How can this much gas and electric be used?

Please_no

Like an earlier post I have just received a combined first month bill for almost £250. Living in a 3 bedroom semi where one room is really a box room how can this happen. The meters say 8 units of gas and 16 of electricity are being used. The price is seemingly over twice of everyone in the 1930s suburban street. Help

HappyMJ

Please_no wrote: »

Like an earlier post I have just received a combined first month bill for almost £250. Living in a 3 bedroom semi where one room is really a box room how can this happen. The meters say 8 units of gas and 16 of electricity are being used. The price is seemingly over twice of everyone in the 1930s suburban street. Help

How many days does the bill cover?

How many units in kWh? What's the price per kWh? Any standing charges? Is the opening meter reading correct? Is the closing meter reading correct?

dogshome

Something is awry somewhere - 8 Units of Gas & 16Kwh of Elec would not produce a bill anywhere near £250 - Also both figures are very low for a 3bed house in winter.

If you are a new occupant of this house, did you advise the supplier of the date you moved in, and the meter readings on that day ? - If not, you might be being billed for the previous occupants use.

Look at the bill - (If the readings have been 'Estimated', phone the supplier with your present meter reads and get a new bill )
It will state the useage dates it covers and the Start & End meter readings being billed. Do the Start reading and date co-incide with your moving in day ? and is the End reading close to what your meters read now ?

amiehall

If the usage is per day that would give a bill of roughly the order the OP has mentioned. It would also be pretty high usage!

Please_no

We have a bill covering 40 days. It says we have used 3600kWh of gas and 622kWh of electricity in this time. Costing £260 or so. Heating is on a timer and the house is only 1400 sq ft.

HappyMJ

So...90kWh of gas per day...Reasonable for this time of year. What model of boiler do you have? How many hours is is set on for? What temperature? Is it well insulated?

And...15.55kWh of electric per day. Bit high...Do you use a dryer? Any electric supplementary heating? Electric shower? How many occupants? What sort of electricals items do you have? Anything that produces heat will be a high consumer of electricity.

Please_no

amiehall wrote: »

If the usage is per day that would give a bill of roughly the order the OP has mentioned. It would also be pretty high usage!

That is the crux of it really. Heating is on a timer and common sense things have been put in place yet after 40 days the bill looks like we are paying for the local football team's floodlights and the gas like we are heating 2 houses. We are new residents and cannot seem to find any reason (plausible or not) that would make the bill over twice that of everyone in the neighbourhood. £260 for 40 days was the tweaked amount with only a small part estimated.

Wywth

Please_no wrote: »

Like an earlier post I have just received a combined first month bill for almost £250. Living in a 3 bedroom semi where one room is really a box room how can this happen. The meters say 8 units of gas and 16 of electricity are being used. The price is seemingly over twice of everyone in the 1930s suburban street. Help

Please_no wrote: »

We have a bill covering 40 days. It says we have used 3600kWh of gas and 622kWh of electricity in this time. Costing £260 or so. Heating is on a timer and the house is only 1400 sq ft.

I realise this is stating the bleeding obvious, but the figures don't appear to tally up.

Please_no

HappyMJ wrote: »

So...90kWh of gas per day...Reasonable for this time of year. What model of boiler do you have? How many hours is is set on for? What temperature? Is it well insulated?

And...15.55kWh of electric per day. Bit high...Do you use a dryer? Any electric supplementary heating? Electric shower? How many occupants? What sort of electricals items do you have? Anything that produces heat will be a high consumer of electricity.

A potterton performa boiler though it is 8 years old. The electrical items you mentioned are not present though we have inherited from previous owners an American style fridge freezer. I assume also a proper contract for the bills will spread this over the cheaper months because a direct debit set for usage at the most expensive time of the year (new residents and parents to be) able to be avoided. How much gas gas would you use in the summer to even this out?

HappyMJ

Please_no wrote: »

A potterton performa boiler though it is 8 years old. The electrical items you mentioned are not present though we have inherited from previous owners an American style fridge freezer. I assume also a proper contract for the bills will spread this over the cheaper months because a direct debit set for usage at the most expensive time of the year (new residents and parents to be) able to be avoided. How much gas gas would you use in the summer to even this out?

8 years old is fine.

Big fridge/freezer might use a bit more than a standard fridge but a quick check on Curry's website shows they use about 1.2kWh per day which isn't really that much. A small fridge would use about 0.5kWh per day and a small chest freezer about 0.5kWh per day so it isn't that much more than having them separate.

You might use about 10-20kWh of gas per day in summer for hot water and cooking depending on what water your shower uses (cold feed and electric heated or hot water and gravity fed) and how many hot baths you have....and depending on what sort of cooking you do with gas.

good_advice

Hiya, I also live in a 3 bed semi.
Yes my bill is a lot less, then I have been working on cutting it back for quite a wile.
So here is my advice - look at the comparison sites for the cheapest tariff.
Find out how much insulation the house has.
Buy an OWL monitor for your electric.
Cut down on the heating.

All should help.