Help with insane gas bill

eventide

In short- just got the first gas bill in the new flat we've moved to and it was huge considering what I think we use. £80 gas for a 1 month period- is this normal?

The heating is on 6am-8am and 6pm-10pm but only on in two rooms (others set at the 'star' setting), no roomstat but with TRVs at ~5 and all doors kept shut at all times. Two showers a day between us, and we wash the dishes maybe twice a day. I've done readings of the gas meter over the last few days and apparently we've used 24 units (metric) in 4 days, which seems steep.

I admit it's an old flat (~1920s sandstone), which probably has poor insulation, and the windows are only single glazed, but even still...Am I just being naive as to the price/usage of gas?

eventide

182units, averaging at 62kWh per day. One of the rooms is pretty tiny, one is fairly large and has big windows- I keep the blinds down all day.

brewerdave

No room thermostat at all?? If the boiler is firing all the time for 6 hours per day then you will definitely get thru 62 kwh per day. My current usage with roughly the same time settings/usage (albeit a bigger house) AND a thermostat, is ~ 75kwh per day and in the very cold winter last year my usage went up as high as 120kwh/day!
Look to switching to a cheaper tariff asap

Yolina

Do you *really* need the TVRs set at 5? That's quite high so no wonder you're going through a fair bit of gas with the heating on for 6 hours a day. I haven't got a room thermostat either so put thermometers in various rooms, that way I can set the TVRs to give me the temperature I want in each of them. My place will better insulated than yours (late 80s/early 90s build) but I do have huge windows and a vintage 20 year old boiler. At the moment I'm going though around 40 kWh a day - I'm in pretty much all day but I haven't got the heating on all the time (between 4 and 6 hours a day, depending on the weather!)

Having said all that, I used to live in a Victorian place with single glazing and no insulation which was impossible to keep warm without having the heating working flat out - I'm grateful that this was over 15 years ago and gas was cheap then!

Edit: and given the price of gas now, your bill isn't particularly outrageous, it is winter after all!

soothyerboots

In all honesty, Gas is expensive these days, and given what you've told us, I don't consider your bill to be particularly surprising. Get on uswitch and find the cheapest tariff for yourself asap.

eventide

I've not turned one of the two heaters off, and the other TRV to 2, and I'll look at getting a roomstat if it's not too expensive. My current tariff is a 'freeze for 2012' tariff from EDF, so I'm tied into that till next year.

Even with the time/temp settings at what they were the flat was freezing most of the time- I wouldn't have minded the bill if it had at least been warm... Anyway, if it's going to be cold regardless I may as well turn it right down, have also turned down the thermostat on the boiler for both heating and hot water.

Thanks for your replies.

spiro

In terms of your heating times (6am-8am and 6pm-10pm) this implies you get up at 6:30, leave for work at 8:30, get home at 6:30 and go to bed at 10:30. Is that right?
If not you may want to adjust the times. Most people suggest it comes on 1/2hr before you get up, turns off 1/2hr before you go out, comes on 1/2hr before you get home and goes off 1/2hr or so before you go to bed.

sam.4000

I only have my heating on for 30 mins in the morning, 2 hours is a long time. My heating in the evening comes on at 5pm and goes off at 9pm unless I turn it off before.
Have you thought of insulating you windows, there is a film you can buy that is supposed to work. I used bubble wrap on the bathroom window last year which worked quite well.

Utilityanonymous

Check the readings are accurate, the start and final for that bill, if either is an estimate, that's probably the seed of the problem, if they're both accurate, most energy companies will give LOTS of energy saving tips/products and packages. Furthermore, get into a good fixed price.

eventide

n terms of your heating times (6am-8am and 6pm-10pm) this implies you get up at 6:30, leave for work at 8:30, get home at 6:30 and go to bed at 10:30. Is that right?
If not you may want to adjust the times. Most people suggest it comes on 1/2hr before you get up, turns off 1/2hr before you go out, comes on 1/2hr before you get home and goes off 1/2hr or so before you go to bed.

My other half gets up at around 6am and leaves at 8am, I get up later but also don't leave until closer to 9am. I get in between 5-6pm and we go to bed any time from 10.30pm-11.30pm usually. So really turning it off for less time isn't an option unless we want to freeze. Then again, we're paying all that and still freezing the vast majority of the time...

The readings are actual readings, I checked them several times. For now I'm just attempting to be wary with the hot water etc & have now limited us to just the 1 rad.