Gas Usage Advice... Just had Bill :(

cutebabe01

Hi all,

Was just after some advice around Gas.

I got my bill from EDF and in 6 months we have used £380 worth of gas (Jan-Jun)

Apparantly we are using 6 units per day and people have told me that quite a lot. EDF however say this is actually less than usual.

House is a 4 bedroomed, three story. Gas used for heating, water heating and gas hob.

Is this right, or are we being inefficient.

Thanks in advance for advice
:A

mojo_jojo

Hmmm... depends on your usage requirements. Have you recently moved to your current house or are your 6 monthly bills approx all the same or is EDF a recently new supplier for you?

£380 is a tad high IMO. We really need more details. How many people live in your house?

How often is the boiler on? Is the boiler serviced regularly (yearly)? If not when was it last serviced as a service will clean it out and make it burn more efficiently.

Is your heating still on? If so, you can pretty much turn it off during the summer. If you have a thermostat controlled heating you can turn it down a couple of degrees.

For heating water, you don't really need it on for more than 2 hours a day, and hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, for example.

So, there are answers, but we need more details of your living circumstances.

colbee

Don't really understand what you mean by 'units' but maybe this will help, I am just in the process of changing supplier, so I am pretty much up to date:
I have a large 5-bed semi which includes a loft conversion, with an 18 months old combi boiler. Electric cooker.
Over the past year I have used 17957 kWh of gas, which averages at just over 49 kWh per day.
Electricity use (with Economy 7) was 7333 kWh, or 20 kWh per day.
The projected combined cost (gas and electricity) for the next 12 months is £910.75, so 6 months is about £455.
Of course, gas and electricity are charged at different rates so that gas is cheaper. So, if I have got this about right, if, like you, I had used gas worth £380, then I would expect to pay more than that again for my electricity i.e. a total of about £800+ for six months gas and electric, or £1600+ per annum.
This sounds exorbitant to me.
Was your meter reading actual or estimated? Have you thought of changing supplier?

cutebabe01

mojo_jojo wrote: »

Hmmm... depends on your usage requirements. Have you recently moved to your current house or are your 6 monthly bills approx all the same or is EDF a recently new supplier for you?

£380 is a tad high IMO. We really need more details. How many people live in your house?

How often is the boiler on? Is the boiler serviced regularly (yearly)? If not when was it last serviced as a service will clean it out and make it burn more efficiently.

Is your heating still on? If so, you can pretty much turn it off during the summer. If you have a thermostat controlled heating you can turn it down a couple of degrees.

For heating water, you don't really need it on for more than 2 hours a day, and hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, for example.

So, there are answers, but we need more details of your living circumstances.

Thanks for all your replies.

I will try and provide some more info:

House: 4 Bedroomed Detached, 3 Storey
Occupants: 2 Adults

It was a brand new build with a brand new boiler. WE moved in End of Dec '06

We were advised to keep the hot water contstantly on, rather than heating in morning then in evening on a timer. Apparantly it's less energy to keep hot, than heat up twice a day.

The heating has been off for about a month or so for the summer

Again similar to the water, in the winter the heating is on 20 through day and night then upto 24 for evenings (5-11pm) as we were advised it is more efficient to keep the house 'warm' (20 degs) rather than heat from cold twice a day.

Have I been misadvised?

Is this enough info (im rubbish at these things)

Thanks peeps
:A

Cardew

At 6 units a day average this equates to approx 24,500kWh per year which is a little more than the national average of 20,300kWh.

However you have a 4 bed house and a gas hob so I would think that is about right.
To a large extent gas unit depends on house insulation, where you live, in all day or out at work. etc etc

cutebabe01

Cardew wrote: »

At 6 units a day average this equates to approx 24,500kWh per year which is a little more than the national average of 20,300kWh.

However you have a 4 bed house and a gas hob so I would think that is about right.
To a large extent gas unit depends on house insulation, where you live, in all day or out at work. etc etc

Yeah true,

We both work 9-5 Mon Fri and are in at weekends.

I think it's probably EDFs high prices

Has anyone recently changed supplier?

How easy a job is it?

I have heard you can get £30 cashback from some comparision sites, but can see it not being as easy as stated.

nobblyned

20 degrees and 24 degrees! No wonder it's costing you. I think most people would be about 3 degrees cooler than that when they are in the house. And I've absolutely no idea why you would choose to heat the house whilst you are not there. I think you've been given some duff advice. Timers are there for a reason!

Tobyruby

I know it's comparing apples with oranges, but I got a bill for almost £800 for 6 months worth of gas. I live in Northern Ireland which seems to be the rip off centre of the world for all utilities. I am not currently on mains gas. It is LPG that is allegedly metered into the house from a tank down the road. I complained about the bill, eventually going to my MLA (MP equivalent) only to discover that the LPG market here is unregulated. So they can charge what they like. I use gas for heat, hot water and hob cooking. The house is brand new, double glazed, insulated etc. etc. and apart from not using the gas at all, there seems to be no other way to cut down my bills. Mains gas is coming - praise be - but they have to dig a pipe under the river to get to us. Who knows how long that will take.

colbee

I think your room temperatures are too high but you might like it quite hot as opposed to warm. I'm a little surprised that with a new house you have hot water storage rather than on-demand from a combi boiler. BTW, I take it you moved in Dec 06, not 07.
I am in the process of changing suppliers (not for the first time). I am doing this via Which? - you don't have to be a member, just go to www.switchwithwhich.co.uk There are other switching organisations. The whole process takes about 6 weeks (I don't know why) but all you have to do is enter online your postcode and info about your gas/electricity usage -either your annual spend or actual kWh used. I prefer the latter.
Then you select one of the quotes you will be given and apply online. All that's left is for you to supply meter readings when requested - everything else is done for you.

cutebabe01

colbee wrote: »

I'm a little surprised that with a new house you have hot water storage rather than on-demand from a combi boiler.

Combi boilers are apparantly not reccommended for homes with more than 2 bathrooms according to http://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk

Thats why I have a normal system

Thanks for everyones help

Im going to:

• Change my water heating to 2 hrs in morn and 2 at night
• Change my heating to only ocome on at 6am till 9 and 4pm till 11 in the winter, rather than having it on all the time
• Find out about changing supplier

Hopefully this will mean in 6 months I cant report a better gas bill

:A

mojo_jojo

Ok, from what you said, this is what I would recommend...

BTW I also have a 3-4 bedroom house (although it's a semi detached). It's just myself, partner and baby boy there.

1) Boiler. You don't need it serviced yet, as it's new, but get it serviced at the end of the year in early Dec. That way if there is anything wrong you can get it fixed.

2) Don't keep the hot water on auto all day. I assume both you and your friend/partner? work during the days? Assuming this, you really just need the hot water on about an hour before you get up and maybe 1.5/2 hours when you get home. If you find your hot water gets colder quicker (ie you bathe or use the washing machine a lot) then set it to come on at better times. ie. you bathe at 10pm so the hot water comes on at 8pm.

For me, I just have the hot water on one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening during the summer months and that serves my family well.

3) Heating : Again if you are both working, have the heating on during the winter 30 mins before you get up and on until 15 mins before you leave the house. If you have a thermostat, leave it at 20C if you find it comfortable. 24C in the evening would be too warm for me. If you do need it warmer set it for 22C in the evening. Alternatively wear a thicker jumper/cardigan! A couple of degrees lower will save you at least 10% extra on your gas bill!