Gas Useage???

Blowdog

Hi, just looking for a bit of advice on my energy useage. I live in a 4 bedroom detached house approx. 2000 square foot in size and have a new modern boiler and mega flow water tank. I have just monitored my gas useage for the last month and according to my meter I have used 267 cubic metres of gas. Does this sound right or high?

WillowCat

For a large house in a winter month it doesn't sound too bad. About £175 in cost?

sheffield_lad

Agree difficult to work out on one month alone. Aprox 30% of all gas use is in the months of Dec/Jan.


GL

System

Not a good month to assess energy use. My wife and I live in a modern 5 bed house with zoned heating controls. For the month up to 20 Dec, we averaged £2 of gas usage per day for heating, hot water and cooking. Christmas - along with the wider family and cold weather - arrived, and I can almost hear a constant whirr from the gas meter cupboard. My gas usage over the past 24 hours works out at about £5.

The wider family depart tomorrow and warmer weather is forecast from Wednesday onwards.

Blowdog

Thanks everyone. Yeah agree December is not a great month to monitor it. I used the same amount of gas between 25th Nov and 28th December as I did between 4th October a d 25th November!

Cardew

WillowCat wrote: »

For a large house in a winter month it doesn't sound too bad. About £175 in cost?

Isn't £175 high for that amount of gas?


267 m3 is approx. 3,000kWh. On my tariff that would cost £108.
(3.27p/kWh and 34.25p DSC) and there are slightly cheaper tariffs available.


The major factors the OP hasn't stated is:


1. how well the house is insulated
2. how many live in the house and are they out at work or home all day.

Blowdog

Yes your right Cardew.

267 M3 is 2973.16kWh. I am with Green Energy on 3.503 per kWh so that useage works out at £104.15 plus 32.77p per day standing charge.

The house is as well insulated as I can get it. Double glazing, cavity insulation and decent loft insulation. It is still a cold house though as the windows are mostly very big and the house is mostly open plan.
Average temp in the house is between 17-19 degrees and no matter how long I run the heating it would not get much hotter than this.

Cardew

Blowdog wrote: »

Yes your right Cardew.


The house is as well insulated as I can get it. Double glazing, cavity insulation and decent loft insulation. It is still a cold house though as the windows are mostly very big and the house is mostly open plan.
Average temp in the house is between 17-19 degrees and no matter how long I run the heating it would not get much hotter than this.

Well as you have a new modern boiler, something is wrong.


Either the boiler is too small(unlikely), you are not turning up the water temperature sufficiently, or the radiators are not of sufficient size.


You should be able to achieve at least 21C in the living rooms,

Pincher

I have a five bedroom semi-detached.
About 2,500 ft2 across two floors.
Band A condensing boiler with Megaflow cylinder.


28th Oct to 25th Nov (28 days) was 1798kWh
1798 / 28 = 64.21kWh per day


25th Nov to 28th Dec (33 days) was 3224kWh
3224 / 33 = 97.70kWh per day


With temperature plummeting to zero over night, I fully expect 150kWh per day, possibly more.


My latest bill says:


"Your actual usage in the last 12 months
18,348.059 kWh" for gas

"Your actual usage in the last 12 months
4,694.218 kWh" for electricity.


So, pretty similar to yours, I would say.


Note that 96kWh / 24 = 4, so the house is losing 4kWh in heat every hour,
which is 3.5p x 4 = 14p per hour, or 3.5p x 4 x 24 = £3.36 a day.

Robwiz

267 m3 doesn't sound too bad to me for the weather we have had over the past month.

Cardew is right though – your heating system should have been sized to give you 21º comfort when it's below freezing outside. Is your boiler flow temperature set high enough? (Of course, if you increase it you'll burn more gas!).

Blowdog

Worded my last post wrong. Every room other than the kitchen / dining room (this is where my thermostat is!) achieves over 20 degrees. I would say the radiators for kitchen / dining room are not sufficient.