British Gas doubled direct debit!

pochase

wild666 said:

4.4 kWh per day is only 1606 kWh per year about £450 plus around £180 SC. You will be paying most of your yearly usage with one months DD if that is your true usage.
If BG say they can read the meter then if your usage is correct at no more than 4.4 kWh per day then BG are trying it on as £549 per month with no debt on the account is just short of £6,600 per year.

How do you get to 4.4KWh per day if an immersion heater is running 3 hours per day? That is already 9KWh.

The OP said he used 6499KWh since November 2021 (8 months), 800KWh per month in average.

witchwood

markin said:

Get the bright app? Or the other app...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.hildebrand.brightionic&hl=en&gl=US

And don't trust the price per kWh and standing charge, They can be out dated.

Yes. I think the kwh and standing charge showing on my smart meter are def the old prices. Do these upgrade on the smart meter automatically? 

k_man

pochase said:

wild666 said:

4.4 kWh per day is only 1606 kWh per year about £450 plus around £180 SC. You will be paying most of your yearly usage with one months DD if that is your true usage.
If BG say they can read the meter then if your usage is correct at no more than 4.4 kWh per day then BG are trying it on as £549 per month with no debt on the account is just short of £6,600 per year.

How do you get to 4.4KWh per day if an immersion heater is running 3 hours per day? That is already 9KWh.

The OP said he used 6499KWh since November 2021 (8 months), 800KWh per month in average.

Does that assume it is actually heating for the whole 3 hours?

If the tank is well insulated, it won't make much of a difference how long the immersion is on, even if 24/7 (unless it's faulty).

45 mins of heating the hot water is about enough in our house. Even though the heating is timed for 90 mins, it only actually heats for 45, because after 45 mins, the tank is full of hot water.

Unless the hot water being available changes shower habits!

pochase

OP said it set 1 hour in the morning and husband is taking a shower. Than 2 hours in the evening and 3 people take showers.

And an average of 800KWh per month does not come out of nowhere.

pochase

witchwood said:

markin said:

Get the bright app? Or the other app...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.hildebrand.brightionic&hl=en&gl=US

And don't trust the price per kWh and standing charge, They can be out dated.

Yes. I think the kwh and standing charge showing on my smart meter are def the old prices. Do these upgrade on the smart meter automatically? 

The meter reports KWh, not £ back to the supplier.

So rates on IHD and meter is for information only and it often takes months until they are updated.

peter3hg

k_man said:

pochase said:

wild666 said:

4.4 kWh per day is only 1606 kWh per year about £450 plus around £180 SC. You will be paying most of your yearly usage with one months DD if that is your true usage.
If BG say they can read the meter then if your usage is correct at no more than 4.4 kWh per day then BG are trying it on as £549 per month with no debt on the account is just short of £6,600 per year.

How do you get to 4.4KWh per day if an immersion heater is running 3 hours per day? That is already 9KWh.

The OP said he used 6499KWh since November 2021 (8 months), 800KWh per month in average.

Does that assume it is actually heating for the whole 3 hours?

If the tank is well insulated, it won't make much of a difference how long the immersion is on, even if 24/7 (unless it's faulty).

45 mins of heating the hot water is about enough in our house. Even though the heating is timed for 90 mins, it only actually heats for 45, because after 45 mins, the tank is full of hot water.

Unless the hot water being available changes shower habits!

Is your hot water heated by gas? A gas boiler is going to be a minimum of 12kW so 45 minutes would use at least 9kWh of energy. An electric immersion heater is usually 3kW so would need 3 hours to put in the same energy (ignoring the fact that the immersion heater will be slightly more efficient).

You would have to have a very small tank to only need 45 minutes to heat with an immersion heater.

k_man

pochase said:

OP said it set 1 hour in the morning and husband is taking a shower. Than 2 hours in the evening and 3 people take showers.

And an average of 800KWh per month does not come out of nowhere.

I agree something is using the kWh.

My point was that it is the showers causing the hot water related energy use, not how long the immersion heater is turned on.
 And trying to dispell the myth that water heating being on for long periods costs lots of money (unless, as stated above, the tank has poor insulation, or shower habits are shower until water runs out).

Not suggesting there is not a cost, and savings can be made, just that hot water being on for longer is not likely to be the cause bills to be massively high.

k_man

peter3hg said:

k_man said:

pochase said:

wild666 said:

4.4 kWh per day is only 1606 kWh per year about £450 plus around £180 SC. You will be paying most of your yearly usage with one months DD if that is your true usage.
If BG say they can read the meter then if your usage is correct at no more than 4.4 kWh per day then BG are trying it on as £549 per month with no debt on the account is just short of £6,600 per year.

How do you get to 4.4KWh per day if an immersion heater is running 3 hours per day? That is already 9KWh.

The OP said he used 6499KWh since November 2021 (8 months), 800KWh per month in average.

Does that assume it is actually heating for the whole 3 hours?

If the tank is well insulated, it won't make much of a difference how long the immersion is on, even if 24/7 (unless it's faulty).

45 mins of heating the hot water is about enough in our house. Even though the heating is timed for 90 mins, it only actually heats for 45, because after 45 mins, the tank is full of hot water.

Unless the hot water being available changes shower habits!

Is your hot water heated by gas? A gas boiler is going to be a minimum of 12kW so 45 minutes would use at least 9kWh of energy. An electric immersion heater is usually 3kW so would need 3 hours to put in the same energy (ignoring the fact that the immersion heater will be slightly more efficient).

You would have to have a very small tank to only need 45 minutes to heat with an immersion heater.

Yes, my heating is gas, but point is still valid (see post above) the immersion heater just being turned on for longer does not cost much more unless something is then using all the hot water.

I wasn't suggesting 45mins is enough, and 3 hours is definitely too long.

Alnat1

Has the water temperature been mentioned?

k_man

Alnat1 said:

Has the water temperature been mentioned?

That's a good point.

And is the shower fed from the tank (rather than an electric or even worse power shower)?