British gas help please

Joyful

I checked my usage yesterday for the last 3 years online and saw that this year I used almost as much as 2 years ago. Last year we had a much milder year so the bills had dropped.

As has been said already, if you do not change the settings on your timer and the weather is colder you will use more energy to keep your home at the heat you require.

Luckily this was not a shock for me as I can monitor my energy use easily with my smart meter and my British gas online account.

Shelldean

NowRetired wrote: »

My usage goes down in the summer.

I have used between 17,500 and 21,000 kWh of gas in a year.

This last quarter has been the highest for that time since I started keeping records on my computer.

wow,
I only have 2 yrs of readings online, but for one yr it was appox 6500 and for the second yr 6000.

So a reading of over 3000 for one 1/4 of this year is a huge jump for us.

Shelldean

Joyful wrote: »

I checked my usage yesterday for the last 3 years online and saw that this year I used almost as much as 2 years ago. Last year we had a much milder year so the bills had dropped.

As has been said already, if you do not change the settings on your timer and the weather is colder you will use more energy to keep your home at the heat you require.

Luckily this was not a shock for me as I can monitor my energy use easily with my smart meter and my British gas online account.

The difference is Joyful you've used almost as much as two yrs ago, I've used 50% more.
And yes i understand the weather being colder this yr, so will take more gas to heat the house, but so much more??

I've just checked my annual usage for 2011 and 2012, and I used 6500 and 6000 kWh for those yrs. So far for 2013 I've used over half of those amounts.

I didn't even turn the damm heating on until xmas, as OH was being made redundant so was extra careful with ALL bills. I drove the kids mad telling them to put extra jumpers on etc.

I simply cant believe I've used SO much more gas this quarter than previous, even allowing for extra usage because of the cold weather.

Shelldean

SwanJon wrote: »

Ok, so actuals - that's a big jump.
I did manage to find a comparison with temperatures over the last few years, but it's for Newquay - need to see if there are others similar:
http://www.newquayweather.com/wxtempsummary.php

It does show that March this year was colder than Jan, Feb or Mar last year.

Take a daily reading this week and check that it seems to make sense. If the meter is faulty it will remain faulty so this should help identify that.

when you say a take reading what will i do with the readings?
I took one last friday to confirm the meter reader hadnt read it wrong when he took it. So I'll take another this friday, and compare, but what exactly am I looking for?

sorry just realised you said daily I will have to wait for OH to come home tonight and read it as the meter is too high and at a STUPID angle so I cant actually read it.

(it's in a cupboard and is higher than my head 5 ft 4 and is angled so the screen face the backwall, and the cupboard is only about 2 ft wide so difficult to get in at right angle and read it... all the meter readers HATE it cos it so difficult to read)

SwanJon

I'm a big fan of consumption diaries.
readings, dates, what's been used, vague temperature, if PP - credit on meter, top ups.
More than anything it lets you see what is going on.
So you have a reading from 25 March and 5 April? We can (roughly) convert that to kWh and see how much that shows per day.

It could be 50% more just based on the weather - it depends on your house (insulation etc) and how hot you heat it. In a very rough and not at all accurate example if you heat to 20, lat year it was raising the temp 10 degrees, this year 15 degrees - 50% more. (I know that's way too simplistic and probably isn't the whole story here.)

macman

OP, your quarterly bill is exceptionally low for a full winter quarter, and even more so given the continued cold weather over that period. Your bill will be around £140, or less than £1.70 per day. I'd expect the average usage to be 3 times that in the coldest 3 months.
Your consumption has soared because of the prolonged low ambient temps, so your boiler has been burning more gas to maintain the same set temp.

Shelldean

SwanJon wrote: »

I'm a big fan of consumption diaries.
readings, dates, what's been used, vague temperature, if PP - credit on meter, top ups.
More than anything it lets you see what is going on.
So you have a reading from 25 March and 5 April? We can (roughly) convert that to kWh and see how much that shows per day.

It could be 50% more just based on the weather - it depends on your house (insulation etc) and how hot you heat it. In a very rough and not at all accurate example if you heat to 20, lat year it was raising the temp 10 degrees, this year 15 degrees - 50% more. (I know that's way too simplistic and probably isn't the whole story here.)

yes i have the guys reading from 25 Mar and hubbys reading from 5 april will double check and post later ( just about to pop out)
thanks for all your help

notbritishgas

OP
Like other sad people on here:rotfl:I take weekly meter readings.
Last year for the period you quote, 1 jan to 31 Mar, I used 6693 kwh of gas, this year I have used 8029kwh, an increase of 20%.

So I think the likely reason is colder weather.

Unfortunately well into April and my CH is still burning gas at the winter rate:eek:

Shelldean

notbritishgas wrote: »

OP
Like other sad people on here:rotfl:I take weekly meter readings.
Last year for the period you quote, 1 jan to 31 Mar, I used 6693 kwh of gas, this year I have used 8029kwh, an increase of 20%.

So I think the likely reason is colder weather.

Unfortunately well into April and my CH is still burning gas at the winter rate:eek:

increase of 20% might not have been so bad but mine is over 50% more than previous year.:eek::eek:

Shelldean

SwanJon

the meter guy read the meter on 25 March and he recorded 8382.
We checked on 5 April and it was 8393.
However we as away from 29 until 5th but two people were in the property from the Tues 2 April. Heating was turned off between 29 Mar and 2 Apr