Gas meter reading / useage query

Blancster1

Hello my first post on here....

I was looking at my inlaws bill from Eon yesterday and was shocked at how much they spend on energy in a year. Almost £4k for a 4 bed home.

I found some old bills with actual readings, so it was a relatively simple process to read the meters and then work out what they have used versus a year of estimated bills and huge direct debits.

Anyway based on the readings and then using Eon's gas calculation I worked out they're using something like 12000kwh of electricity, which I know is high and so do they. The big shock is that their gas use age seems to be 54000kwh per year.

They have a Rayburn and this seems to be the heating and hot water solution and is always on in their words. They use a wood burner and also have an open fire whenever I'm there and the rads are very rarely on.

Anyway to get to the point and some questions......

I don't have the bills here today but the conversion of gas meter units to kwh seems to be about 1 unit equals 32 kwh, whereas on my meter 1 unit equals about 11kwh. Could it be that they have a different meter type and the difference is pretty normal?

The family seem to accept that the Rayburn is inefficient and paying £2200 for heating and hot water is normal, whereas I think something is wrong.

Is 54000 kwh of gas a crazy amount in a year for a medium sized 4 bed dorma bungalow?

We live in a 1970s 4 bed 3 storey house and we use about 16000 kwh for gas, so I'm thinking either the Rayburn is no better than burning five pound notes to keep warm or their meter conversion factor is way out.

Any help welcome please.

dogshome

OK - As you have found, there two different types of Gas Meter.

Yours with it's appx. 11.2 chargeable Kwh per meter unit is a Metric Meter marked m3

Your Inlaws meter with it's appx. 31.5 Kwh per meter unit chageing structure,shows it to be an an Imperial model marked ft3

Unfortunately, it's not uncommon for the supplier to confuse which type of meter thay are dealing with.
Look at the Inlaws meter - On the front it will be marked either ft3 which denotes an Imperial meter, or m3 if it;s a Metric meter

If indeed the Inlaws meter is marked m3, their supplier has confused the meter type and owes them a great deal of money - Have them WRITE a letter headed Complaint to EON, enclosing a clear photo of the meter that shows it's type marking

Blancster1

Thanks for your reply, sadly just called them to check and the gas meter is marked as cubic feet so no quick win.

Any other thoughts on the original post welcomed from anyone.

Thanks

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

The electricity is more concerning for me.

The gas is (only) 3.27x the national average consumption - and if they have a Rayburn burning gas all day I'm not surprised. Most people don't heat their homes all day.

The electricity is 3.63x the national average, and I'm not entirely sure how they've achieved this. Is it just the 2 of them? Lighting isn't going to be using 12 MWh a year - it has to be something that is producing serious heat.

Blancster1

I and they know they use a lot of electricity, there are 3 pensioners there and two other adults so the house is using energy all day.

Regarding the Rayburn the rads aren't on, it seems to be used mainly to heat water but more confusing is that they mainly use electric showers so I'm stumped how it can use so much gas.

I can what you say about xx times average uk useage but in £ terms the gas is much higher then electricity hence the questions.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Blancster1 wrote: »

I and they know they use a lot of electricity, there are 3 pensioners there and two other adults so the house is using energy all day.

Regarding the Rayburn the rads aren't on, it seems to be used mainly to heat water but more confusing is that they mainly use electric showers so I'm stumped how it can use so much gas.

I can what you say about xx times average uk useage but in £ terms the gas is much higher then electricity hence the questions.

Yes it certainly is a lot in £'s - but you know where it's coming from; having a rayburn on 24/7. To put it in some context, average consumption is 16.5MWh a year, and most people use heating 8-10 hours a day, and only during winter. Having a heat source burning gas 24/7 will undoubtedly push it sky high, as you are seeing.

Probably not the solution they want to hear, but turn it off, or get rid of it and the bills will go down.

With regards to the electricity; 5 people using electric showers I would estimate would push the bill slightly north of average - but nowhere near 12 MWh. IMHO this remains the real mystery.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi Blancster1

That's certainly a lot of usage, both gas and electric. There may be ways to cut back and we can help with this.

Ask your in-laws to talk to our Energy Efficiency team. Tell them about the property and appliances. They specialise in helping people reduce their energy usage and will be happy to help.

Check out our website, too. Particularly, the 'Saving Energy Toolkit.'

Ask for a copy of a booklet called '100 ways to save money by saving energy.' It's free and contains lots of useful tips.

Hope this helps point you in the right direction Blancster1. Give me a shout if you need any more details as will be happy to help.

Malc