Energy cost excessive?

carolinevw

So according to my smart meter for the last month my gas is £58.20 and my electric £31.49. We have recently started putting the heating on from 4 pm to 10 pm but the house is still incredibly cold during the daytime before it comes on

tim_p

Do you have any alternative heating, like a log burner or gas fire. You might find those offer cheaper options. We have a gas fire we often use during the day and it warms most of the house (bungalow) for about 5p per hour. 

carolinevw

We have a couple of electric heaters but nothing else. Before we moved in the guy who owned it previously thought it was a great idea to take the chimneys out 😳

Talldave

@carolinevw You've still not told us what your tariff rates are?  I suspect those are the source of your problem.  In November we've used 4626kWh of gas, costing £115 and 369kWh of electricity costing £48.  So it looks to me as if you're being ripped off.

Gerry1

carolinevw said:

We have a couple of electric heaters but nothing else.

It's madness to use electric heaters if you have gas, even more so if they are 'on demand' ones such as fan heaters, oil filled radiators, panel heaters etc burning shedloads of money on daytime rates.

matelodave

carolinevw said:

So according to my smart meter for the last month my gas is £58.20 and my electric £31.49. We have recently started putting the heating on from 4 pm to 10 pm but the house is still incredibly cold during the daytime before it comes on

Stop think is £££'s and think in kwh - the cost is not only related to price but the amount that you use. So you need to not only reduce the amount you use but find a cheaper tariff. Bear in mind that just 0.5p difference in  a gas tariff of 10,000kwh a year is worth £50. It's also worth noting that what the smart meter calculates and displays on the IHD in terms of both cost or even kwh can be very wrong.
 You need to actually read the actual gas meter in cu.m and do the sums yourself based on your tariff.

Using leccy, a gas fire or log burner will not reduce your costs but will add to them significantly so you need to look at how your system is set up and adjust your controls to suit your lifestyle - what controls have you got and how are they set. Are you heating hot water all day and all night or is it timed. What temperature are your thermostats set to (you do have stats don't you) is the stat in the right place. Have your rads got TRV's, is theres a thermostat on your hot water tank - lots to think about

There are lots of things you can co to improve how your system is controlled to both reduce costs and enhance your comfort and looking at the cost on a smart meter, wont actually help but might motivate you to try a bit of tweaking or even improving the controls that you've got.

I

carolinevw

Tariff - 

electric - 15.53p per kwh
Standing charge - 17.41 per day 
Gas - 3.50p per kwh
standing charge - 16.61p per day

my boiler is a Combee boiler and is on a timer it currently comes on from 4 pm to 10 pm. I don't have a thermostat the plumber who fitted the boiler told me there would be no point because the lack of insulation was the problem. 

I do have TRV's on the radiators.

matelodave

Both your gas and electricity tariffs could be significantly reduced, I'm on 12.25p for leccy, dunno about gas but others seem to manage less than 3p
TBH I'd get a programmable wireless thermostat fitted if I were you. Being able to control times and temperatures rather than just letting the boiler flog away all the time will certainly help control your temperatures. Turning the heating down during the day rather than completely off will reduce the time it takes to heat the house in the evenings especially if the boiler is struggling to heat the place.

Gerry1

That's a ridiculously expensive gas tariff, even more so if you've forgotten VAT.  You need to switch TODAY, unless you are only days away from the 49-day Get Out Of Jail date.

Start comparing with Citizens Advice and 'Switch with Which?' and don't forget to check whether separate suppliers would be cheaper.  Make sure your quotations are based on actual meter readings a year apart.