Gas bill doubled - why?

becksfaz

Put my meter readings in to my energy supplier and to my horror have discovered we have used £207 of gas in 45 days! I checked my bill before this (funnily enough this was for 45 days too) but was £98. Both meter readings taken by me (no estimates).
Why is there such a difference in my bills for same time scale???
I have a pre-schooler and a new baby so in house a lot - have heating set to 'constant' and thermostat in hall set to 18. I have not changed anything to do with the heating in the time between these two bills - what's the explanation???
Also my total gas units used in this period is over 700. My parents live in a house similar size to mine, also set to constant, thermostat on 20 - yet their gas units for 7 months is 321. Where the hell am I going wrong????

spiro

In winter you can use 5 times the amount of gas comapred to the summer. In terms of you parents house there may be other differnces, such as you have a different meter type (metric or imperial).

What type of meter do you have and how many units did you use for both bills?

macman

The previous bill was presumably for the autumn quarter before the heating went on. Typically 80% of your annual consumption will be during the coldest 2 months. If you are running the CH on constant (i.e. all night) then of course you can expect to double your gas bills. It's just not necessary to run the CH all night, new baby or not.
You can't compare to another property which may have totally different insulation standards.
Also you are comparing 'gas units' (which are variable), not kWh. Are both meters the same units (100's cu ft or cu m)?

becksfaz

What type of meter do you have and how many units did you use for both bills?[/QUOTE]

I have a cu m meter. 21st sept - 19th dec (90 days) I used 767 units = 8590kwh = £300.66 bill costs.

Yolina

becksfaz wrote: »

I have not changed anything to do with the heating in the time between these two bills - what's the explanation???

The explanation is that it's colder outside so you use more gas to keep the inside warm. This also goes for hot water as the water coming in is much colder in winter and therefore requires more energy to be heated to X temperature.

becksfaz

I'm not sure whether the meters are the same - but could find out.
The previous bill sept-nov I did have the heating on - like I say I have it on thermostat (parents advice) so it will have come on when it needed to.
Is it OK to have heating off on a night with the baby? What about danger of frozen pipes? Also I've been told that it uses more energy to warm a house that has got cold than to keep the house ticking over at a constant temperature - I'm guessing this information is incorrect!
I'd also like to add that we only moved into the house in the summer so I've no idea what my bills should be. This house is bigger than my previous but still....

becksfaz

Yolina wrote: »

The explanation is that it's colder outside so you use more gas to keep the inside warm. This also goes for hot water as the water coming in is much colder in winter and therefore requires more energy to be heated to X temperature.

Thanks - I thought that this would be the case - but twice as much?
This winter so far isn't even that cold either. I dread to think what my bills would have been like this time last year! Yikes!

jalexa

becksfaz wrote: »

Is it OK to have heating off on a night with the baby?

Of course its right to keep a minimum temperature in baby's room overnight. But there is a cost to keeping the living area heated to 21 deg just to keep one room at 16deg. Think about a small oil-filled radiator on a timer for night time heating in your baby's room only.

What about danger of frozen pipes?

Pipes don't freeze unless below freezing for quite a few hours. Where in the house are the pipes you are concerned might freeze?

becksfaz

I am not concerned about any pipes in particular - I don't know enough about these things to be concerned. Again it's just what I've heard can happen.

Soniclord

Don't you already have a thread on this subject here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3699153 why make another?

Just saying..

macman

becksfaz wrote: »

I'm not sure whether the meters are the same - but could find out.
The previous bill sept-nov I did have the heating on - like I say I have it on thermostat (parents advice) so it will have come on when it needed to.
Is it OK to have heating off on a night with the baby? What about danger of frozen pipes? Also I've been told that it uses more energy to warm a house that has got cold than to keep the house ticking over at a constant temperature - I'm guessing this information is incorrect!
I'd also like to add that we only moved into the house in the summer so I've no idea what my bills should be. This house is bigger than my previous but still....

People have been having babies for thousands of years prior to central heating, you could use a thermostatic convector heater to keep the room at a a constant overnight temp if required. I believe the NHS recommendation is 16C?
The pipes will not begin to freeze unless the interior pipework gets down to 3C or less, a modern boiler or programmer will have a frost 'stat that kicks in at 5C anyway.
Yes, the other info is entirely incorrect, to keep the heating on 24/7 will massively increase your bills. Look at any of the hundreds of other threads on this topic.