Gas Usage Sanity Check

Happy_Sloth

We've finally found a way to connect to our smart meter and it appears we are using 36.9kwh per day in gas at a cost of £2.99 per day. (On average) 

We have a big house i've always known our gas usage in winter is high because of the gas needed to heat the 18 radiators. However we are in the spring/summer months so i would not expect our gas usage to be much higher than the usual family but at £2.99 x 30 days in a month that's  nearly £90 in gas on it's own. 

In terms of Gas appliances we have ... 

• Gas hob (its rare we use more than 2 rings for a meal for more than 30 minutes) 
• Gas Central Heating (currently switched off in every room and has been for over a month) 
• Gas for water heating.  (Currently set to switch on, twice per day for 45 minutes) 

I know some of the £2.99 will be standing charge. (27.22p) 

I've been conducting some tests .... below is a list of what was used that day and the cost.  

• Sunday : (£2.35) water heating twice,  no cooking 
• Monday : (£2.69) water heating twice,  2 hobs for 30 minutes each. 
• Tuesday : (£2.99) water heating twice,  no cooking 

I know it's only a small dataset to get any real idea, but it doesn't appear that the cooking is making much of a difference is putting my water heater on twice a day really costing me £2 a day? is that normal?? 

StocktonFlyer

My gas usage averages out at about 36kwh per day over the year. But that ranges from 90 kwh per day in the dark depths of a cold winter to 4 kwh per day in the warmest summer months.

My annual gas consumption was 13,300 kwh over the last 12 months. That was down on the previous year so heading in the right direction.

Mrs_F_2017

We are heating water only once a day for 40 minutes & are using average 10 kWh. 

We have a huge water tank too - 180L I think, so 36 kWh for 2 x 40 mins seems high to me but I’m not an expert.

JGB1955

Our central heating if off now and we are currently using 17kWh per day.  It's on, for water heating, from 06:30 to 09:00, then again for an hour in the early evening.  Our last month's gas bill was £27 (but we are paying less than 4p per kWh.)

Mstty

Can you reduce you hot water heating, take showers only and shower quicker before it runs out?

Some of this could be age of boiler and too large a tank not insulated properly as well.

victor2

We had our very old boiler and hot water tank removed last year and now have a combi. We were using an average of 16kWh gas per day to keep the hot water tank going when the CH was off. We have also replaced the washing machine, which had both hot and cold fills with one with only a cold water fill.

Now we use an average of under 3kWh gas per day with the combi. We have an electric shower, so that doesn't come into the equation. Hot water is generally only used for washing hands and dishes that won't go into the dishwasher.

molerat

I use around 15kWh with water on from 7am to 1030pm. 36 kWh would be for a spring / autumn day with the heating on morning & evening.  And I have an antique boiler which is not the most efficient.

I suggest reading the actual meter and doing the sums rather than believing the toy in case they have managed to program it in cu ft.  36.9 / 2.83 = 13 so a much more believable figure.

Ectophile

Mrs_F_2017 said:

We are heating water only once a day for 40 minutes & are using average 10 kWh. 

We have a huge water tank too - 180L I think, so 36 kWh for 2 x 40 mins seems high to me but I’m not an expert.

Heating 180 litres from 20C to 60C would take about 8 to 9 kWh.  So that sounds plausible.

More likely, you're not running it that cold, but you're re-heating it twice a day.

Source: https://bloglocation.com/art/water-heating-calculator-for-time-energy-power

QrizB

We used to have a house with electric heating but a gas cooker. Looking back at the bills from then, and comparing to current prices, cooking would have cost us about 20-30p a day (plus standing charge).

I'm quite surprised by how much gas you're using for water heating. We're a family of four in a 3-bed semi and we're currently using around 10kWh/day (75p/day) to heat water, for one bath and a couple of showers every day plus hand & dish washing etc.

molerat said:

I suggest reading the actual meter and doing the sums rather than believing the toy in case they have managed to program it in cu ft.  36.9 / 2.83 = 13 so a much more believable figure.

Happy_Sloth has been posting about energy for a while; the IHD readings are consistent with their bills and metered gas consumption.

molerat

QrizB said:

We used to have a house with electric heating but a gas cooker. Looking back at the bills from then, and comparing to current prices, cooking would have cost us about 20-30p a day (plus standing charge).

I'm quite surprised by how much gas you're using for water heating. We're a family of four in a 3-bed semi and we're currently using around 10kWh/day (75p/day) to heat water, for one bath and a couple of showers every day plus hand & dish washing etc.

molerat said:

I suggest reading the actual meter and doing the sums rather than believing the toy in case they have managed to program it in cu ft.  36.9 / 2.83 = 13 so a much more believable figure.

Happy_Sloth has been posting about energy for a while; the IHD readings are consistent with their bills and metered gas consumption.

We've finally found a way to connect to our smart meter and it appears we are using 36.9kwh per day in gas at a cost of £2.99 per day. (On average)

They did not state how they "connected" so I took that to mean they are reading the IHD and that could be programmed wrongly.  So reading the actual meter and doing the sums would provide the sanity check needed - or just doing the sums if they trust the IHD meter readings.

MovingForwards

I used 10 units last month, my bill came in at £16.78, over half of that was standing charge. That covered on demand hot water, oven and hob, heating won't be on now until November.

As others have said, do you need 2x sessions of 45min water, can you try dropping a session or reducing the time.