Scared and worried, not sure what to do (Scottish Power fixed term ending)

Sea_Shell

How do you get your hot water?

Is it left on constant, so the boiler is firing up repeatedly during the day?

Assuming it's not a "combi'" boiler where hot water is on demand rather than stored in a tank.

MWT

Ultrasonic said:

MWT said:

Just using your Dec '21 bill as a guide, if it is accurate I'd estimate your annual use at around 25,000 units, 

Wouldn't that be assuming as much gas was used in summer as in the winter months the bill data was for?

The estimate could be a little high for sure, but it was scaled off of my usage which is 13,000kWh over a year based on using 3,800 of that 13,000 over the same period that the OP used 7189kWh.

Even if we scale that back for a milder year this year I'd still say they were heading for 23,000kWh...

Need to factor in that September and October last year were very mild, so the heavy period is still to come with the next bill for the period from 21 Dec - 21 Mar.

Could estimate that with a current meter reading,  and the closing meter reading from that bill, which would be useful...

Ultrasonic

MWT said:

Ultrasonic said:

MWT said:

Just using your Dec '21 bill as a guide, if it is accurate I'd estimate your annual use at around 25,000 units, 

Wouldn't that be assuming as much gas was used in summer as in the winter months the bill data was for?

The estimate could be a little high for sure, but it was scaled off of my usage which is 13,000kWh over a year based on using 3,800 of that 13,000 over the same period that the OP used 7189kWh.

Even if we scale that back for a milder year this year I'd still say they were heading for 23,000kWh...

Need to factor in that September and October last year were very mild, so the heavy period is still to come with the next bill for the period from 21 Dec - 21 Mar.

Could estimate that with a current meter reading,  and the closing meter reading from that bill, which would be useful...

I've just had another look at the numbers...

What was posted was 7189 kWh for September to December. Conservatively assuming this is for a three month period then the same use every day would be about 28,800 kWh per year. Which is pretty much exactly what the annual estimate above was actually. 

otb666

To read your  gas meter, press the middle button once to wake up the screen. This should automatically reveal your gas reading ending m3 check its the same read as your bill as your bill should match the m3 read NOT Kwh read

MWT

Ultrasonic said:

What was posted was 7189 kWh for September to December. Conservatively assuming this is for a three month period then the same use every day would be about 28,800 kWh per year. Which is pretty much exactly what the annual estimate above was actually. 

I certainly agree that the estimate is wrong.

... but I suspect the usage is still going to be higher than it could be as the last quarter of '21 was generally pretty mild for the time of year.

BUFF

tacpot12 said:

1. Check that your meters are reading correctly. With everything turned off, if you have used any gas, then you have a leak and should be able to smell it. 

depending upon your definition of "off", unless it's an old boiler with a pilot light.

bRi6r4 can you say what make & model of boiler you have?
what controls (programmer/roomstat/radiator valves) do you have & how are they set?
how is your hot water supplied?

Verdigris

otb666 said:

To read your  gas meter, press the middle button once to wake up the screen. This should automatically reveal your gas reading ending m3 check its the same read as your bill as your bill should match the m3 read NOT Kwh read

It depends on how that type of meter is set up. Usually you see the M3 reading when you press the middle button but sometime you then have to press the left arrow to see the reading.

bRi6r4

Dear all, thank you very much for helpful suggestions and questions. I will find answers to your questions this evening.

So far today my wife has sent me the following info: with the IHD reading 0kwh this morning and all gas using appliances off, she switched the hot water on for 1hr which used 8.86KWh. Switching this off she turned the heating on for 1hr at 20 degrees which used 9.4KWh for total of18.26KWh (and 70p displayed on the screen).

Working from the formula displayed on our bill 
gas units used       X      calorific value 39.3    X      volume correction 1.02264      divided by 3.6    = gas units used in KWh

that would work out at 0.84 units used for heating and 0.79 units used for hot water. Would this sound about right? 

Benny2020

Yes, that sounds reasonable, the boiler will use more in the first hour as it gets up to heat and then units per hour should drop a little.

Sea_Shell

At least because your IHD is showing zero gas first thing...we (you) now know you don't have a pilot light!!   So haven't got an ancient boiler.

After we got smart meters, but before we got our new boiler, it was showing 1kwh by 6am, so at least 4kwh per day!