Massive usage increase

Fooldude

Looking for advice. Here are my actual gas readings:

June 2010: 9566
Nov 2010: 10543
Feb 2011: 11755
Aug 2011: 12741
Feb 2012: 13923

Sep 2013: 26136 !

We had a new comHi boiler installed in Feb 2012. But our consumption has gone up from 200/month approx to 700/month

When I phoned Uswitch they laughed when I asked for a quote for 172,000kwh annual consumption.

I live in a 5 bed old semi detsched house, doubke glazed only for half the windows, but our heating and usage hasn't changed that much in all that time. Maybe we had it a little bit warmer since the bigger boiler, but not massively so.

Can anyone shed any light into why I have gone from £180 a month to £570 ?!

Is it possible for new boilers to use a lot more? Meters to go faulty?

helptoyou

How do you arrive at an annual consumption of 172,000 KWH

victor2

Fooldude wrote: »

Looking for advice. Here are my actual gas readings:

June 2010: 9566
Nov 2010: 10543
Feb 2011: 11755
Aug 2011: 12741
Feb 2012: 13923

Sep 2013: 26136 !

We had a new comHi boiler installed in Feb 2012. But our consumption has gone up from 200/month approx to 700/month

When I phoned Uswitch they laughed when I asked for a quote for 172,000kwh annual consumption.

I live in a 5 bed old semi detsched house, doubke glazed only for half the windows, but our heating and usage hasn't changed that much in all that time. Maybe we had it a little bit warmer since the bigger boiler, but not massively so.

Can anyone shed any light into why I have gone from £180 a month to £570 ?!

Is it possible for new boilers to use a lot more? Meters to go faulty?

Has your meter been changed between Feb 2012 and Sep 2013?
If you now have a metric meter (will say m3 on it), but are being billed as if it were imperial (ft3), then you will get much higher kWh figures.
How did you arrive at the 172,000 kWh annual consumption? The meter readings you state for the above dates don't equate to that for either metric or imperial meters.

helptoyou

If I was you I would contact the current supplier and obtain the KWH usage for the past 12 months then use an online comparison site energy helpline is easy to use and see what the results are.

HappyMJ

Fooldude wrote: »

Looking for advice. Here are my actual gas readings:

June 2010: 9566
Nov 2010: 10543
Feb 2011: 11755
Aug 2011: 12741
Feb 2012: 13923

Sep 2013: 26136 !

We had a new comHi boiler installed in Feb 2012. But our consumption has gone up from 200/month approx to 700/month

When I phoned Uswitch they laughed when I asked for a quote for 172,000kwh annual consumption.

I live in a 5 bed old semi detsched house, doubke glazed only for half the windows, but our heating and usage hasn't changed that much in all that time. Maybe we had it a little bit warmer since the bigger boiler, but not massively so.

Can anyone shed any light into why I have gone from £180 a month to £570 ?!

Is it possible for new boilers to use a lot more? Meters to go faulty?

I'd say check the meter reading again...

Are you sure the meter is the correct reading?

Can you take a photo and post it on here?

Fooldude

helptoyou wrote: »

How do you arrive at an annual consumption of 172,000 KWH

That was what EDF estimated for next year and what they want to set the direct debit at.

I've worked it out now and on actuals and using the current rate it is about 88,000kwh. So they've estimated it wrong.

This doesn't alter the readings though and why usage has gone from approx 200 units a month average for a year, to 650 a month average for a year??

The meter is m3 i have double hecked the reading today and it hasn't been changed. Only the boiler.

I can imagine an increase as the top two bedrooms now get more heated, and it's been two cold years, but why would our usage triple?

Thanks for help so far - I would never have thought to check their estimate.

Fooldude

It's hard to get the exact annual usage for 2013 as the last actual reading prior to Sep2013 was Feb2012, so I calculated per day and then pro-rata for the year.

[Deleted User]

Just double check that you are not being billed for a four digit meter, it seems a coincidence that the increase is approx 3 times, exactly what a mis billed meter 4 to 5 dial meter would be (2.8 times difference )

victor2

Fooldude wrote: »

It's hard to get the exact annual usage for 2013 as the last actual reading prior to Sep2013 was Feb2012, so I calculated per day and then pro-rata for the year.

There must have been readings between Feb 2012 and Sep 2013, even if they were estimates, which could be part of the reason for EDF's forecast being so far out. EDF have been known in the past to make inexplicable forecasts, so your own are likely to be more accurate.
However, even 88,000kWH per year is extremely high - about 4 times what we use for GCH and DHW in a fairly well insulated 4 bed house.
It is possible, but not common, for meters to go wrong. Before exploring that, take readings on a daily basis (before you turn the heating on for autumn!) and see what it says your usage is for just hot water.