Gas consumption

pickyporsha

Hi I was wondering whether my gas consumption is excessively high. Two adults living in a ground floor 2 bedroomed cottage flat one full time worker one part time worker. Hot water timed for 1 hr twice a day, heating never on until its very cold and then it is timed for about 2/3 hrs at night only. Cooker is dual fuel, top half gas oven electric only used once a day for evening meal. 2012 I used 3678. For this year they obviously have to estimate the few months remaining of this year but I am forecast to have used approx 11512 which is a huge jump and the forecast for next year is 11452. Does anyone think this seems a lot or is about average? Thanks in advance for replies

Cardew

UK average is 16,500kWh pa.

The main factor in consumption is insulation of property, followed by room temperature, baths or shower?

Certainly not excessive, not even 'high' IMO

pickyporsha

Thanks for that Cardew. My supplier shows me a usage wheel and it says 69% of my usage is gas and 31 electric just amazed me as lots of things use electric but I dont really use gas a lot as I stated above.

Nada666

3,678 does not make sense for 2012 if you are using 11,500 this year. It's either not a complete year or you have caught up and are perhaps using 7,500 each year. Do you have older bills with readings to see what has happened?

11,500 is not an unreasonable amount (about £500 worth). Keep an eye on your gas readings month by month as winter comes to find out what your actual usage is.

sleepyshell

Just wondering if there is some confusion over imperial and metric meters. Do you know which type of meter you have?

For an imperial meter you have to multiply by 2.83 to get the metric units eg 3678 units used on an imperial meter would equal 10409 metric units.

If you have an imperial meter then potentially your supplier hasn't multiplied the number of units used by 2.83 during 2012.

We've just moved supplier and it was discovered that we have an imperial meter but have been charged as if it's metric. This meant that we have been underpaying gas by almost 3 times for the last 5 years!:eek: Luckily the old supplier have agreed not to backcharge us as their own meter readers have never noticed, and we didn't even realise there were two types. Not looking forward to this year's gas payments though!

pickyporsha

Hi Nada66. Only Jan and Feb are missing for 2012 hardly think it would have made much of a difference to the 3,678. I have never had estimated bills I supply readings online on a regular basis. Having said that my dd did start of at £63 combined then after 6 months they hiked it up to a whopping £182 per month which I was livid about then 6mths later it was lowered to £86 per month and just this month they have upped the payments again to £134 per month even though my bills are up to date and I am £100 in credit. The other figures quoted are as stated forecasts.

pickyporsha

sleepyshell wrote: »

Just wondering if there is some confusion over imperial and metric meters. Do you know which type of meter you have?

For an imperial meter you have to multiply by 2.83 to get the metric units eg 3678 units used on an imperial meter would equal 10409 metric units.

If you have an imperial meter then potentially your supplier hasn't multiplied the number of units used by 2.83 during 2012.

We've just moved supplier and it was discovered that we have an imperial meter but have been charged as if it's metric. This meant that we have been underpaying gas by almost 3 times for the last 5 years!:eek: Luckily the old supplier have agreed not to backcharge us as their own meter readers have never noticed, and we didn't even realise there were two types. Not looking forward to this year's gas payments though!

I have absolutely no idea about the meters. The meter readers who have come out have never said anything and rest of readings I supply.

pickyporsha

Sleepyshell. What you say does make sense, 10409 is more inline with what they say Im using now. Perhaps they have realised their mistake.

Yolina

pickyporsha wrote: »

Hi Nada66. Only Jan and Feb are missing for 2012 hardly think it would have made much of a difference to the 3,678

January & February do make quite a difference, but whether that can account for such a big jump year on year, I don't know.

For reference, I use between 6000 to 6800 kWh of gas a year (depending on winter). My usage from start of April to end October is usually approximately 1000 kWh (hot water and hob) with the remaining 5000 to 5800 kWh obviously clocked up between start of November to end of March (heating + HW + hob); that's with a 20+ year old boiler

pickyporsha

Nada666 wrote: »

3,678 does not make sense for 2012 if you are using 11,500 this year. It's either not a complete year or you have caught up and are perhaps using 7,500 each year. Do you have older bills with readings to see what has happened?

11,500 is not an unreasonable amount (about £500 worth). Keep an eye on your gas readings month by month as winter comes to find out what your actual usage is.

Nada66 Just looked at a gas reading read by me on 24.3.12 that was 2645 and my reading a year later on 19.3.13 is 3345. And my very last reading on 21.10.13 is 3714. What you think ?

pickyporsha

Yolina wrote: »

January & February do make quite a difference, but whether that can account for such a big jump year on year, I don't know.

For reference, I use between 6000 to 6800 kWh of gas a year (depending on winter). My usage from start of April to end October is usually approximately 1000 kWh (hot water and hob) with the remaining 5000 to 5800 kWh obviously clocked up between start of November to end of March (heating + HW + hob); that's with a 20+ year old boiler

wow you don't seem to use very much.