Extortionate gas prices, please help!

[Deleted User]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice. My boyfriend and I moved into a new flat on 27th December. We recently received our first gas bill from the date we moved in to 4th January (9 days). The bill was over£40 for gas alone for these 9 days which, considering we had together budgetted for £40 gas AND electricity each for a month, is unexpectedly high. We have been having problems with our (combi) boiler in that it keeps locking out. So, for example, we'd have the heating on and suddenly notice a chill in the air, go to the boiler and see that it had switched off and then have to reset it. Could this be costing a huge amount of money? We also had the gas fire on one day for 2 hours and, in all honesty, had almost every radiator on constantly during the day so the house was comfortably warm, though we were not expecting a bill this high (the equivalent of £5 a day for gas alone) and believe there must be another reason for it. At the moment, we have turned all radiators off bar the one in the living room, and switched the boiler from a high to low-medium setting, which seems to prevent it locking out (we've had a plumber out twice to fix it but the problem persists). We are pretty chilly but certainly don't want to risk another high bill. Do you have any ideas what might have caused such a high bill? Could it all be down to the boiler locking out (which happened about 5-6 times a day)?

Thank you for your help x

jalexa

Deleted_User wrote: »

Do you have any ideas what might have caused such a high bill? Could it all be down to the boiler locking out

Probably because "almost every radiator on constantly during the day so the house was comfortably warm". No it is unlikely to be down to the boiler locking out.

You need to "budget" £80/month total energy and try to save on that. Until you have got a handle on your consumption take meter readings every day.

The figure to post for comment is how many kWhrs/day you are using.

[Deleted User]

Hi Jalexa,

Thanks for your comment. I agree: we were pretty naive to think we could put all the heaters on and it would be 'ok'. Today we have used the equivalent of 2 imperial units which (I think) is around 64 kWh. That is the figure having had one radiator on medium most of the day and the others off. We've also limited the hot water usage. I was actually considering just getting an oil radiator for the living room and not using the gas radiators as our electricity usage appears to be relatively low.

HappyMJ

Deleted_User wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice. My boyfriend and I moved into a new flat on 27th December. We recently received our first gas bill from the date we moved in to 4th January (9 days). The bill was over£40 for gas alone for these 9 days which, considering we had together budgetted for £40 gas AND electricity each for a month, is unexpectedly high. We have been having problems with our (combi) boiler in that it keeps locking out. So, for example, we'd have the heating on and suddenly notice a chill in the air, go to the boiler and see that it had switched off and then have to reset it. Could this be costing a huge amount of money? We also had the gas fire on one day for 2 hours and, in all honesty, had almost every radiator on constantly during the day so the house was comfortably warm, though we were not expecting a bill this high (the equivalent of £5 a day for gas alone) and believe there must be another reason for it. At the moment, we have turned all radiators off bar the one in the living room, and switched the boiler from a high to low-medium setting, which seems to prevent it locking out (we've had a plumber out twice to fix it but the problem persists). We are pretty chilly but certainly don't want to risk another high bill. Do you have any ideas what might have caused such a high bill? Could it all be down to the boiler locking out (which happened about 5-6 times a day)?

Thank you for your help x

That is quite normal. How much did you expect the bill to be £40 a month you say.... not in winter it won't be. Gas is not as cheap as it once used to be. How many kWh's of gas did you get for your £40? If it were Ebico it would have been 93kWh per day. Not much really for having the heating on all day and the gas fire as well.

Deleted_User wrote: »

Hi Jalexa,

Thanks for your comment. I agree: we were pretty naive to think we could put all the heaters on and it would be 'ok'. Today we have used the equivalent of 2 imperial units which (I think) is around 64 kWh. That is the figure having had one radiator on medium most of the day and the others off. We've also limited the hot water usage. I was actually considering just getting an oil radiator for the living room and not using the gas radiators as our electricity usage appears to be relatively low.

Limited the hot water in what way? Turned it down? Used less? Timed it to heat once/twice a day? That won't save that much. A oil-filled radiator will be more expensive than using your gas central heating.

molerat

Is the start meter reading on the bill correct, the same as on the day you took on the flat ?
Is the end meter reading on the bill correct, is it an estimate ?
Is the meter being read the one that relates to your flat ?

The boiler locking out should not be the cause of high bills, when it locks out it switches off. To get an idea of your useage you need to read your meter daily, weekly minimum. Also check that you are being billed correctly with regards to metric or imperial measurements. Look at the meter and it will have cu m or cu ft marked on it, divide the kWh on the bill by the units used, around 11 is metric and around 31 imperial.

BTW £40 a month for both E & G is a bit optimistic.

[Deleted User]

molerat wrote: »

Is the start meter reading on the bill correct, the same as on the day you took on the flat ?
Is the end meter reading on the bill correct, is it an estimate ?
Is the meter being read the one that relates to your flat ?

The boiler locking out should not be the cause of high bills, when it locks out it switches off. To get an idea of your useage you need to read your meter daily, weekly minimum. Also check that you are being billed correctly with regards to metric or imperial measurements. Look at the meter and it will cu m or cu ft marked on it, divide the kWh on the bill by the units used, around 11 is metric and around 31 imperial.

BTW £40 a month for both E & G is a bit optimistic.

Hi Moerat,

Yes, the start and end readings are correct. The bill was an estimate but when we phoned the company, they told us it was slightly more expensive than the estimate. Perhaps we were optimistic with regards to total consumption costing £40 per month each (£80 total) though I lived in a bigger house on my own last winter and my highest bill for gas was £96 for a quarter even though I was a student and spent most of my time at home! I thought that perhaps restarting the boiler after it had shut off would be causing the high bill, as it would have to take the temperature from zero up to what it had been.

[Deleted User]

HappyMJ wrote: »

That is quite normal. How much did you expect the bill to be £40 a month you say.... not in winter it won't be. Ghas is not as cheap as it once used to be. How many kWh's of gas did you get for your £40? If it were Ebico it would have been 93kWh per day. Not much really for having the heating on all day and the gas fire as well.


Limited the hot water in what way? Turned it down? Used less? Timed it to heat once/twice a day? That won't save that much. A oil-filled radiator will be more expensive than using your gas central heating.

Hi HappyMJ,
I thought the bill would be £80 per month on average (£40 each, sorry I didn't make that clear). For our estimated bill of £32.20 (lower than the actual bill), we got 610 kWh so 68 kWh per day. We have been limiting the hot water by not running the water constantly when doing the dishes and (ahem) not having showers every day. We've also turned the dial on the boiler to half what it previously, though being a combi boiler, it only heats the water when it's used.

HappyMJ

Deleted_User wrote: »

Hi HappyMJ,
I thought the bill would be £80 per month on average (£40 each, sorry I didn't make that clear). For our estimated bill of £32.20 (lower than the actual bill), we got 610 kWh so 68 kWh per day. We have been limiting the hot water by not running the water constantly when doing the dishes and (ahem) not having showers every day. We've also turned the dial on the boiler to half what it previously, though being a combi boiler, it only heats the water when it's used.

That's 5.3p/kWh that's quite high. Ebico is supposed to be one of the most expensive gas suppliers (for normal to high users) and they charge 4.788p/kWh. You might want to consider switching. Not to Ebico (only really suitable for low users on prepayment meters) but to someone else who is much cheaper.

[Deleted User]

HappyMJ wrote: »

That's 5.3p/kWh that's quite high. Ebico is supposed to be one of the most expensive gas suppliers (for normal to high users) and they charge 4.788p/kWh. You might want to consider switching. Not to Ebico (only really suitable for low users on prepayment meters) but to someone else who is much cheaper.

Thank you. Yes, we've been looking around other companies tonight as British Gas is surely not the cheapest. Scottish Power has been quoted as the best deal for us. Do you know of any companies that may be more reasonable in their kWh per hour? One of my difficulties is that I've just moved to the area and am looking for a job so at home most of the day applying and thus using heating that wouldn't be used if I was out at work.

jalexa

Deleted_User wrote: »

Hi HappyMJ,
I thought the bill would be £80 per month on average (£40 each, sorry I didn't make that clear)

Sorry I misunderstood also. £80/month total energy is fine as a "budget" figure except winter usage is much higher. "Average" annual use is 16,500 gas and 3,300 electric, except from October to April expect to use about 80% of your annual gas consumption. 68kWhrs/day is quite reasonable, even energy savvy people can use 100kWhrs per day in cold weather. So I would say your budget is fine except you need to be aware you will be "behind" until sometime in the summer.

HappyMJ

Deleted_User wrote: »

Thank you. Yes, we've been looking around other companies tonight as British Gas is surely not the cheapest. Scottish Power has been quoted as the best deal for us. Do you know of any companies that may be more reasonable in their kWh per hour? One of my difficulties is that I've just moved to the area and am looking for a job so at home most of the day applying and thus using heating that wouldn't be used if I was out at work.

It's different for different areas and based on your estimated usage levels. I agree though that British Gas Standard plan is very expensive. You can turn radiators off in unused rooms and just use the lounge and it should save you quite a bit. You need to wrap up in blankets and warm clothes and turn the thermostat down.