not hot hot water - cause of high gas usage?

jennmark

just over a month ago i swapped gas and lec suppliers. we now have our gas with npower and according to the usage i put in from previous bills have been given a monthly dd of £35. i just checked my online account as a meter reading was taken last week and we have used ~£150 of gas in one month and 3 days. i have checked the meter is metric and that is what we are being billed for. we have the heating on for 2 hrs in the morning and 5 in the evening, very occasionally we put it on for a bit in the afternoon at weekends and one or twice have forgotten to switchit off till we wake up sweating in the middle of the night! we also have a gas hob but electric oven and a gas heated shower.
obviously this massive bill has me concerned, i appreciate our usage will go down in the spring and summer but i dont imagine our £35 dd will be enough for our years usage.
i have checked my usage and according to my old supplier (edf) our gas usage has doubled since this time last year. i'm wondering if our usage is up because the water is running cold. we have the boiler on eco setting so i know it will take a little time to heat up but it never really seems to get that hot, not like it used to. the kitchen sink is ok but the bath and shower are rubbish, to get a bath or shower that is warm enough we have to have the hot tap on full and the cold tap off completely, i dont remember this being the case last year. could the cool water and subsequent extra demand be the cause of our massive usage increase? if so does anyone know how to fix it? i have checked the boiler but though we can alter the temp for the rads there doesnt appear to be a hot water temp adjustment
thanks in advance
Jen

Fire_Fox

That is a lot of hours of heating, could you turn the thermostats down, scale it back and put it on a timer? Bear in mind it's been a much colder spring that last year so you will use more energy.

Is this your house or rented? If yours maybe get the boiler serviced, perhaps the thermostat is faulty. If not yours report the cold water to your landlord and hopefully they will service the boiler. You can also search online to see if there is an instruction manual for your boiler. Have you tried switching off the eco setting?

jennmark

the heating is on a timer, its the same settings we used last winter though admittedly we did reduce the hours in march, according to my edf bills tho we have been using twice the kwh all winter compared to last yr. all the rads are set at 4 on the trv except the one in the spare roomwhich is permenantly off, i dont feel i can reducethe heating beyond what we use currently if it was just me n hubby we layer up and get on with it but i have a 5 yr old and a 6 month old. i think we will get the boiler serviced its about 6 yrs old now and not been done for a while

Fire_Fox

People do tend to increase their energy use when they have a newborn: laundry, tumble dryer, hot water and heating can all increase. Couple that with a winter which has been longer and colder so the heating works harder to achieve and maintain the same temperature. IIRC the recommended ambient temperature for babies is 16-20C they don't need the house as hot as we often imagine.

If you are comparing with previous years ensure ALL the readings are actual none are estimated. If you still can't explain it get the boiler checked then the meter checked.

wonkytechy

Think a boiler service is the way forward - also bleed your radiators to get the air out - they should then get pretty hot. Also is it worth setting the temperature to be 18 or suitable other and for it to come on when the temperature drops? This would stop the system having to reheat from scratch when you set the timer - ie leave your heating on all the time but thermostat control it.
This is what I do - as well as wear more clothes- and I have never paid more than 25 pounds for gas a month for ten years. Think other people could advise what they do though.
Also is your house as insulated as it could be? A job for spring maybe but I'm sure there will be deals soon.