How is my gas bill so high?

Reds-on-Sea

I've been in a new house now for around 6 months, and my gas usage seems to be ridiculously high compared to what it used to be, and more than everyone I've asked. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to why...

It's a large 3-bed house and there's only my partner and I living there. We both work full time, and we're out a few evenings a week and all day at the weekends. We're frugal with the heating and maybe turn it on for 4-5 hours a day MAX when it's very cold and only when we're there. We have plenty of loft insulation too...

There's a brand new gas combo boiler, our cooker is electric, and we have 2 log stoves and an open fire which we use at weekends anyway... We each shower once a day, and I wash up by hand half the time and use the dishwasher the other half, so there's nothing (to my knowledge) that's eating up the gas.

My gas bill alone is coming in at £165pm which is a LOT compared to my last 3-bed house.
This is a lot, right??!

I'm with Pure Planet, and their rate is 3.1300 p/kWh which as far as I can see isn't extortionate. I submit monthly meter readings, so I know that this is accurate. The monthly DD is set up for about £75pm in the winter and £55 in the summer – which isn't going to cover the bills for the year, even if we use a lot less in the summer! I turned everything off and the meter wasn't spinning, so it's not leaking.

Has anyone got any suggestions as to what I can do to to reduce this? Maybe my boiler is set to heat too hot? I just don't know. It's actually cheaper to buy crates of logs and burn them, which I always thought would be dearer..

Robin9

Give us the readings please

"New" to you but how old is it ?

Reds-on-Sea

The house is 100 years old. Admittedly, it's partially single glazed, but I have heavy curtains and have sealed them all so as to minimise drafts and heat loss.

So the usage for Jan - Feb was:

Consumption 475 m3
Energy Used* 5275.8 kWh @ 3.1300 p/kWh £165.13

I guess the meter doesn't lie, but we haven't changed our usage or behaviour since moving house.

The only difference I can think of is that the old house had a thermostat, whereas this house doesn't have one. All the radiators do have a thermostatic valve, however, which are set in each room.

I have bought a Nest unit, which I'll get round to installing at some point...

Robin9

Double check your meter details from the meter with whats on your bill.

Whats the temp setting on the boiler - does it have an economy setting ?

Reds-on-Sea

Yes it does, and it is set to 'Eco'... The water temp is generally set to around 55c I think, as the shower is also thermostatic so it will only go to a certain temp anyway.

Honestly have no idea where all this gas is going!

glennevis

When I moved into my house it had TRVs on all rads but didn't have a wall thermostat. The boiler would have stayed on continuously all evening if I hadn't programmed it for two short periods. Fitted a simple Danfoss manual thermostat to the wall adjacent to the meter and now I've programmed it for one period all day and the boiler comes on for at most about 1/3 of the time. You may not save 2/3 off your energy bill but for ~£15 it's definitely worth adding one.

dogshome

With all gas appliances OFF, check the meter - If it's still clocking use it's possible there is Gas Leak - Can happen in areas where there is no noticeable smell.

Another option is the Gas meter itself.
Analogue Meter with revolving wheels? - Powered by the gas passing through it, proven reliabilty but they can have ageing problems

Digital Meter? - Battery powered and can go rogue whether gas is passing through them or not.

Reds-on-Sea

@dogshome I did turn everything off, and the wheel did stop spinning, but I still can't understand quite where all this gas is going! We bought a new crate of logs to use in the burners – it's a lot cheaper!

matelodave

If you haven't got a thermostat then the boiler will happily cycle away keeping itself nice and hot, wasting heat and gas until it gets turned off.

As glenevis says, a £15 thermostat will save you a a lot of money. A programmable stat will save you even more and the Nest might eventually but you'll have to recoup the cost first. However they do work a lot better when installed on the wall rather than lying in the box they came in.

Perhaps you should have fitted it when you were using the heating during the winter rather than waiting for spring when you wont use it much until next October