British Gas Electric Units

cherrydrop0

Hi, im new to the site so hello to you all and Merry Christmas not to sure if i have put this in the correct section so please let me know if i have done this wrong.

I just wanted to ask a quick question regarding British Gas/Electric Kwh/units.

I am in a housing Assoc standard 3 bed house with gas central heating (no fires) my question is about my Electric, i've just been onto the phone with British Gas to confirm about 2 meter readings within 8 days of each other. The first meter reading was done on the 10th December this year by a British Gas guy who called round to do the reading, the second was done today by me over the phone. It turns out i am using 155 units in 8 days, so that works out at 620 units a month, i have 2 meters installed, the first meter is an original, and the 2nd meter was a check meter to check the original but they never came back and took it out, so all my readings have been done from the new meter. I was then told a year later that my original meter was 1 unit out and after British Gas going back through all my bills they knocked £300 off from my bill.

So my main question is, is 155 units of electric in 8 days (620 month) high in a standard 3 bed house with 4 people?

Thanks and will await your replys.

Lisa

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Firstly a minor point but 155kWh in 8 days is a little under 620kWh a month.

Anyway to answer your question, yes it is high consumption. Bearing in mind that you use a little more electricity in winter(lights on longer etc) you are probably looking at around 6,000kWh a year.

The average is supposed to be 3,300kWh per year; however many people, including myself, use around your level of consumption.

You need to examine the large consumption items to see what is using all the electricity and it will help to get a plug-in meter that monitors the consumption of appliances.

Do you cook with electricity? tumble dryer? Electric shower? Plasma TV? these are some of the high consumption items

cherrydrop0

Thanks for replying, the lady on the phone at British Gas had told me that 155 units in 8 days was really high, she then went of to speak to her supervisor, she came back and said that her supervisor had told her that was high for 8 days, so she said to me she will get someone out to check my meter (again) and that i will get a phone call before Friday to arrange this, only she phoned me back an hour later to say that her and her supervisor were wrong, she has spoken to someone (i'm guessing tech department) and they said that is the right consumption for my household so they will not be able to send someone to check my meter unless i pay £65 :S

My cooker is gas, i don't own a tumble dryer (never have done) i don't own any kind of shower, i have 1 plasma tv in my living room, the other 3 are normal lcd tv's, just a standard house with standard things like one pc, games consoles etc.

Thanks again

Cardew

Plasma TVs - particularly older sets - can have very high consumption. 500 watts is possible.

game consoles and other TVs will add considerably to your consumption is used a lot.

As said earlier buy a plug-in monitor and start monitoring what is using the electricity.

However, whilst high, many other people use as much.

shazza71_2

hi there,
i just had my annual electricity statement from British Gas. It states i have used 4955.12 kWh in the last 12 months, 12 months previous was 5955.92. It also states that using more than 4201 means i am a HIGH USAGE household. We live in a 3 bed semi.

sheffield_lad

Shazza 4955 per year = 13upd this is NOT high its normal.

shazza71_2

well according to my statement i am a high usage household.

sheffield_lad

Ok if you say so.

13upd x 0.13p = £50.70 a month!

The average houshold use 14-16upd, or give each person over 8yrs old 6 units each and add it up.

Relax and put the kettle on......DOH!!! More usage! lol

shazza71_2

£50 a month???? pffftttt i wish, last year i was putting about £100 a month on, youngest lad moved away to work last november which is probably why this years is lower but i still put more than 50 a month on

sheffield_lad

Shazza check your unit rate, if you used 4955 divide it by 365 then times it by the unit rate.

According to you putting £100 a month in that works a unit rate of +24p I know of no tarrif anywhere near this.

shazza71_2

until my youngest moved away i was putting 25 a week on for about 5 years, my rate is 13.304p per kWh and a standing charge of 17.0p per day..
I thought BG had scrapped the standing charge ??.. may have to look into changing.. thanx for the info howee