£347 in a month?!

madein83

I moved into a new flat last month. Just got the first gas/electricity bill, for the period Dec 14, 2012 - Jan 16, 2013.

Submitted accurate readings both last month and yesterday.

Got the first bill from British Gas - £347 for dual fuel!

Seems crazy high. It's a 2 bedroom flat. Just myself and partner. No kids. I do work from home, so using laptop, router, cooker, heating throughout the day.

But, most radiators are turned off/low... boiler isn't going nuts... heating is at about 22 degrees for the whole house.

Does this seem anywhere near normal to you? I was expecting in the £100-150/mo range, tops.

Maybe it's just my expectations that are out of whack, but would welcome any feedback!

HappyMJ

22 degrees is quite warm. Cut it by 1 degree and you will cut 10% off your bill cut another 1 degree and you'll save another 10%.

Daily readings will help for the short term (just for a week) then weekly readings longer term and enter them into http://ebico.imeasure.org.uk/ and you'll get a much better idea of usage.

Can you post the kWh readings rather than the £££ amount?

StuC75

Have you confirmed the meter readings are correct - right part of the dials be read rather than the fractions).? As its a flat are you certain the right meter reference number is showing?

whats the heating setup all gas? is hot water from the boiler or via immersion heater? if so has it been on boost all the time.

What tariff have BG got you on? How is it split between gas and electic which is costing the most?

Check daily unit usage? British gas can send out energy monitors.. that may help show what rate electricity is being used at...

madein83

Thanks - all good questions!

Confirmed readings are correct (reading only the major numbers to the left, not the ones that tend to spin all day long).

Tariff was British Gas' Clear & Simple. Switched yesterday to the online variable with the energy saving gadget. Not received/installed yet.

Heating is boiler, I think - haven't checked installations in the roof, but there's a boiler in the kitchen. Radiator temp is set at 41c and water goes to about the same.

Bill is split as follows:

Gas total: £183.24 (4,074.79 kWh)
Elec total: £163.93 (1,259 kWh)

Didn't realise a single degree made a 10% difference - will adjust to 20C throughout (thanks HappyMJ).

It was mainly a concern of whether this is anywhere near realistic. Left at this setting (which doesn't feel particularly warm, still need/expect to wear warming clothing in the house) it's an annual equivalent of over £4k which seemed a bit abnormal!

HappyMJ

Being gas and electric your electric is quite high. You should be looking at averaging about 10-15kWh per day if all your heating, cooking and hot water needs are met by gas.

You gas is a little high but cutting the temprature down a little should help. Keep taking daily readings for the next week.

What electrical devices are you running? You'll have to list as much as possible the number of hours you run each item for each day or week and if possible the wattages of each device

The annual equivalent isn't anywhere near £4,000 you don't multiply by 12.

vuvuzela

That is a large amount to be paying for fuel, even at this time of year. How is your house heated ? Central heating / storage heaters / other ? Do you have an immersion heater ?

good_advice

£347 is high.
What rate are you on for your tariff?
Have you checked the meter readings are for your flat?
Heating? can't have that on to much! as it will push up the bill.
Are you unplugging, that is one of my daily chores.

macman

How many hours per day is the heating on? You're already running it all day, which obviously makes a big difference. If you have been maintaining 22C at night as well, the of course your bills will be massive, as heat loss is much faster during the night, and with a higher differential than usual (if set at 22C), even faster in your case.

andymd

I agree with HappyMJ, the gas is a little high, an average customer uses about 2500kWh/month at this time of the year. Reducing the thermostat a couple of degrees will certainly help.

The electricity is very high, almost unbelievably so in a flat with gas heating. An average customer might use 300 to 400kWh a month at this time of year. Even if you leave everything on standby and chargers, etc. plugged in, I wouldnt expect you to use 38 kWh a day (I use 7-10kWh a day in a 3 bedroom house with electric showers)

The energysmart monitor will definitely help identify what is driving your usage. Do you have an immersion heater or electric towel radiators? Have you been using fan heaters? A 2kW fan heater on for a few hours a day can soon add up.

Cardew

Is it a digital readout on meter, or dials with a pointer.

Is the gas meter cubic feet or cubic metres?

How many gas units for your 4.074kWh?

madein83

Thanks to everyone who's replied since.

To answer the latest questions:

No fan heaters of any kind. No electricity heating at all. No immersion. All heating is running through the gas boiler.

Electricity wise, again, I'm in all day... but my actual usage is limited to the following:

- Mac Air laptop (plugged in about 5 hours of the day, for battery charging)

- Basic wireless router

- One light above my desk

- Kettle boiled 2-3x per day (just the water I need)

- 2-3x gas cooker meals, usually only 5-10 mins per (I eat a lot of stir-fries!)

- Microwave 1-2x per day

Electricity definitely seems high. I was wondering if power was being drawn downstairs, but they've just brought their bills up to show me and it's totally separate.

The weird thing is that downstairs is about the same size as up here, and they run their business from home too. They have 3 computers running daily, a ton of heating, kettle usage 3-5x more than myself, and their bill is almost half of mine.

Very odd.

Do you think it might make sense to get a British Gas engineer out?