Pilot light costing 4 a month, is this right?

PollySouthend

I stopped using my boiler but kept it lit. On a tarrif with 0 SC (ebico) and just had my bill through and it's 12 for the quarter. Is this right?

victor2

The pilot light on my (ageing but reliable) boiler uses between 4 and 5 kWh of gas per day.
Easy to check - just take meter readings over a period of time that the boiler is not in use. The longer the better really, and you'll probably need to note fractions of units, especially if it's an imperial meter.

Robin9

Read your bill closely - what are the standing charges; are the meter readings estimated or actual ?

Pilot light itself - probably less than 50p.

footyguy

Robin9 wrote: »

Read your bill closely - what are the standing charges; are the meter readings estimated or actual ?

Pilot light itself - probably less than 50p.

Read the OP carefully

PollySouthend wrote: »

I stopped using my boiler but kept it lit. On a tarrif with 0 SC (ebico) and just had my bill through and it's 12 for the quarter. Is this right?

My highlighting

Based on the OP, the cost of the gas consumed would still have cost about £5 for the quarter even on the tariff with the cheapest unit cost (plus the SC that would then also apply)

The cost quoted is possibly correct. The cost for consumption that victor2 specifies (which is probably also correct depending on model of boiler) would be about twice that of the OP.

lisa110rry

To this I can only contribute the following...

When we had a visit to discuss a new boiler to replace our 29 year old one, the chap noticed our beautiful gas "living flame" fire (it's so believable, people occasionally throw things into it!:mad:) and said "your're paying an arm and a leg for that", only the pilot was on.

Cardew

This has been covered many times on MSE - this thread from 9 years ago when pilot lights on boilers were more common.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/6378117#Comment_6378117 sumption#post6378117

badmemory

I find it interesting that they are always very keen to point out how much savings you will make by not having these pilot lights but neglect to warn that it will take about 10 years with the new boiler saving to install a new radiator etc to compensate for the loss of the heat from the boiler & by then the new boiler, which won't last anywhere near as long as the old, will need replacing.

Cardew

badmemory wrote: »

I find it interesting that they are always very keen to point out how much savings you will make by not having these pilot lights but neglect to warn that it will take about 10 years with the new boiler saving to install a new radiator etc to compensate for the loss of the heat from the boiler & by then the new boiler, which won't last anywhere near as long as the old, will need replacing.

Agreed!

There have been many posts on MSE making your point, i.e. don't replace an old non-condensing boiler for economy reasons Wait until it is kaput and don't believe the favourite BG line that 'spares are not available'!

That said many some new boilers have a 10 year factory warranty, and in the opinion of my plumber they are at last getting more reliable.

misterbarlow

Our back boiler was in the house when we moved in 11yrs ago, and must be at least 30yrs old now.. but my gas bill is consistently around £50pm on DD (3bed semi) and I often end up in credit a little, last May had £45 refund on the gas, so I am happy to keep it going..

my brother is a plumber and services it for us etc, and every year says leave it there til it dies, then consider changing it.. but every year it lives on!!!

[Deleted User]

PollySouthend wrote: »

I stopped using my boiler but kept it lit. On a tarrif with 0 SC (ebico) and just had my bill through and it's 12 for the quarter. Is this right?

That's about 50W, which looks quite low:

victor2 wrote: »

The pilot light on my (ageing but reliable) boiler uses between 4 and 5 kWh of gas per day.

Which is 166-208W. The pilots on my two appliances use a total of 425W between them.

jbuchanangb

Last year when I had a boiler with a pilot light, the pilot light accounted for about 3kwh per day or 95 per month. That cost me about £2.50 exc VAT per month. Boiler was 24 years old and I replaced it this year. In August I used no gas at all.