Massive British Gas bill!

MentalMinnie

We moved in to a rented house on 1st March. Meter readings were provided to BG by letting agents a couple of days before hand. We the supplied meter readings on 4th April and we've just had a bill through...£227.39!!!!!!

I called them up and queried it, but not much can be done, but I provided a new reading today for the period of 4th to 10th April and already we've used £30 of gas and £11 electric!

The house is a 3 bed terrace. Heating is on for 2 hours in the morning set to 19c, and 4 and a half hours in the evening to the same temp. We've boosted it occasionally on the weekend. Only the central heating is gas, everything else is electric.

Can anyone help me?!

misstopcat

I am also with British Gas but use a prepayment meter and have to put in £35 gas and £10 electric every week

The heating is on more than what you have stated and I also cook on gas so that does seem a lot

It doesn't help with it being so cold at this time of year.

MentalMinnie

We used to live in a 3 bed semi, just over a year ago, and the fuel bill was roughly £110 a month and I had the heating on more in that house.

MK55

MentalMinnie wrote: »

The house is a 3 bed terrace. Heating is on for 2 hours in the morning set to 19c, and 4 and a half hours in the evening to the same temp. We've boosted it occasionally on the weekend. Only the central heating is gas, everything else is electric.

Can anyone help me?!

Well, 6 and a half hours is quite a long time for heating. WHen you say your thermostat is set to 19c is this all the time? If so your heating will be coming on and off all day to maintain this temperature, essentially wasting energy.

What kind of insulation do you have? How do you monitor your energy usage?

MentalMinnie

MK55 wrote: »

Well, 6 and a half hours is quite a long time for heating. WHen you say your thermostat is set to 19c is this all the time? If so your heating will be coming on and off all day to maintain this temperature, essentially wasting energy.

What kind of insulation do you have? How do you monitor your energy usage?

No, just whilst the heating is timed to be on, it's set to remain at 19. Otherwise the rest of the time it will only come on if the temp in the house drops below 15.

MentalMinnie

With regards to insulation, as far as we can tell there isn't any in the loft, although a friend has masses of the stuff so he's gonna come and do the loft. Being a rental we don't want to spend a fortune. When you say monitor, in what way do people usually monitor usage? Other than monthly meter reads we don't do anything else.

MentalMinnie

Thought it was worth mentioning that I'm currently on the Online Energy tariff as well.

paulmapp8306

Its not that high

Im in a 4 bed - so a little larger, and am on an online tariff. My house has full loft insulation, doubler glazed, Cavity Wall and all A+++ appliances including the boiler. I have my heating on 4 hours/day though it is set to 20 not 19. I monitor my usage every 3-4 days - and over March my monthly gas usage was £130, so your £30 for gas over that period - with no loft insulation - would seem about right to me.

MentalMinnie

paulmapp8306 wrote: »

Its not that high

Im in a 4 bed - so a little larger, and am on an online tariff. My house has full loft insulation, doubler glazed, Cavity Wall and all A+++ appliances including the boiler. I have my heating on 4 hours/day though it is set to 20 not 19. I monitor my usage every 3-4 days - and over March my monthly gas usage was £130, so your £30 for gas over that period - with no loft insulation - would seem about right to me.

But based on the info BG provided me yeasterday, my expected usage for this month will be £217!!!!!!! You can't tell me you think thats normal?

dogshome

The figures show that maybe it wasn't a good idea to let the Agents give BG the meter readings, rather than read the meters yourself on the day you moved in.

1Mar - 4 April cost £227
£227 converts to roughly 5044 Kwh used in 35 days - 144Kwh a day
4 April - 10 April cost £30
£30 converts to roughly 667 Kwh used in 7 days - 95 Kwh a day

This points to the likelyhood of the heating left running to stop frost problems when the house was untenanted, for which you have picked up the bill.

MentalMinnie

dogshome wrote: »

The figures show that maybe it wasn't a good idea to let the Agents give BG the meter readings, rather than read the meters yourself on the day you moved in.

1Mar - 4 April cost £227
£227 converts to roughly 5044 Kwh used in 35 days - 144Kwh a day
4 April - 10 April cost £30
£30 converts to roughly 667 Kwh used in 7 days - 95 Kwh a day

This points to the likelyhood of the heating left running to stop frost problems when the house was untenanted, for which you have picked up the bill.

Yes, i concede that that was a stupid mistake to make, but I still this that to have used £30 in 7 days is still a lot? Like i said, BG advised that we've used approx. £7 per day from 4th to 10th, which means we could end up with a bill at the end of the month of £217. Add to this the electric which will be around £60 and our bill will be around £300!!! For one month!!!