£15 a week on gas?? - Empty house - PrePay

ptrichardson

Hi All,

Just wondering, does this sound right - We're running at around £15 per week on the gas meter in a smallish 3bed end-terraced house

The heating is on 4 times per day, for 30 mins each time.

Its an empty house, the heating is only on to keep a reasonable temperature to prevent damp etc.

I just can't believe how much its costing us. £~800 per year, just for Gas.


2nd question, what's the best company to switch to for pre-pay gas and electric for low use please?

Many thanks.

HappyMJ

ptrichardson wrote: »

Hi All,

Just wondering, does this sound right - We're running at around £15 per week on the gas meter in a smallish 3bed end-terraced house

The heating is on 4 times per day, for 30 mins each time.

Its an empty house, the heating is only on to keep a reasonable temperature to prevent damp etc.

I just can't believe how much its costing us. £~800 per year, just for Gas.


2nd question, what's the best company to switch to for pre-pay gas and electric for low use please?

Many thanks.

£15 times 52 is £780....but...you won't be heating the property in summer so although you are spending £15 per week in winter you'll spend £10 per week in autumn and apring and £5 per week in summer for an average weekly cost of £10 per week. £520 per year which then becomes reasonable.

£520 per year is not low use. 4 times per day for 30 minutes per heating session is not low use either. An occupied 3 bed end of terrace property will never be low use either. 3 bedrooms cost much more to heat than an average property and an end of terrace costs more to heat than a mid terrace. Do not look at low use tariffs. You are an average user and if anything you use more than average at about 15,000kWh assuming your tariff is 25p/day standing charge and 3p/kWh.

Look at comparison websites and enter your annual usage figures don't multiply your weekly usage by 52. You need your annual figures.

I always look at the EPC of the property which should tell you the kWh required per square metre in energy which will give you an idea whether you're using more or less than a reasonable amount. You should aim to use less than the figure quoted.

edit: An empty property actually costs more in gas to heat than an occupied property. People add heat to a property by living in it and using things. If you turn the TV on you're adding heat to the property using electricity. If you use the oven then electricity is used adding heat to the kitchen and less gas is required to heat the property. Even if you have an electric shower then the heat from the water is released into the bathroom. An energy efficient passivehouse relies on all this energy usage so that no additional heating is required making them very efficient houses. If a passivehouse was empty and no electricity was used it will be a cold house.

ptrichardson

bear in mind, I'm not actually "heating the house" to a normal living level.

I'm literally running the boiler for 2 hours per day - only - to keep the damp off the place.

EPC / actual temps are irrelevant here.

HappyMJ

ptrichardson wrote: »

bear in mind, I'm not actually "heating the house" to a normal living level.

I'm literally running the boiler for 2 hours per day - only. That's waaay less than someone actually living there would be using.

It's all I use and my living room is no less than 18 degrees and my bedroom is no less 16 degrees at any time. That's on for 24 hours a day and I live in the property all the time. The boiler only actually burns gas for 2 hours a day which is exactly the same as yours.

ptrichardson

HappyMJ wrote: »

It's all I use and my living room is no less than 18 degrees and my bedroom is no less 16 degrees at any time. That's on for 24 hours a day and I live in the property all the time. The boiler only actually burns gas for 2 hours a day which is exactly the same as yours.

Thanks.

Its difficult to quantify things in an abstract setting.

[Deleted User]

If you have an old gas boiler with a pilot light I m told you could use £100 a year on that alone. You also are paying through the nose for your gas when you can drop up to 40% getting latest one/two year fixes at just over 2p/kwh getting off prepay rates and onto a credit meter . You will also pay approx £80 a year in standing charges . Best prepay rates are seen on any comp site, none of them match credit meter rates.

CashStrapped

What is the make an model of your boiler. This will give us a limited idea as to its efficiency.

Furthermore, what secondary controls to you have for the boiler? Do you have a room thermostat? Do you use it? Do you have radiator valves?
Is it a combi boiler or is there a hot water tank? Is the tank well insulated?

How well insulated is the property as a whole?

All these things will have an overall impact on your gas use.

ptrichardson

CashStrapped wrote: »

What is the make an model of your boiler. This will give us a limited idea as to its efficiency.

Furthermore, what secondary controls to you have for the boiler? Do you have a room thermostat? Do you use it? Do you have radiator valves?
Is it a combi boiler or is there a hot water tank? Is the tank well insulated?

How well insulated is the property as a whole?

All these things will have an overall impact on your gas use.

That's not what I'm after. The house is up for sale and completely empty with nobody living in it.

Efficientcy, EPC are irrelevant here. I burn gas for exactly 2hours per day every day. Is £15 a week about right on a prepay meter - that was the question. I think its been answered now.

CashStrapped

I understand, but you missed my point.

The only way people can tell if heating an empty property for £15 a week is reasonable is by knowing roughly what the system set up is.

For example, modern boilers and TRVs have frost settings, which keep the house warm enough to prevent pipes from freezing, and damp issues etc. This would/should cost far less than £15 a week.

But never mind, if you already have your answer, then that is great.

AndyBSG

I'm in a 3 bed semi with gas central heating and a gas cooker.

We have our hot water on for an hour a day and heating on for about 2-3 hours.

Our bill is 85 a month but that includes electirc and from what I can see it's pretty much a 50/50 split with gas usually coming in at about £42 a month.

Yours does seem a little excessive but not massively so and could be down to things like what tariff you are on, how energy efficient your home is(do you have double glazing, cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, etc).

Also, the fact you are on a prepay meter doesn't help as the rates on those are generally much higher

footyguy

ptrichardson wrote: »

Hi All,

Just wondering, does this sound right - We're running at around £15 per week on the gas meter in a smallish 3bed end-terraced house

The heating is on 4 times per day, for 30 mins each time.

Its an empty house, the heating is only on to keep a reasonable temperature to prevent damp etc.

I just can't believe how much its costing us. £~800 per year, just for Gas.


2nd question, what's the best company to switch to for pre-pay gas and electric for low use please?

Many thanks.

Seems like a lot.

What size boiler do you have? I would have thought a 40,000 btu one would be more than big enough for a typical 3 bed end of terrace.

40,000btu is just under 12 kW

Assuming the heating is on constantly for the 4 lots of 30 mins, that means 24kWh per day or 168kWh per week.
(it may not be on constantly, depending on what temperature you ahve set, ambient tempearture, etc)

Anyway, you should be able to purchase that on a PPM for less than £10 a week.

Also, remember you hopefully will not be using the heating at all in the middle of July/Aug when ambient temperatures may be in excess of 30 degrees.

Use a comparison site to find the best deal for you.
(Don't forget to look at the possibility of separate suppliers too)

Actually, we are getting almost to a point in the year (certainly in about 4 weeks time, which it could take to switch supplier, that you will hopefully not need any heating in an empty house (until next winter)

If the house is up for sale, and you hope to sell it before next winter, then a no standing charge tariff may be your best bet.
Some comparison sites (e.g. the CEC) allow you filter results that way if you wish.