Gas usage 44000 kwh

rich13348

Hi,
EDF has informed me that my gas usage is around 44000 kWh a year which is, I have been informed, more than double the average usage for a large house.

We have a 3 bedroomed house with a combi boiler, a gas fire that is not used and a gas hob. We have an electric shower.

We are two adults that are generally out all day at work.

We have a hive system attached to the heating and for that last month or so the heating has barely been on.

The customer advisor said that generally when meters go wrong, they go wrong by 100s of 1000s not just thousands.

I don't feel we use that much gas but was wondering if anyone on here can shed any light or give suggestions as to what is our issue?

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Yes. You should be around 12,000 kWh per year for a well insulated house.


Hot water, this should only run when you need it off the combi boiler. So this may not be the issue.


Cooking, unless you have a kiln, again not the issue.


Central heating.
This needs to be thermostatically controlled. We use a timed thermostat set as follows:


6:00 am on 19C
6:30 am on 12C Out during the day
5:30 pm on 17C If you want the lounge warmer, use the fire
8:30 pm on 14C Temperature can drop quite a lot during the night.


Last year was 12,500 kWh, three bed detached well insulated.

System

Occam's Razor. Check you latest statement and see if you are being billed in the correct volume units. Old meters were in cubic feet (4 digits to the left of the decimal point) and newer meters are in cubic meters (5 digits to the left of the decimal point)

For example, 10 cubic ft equates to about 316kWh

Whereas 10 Cubic metres equates to 112kWhs

It follows that if you have a meter that records volume in cubic metres but you are being billed in cubic feet, your bill could be out by a factor of 3

(44000/316) * 112 = 15594

maisie_cat

Are you sure that the meter isn't recorded as imperial when it's actually metric? what is the actual units usage? For example 1400 units converts to approx 15500 kwh on metric or 44000 kwh on imperial. We are in a 4 bed detached and use around 15000 kwh

rich13348

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

Yes. You should be around 12,000 kWh per year for a well insulated house.


Hot water, this should only run when you need it off the combi boiler. So this may not be the issue.


Cooking, unless you have a kiln, again not the issue.


Central heating.
This needs to be thermostatically controlled. We use a timed thermostat set as follows:


6:00 am on 19C
6:30 am on 12C Out during the day
5:30 pm on 17C If you want the lounge warmer, use the fire
8:30 pm on 14C Temperature can drop quite a lot during the night.


Last year was 12,500 kWh, three bed detached well insulated.

We have the Hive system. It was installed in December. At the moment it is set to keep the temp at 17C daytime and 7C nighttime. The ambient temp is always around 20C or above but this due to it actually being a nice summer for once. Radiators are early warm unless it's been a cold night but temp normally only drops to between 16 and 17C.

rich13348

meter My meter is metric but my bill does not list the units collected. It only says at the bottom GAS UNITS USED × CALORIFIC VALUE (39.5) × CORRECTION VALUE (1.02264) ÷ 3.6

System

rich13348 wrote: »

We have the Hive system. It was installed in December. At the moment it is set to keep the temp at 17C daytime and 7C nighttime. The ambient temp is always around 20C or above but this due to it actually being a nice summer for once. Radiators are early warm unless it's been a cold night but temp normally only drops to between 16 and 17C.

I don't want to rain on your parade but I have recently been involved in a lengthy exchange of e-mails with the Buildings Research Establishment (BRE) about smart heating controls and energy savings. As you may know, all boilers and heating controls now come with an Erp rating. For such things as an EPC on your home, you may well be disappointed when the assessor ignores what is on your wall. BRE appears not to trust the Erp self certification. Equally, backed up by research commissioned by the BEIS the jury is still out:

Quote: there is limited international evidence (high quality or otherwise) relating to the energy savings, cost-effectiveness and usability of heating controls. Unquote

I have Evohome multi-zone controls which are an Erp Class 8 device with an efficiency saving of 8%. For EPC purposes, the saving has been assessed as 0.7%. In sum, if BRE is correct, then I doubt whether Hive has made that much difference to your heating bill.

System

rich13348 wrote: »

meter My meter is metric but my bill does not list the units collected. It only says at the bottom GAS UNITS USED × CALORIFIC VALUE (39.5) × CORRECTION VALUE (1.02264) ÷ 3.6

That is a metric volume to kWh conversion. Billing isn't the issue, so I would ask for and agree to pay for a meter check.

rich13348

Hengus wrote: »

That is a metric volume to kWh conversion. Billing isn't the issue, so I would ask for and agree to pay for a meter check.

I think that is the way to go. I just choked on the £80 fee if no fault is found.

rich13348

Hengus wrote: »

I don't want to rain on your parade but I have recently been involved in a lengthy exchange of e-mails with the Buildings Research Establishment (BRE) about smart heating controls and energy savings. As you may know, all boilers and heating controls now come with an Erp rating. For such things as an EPC on your home, you may well be disappointed when the assessor ignores what is on your wall. BRE appears not to trust the Erp self certification. Equally, backed up by research commissioned by the BEIS the jury is still out:

Quote: there is limited international evidence (high quality or otherwise) relating to the energy savings, cost-effectiveness and usability of heating controls. Unquote

I have Evohome multi-zone controls which are an Erp Class 8 device with an efficiency saving of 8%. For EPC purposes, the saving has been assessed as 0.7%. In sum, if BRE is correct, then I doubt whether Hive has made that much difference to your heating bill.

Maybe, maybe not. However before Hive was installed we had no room stay at all and still have the old Honeywell TRVs that don't turn off ever. Also our boiler is upstairs and we sleep downstairs, so sometimes the boiler was set to constant and forgot about and in one case was left on constant for 3 whole days before Hive was installed.

matelodave

Ignoring the super-duper heating controls etc. Do you actually read the meter yourself, check your bills regularly and make sure that they are corrected if wrong and send in your own readings. Ideally once a month

If you dont have a reasonably accurate record of your previous consumption then you dont really know whether your magic controls are reducing or increasing your consumption. Likewise you wont know whether the meter has gone wrong or been misread.

Just thinking that you aren't using all the much isn't quite the same as having records and being able to monitor and pin-point what's going on and when.