Gas CH bill sky high - Help is needed...

spiro

becksfaz wrote: »

I don't understand kwh, just units - based on a gas bill I worked out I multiply my gas unit by 11 and then by 0.035p to work out my costs. Based on my readings and my calculations, this is my bill..... 12 units per 24 hours x 11 = 132. 132 x 0.035 = £4.62 per day. £4.62 per day x 45 days (which is how many days my bill was for) = £207.90! I wish so much it was £60. We had an engineer out to the boiler recently and he told me I coudn't change the temperature on the boiler - apparantly it's automatic.

The bill will say if you have a metric or imperial meter, check what is says matches what it says on the meter.

If there is a noticeable difference in temp between bottom and top of rad it may need bleeding.

macman

becksfaz wrote: »

I don't understand kwh, just units - based on a gas bill I worked out I multiply my gas unit by 11 and then by 0.035p to work out my costs. Based on my readings and my calculations, this is my bill..... 12 units per 24 hours x 11 = 132. 132 x 0.035 = £4.62 per day. £4.62 per day x 45 days (which is how many days my bill was for) = £207.90! I wish so much it was £60. We had an engineer out to the boiler recently and he told me I coudn't change the temperature on the boiler - apparantly it's automatic.

Units on a gas meter are meaningless because a) they can be metric or imperial, depending on the meter, and b) the units only measure volume, not actual energy. The energy value of gas is not a constant.
To understand and check your billing you must convert to kWh-which s what your bill is calculated on.

becksfaz

It doesn't specify on my bill whether it's metric or imperial - it just says units. How do I clarify with my supplier it matches??
Macman - I have converted my units to kwh - multiplied my units used by 11.2 which gives me my kwh (this is how it's multiplied on my bill). I know that the units measure the volume of gas but I didn't think that the volume of gas used would be so high with the thermostat set the way I have it.
I must continue to aplogise to everyone for seeming very stupid - I'm honestly not. Just very confused and struggling to see where I am going wrong. Thank you all for trying to help.

macman

Your meter is clearly marked cu ft or cu m.
If your bill is converting from imperial units to kWh then an additional multiplication (metric conversion factor) of 2.83 is made.
This site does it all for you:
http://energylinx.co.uk/gas_meter_conversion.html

Cardew

becksfaz wrote: »

It doesn't specify on my bill whether it's metric or imperial - it just says units. How do I clarify with my supplier it matches??
Macman - I have converted my units to kwh - multiplied my units used by 11.2 which gives me my kwh (this is how it's multiplied on my bill). I know that the units measure the volume of gas but I didn't think that the volume of gas used would be so high with the thermostat set the way I have it.
I must continue to aplogise to everyone for seeming very stupid - I'm honestly not. Just very confused and struggling to see where I am going wrong. Thank you all for trying to help.

In the other thread you said they were Metric units:

We moved in to a new house in the summer (4 bed semi) and I am utterly confused with my heating.

We are going through gas units like there is no tomorrow, approx 15-20 metric units per day and therefore high bills!

I'm very tight when it comes to energy - I flick lights off etc to save electric and if my hubby complains he's cold I tell him to put a jumper on! so I'm confused where I'm going wrong with the gas in this new house.

I have a hall thermostat set to 18 degrees and have the central heating set to constant as I'm in most of the day due to having a new baby, (my understanding is that the heating will only kick in if the house gets below 18). I've noticed that the boiler kicks in, runs for 5-10 mins, rads get warm (not overly warm) and then boiler goes off. Appox 1 hr later this happens again. Why isn't the boiler running to get the rads hot so that the house gets warmer and then takes longer to cool down, thus kicking in the boiler less? I know a boiler kicks in when temp drops below what I've got thermostat set at, but how does it know when to go off?!?!

I've been experiementing - thermostat set at 18 = boiler come on for 5-10 mins before kicking off, rads luke warm and uses 1/2 metric unit of gas. Put thermostat to 21 today, boiler ran for 1 hr before kicking off, rads red hot (all of them) uses 2 metric units. With 2nd option house feels warm and stays warm for so much longer - but thought having thermostat at a lower temp was meant to reduce gas consumption????

Also have TRV on most of the rads (total novice with these too it's my friend that told me I had them) - but these are confusing me too. Since my friends explained how they work I've tried my best with them but still don't understand them - I have the rad in our bedroom (the one fed to 1st) on at number 1 and the rad in the lounge on at 5, yet the bedroom rad gets warmer?!?!?
I'm seriously cracking up trying to figure out how to heat my bloody house without it costing me the earth. Please please help!!!!!!!!!

This was my reply:

Well firstly 15-20 units a day,(160 - 220kWh) in a 4 bed semi when you are home all day, with the heating on, is not particularly high(£5 to £7 a day)

The wall thermostat set at 18C will switch off the CH when the hall reaches approx that temperature, depending on the type of thermostat when the temperature drops to, say 17C the boiler fires up again and heats the hall back up to the 18C again. So you noticing this happening every hour, means it is correctly 'topping up' the heating i.e. replacing the heat lost through walls/windows etc.

Having a thermostat at a lower temperature does indeed reduce gas consumption - somewhere in the order of 6% to 10% per 1C. Heating it to 21C(instead of 18C) not surprisingly will keep the house warmer for longer, but you will burn a lot more gas.

The TRV(Thermostatic Radiator Valves) shut off the supply of hot water to the radiator when the temperature set on the TRV is reached. They do not control the temperature of the water in the radiator. So it is perfectly possible that your bedroom radiator with the TRV set to 1 will be hotter than the Radiator in the lounge set to 5. It just means that the hot water from the boiler is still being circulated through the bedroom radiator(because the room isn't up to the temperature that corresponds to a setting of '1', However the lounge is at the temperature that corresponds with '5' and no water is passing through the radiator.

There are different types of TRV but the setting are usually 1 = 16C 2 =18C 3 = 20C 4 = 22C 5 = 24C

The interaction between your wall thermostat in the hall and the TRV is just a matter of experiment. It doesn't matter what is set on the TRVs if the hall thermometer is set to 18C and that the temperature has been reached - as the heating is off.

Going back to your first post in this thread, a bill of £207 for 5 weeks is, as macman states, around 5,000kWh or 450 gas units. That is 13 gas units a day.

However it may well be that this bill is based on estimated meter readings and is a 'catch up' bill i.e. the closing reading on your last bill was under - estimated.

You don't say how old the house is, or the standard of insulation. However personally I don't find it surprising that you are using something like £40 a week in a 4 bed house when home all day and whole house heated.

becksfaz

My meter is cu m. So an example of my bill says units 531 in one column and then 5947 kwh in the next column, multiplied by 3.35p per kwh for my total. I honestly don't think that problem is with my bill - or my meter (unless it's using more than it should but that would be a slim chance wouldn't it). I'm trying to understand why I am using so much gas with the heating as it is. I have tried all sorts since the 19th the reduce my units but nothing has worked. I am at my wits end!

becksfaz

The house is an extended semi that was built in 1962. The house is fully double glazed and when the extension was done in 2003 the house has cavity insulation put in.

macman

becksfaz wrote: »

My meter is cu m. So an example of my bill says units 531 in one column and then 5947 kwh in the next column, multiplied by 3.35p per kwh for my total. I honestly don't think that problem is with my bill - or my meter (unless it's using more than it should but that would be a slim chance wouldn't it). I'm trying to understand why I am using so much gas with the heating as it is. I have tried all sorts since the 19th the reduce my units but nothing has worked. I am at my wits end!

OK, so the conversion and the billing is correct, cased on a metric meter. As Cardew says, £160pm in the coldest months is not abnormal given your pattern of usage. Remember that typically 80% of your annual kWh usage will be in the coldest couple of months. Once the heating goes off in the spring, your consumption will reduce hugely, so the average over the year will be much lower. if your DD is correctly set, it will take you through the winter with the credit on the account that should have built up in the summer.
Have you got the loft properly insulated to current standards (270m)? If not, that's the first thing to sort out, as it's the biggest source of heat loss.
NB: from your earlier post: even a 2C increase requires a great deal of extra energy. Wisdom has it that turning your 'stat down just 1C can take 10% off your heating bill.
Stop running the CH on constant and switch it off at night-it's not necessary and is greatly increasing your consumption. Programme it to come on an hour or so before you get up and to go off half an hour before you go to bed.

Cardew

A couple of additional points.

When you were away a lot over Xmas you wouldn't have used much Hot Water. Also why did you leave heating on 24/7 at 16C(in the hall) it should be off completely.

We haven't discussed the age of your gas boiler - old boilers are a lot less efficient.

Re - a 1962 extended semi; 50 years ago standards of insulation were frankly poor and that is a big factor.

The key to getting consumption optimised is the interaction between the hall thermostat and TRVs in the house.

macman

Cardew wrote: »

A couple of additional points.

When you were away a lot over Xmas you wouldn't have used much Hot Water. Also why did you leave heating on 24/7 at 16C(in the hall) it should be off completely.

We haven't discussed the age of your gas boiler - old boilers are a lot less efficient.

Re - a 1962 extended semi; 50 years ago standards of insulation were frankly poor and that is a big factor.

The key to getting consumption optimised is the interaction between the hall thermostat and TRVs in the house.

If this was just to prevent frozen pipes, it's complete overkill-you could have set it to 5C if there is no frost 'stat.