Higer than expected gas usage

sups

Hi
Need some help, here.


Back in August I moved house. I went from a house that had 2 reception rooms and 3.5 bedrooms with a combi (vaillant) boiler, to a house that has 3 reception rooms and 5 bedrooms, with an Eco TEC vaillant boiler and a Megaflo tank. The new house is roughly 30-40% larger than the old one, so i was assuming that the gas usage would be roughly 30-40% at most (due to having a new boiler) – i couldn’t have been more wrong. i’ve been tweaking the heating controls to work in the best possible way effectively – it’s not 100% but im getting there.


I got my Bill from British Gas, and although I’ve been using less Electricity, I’ve managed to rack up 7318 units in gas between Sept and Nov. I’ve just checked what my usage was at my previous house during a similar period (Oct – Dec ‘12), and here I only used 1438 units.


I can’t believe I’m using 5 times more gas then my old place. I don’t know what I can/should do.


Any help would be much appreciated.



Regards

Sups

Strebor

Check that the units (m3/ft3) on the bill match the units (m3/ft3) marked on the meter.......... if wrong it results in bill approximately 3 times / divided what it should be.

I was a victim of this, and the energy company treated me like a criminal and then couldn't correct the problem for months, then didn't fix it properly so the company I switched to did the unit switch again, and so the sorry saga carried on.

The cynic in me thinks the industry might be earning a huge wedge on this error. Be interested to know whether you have the right units or not.

The meter has either m3 or ft3 on it, and the bill will have the units they are using in the formula. They should be the same. If not it's approx 3 times wrong in whichever way (high or low).

If you find it is wrong, you might feel public spirited and inform the old owner/occupiers who may have been fleeced and not known about it - they might then be able to claim back over billing.

iancrt

is the 7318 based on Actual Readings? Did you provide a correct opening read when you moved in?
Leak? (unlikely)
Metric meter - being billed as imperial?
Did you read the wrong meter?
Is your tank lagged and is it correctly set at a reasonable temperature?

I moved and had gas bills 3-4 times higher. My old house had A* rated combi boiler with time & temp Zoned controls. New house had old combi boiler with only time controls.

sups

strebor - my meter is in 3ft but looking at the bill, it’s in KWh. there’s far too many number so the calculation to follow ho BG are calculating the cost.

Iancrt - I bought the house over 2 years ago but only just managed to move in (building works... don’t ask!!). I’m pretty sure I took the right reading from the start.. Since then i have had someone come several times to take the reading so I’m fairly confident that the reading it right. I only have one meter so I can eliminate
'wrong meter' sceanario
leak very unlikely with out me knowing.. especially this amount.
Tank i have is from Heatrai Sadie and as far i im aware it dont need lagging.

i've been asking around the office and someone suggested that the meter could be faulty.

whats the chances of this happening.

Nada666

As you have an imperial meter then that is not the issue (well, it still could be the issue - but it means you have used even more.)

80 kWh is not a crazy amount to use per day for eight rooms - only 10 kWh per day. In my experience it takes about 15 or 20 kWh to heat up an insulated, small room for an evening's session.

Of course if you have not being using the heating then things need investigated - but first thing is to look at what you are using evening to evening and week to week just now.

sups

Nada666 - how did you come to 80kwh per day?
This particular statement period was for 25th Sept to the 26th Nov
I make that 61 days.
7318kwh / 61 days = 120kwh (approx) per day - that still seems quite high.

I’ll keep a record of usage from today as you suggest - but I’m still concerned that my usage will only increase, as it gets colds.

sups

I've been checking out the BG website some more especially my account usage history.

BG have calculated that i use £5.20 of gas per day! i find this hard to swallow!

this cant be what I use!!

macman

sups wrote: »

strebor - my meter is in 3ft but looking at the bill, it’s in KWh. there’s far too many number so the calculation to follow ho BG are calculating the cost.

Iancrt - I bought the house over 2 years ago but only just managed to move in (building works... don’t ask!!). I’m pretty sure I took the right reading from the start.. Since then i have had someone come several times to take the reading so I’m fairly confident that the reading it right. I only have one meter so I can eliminate
'wrong meter' sceanario
leak very unlikely with out me knowing.. especially this amount.
Tank i have is from Heatrai Sadie and as far i im aware it dont need lagging.

i've been asking around the office and someone suggested that the meter could be faulty.

whats the chances of this happening.

All gas meter readings have to be converted from volume to energy. The conversion factor from cu ft to kWh is approx 32.2. The calorific value can vary, but the effect of this on the billng is negligible.

dogshome

Something is seriously wrong with the Meter Read numbers - misread or even perhaps the Meter?

You have an Imperial meter, on which each Unit contains close to 31.5 chargeable Kwh
7318 meter units used x 31.5 = 230,517 Kwh, which at 4.5pence per Kwh would produce a bill of over £10,000, and that doesn't include Service Charges and VAT

sups

dogshome wrote: »

Something is seriously wrong with the Meter Read numbers - misread or even perhaps the Meter?

You have an Imperial meter, on which each Unit contains close to 31.5 chargeable Kwh
7318 meter units used x 31.5 = 230,517 Kwh, which at 4.5pence per Kwh would produce a bill of over £10,000, and that doesn't include Service Charges and VAT

in my original post i said 'units' what i meant was KWh,

so thats 7318Kwh (7336 more accuratly from reading my bill last night) and 234 units

sorry for the confusion

StuC75

if the bill is correct in terms of Imperial Meter & Imperial Billed - which the units used and Kwh usage matches up with..

Can you look at the meter reading history on the BG website - as this will show what previous readings have been taken - say if there has been a transposition error (mixed digits).. or if numbers were misread with dials moving in alternate directions..

The reading would be spot on usage if was metric conversion (mines metric and used 202 units / 2,200 kwh in the last 2 months).- so either faulty or leaking (now its in use - anything new fitted? oven, fire? heating on 24/7 when not out??)..

if out at work during the day - try turning everything off and see if meter still moves.

If you have a wireless room thermostat what temp is it set to during the day? as to whether its kicking in...