Using nearly 6 times as much gas as last year?

yangptangkipperbang

emmielou wrote: »

but the heating/hot water is on about the same.

emmielou wrote: »

Switched the heating on for an hour at 20c -
Any other suggestions what could be causing the high reading/usage?

Could I make a really obvious suggestion ? It is a lot colder, for longer, this winter - perhaps that is why.

How long you have the heating on and (to some extent) the temperature you set it to is totally irrelevant. The most important factor is the temperature difference between inside your house and outside.

If you set the thermostat to 20C, you will use a lot more gas if it is -5C outside compared to +5C.

chanz4

I would say take a read everyday at the same time for a week, if they are similar then its nothing more than your usage if they are very different their maybe a meter fault. I would say though meter faults are not common

emmielou

yangptangkipperbang wrote: »

Could I make a really obvious suggestion ? It is a lot colder, for longer, this winter - perhaps that is why.

How long you have the heating on and (to some extent) the temperature you set it to is totally irrelevant. The most important factor is the temperature difference between inside your house and outside.

If you set the thermostat to 20C, you will use a lot more gas if it is -5C outside compared to +5C.

Thanks for replying, I had thought about this but i'm confident that we have the heating on the same amount of time/temp as last year and so surely everyone would be experiencing 6 times usage? We might even have the heating on for less time than last year as I changed jobs and no longer get up super early!

Its not even like we are sat here luxuriating in total warmth!!!

Ecodave

Is the heating/hot water on a timer? I appreciate that you say you think that you have you settings the same as last year, but have you checked? Can you post the actual on/off times? Have you checked that the timer is working correctly?

dogshome

As Victor 2 has posted, this type of problem could be caused by supplier confusion as to what type of meter you have after a meter change - However even though your meter has not been changed, confusion can still happen if a supplier logs a meter change to the wrong address.

I suspect that with your meters readout of 5 digits, that it is a METRIC meter which is marked m3 - The alternative is an IMPERIAL meter marked ft3
If you do have a Metric meter, but are being charged on the basis of an Imperial model, this would largely account for your increased bills.

1) Check the marking on the meter to see which it is
2) On the latest bill divide the Kwh charged by the meter units used - If the answer is appx.11 you are being charged for a Metric meter - If the answer is appx. 31 you are being charged for an Imperial meter
If the chargeing method doesn't match the meters marking, get onto the supplier immediately

victor2

emmielou wrote: »

I switched everything off last night for an hour and the meter didn't move.

Switched the heating on for an hour at 20c - the reading went from 12491 to 12492.

Its a Potterton Suprima.

Any other suggestions what could be causing the high reading/usage?

Assuming that is a metric meter and it recorded from 12491.0 to 12492.0 or similar (you do need to consider fractions of units over shorter periods), then it used about 11kWh. That is perfectly reasonable for a boiler when the central heating pump is running full time as the house is below the thermostat temperature.
It does of course also depend on how many radiators the boiler is supplying and what the water temperature is set at, as that will affect how long the gas burners are on. But for a typical set up, I would say it looks OK. Bit high if you've got an imperial meter though.