Mega high gas reading (bill)

davie-85

Hello all,
I moved into a detached 3 bed house (modern cavity wall construction, insulted loft, etc.) about a year ago and I have a SMART meter however it struggles to send a signal (for some reason) so I have to input meter readings manually for Scottish Power (my provider).  Now the previous one taken 6 months ago was 3281m3 now this one I've taken today was 5936m3 which is a difference of 2655 which when converted to kWh = 30,168kWh....
So when you consider that an average home is around 1000kWh per month (6000 for 6months) then I am using roughly 5 times the average amount of gas!
Now I know its just been winter (in Scotland) and we've been working from home so heating is on all day everyday (pretty much) but this is ridiculous.
Has anyone ever experienced this or have any idea what's going on?  We have an old gas boiler and an all gas cooker but surely that cant explain it.  Possibly a faulty meter?  Any ideas?

niktheguru

If you've got an old gas boiler and you have the heating on constantly then it is possible to use a lot of gas as the winter has been especially cold. 30000kwh in 6 months seems crazy high though. Is you meter in cubic metres (m3) or cubic feet?
You'll need to check your meter. Turn all the gas appliances off, see if the meter still increments.
Check the readings each day, see how much it goes up by.

Gerry1

You can't double the autumn / winter six months to get the annual amount, you'll use far less in the next six months.  What was the meter reading a year ago?

It's not surprising that you are using more than the average amount: semi and flats will use less than average, detached 3 beds will use more.  Similarly, commuters will use less, stay at homers will use more.

You've even admitted that your boiler is old and you're in the coldest part of the UK so everything seems quite normal.

Time to switch suppliers and get competitive rates !

[Deleted User]

KISS - I assume that you are ignoring the numbers to the right of the decimal point. For example, my smart meter is presently reading 00420.46. The reading that the supplier uses for billing is 420.

Robin9

Agree with Dolor - .     should read 328 (decimal) 1 and 593 (decimal) 6

davie-85

Yeah I suppose I might be a higher end user of but still doesn’t account for the massive discrepancy. Considering a high use is accepted to be around 1800kWh per month not 6000.

Ive ignored the numbers to the right of decimal place (as instructed by energy provider). Those figures are correct.

davie-85

5000 I mean not 6000.

Gerry1

Monthly kWh readings are meaningless because consumption varies so much throughout the year.

FWIW I have a very old boiler in a post war 3-bed detached house and my annual gas consumption is a whisker under 30,000kWh.

I'll replace it when the pandemic is over, so it will be interesting to see what difference it makes.  Luckily I'm paying 2.0265p per kWh inc VAT !

davie-85

Yeah fair enough it will definitely drop over the next 6months. But even so at 30,000kwh that’s bloody high and it will continue to go up a good few thousand still over summer.
One thing I have thought of though is that we had not been reducing the temperature at night (I know... pretty dumb). It was running on a manual setting of 21C at all times (we have young kids). But a couple of weeks ago I fixed this and set a programme for it to drop to 17C between 2300 and 0630. Also dropped temp to 20C for daytime. So hopefully that will make a decent difference...
I’ll try and remember to report back here if it does! Or if I decide to get a new boiler soon see if that makes much of a difference.

Gerry1

Most people turn the boiler off overnight !

Moving to a competitive tariff would probably make a big difference.

What was the meter reading you gave them a year ago when you moved in?

JGB1955

21C overnight is probably a huge part of your problem. We have 19C during the day and 15C overnight. Basically the boiler never comes on between 22:00 and 06:30. Our gas bill is never more than £60  even in the coldest months. It goes down to less than £20 in the summer. Averages out at less than £400 p.a.