help - extortionate gas bills

dutch123

MillicentBystander wrote: »

dutch123, are the showers electric or hot water fed?

they are electric pumps but the water is hot pretty much instantly so does that mean hot water fed?

maisie1234

Its gas and elec. On First Utility dual fuel and check every few months whether its still one of the cheapest. Just changed to a fixed price tariff for 2 years.

I dont think telling someone how much a house costs to heat is actually that accurate. You could be in all day, or out most of the week, you could be very very frugral with the heating or you could just lie!

Best thing is if its a big house - its going to cost a lot. A new house will be cheaper.

oldskoo1

The house might be large and not very insulated but £80 a month on gas to heat hot water? Yes they also have a gas oven, we have a gas stove and gas hot water heating.

210L unvented hot water tank + gas stove usage is costing us £11-£12 a month + £6 standing charge.

So £80 is crazy. 2 adults, 2 children here.

macman

dutch123 wrote: »

thank you ... all comments have been very interesting...

a little more about us... we are a family of 5 with 3 teenagers - strangely there's no bath in the house so it's just showers for the hot water - and at the moment all the teenagers like showering everyday (long may that last!). I leave the water on constant as was told that was the most efficient way.

We do have a gas oven as well...

The top floor has 3 bedrooms which have eaves cupboards that wraparound. All are insulated tho' the air that comes from under the cupboard doors is cold.. (novelty draught excluders have been purchased to limit this).

The house is circa 1970 and all windows are double glazed. Previous owner was a boiler engineer and he quoted 'you'll never be cold in this house' when we bought it last summer! He didn't mention at what price that would come at!

If you believe that (and take the same approach to your CH), then I'm not surprised that your gas consumption is 4 times the average.
Why heat your hot water all night when it not going to be run off for 8 hours or so?
In reality the heat loss from a well insulated tank is fairly minimal (and in winter servse to heat the house anyway), but don't kid yourself that it's 'more efficient'. The longer it's on, the more it costs, so using it timed will be more economic.
Are you showers electric showers (cold fed from the rising main) or tank fed showers with a shower pump (power showers)?
Do you have a decent digital programmer to control your whole CH and DHW system?

dutch123

the showers are tank fed showers with electric pumps.

As the heating is still off (tho' I might crack this weekend) I will do a trial with the water only being on for 8 hours ... would it be best to have it on overnight so guaranteed for 5 showers within in 1 hour period in the morning or after the showers or does it not really make a difference?!

The digital programmer seems decent enough - we can programme 7 days and 4 on/off times during each day...

closed

dutch123 wrote: »

I leave the water on constant as was told that was the most efficient way.

It's not. A reasonable sized tank should heat to 60C in around an hour, the tank stat should turn off the heat after it gets to temp.

Insulate, turn your trv's down, don't heat the house when out or asleep, and use a timer. £80/month for gas (actual use?) in summer without any heating is way OTT, but gas heated water for showers may be partly responsible.

dutch123

closed wrote: »

It's not.

Insulate, turn your trv's down, don't heat the house when out or asleep, and use a timer. £80/month for gas (actual use?) in summer without any heating is way OTT.

I took a meter reading in June / July and October so yes that was actual use... just for the water ... didn't have to have the heating on...

closed

Do the units charged on the bill match the units on the meter, ie m3 or ft3

http://www.which.co.uk/switch/energy-advice/how-to-read-your-gas-meter

Sure about type of shower?

dutch123

closed wrote: »

Do the units charged on the bill match the units on the meter, ie m3 or ft3

http://www.which.co.uk/switch/energy-advice/how-to-read-your-gas-meter

Sure about type of shower?

yep units are in m3 and the bill is too ...

closed

how many m3 or kwh between what dates, does £80 include electricity