Gas bill too high (HELP)

Mike2711

Hi,

I have a pre pay gas meter with British Gas which I top up each month.

This month the boiler settings have been:
Heating - Off
Water - timed (on 4:30am - 5am / 2pm - 2:30pm / 7pm - 7:30pm)

In the 30 days since I topped up the pre pay meter it has used £90. This seems way too much for only heating water for an hour and a half a day. I called British Gas but all they could confirm was that there is nothing wrong with the meter and I need to look at lowering my consumption (not really sure how to do that unless I turm it off completely)

Does anyone know what I can do next to get this reduced please?

Mike

JJ_Egan

How much gas have you used in that period in kwh .

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

As above, what has your actual consumption been? Is the meter recovering debt?

lstar337

How did British Gas confirm that there is nothing wrong with the meter?

I'm guessing you can't smell gas?

We need those kWh readings.

matelodave

Have you any arrears that are being paid back at the same time. It's not possible to come to any conclusion unless we know what your consumption is in kwh.

You are not using your boiler very effectively by just giving a little boost every now and then as you are mainly just heating all the pipework between the boiler and the tank. Have you got a decent insulating jacket around the tank, a second one over the top would help as would some pipe insulation on the pipes leading to and from the tank. The hotter you keep the water the more it cost to heat so turn it down a bit.

Try just turning the boiler on for an hour in the morning and see how long your hot water lasts. If there's not enough then have another half hour. We heat out tank for an hour a day in the mornings and there's enough hotwater for both of us all day and for an adequate shower each as well the next day.
You don't need to store a tank of hot water all night when you are asleep so just heat it in the mornings and make it last all day.

Be a bit more economical with your water, take shorter showers, shallower or fewer baths.
Don't let hot water run into the sink when washing and rinsing stuff. Don't turn the tap full on if you don't need it. A lot of hot water gets wasted just washing your hands under a hot tap as most if it sits in the feed pipe and then gets cold until the next time.
Use cold water from the cold tap to wash & rinse stuff unless you really need it hot.
Flow restrictors on taps and the shower can drastically reduce you water consumption and the less you use the less you have to heat

Mike2711

Hi all,

There is no debt on the account and British Gas say there has been no mistake, this is what I have used apparently.

I asked them what my kwh usage had been for the previous 30 days but they cannot confirm this, however they did tell me that I am currently being charged 5p per kwh, so I worked this out as 1800kwh. (please correct me if thats wrong) I also get charged 26p per day just for having gas.

There is no smell of gas in the property or around the extractor pipe from the boiler.

HappyMJ

As has been advised you need to have just the one heating period on the water and use the +1 button if you have a bath and expect to use more that day. You could also try turning the temperature on the cylinder down a little bit. The water might run out though as you won't need as much cold water when having bath/shower so you need to balance it.

It's actually 1,644kWh £90 - (30*26p) then divide by 5p.

55kWh per day which is enough for plenty of hot water and any cooking you need to do for a large family. It can be reduced further though.

Does the boiler have a pilot light by any chance?

If you can I'd switch tariffs.

Andy_WSM

HappyMJ wrote: »

55kWh per day which is enough for plenty of hot water and any cooking you need to do for a large family. It can be reduced further though.

The consumption is too high if it's just for hot water. 55kWh would heat most people's water tanks 10 times over.

Mike2711

I will change the set up when I get in from work. The boiler does have a pilot light and a temperature gauge on the front, although this doesn't seem to affect the temperature of the water, it is always extremely hot.

Also, I have to shut off the radiator in the front room as it gets hot, even when I have the heating set to off.

JJ_Egan

Standing charge is about right per day .
5p Kwh is slightly on the high side but presume that's due to PrePay meter .
Standing charge is for the service pipes transportation and all the other infrastructure to supply you the product .

Mike2711

When I got in from work I set the boiler to heat the water from 4:30am to 5:30am, but it sounds like it is continually running. The pipe out of the boiler is red hot and the pump is running. Am I right in thinking this should only be like this between the times stated above when I want it heated?

The pilot light is not on but it is making noise like it's on.