3 times the national average

coulport

A few days ago a british gas salesman came to my house to give us a quote for a new boiler, i the conversation he asked how much per month we were paying for gas and electric. i informed in £52 for gas and £102 for a new 3 bed semi. he said that was hideously high and is well over the national average. So i rang british gas to see if this is wrong and they informed us that we are using 3 times the national average. (back ground is we have gas central heating, the cooker is gas although the oven is electric and not used much. Outside lighting is nil and all rooms has sky tv) i now have to take a reading every day and email back the figures next week. I queried this about 3 / 4 years ago and they said it was right. before i pay to get the meter tested what is the chances the meter could be running fast? and how much refund should we get if the meter is found to be running fast?

molerat

What you pay is of little relevance, how many kWh per month (from actual meter reads not estimated by the supplier) is the figure that counts. Yes the figure is high, £35 - £40 would cover "average" UK consumption, about 300 kWh per month. You need to start looking at what you are using - tumble drier, electric shower, immersion heater etc.

Wywth

coulport wrote: »

A few days ago a british gas salesman came to my house to give us a quote for a new boiler, i the conversation he asked how much per month we were paying for gas and electric. i informed in £52 for gas and £102 for a new 3 bed semi. he said that was hideously high and is well over the national average. So i rang british gas to see if this is wrong and they informed us that we are using 3 times the national average. (back ground is we have gas central heating, the cooker is gas although the oven is electric and not used much. Outside lighting is nil and all rooms has sky tv) i now have to take a reading every day and email back the figures next week. I queried this about 3 / 4 years ago and they said it was right. before i pay to get the meter tested what is the chances the meter could be running fast? and how much refund should we get if the meter is found to be running fast?

Why were you asked to take a reading every day and email back the figures next week? :huh:

You were told you were using 3 times the national average.

In the unlikely event the meter has been running fast for the last 3-4 years, then surely it will run at a similar fast speed for the next few days.

Buy or borrow an electricity monitor to see how much electricity you are actually using & when.
(£52 a month for gas is about average)

lurkylurky

Can't give any advice on potential refund, but I signed up to Energysmart with BG last year in an effort to reduce my bills, with some success. I submit readings every month now.

BG sent me an electricity monitor and it's been a real eye opener. The things I used to get really annoyed about, eg leaving TV and music systems on standby, really don't use that much energy. The real culprits for us were underfloor heating in the bathroom which we've now switched off and barely notice, spotlights in DS bedroom, strip lighting in the integral garage, and kitchen, anything that heats up water; so kettle, iron, washing machine etc, electric oven, and you should see the monitor shoot up when I put the toaster on. I think the biggest culprit of all is having a teenager in the house. Do you have teenagers by any chance?

Our usage is still above the national average but a lot less than it was.

csnann

Do you know if your meter is using Imperial measurements or Metric? If they have got mixed up, the difference would be readings roughly three times higher than they should be.

Cardew

csnann wrote: »

Do you know if your meter is using Imperial measurements or Metric? If they have got mixed up, the difference would be readings roughly three times higher than they should be.

It is his electricity consumption that is high!

chanz4

All rooms have sky, bet x2 of the rooms have xbox or ps3, lights left on

dogshome

Allowing for VAT and Service Charge, a £1224 a year Elec bill requires an annual consumption of around 8,700 Kwh - A huge figure for a 'New' 3 bed semi, (3/4 years old ?)

Billing & Wiring errors are not uncommon in new builds, so you should check the following:

Is the meter No. listed on your bills the same as that on your meter?
If it isn't contact your supplier

When you turn off everything in the house, and I mean everything, does the meter stop recording?.
If it still continues to record
A) Pull all the fuses or circuit breakers and if it still doesn't stop contact your supplier

If the meter does not stop with everything off, but stops with the fuses Switch Breakers off, there is the possibility your house has a wiring or an Appliance fault and you should call in an Electrician

matelodave

stuff like Xboxs and sky boxes actually use quite a lot of power when sitting there doing nothing. TVs arent so bad. I read somewhere that an xbox takes over 200w when its just sitting there= over 50p a day each = £175 a year each - it all adds up. A sky box is soewhere between 40 - 60 watts, even on standby it's quite juicy)

We have an all electric house, no gas, oil or wood etc and we get through about 8500kw a year (cost abou t£935pa = £80 a month) and we use a tumble dryer, electric cooker and several computers (but they are shut down overnight). We've got two electric recliners which actualyl use 30w each just sitting there = 60x24x365 = 525kw a year = more than a £1 a week just to leave the chairs plugged in - so we turn them off when not being used.

You really need to monitor & control your usage in Kw, in the summer we use less than 300kw a month, it goes alll over the place in the winter especially when its everso cold (in December we used 1500Kw)