Gas usage advice required

aeyrs93

Hi, First time using the forum so please forgive me if I miss any key information.

Here is an overview of my situation:

I live in a three bedroom detatched dormer bungalow that has brick walls and seems well insulated.

My setup is an ideal logic combi 30 boiler, smart meter readings with a display I can read off.

My actual usage according to my bill over the last 12 months for electricity was 3000 kWh but the gas was an astonishing 21,347 kWh.

This was down from the previous year due to us leaving the heating on by mistake.

Our winter heating schedule was 7am-10am & 5pm-10pm, 21c on the thermastat, typically November-March, the rest of the year it's off.

We have a gas hob that hardly gets any use.

When the central heating is off the gas usage doesn't go up so I can rule out a gas leak.

The readings on the bill is marked as (s).

That's all I can think of at the moment, if you require anything else please let me know.

So my question is, does my gas usage seem normal for my central heating times?

I know there are other factors to take into account to give an accurate answer but 21,000 kWh seems a lot.

Currently I'm paying £200 a month on the online fixed variable that has gas priced at 3.8p per kWh and have an account balance of £350.

But with the price hike set to come into play the best scottish power are offering sets me be back £500 a month with gas priced at 18.85p per kWh which I can't afford.

Thanks in advance.

EssexHebridean

You most definitely do NOT want to be paying 18.85p per kWh for gas - that's utterly ludicrous! Not sure when your fix ends but right now your best bet will probably be to just let it roll onto the variable rate. 

jimexbox

Your best tariff will be the capped variable rate at about 7.3 per kWh, this includes the 54% increase on the 1st April. So do nothing and you'll drop onto the capped rate.

As to your usage its very high. I set my thermostat to 19c and usually run it for 3 or 4 (max) hrs a day. So turn your thermostat down and reduce the hours you have it on. I use a blanket in the evening if it gets chilly. 

The_Fat_Controller

The new capped gas price per kWh from April 1st is around 7.37p with a SC of 27.22p per day.

There is no compulsion to move to a new fix, the SV rate might be better for you right now.

Find the SV rates for your area and do the maths.

Robin9

21 is quite high in some peoples eyes.


Turn that heating down by a degree every week until  you feel chilly and then put another layer on.


Bungalows do have a reputation of being high in energy costs compared with houses.

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

aeyrs93 said:

I live in a three bedroom detatched dormer bungalow that has brick walls and seems well insulated.
My actual usage according to my bill over the last 12 months for electricity was 3000 kWh but the gas was an astonishing 21,347 kWh.

That's definitely possible.

The readings on the bill is marked as (s).

(s) for smart meter? Do you have smart meters? If so the readings are likely to be correct.

So my question is, does my gas usage seem normal for my central heating times?

I know there are other factors to take into account to give an accurate answer but 21,000 kWh seems a lot.

Detatched properties use more energy thasn semis or terraces, and bungalows use more than houses. Roughly when was your bungalow built? How many square feet / metres?

Currently I'm paying £200 a month on the online fixed variable that has gas priced at 3.8p per kWh and have an account balance of £350.

But with the price hike set to come into play the best scottish power are offering sets me be back £500 a month with gas priced at 18.85p per kWh which I can't afford.

That's a fixed-rate deal from SP? Many fixed rates are punitively expensive at present, including that one.

On April's price-capped variable tariff, your bill will be around £2700/yr, £225/month.

Phlik

21000kwh is a lot, average is around 12000kwh. 

Don't assume your bungalow is well insulated, check. If it was a 60's-70's build then there's a good chance there's no insulation at all in the dormer walls and the loft will be around 100mm. Loft is easy to fix the walls less so as it means removing plasterboard depending on how it's constructed. Suspended floors? If so there's unlikely to be any insulation under there either.

I live in a fairly large bungalow with a dormer and our heating is on all day and we use 12-13000kwh per year, we don't run it at 21 °C though, closer to 18-19 °C, running ours at 21 would make quite a difference to our consumption.

Phlik

Robin9 said:

21 is quite high in some peoples eyes.


Turn that heating down by a degree every week until  you feel chilly and then put another layer on.


Bungalows do have a reputation of being high in energy costs compared with houses.

.. And if you can don't tell anyone else you've changed it, keep tweaking it down until someone comments that it's cold then you've hit your limit

schnegge_london

aeyrs93 said:

Hi, First time using the forum so please forgive me if I miss any key information.

Here is an overview of my situation:

I live in a three bedroom detatched dormer bungalow that has brick walls and seems well insulated.

My setup is an ideal logic combi 30 boiler, smart meter readings with a display I can read off.

My actual usage according to my bill over the last 12 months for electricity was 3000 kWh but the gas was an astonishing 21,347 kWh.

This was down from the previous year due to us leaving the heating on by mistake.

Our winter heating schedule was 7am-10am & 5pm-10pm, 21c on the thermastat, typically November-March, the rest of the year it's off.

We have a gas hob that hardly gets any use.

When the central heating is off the gas usage doesn't go up so I can rule out a gas leak.

The readings on the bill is marked as (s).

That's all I can think of at the moment, if you require anything else please let me know.

So my question is, does my gas usage seem normal for my central heating times?

I know there are other factors to take into account to give an accurate answer but 21,000 kWh seems a lot.

Currently I'm paying £200 a month on the online fixed variable that has gas priced at 3.8p per kWh and have an account balance of £350.

But with the price hike set to come into play the best scottish power are offering sets me be back £500 a month with gas priced at 18.85p per kWh which I can't afford.

Thanks in advance.

On your last sentence, they offer you 18,85 per kWh on gas? Sure this is a not a typo? That seems like a very, very high fix to me. That would be an over 100% increase on the April price cap. 
Unfortunately since the war broke out, most of the companies removed their now quite reasonable looking fixes. 

You have the right to go on the Variable tariff at least until October, I fear if the situation doesn't improve we're in for another eye watering increase then....

So the only way to cut your costs is use less. 
- I would start with putting the thermostat down to 20, or even 19 degrees. 
- When is the house really occupied? 7am - 10am sounds quite a bit long for me, probably you can cut it to 7.30am to 9.30am or even less. Same for the evening. Start an hour later and finish an hour earlier. It's jumper time then and if the house is well insulated it should keep the heat for a bit.
- Check if any heat is escaping anywhere. You say your house is well insulated. That is already a plus, but also check especially on doors and on windows. You can buy draught excluders quite cheap - it did wonders on our front door. 
- You have thick curtains? They help you to keep the heat in in the winter. You probably find something nice in the charity shop - no need to win a prize for interior design here...

jimexbox

Phlik said:

.. And if you can don't tell anyone else you've changed it, keep tweaking it down until someone comments that it's cold then you've hit your limit

Hive is brilliant for tweaking the thermostat from the sofa. It's currently 17.3c in my house. The heating will go on this evening for an hour or two. 

Phlik

jimexbox said:

Phlik said:

.. And if you can don't tell anyone else you've changed it, keep tweaking it down until someone comments that it's cold then you've hit your limit

Hive is brilliant for tweaking the thermostat from the sofa. It's currently 17.3c in my house. The heating will go on this evening for an hour or two. 

The modern app based systems are really good for sneakily adjusting settings. I've adjusted ours a few times whilst at work, the perfect crime

Can't possibly have been me, I wasn't even in the building