Can't understand why my reading is so high....

aah

when I hardly use my flat.

I signed up with BG for gas (only) supply on 2 April this year. I have used the premises for only 10 nights in the first quarter and also had the CH boiler serviced during this period.

Yet I used 105 units!

My boiler is a Gloworm - it is old but as I said recently serviced - could anyone help? Or is this the amount to be expected. I do have a gas cooker, but it is hardly used either.

Yours worried, A.

Cardew

105 units(as indicated on your meter) could be:

A. approx 1,200kWh if you have a Metric meter(most are).
B. approx 3,300kWh if you have an old Imperial meter.

So you will be facing a bill of approx £30 or £90.

You think that is high?

maninthestreet

Surely a unit of electricity is 1KWhr?
So 105 units = 105KWhr

A_Nice_Englishman

maninthestreet wrote: »

Surely a unit of electricity is 1KWhr?
So 105 units = 105KWhr

Yes, but we are talking about gas here.

Bearing in mind the flat was empty virtually all the time the amount of gas used seems quite high - 120 kWh per night. Are the readings definitely correct and not estimated?

Farway

You haven't got a timer or suchlike automatically switching on and heating water have you?

Try turning the boiler off when not in the flat

aah

Cardew wrote: »

105 units(as indicated on your meter) could be:

B. approx 3,300kWh if you have an old Imperial meter.

So you will be facing a bill of approx £30 or £90.

You think that is high?

The bill would be for £90 approx for the 105 units - yet I do think it is a newish meter...... I wonder if it is possible that BG are calculating it as an old meter when it is a new one??? How might I check this, does anyone know?

I do think £90 for ten days use (when I am at work most of the day and it is Summer) is very very high for a one-bedroom flat.

Hope you can help further, many thanks thus far...

A.

aah

Hi, there, thanks Cardew, I have responded particularly to your thread, just wondering if there is any way BG could have mixed up an Imperial or Metri meter- as that could explain the difference. The bill would have been for £90, which I think is a LOT for 10 days use of gas for a one bedroom flat in the Summer when I am out at work most of the day.

And I have read the meter myself, it is digital so easy to read, no mistakes, done it several times. I have no timer and I wonder how I could turn off the boiler and the pilot light every time I leave for the weekend - it is quite high up on the wall.... is it easy to turn a pilot light on and off once a week? Last time we did this with an appliance (to save gas) it burned out in no time at all...

Cardew

aah wrote: »

Hi, there, thanks Cardew, I have responded particularly to your thread, just wondering if there is any way BG could have mixed up an Imperial or Metri meter- as that could explain the difference. The bill would have been for £90, which I think is a LOT for 10 days use of gas for a one bedroom flat in the Summer when I am out at work most of the day.

And I have read the meter myself, it is digital so easy to read, no mistakes, done it several times. I have no timer and I wonder how I could turn off the boiler and the pilot light every time I leave for the weekend - it is quite high up on the wall.... is it easy to turn a pilot light on and off once a week? Last time we did this with an appliance (to save gas) it burned out in no time at all...

If your meter is digital it is almost certain to be Metric. So it could well be that you are being charged 2.86 times to much(i.e. for an Imperial meter) It seems to happen quite a lot.

Firstly look at your bill. If the 105 units equates to 3,000+kWh you are being charged for an Imperial meter.

Then look at your meter. In small writing somewhere on the meter face it should say 'cu ft' or '100 cu ft' if it is Imperial(a unit is 100 cubic feet)

If Metric it will say M3(metres cubed) Cubic metres.

It is one thing to only use the flat for 10 days, but another to leave an old boiler on constantly(presumably heating a tank of water 24/7). If your tank is not well insulated that would account for a lot of gas.

aah

Cardew wrote: »

It is one thing to only use the flat for 10 days, but another to leave an old boiler on constantly(presumably heating a tank of water 24/7). If your tank is not well insulated that would account for a lot of gas.

Absolutely. That is the advice I am seeking and thanks for raising it.

I am not heating water 24/7, I just have a pilot light on, on the ch boiler.

I wanted to know whether the pilot light -for a quarter -plus cooking (one meal for one) for ten days within that quarter - would constitute 105 units. Do you think that it might? I'd love to hear - either way.. and manythanks

A.

Cardew

Firstly sort out if they are 105 metric or Imperial units.

bobrogers444

if you want to calculate your kWh units from the meter reading on a metric meter the get the amount of gas units used by subtracting the past reading from the present, multiply that figure by the calorific value & volume correction figures (found on the bill) then multiply that total by 3.6 to get the kWh units used

for elec its just subtract the past from present reading and thats your units used....