied you need to initiate the process. Before that start taking daily readings. For comparison have a "heating free" day. Post the results and you will get more meaningful help.

ankspon

My 2 bed ground floor flat gas bill for the last quarter was £50

Kazipoo

I actually think thats very high.

We live in a three bed semi, it is a prefab type of house so we can't have cavity wall insulation (although I am sure there is something) and we have a metal roof.

My bill has just arrived, dated for the period June 2011 to December 2011, a total of 157 days.

Our usage is 2323.51 kwh and the cost including VAT for that period is £131.18

IMO OP's bill is very high for a three month period if mine is for a period of just over 5 months.

There are 6 of us.

pine77

Thanks for all the responses firstly. Some answers to the questions.

I read the meter myself and I meant to write imperial units, not metric.

The studio has victorian large sash windows, they keep in very little heat and I doubt the landlord will do anything about it. Rogerblack was right to mention this.

The meter reads in feet³.

The room thermostat is set to 30, the highest possible notch. During an average day I keep the one radiator on for about 1-4 hours and cook some food.

Already from the 6th Dec to 10th Dec, today, I have used 7 imperial units, (new reading today 5343).

@Kazipoo what was your usage over the 157 days in Imperial units?

@Jalexa I turn on the heating manually and decide when it goes on.

@Yolina, how much to you expect to pay a quarter?

It just seems very high usage to me and I don't think 4 hours of one radiator a day and some food in a studio should be around £200 a quarter.

jalexa

pine77 wrote: »

During an average day I keep the one radiator on for about 1-4 hours and cook some food.

Already from the 6th Dec to 10th Dec, today, I have used 7 imperial units, (new reading today 5343).

Ignoring the stat set at 30, for 1 radiator for 1-4 hours, less relevant than at first sight, your are using approx 44kWhrs/day. It is virtually impossible for "one radiator" to emit 44kWhrs in 1-4 hours, so something else is going on. As a test I suggest you reduce the stat to 21deg and see what difference that makes to comfort and consumption.

And have a gas "heat free day" to see how much gas cooking is using.

Another good test is to read the meter when the heating comes on from cold and then *exactly* one hour later, not having done any cooking.

pine77

Thanks Jalexa.

I forgot to mention I also have a bath/shower a day which requires hot water, as does my partner.

Also the big radiator I use is pointlessly positioned directly under the big sash window that loses all the heat.